Why are the Greens dying and what happens if they do?
With Chloe facing an uphill battle in Auckland Central and with the Greens so close to the 5% threshold, why are the Greens dying and what happens if they do?
Terrible strategy & tactics
When the Greens were gutted in the 2017 election, they lost an enormous amount of resource to hire good staff and talented back room strategists. They fucked up with their insane decision to give National their Parliamentary Question and the embarrassing ease with which Eugene Sage’s was tricked by her own Ministry into allowing more China water bottling were glaring examples of a bunch of chequers players playing chess.
They haven’t been able to get traction inside the Government because they didn’t know how to handle Winston and settled for symbolic environmental gestures rather than real change.
They have been successful on domestic abuse issues around strangulation and giving people time off from work, but to suggest those changes wouldn’t have occurred under Labour anyway seems a stretch.
They just don’t have the strategists in the back room anymore.
Green Party Top 8 Woke Alienations
Part of the problem has been the Greens new Identity Politics Faction taking over and pure temple woke virtue signalling alienation over Broadchurch recruitment has become a micro aggression policing purity test that no one other than themselves can pass.
1: White people are to blame for the Christchurch massacre: Hours after the enormity of the Christchurch terror attack had sunk in, Jacinda made one of the most powerful speeches of her Prime Ministership where she stated categorically that we were targeted by this white supremacist because we weren’t what he wanted. That wasn’t good enough for the Greens. Micro aggressions like racist jokes lead immediately to macro violence so everyone white was actually responsible for the terror attack.
2: White bros should delete themselves: In 2018, Marama went on a late night Twitter rant about white bros needing to delete themselves. Looking at how poorly the Greens are doing, she might want dome of those white bros to undelete themselves and vote for the Greens.
3: Reclaiming the word cunt: The planet is melting but thankfully Marama decided to spend time on reclaiming the word ‘Cunt’ for feminism. Great. But you know. The planet is melting.
4: Pregnant persons not pregnant women abortions: As we inched towards finally making abortion legal, the Greens held up the process because they didn’t want the term ‘Pregnant Women’ in the wording and instead wanted ‘Pregnant persons’ because trans people might be pregnant but not want to be referred to as a woman. I know, I know. I know. Just quietly roll your eyes.
5: Gender critical feminists excommunication: Long time feminist activist and Green Party supporter Jill Abigail was excommunicated for publishing an opinion piece on the Greens Te Awa magazine board which is too many shades of crazy to contemplate
6: More rape convictions regardless of how that happens: We all want the court process for Rape to be easier on the complainants but the Greens push to re-engineer the Court so that previous sexual relationships can’t be used by the defence certainly makes it easier to get a conviction, no matter the innocence. One of the defences is did the male believe he had consent, if they’ve had sex in the past with that person, they might believe that, but removing sexual history makes that defence impossible. Remember the Spin Off smear that senior members of the Labour Party had covered up a serious sexual assault? Remember how no where in the story Spin Off printed did it point out the complainant and the person they were accusing of rape were actually in 9 month relationship? Remember how you felt realising that? Yeah, that’s what the Greens want as a Court process. Better 10 innocent men go to jail than 1 guilty one walks free.
7: Jedi Academy: Sigh. This bloody magical crystal healing Green Jedi Academy – what the fuck was James thinking?
8: Anything to do with free speech: The Greens desire to choke off any speech they feel triggered by is astoundly short sighted, because whenever the State gains the power to deplatform voice, it’s always Māori, environmentalists and activists who get hit by it! This was gloriously on display right after the Greens killed off crypto-fascists speaking here when National tried the same tactics to stop Chelsea Manning speaking here.
Woke Activist proxification
The mighty Trolls Troll no understand…
…like all other members of the Wellington Twitteratti coven (hilariously you all know who they are), Dave is sad and confused.
It’s like the woke middle class identity politics mummy blogger trans ally Green Party cancel culture militant cyclist humourless vegan micro aggression policing activists are incapable of understanding how their behaviour over the last 3 years on social media has done nothing other than alienate voters to the point the Greens are now in danger of sinking beneath 5%.
It’s a process of proxification that the rise of social media has created.
Most people are on social media and most people have a woke middle class identity politics mummy blogger trans ally Green Party cancel culture militant cyclist humourless vegan micro aggression policing activist in their social media feed screaming they are racist, sexist, transphobic etc etc etc, whatever the daily virtue signal is. Now the woke middle class identity politics mummy blogger trans ally Green Party cancel culture militant cyclist humourless vegan micro aggression policing activist certainly thinks they are speaking truth to power by endlessly calling people out for breaches of woke mantra, but to everyone else they are simply toxic.
