Why it’s all over for James Shaw & how The Greens will chose to blow that
The latest act of incrementalism by James Shaw in his fight with Greenpeace over reducing cow herds will seal Shaw’s fate as co leader…
Greenpeace Incredulous Over James Shaw’s Dairy Denial – Greenpeace
Greenpeace has taken aim at the Minister for Climate Change and co-leader of the Green Party, James Shaw, over his recent comments regarding cow numbers in New Zealand.
Greenpeace has been increasingly critical of Shaw over recent months, but things have escalated following Shaw’s Parliamentary question time denial of the need to reduce cow numbers.
…you can’t offend Greenpeace this much and get away with it as the co leader of the Greens. It would be like the CTU punching Minister of Work Relations Michael Wood in the face and burning his portrait of Phil Goff.
There’s no coming back from that politically.
This works out for the Greens who have spent 2 and a half years struggling over how to get rid of James and what to do with their co leadership model.
The Greens are about to politely take James Shaw out and vote in new rules that will create a non-binary co-leadership model set up to allow Chloe to become co-leader, the perception that the Greens are just a Feminist party with some environmentalism thrown in could cause the Green Male vote to either transfer on mass to Labour, or be tempted by Winston’s machismo, Christian Lex Luthor’s eager Dad routine or stand up comedian David Seymour’s sick burns.
At a time when more women’s voices in positions of power have had platform and at a time when male identity has been so ruthlessly critiqued in open social media, a political cultural backlash is brewing and it will be anonymous incel Troll on 4chan nasty.
Gender and all the culture war fun that brings will be a central fault line that erupts as the economic pressure really bites.
The Greens will herald their non-binary co-leadership model as progress, the wider electorate will see it as emblematic of a woke dogma that alienates far more than it can recruit at a time of peak economic anxiety.
Pure temple politics is fine until all the people you’ve denied into the temple are far larger than you can ever hope to be.
James will go, the new non binary co-leadership model will be adopted, 10 000 people will like it on Twitter and it will lead to the Greens limping home with 7% in 2023.
It just hurts all the time being a Green Party voter now.
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Don’t be so despondent Martyn. I would rather vote for a leadership with Chloe in than with James any day.
I’m despondent about Act and NZF on the rise!
Women and or non binary leadership. FFS! It only further enhances their reprehensible reason for being. Triviality!
The Greens represent nothing. They pretend to care about dotting the i’s in gender issues but despise males.
They don’t like police but want to micro police the rest of us.
They supposedly represent green values but offer nothing intelligent, innovative nor workable in that space because they are so busy minding everyone’s business on shit that does not matter.
They are a luxury that exists in a society that has more or less got it’s act together but that is not NZ.
Shame of this Chloe appears to be a capable individual who is likeable, fronting a party that is not. But as one of the old Greens said, she is only known for one thing, cannabis!
I shake my head at the waste of space the “Green” Party is.
100% xray
X-ray. You clearly haven’t read the policies of the Greens.
Oh we won’t go to Labour.
We don’t just want to deny the Greens our vote; we want to hurt them, to punish them for being such middle class wankers. There’s only one party that will achieve that…
You can look forward to ACT getting some serious political clout next year.
If we’re all going to get buried in right wing extremism and poverty, you useless sods are coming with us.
I might write to James and suggest he identify as a woman (pro nouns she/her). He doesn’t need to change anything about his appearance, just maybe his name (Jamie Shaw anyone?). He could then identify as Maori and give Marama a good run for they/them money……..
The Greens lost in their own woke dogma where they drive a law change so
That anyon can identify as a woman, but they want to maintain a female co-leader. It would be delicious to see a Trans woman(? Jamie) contest the female only co-leader role and watch the Greens back track on trans women are real women…….
