What the NZ Left should learn from French election as opposed to UK Election
Starmer won because the Tories were awful.
His vanilla centrist policies won’t make any real difference and will only set the stage for a hard right Reform Party surge.
Looking to Labour UK for any hope is waste of time because they are simply copying Labour NZs incrementalism.
If the NZ Left are losing for inspiration, look to how the Left in France responded to the threat of French Fascists winning.
The French Left managed to work together and remove candidates who would split the vote, which is exactly what the NZ Left need to do.
The shockwave of naked racism that emboldened so much race baiting this election highlights how the Right wil always use Māori as a political punching bag for votes.
As New Zealand faces the absurdity of a referendum to redefine the principles of the Treaty the question for the Left is how to work together strategically and tactically to stop the Right from winning by race baiting.
I believe the answer lies in our existing MMP system.
What was fascinating about the Māori electorates this election was how tactical Māori voters were, once again proving why they are one of the smartest tactical voters each and every election.
Overwhelmingly Māori in the Māori electorates voted Labour Party vote and Māori Patry candidate vote and this has generated the focus on the power of the MMP Overhang the Māori Electorates generate.
If there was a Rātana 2, the Labour Party and Māori Party could strategically work together and push a tactical voting plan that calls for voters in the Māori electorate to all give their candidate vote to the Māori Party candidate and their Party vote to Labour.
This would end up creating up to 7 overhang seats in the Parliament which would cement an enormous block that could (with support from the Greens) become an unbeatable tactic that would ensure victory.
Likewise there are electorates Labour and the Greens could work out arrangements with to maximise MMP dynamics.
Labour, Greens and Māori Party need a shared joint policy agreement if they want to beat this hard right racist climate denying beneficiary bashing Government.
If the French Left can work together why the Christ can’t the NZ Left?
“If the French Left can work together why the Christ can’t the NZ Left?”
Good question. I think it’s cultural – the Anglosphere just isn’t very good at non-confrontational politics.
New Zealand isn’t France or the UK.
In NZ we have a small violent underclass which was born here, whereas the French and British have experienced a tidal wave of immigration from North Africa and the Middle East which is washing away their treasured cultures. Embedded within that tidal wave are elements of a radical medieval cult bent on the destruction of the West. Whereas our crime wave is fixable with better policies, there’s is not. It is an existential threat for them.
You’re correct in saying this “will only set the stage for a hard right Reform Party surge” because the Left, both France and the UK has been coopted by Islamists.
And closer to home, across the ditch Fatima Payman has set the cat amongst the pigeons.
shock horror – a politician standing up for their principles and getting kicked around for doing so. as for the closeted bigotry and jingoism that is getting thrown in for good measure from all spectrums of the aussie political landscape – no surprises there. #anglo septic fragility
Has Ms Payman condemned the rabid antisemitism and threats to the Jewish community breaking out in every major Australian city? Until she does so she is an amoral grifter with no principles other than Jew hatred.
Only wet dream fascists believe this and use extreme events to cajole ill-informed closeted bigots. Please don’t conflate the left with your soppy drivel. Maybe you should ask yourself why these people still hold these beliefs when they arrive in the liberal West? Answer – most of them don’t. Well, not until some right wing knee jerk sends them back into the arms of the Prophet
Our own culture which is of modern formation – mixed Maori ancient and European restless is too under threat from overseas interests. The Middle East has had western culture bring enormous riches and power to some through their oil which has destroyed the culture that was there. The Twin Tower attack in the USA was an attack that was against western business rather than just anti-religious.
The Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in New York City. At 110 stories each, 1 WTC (North Tower) and 2 WTC (South Tower) provided nearly 10 million square feet of office space for about 35,000 people and 430 companies. For a brief period upon their completion in 1973, they were… https://www.911memorial.org/911-faqs
The west and other rising dominant cultures regard it right to impose on settled peoples and have done so at a time when borders could be regarded as settled; war is boiling in places, others perhaps simmering with a certain amount of stirring. However blaming Islamists is a convenience to cling to, though the fault is no doubt shared when looking more closely..
The world is starting to unite and fight back against the nature of toxic and corrupt right wing parties.
Yes Andrew and we have a small upperclass that are greedy selfish and not born here that can fuck off if they don’t like it.
The election result was and is a success for the French Left, and the European Left (if they fully understand the significance), as it is the result of a conscious, rapid strategic and tactical political orientation, and thus shows a high level of relevance in French society.
One should not downplay such things, but how this will be implemented in the parliamentary vote arithmetic is something else entirely.
Of course, one cannot simply wish away the existing neoliberal power structure.
But at least … let’s hope for a few more good flashes of inspiration. Perhaps there will be some, complementary, in New Zealand, too…
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