People stop seeing the political party and only see the activist and in the end proxification means the activist becomes the proxy representation of the Party, and seeing as people have negative feelings towards the proxy, they turn from the Party.
Because the Greens live and die on Twitter the Party are held hostage by their woke middle class identity politics mummy blogger trans ally Green Party cancel culture militant cyclist humourless vegan micro aggression policing activists so anyone attempting to move beyond pure temple politics to broadchurch politics is immediately lynched in the resulting cancellation call out.
Without solidarity, there is no movement.
Remember the Pride Parade and how it imploded after the Woke hijacked it? That’s the Greens now.
The Pride Parade used to draw 30 000, but the woke activists took over and demanded Police not wear uniforms because it might trigger trans people who have previously had bad experiences with the Police.
That decision saw the Pride Parade flop to less than 3000 people.
The woke called it a success because it was just the true believers, and sadly that’s the Green Party recruitment method.
Agree with the following…
- Veganism
- Trans Ally everything
- 4th wave feminism
- Burn all JK Rowling Books
- Militant cyclists
- Gender Binary activism everything
- If a woman says it you must believe it
- All white people are racist
…or you can’t vote Green.
You’ll note climate change doesn’t even make that list.
Conclusion
Moving forward maybe two possible ideas could be considered.
Asking all woke middle class identity politics mummy blogger trans ally Green Party cancel culture militant cyclist humourless vegan micro aggression policing activists to remove any reference whatsoever to being Green Party supporters so the proxification process doesn’t happen or maybe a separating of the Party itself?
You could have the Identitarian Greens who call out, Action Station Petition and cancel any micro aggression breaches of woke mantra and the Socialist Greens who focus on radical climate change adaptation and neoliberal economic hegemony dismantling.
That way the Identitarian Greens can continue alienating voters and the Socialist Greens could ignore the middle class virtue signalling and actually move on with preparing for Climate Change and dismantling the oppression of neoliberal economics.
When you are class left, the demarkation of power in society is between the richest 1% and their 9% enablers vs the 90% rest of us, that’s how we win the democratic majority, but when you are a woke Identity Politics activist, all men are rapists, all white people are racist and anyone supporting free speech is an actual uniform wearing Nazi.
The identity politics activists are incapable of seeing how their woke purges have pushed away Green voters.
The Right look for recruits, the Left look for traitors.
The Greens are struggling because all they’ve done for the last 3 years is find ‘traitors’ inside their own movement and alienated those voters.
TDB pointed out at the beginning of this pandemic that Jacinda would rob oxygen from the Greens, yet they put into place no counter strategy to that.
Green tacticians have failed, Green activists have alienated and the policy wins for the actual environment are largely empty symbolic gestures.
When you consider 175 000 NZers marched against climate change, it is extraordinary that the Greens are sinking so fast.
Maybe a term outside of Parliament will force the Greens to have to actually engage and win people over rather than screaming ‘racist rapist nazi’ at everyone who disagrees with them?
The biggest joke here will be that if they do crash out this election, the activist base who have done so much to alienate supporters won’t reflect for one millisecond on how they drove those voters away, oh no, it will all be the Heteronormative White Cis Male Patriarchy’s fault.
I’ve voted Green all my adult life because I passionately believe the climate crisis is an existential threat to our species that requires radical economic, community and political change. I don’t know what this current Party is anymore, it seems to be a weird cancel culture mutation that thinks it grows by alienating people over their identity.
Ruth said it best and the Green activists aren’t listening…
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You already know what we think of the Greens, Martyn. Worse than useless. Literally worse than useless because they are an impediment to progress.
Until they actually have something sensible to say about Planetary Meltdown and decoupling from use of fossil fuels they might as well be be the Blacks or the Browns or the Blues.
And until they have something sensible to say about demolishing the consumer society they might as well be the Greeds. Or the Trough-feeders.
This Green Party is on the surface just a bunch of spoilt brats that seem to have a culture of ‘privilege’ today and a hate of the older generation’s also.
It has alienated many as they did shed most of the older Green party members including my wife and I as we were over 70 yr’s old.
So yes you have summed it all up so very well Martyn.
Green Party needs to go back to its core ‘original planks’ of – ‘climate change and the environment’.
Leave the all the ‘Social policies’ on the back burner; – only to add to the most urgent issues when needed to push for climate change and serious environment issues in some minor way.