Yes Pope P we need a good satirist
Meanwhile the planet burns
Anker. “ James… suggest he identify as a woman” . What a good idea. And Marama could identify as a white man and delete himself as previously advised by herself. That gives the Greens one trans Maori woman leader and needing only a trans white bloke to provide gender and ethnic balance. This may be far removed from the very good Jeanette Fitzsimmons and Rod Donald mode, but what the hell. Bring in a few more offshore wagon riders to decry the evil impact of offshorers on the tangata whenua and how colonialism buggered up everybodies’ sex lives, and that creepy character heading the Nats might only have to plant a tree and romp home -in his flip-flops – as a bona fide environmentalist. Only problem is that he appears to be a white biological male, and everyone hates them now too, but I suppose that he could change into something else… a Danish queen could be rather splendid – one Antipodean is already headed in that direction and we can too.
Next question ?
If I vote for the Greens they won’t get back in. In the last three elections I have voted for three different parties, and each (at the time) had parliamentary representation – however after the election (and my vote!) they were out. All three parties had a Maori leader or co-leader.
However I now consider the Greens too pathetic to vote for – so maybe they’ll get back in.
Hey seer, please vote for Winston to keep him out.
The link to the NZH Hooton article is paywalled. So rather than quoting the Greenpiece statement at length (which does link), Bradbury might have done better to quote from the other link. Not everyone is content to give the NZH money for their dubious commentary.
I’d rate Hooton’s reckoning of the next GP coleader a similar low credence as if say O’Flynn proclaimed who was to be next ACT leader. It’s just not something he can claim any expert knowledge of, though admittedly accuracy is seldom his primary concern.
Rumor has Tuiono as Shaw’s successor (who is on borrowed time, and the next challenge is likely to be a bit more convincing than last year’s: Battle of the Jameses). With Swarbrick not replacing Davidson until the 2026 election (if she doesn’t trip herself up first like Kerekere) so she has at least a term as senior coleader. The Turei resignation so soon after Norman’s 2015 departure as coleader did put that alternation a bit out of whack. To be fair, Shaw’s main achievement as (then sole) coleader was getting the party through that 2017 election.
Though impossible to say before the conference. And even then it has to be confirmed by list rankings from the party at large for 2023. Party membership isn’t too much if anyone wants to have a say in that (I think you have to be a GP member for 6 months to be able to participate in that), though they will hit your email up for donations quite frequently on top of basic fees.
Go Ms Swarbrick!
The Greens have a lot of pro working class policy and have had some good scores lately–such as proposing a Rent Freeze.
Appalling hypocritical proposal from the Greens.
Funny how the feminist fight for equality has morphed into a world where everything male is simplistically perceived as uncouth misogynistic patriarchy that must be constantly critiqued, undermined and canceled, yet blatant misandrist behaviour and actions that discriminate on the basis of gender are totally acceptable and seen as something to aspire too!
Any surprise that NZ youth suicide rates are some of the highest in the world…and our males are 3-4 times more likely to die by there own hand?
Let’s not show our young men that they have value, can embrace masculinity and still be respectful, caring, intelligent leaders in the community.
Much better to shit on them, treat masculinity with utter contempt and go out of our way to make their gender irrelevant….so much for equality!
The Greens normally get my party vote but if they pass Party rules that actively embrace and encourage gender based discrimination, they will never get it again.
Ok I’ll bite.
What is a non binary co-leadership model?
Asking for a friend. Actually everyone I’ve asked so far…
I have voted for the Greens since 1999 but I won’t be again.
Tell me what Chloe actually stands for because it isn’t obvious at all, has she done any grass roots activism and if so what on.
James & Marama should indeed go, but there isn’t a lot of talent, in their caucus at least, to choose from.
James is truly pathetic around the cow problem which is bloody enormous here in canterbury.
Can I please ask if you’ll write a piece describing what it is that makes anyone think of the Greens as a “feminist party”? It seems I’ve missed something significant but, as a feminist (well, we all are now, aren’t we), what makes The Greens a feminist party with a bit of environmental thrown in? Thank you for all your good work.