Every policy that the Greens draft and publish must in some way address global heating or they and we are toast. Look at their website, climate change (the softer term promoted by Frank Luntz – it seems less urgent) is just one thing among many.
Ultimately we need all parties to have the climate emergency front, middle and centre – but for now just one would be good. Increasingly it’s looking more like TOP.
Sorry mate, but the Green girls’ blaming white N Z’ers for the terrible massacre of Muslims, was much worse what than you’re depicting it here, and likely, and hopefully, was nothing to do with being Green, but more to do with being Marama.
I can, regretfully, accept that person’s woeful ignorance of history, especially New Zealand history, but I will not accept her trying to convince already alienated young Maori that most of the country is hostile towards them. It is delusional, and untrue.
It looked like classic projection, and, I suggest, was Marama Davidson’s statement about herself: that she is hostile towards most of the country. As such, I do not consider her suited to be a member of Parliament.
Other gender and sex and genital fixated issues are Greens, and mainly girls, for some reason, aping current USA vogues without stopping to think things through because they simply don’t know how to. Skimming along on the surface, while the planet burns – but – hey – somebody hurt my feelings and my starving skeletal family were driven out of the Highlands. Oops. Sorry. Wrong country.
There are some talented people in the Greens and there always have been. They got hijacked.
The problem with Marama D is she speaks the truth and you can’t if you want to get elected in this country. She need to bullshit and talk crap and suck up like the rest do. NZers don’t like forthright people. And she Marama forgets, we are living in a colonised racist country despite all the rhetoric that NZers are all nice people.
NZers don’t like other people pointing out the truth because that would mean that they would have to admit their part in the inequalities and social injustices that they like to pretend dont exist and not in my backyard mentality. IMO Marama and James need to to stand down as co-leaders, they are not effective and have alientated many of us from wanting to vote for them. They had their chance and blew it so Ka Kite.
Correct. Isn’t this a bit like Trump? Speak your mind, don’t give a rats if you don’t like it. Hmm. The greater the outrage about the Greens, the better I think. I’m alone on this view I know. The whole political system and everyone in it is rotten and corrupt to the core. Neo Liberalism and big Business rule. Labour is not going to change the status quo. We have 3 years proof of that. We need the Greens policies and that starts with getting up the noses of old white males (like me).
The Greens aren’t dying but NZ First are. And I see some of the minor parties who have been busy making promises they won’t be able to deliver have gained some votes. It looks like they got 5% of Labours, sad really just more wasted votes.
In the meantime the nasty act lot who want to kill of the poor and Maori are doing well from NZ First and Nationals demise.
Frank the Tank. Don’t blame the universities. I know what goes on in there. I drove past one once.
Act found the universities a fertile recruiting ground for young greedies, and are doing so again now. But generally now, and for the past 20 odd years, students have been bowed down by much more than political discourse. The vice-chancellors are trite bastions of neoliberalism glorying in their anti-intellectualism, make Ghengis Khan look like Saint Francis of Assisi.
Having said that, every time I check out an MP and see that they studied papers at, or sometimes even graduated, from from the University of Waikato, I think, “Here we go again…”
Back in the days, students did talk, and discuss, and argue, and debate, and that was all good. It was about ideas, and that was all good too.
If the Greens don’t make it back in, could someone in Labour please, please pick up some of their really good policies that came out in the last week or so?
Eg, their Poverty Action Plan, the only thing like it among all parties that would be a real move towards a more egalitarian AO/ NZ.
And their Oceans Protection policies, which have been favourably received by both recreational and commercial fisheries.
And their Ag plan which offers financial help to farmers who want to diversify and to go organic.
There was also a sustainable housing policy earlier, though parts of it needed fixing (eg a WoF for houses is a step too far, imo).
We won’t need to plead. The only reason the left doesn’t get a change of rules is if Jacinda runs out of time or you’re a below-average debater.
I hope you’re right Sam.
Martyn, you’re probably the only person in the world who would actually think of those “woke alienations” to list them. Everyone else has moved on.
Yep, we have stumbled a bit, but 90% of our lost vote is due to J A C I N D A, and as an actual Green Party member I can honestly say that your description is a gross exaggeration.
from 2011 to 2017 the greens went from 11% to 6% and in 2020 there most generous poll puts them on 6% and you have the fucken balls to come in here and tell us all what the fuck is up??? The Greens polling has got absolutely fucking nothing to do with Jacinda, muppet.
Notice the pattern, as the Labour vote falls, Greens increases, and vice versa.
all I see is a party that has no intention of compensating people adequately to protect there living standards. they actually want to cut living standards the same way National wants to cut into government services. It’s a totally fraudulent thing to do and a very fucking difficult political exersis to sell and the woke does not fully fucking appreciate this fact and now they want browny points for looking at this hard. But all these hard people who want to whack the centre to compensate the poor want to paint people like me as fucking right wing and that’s guttless fucking frauds.
Greens killed themselves from the inside out. I’m sure dirty politics has something to do with it but doesn’t help the planet. Win win for the right, because the current Greens in parliament don’t seem to help the planet or free speech, and if they don’t get in, they also don’t get to help the planet and free speech… sigh
Right column, wrong time. Better to save this one till after the election and recite it at the graveside.
Too funny if they surprise us all and two are voted in from electorates.
The socialist Greens are just as alienating , woke identity politics pure templism over broad church as the middle class greens, hell they are the same people. Look at Ricardo , look at Luke that’s some pure templism woke marxism that call everyone who disagrees with them sell outs and hacks.
The Greens need to just become an environmentalist movement ditch all the sjw and left wing crap and only support policies that help the environment. End of.
If we want a working class party the revolution is never gonna come from Waiheke island millionaires, we have to start one, it’s almost an impossibility the voters never come out and the same six left wingers from the 90s always come in and take over everything but covid and the economic fall out might change that… There needs to be a populist left wing movement to counter the right because the sjws and middle class libs in labour greens don’t know how to fight that kinda thing (democrats for the last decade)
So Bomber.
You’ve always voted Green BUT…
How will you vote this time?
And no, that’s not an entrapment “gotcha” question; it’s a genuine heartfelt question. How will you vote?
Like you I am a long time leftie, former trade unionist, and long time welfare state beneficiary. A life long Labour voter, I never voted Labour again after Roger Douglas’ wholescale rogering of our collective nation and have watched in horror as the once vibrant left has settled into the pond sludge that it is today under the Greens.
When I ask you in all sincerity “how will you vote?” I am asking you who is left up there for whom a vote doesn’t completely nullify my morals and principles. The same choice you have to make. I want to know because at the moment there is no one on the ballot I can be bothered voting for and that is a desperately disempowering position to be in.
So tell me please:
Whom do I vote for?
Jacinda.
Neoliberal. Nothing there.
then its sandal-wearing muesli munching bicyclists for you.
I’m good with that 🙂
electric bicycles tho
Seconded.
The sour apple is Green.
1. The green potential in AONZ lies between 20-25% of the popular vote,
when looking at the political values covered by the party.
2. The left public and the individual (eco)-socialist in AONZ has not much to vote for, but there is plenty to vote against.
3. A large majority of Kiwis is very much concerned about climate change, and they are also pessimistic that the country will meet the climate change challenge.
4. Global ecological and social awareness is increasing, with the possibility for a sudden adhoc acceleration.
5. If reaching less than 10% in the AONZ elections it must call for a change in strategy and practice of the Green Party.
6. Right now, the Greens are not matching the expectations; but neither does the NZ Labour Party.
7. For successful Climate Change Adaptation we need a different mindset. And the roll-back of neo-liberalism in all its forms.
8. By voting Green the strategic perspectives for the Ecological Left are slightly better than by voting Labour into a majority position.
9. The Green Party has to be changed from within. Or we need to build an alternative social and ecological platform.
10. Conclusion: not idealizing the present party formations but voting against a possible greater disadvantage.
The sour apple is Green. Bite in it.
Bite in it ..
… and follow the gardening practitioner …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSMhFCopWu8
You all sound like National or Act party supporters and voters trying to destroy the Greens so the former may have a chance of gaining the Govt benches. If Greens and NZF fail by a few % then the Nats and Act will gain another seat or three.
Two tactical ticks for Greens or NZF or Maori party.
If Greens and NZF fail by a few % then the Nats and Act will gain another seat or three.
How to wake people up to that?
Greens emerged from concerns about the environment and their policies about the social system come as a sort of overlay. Despite some good policies the current co-leaders don’t wear them as fundamental for change. Nonsense such as righteous use of trans language and millions of dollars for a private green school, show how some of us could never vote for them. Basically they don’t understand class society. As Snow White and others write, some make feeble attempts to blame all whites for the injustices in our society. We need a more thoughtful analysis of the on-going impact of colonisation.