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On the election, Dirty Politics and the Green Party
Seemorerocks
A few thoughts about politics and the elections.
I have written extensively about "dirty politics" - the revelations of a level of corruption that goes to the core of our society.
Our "Beloved Leader" John Key has followed Goebbels' maxim and kept repeating the same lie over and over by saying it is a Left wing smear campaign and it's alright because "everyone does it"
I have had a fear ever since this came out that the public is as "unconcerned" as John Key is, and is sleepwalking into fascism and if a broad-based coalition of political forces opposed to the rot in politics and NZ society didn't come to power there would be no break on Key and his cronies in continuing their quest to destroy civil society in the interests of Wall Street and the political elite.
Confirmation of my fears came as my partner described a social gathering she attended of what could only be described as reasonable, educated Wellington liberals.
It appears that of the people there Pam was the only one to have read Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics, so there was little interest in pursuing that course of conversation. People were even less interested in engaging in conversation about climate change. However, there seems to have been some indirect effect of all this because most of those present were intending to vote Green and the rest New Zealand First.
If this is the level of interest and "informed debate" then what possible hope is there for anything positive - let alone a broad-based movement against what I can only qualify as fascism.
Let me make it clear that I am not a supporter of the Labour Party but in comparison with the clique presently in power they do mount a rational argument based on their own assumptions and what they say is largely fact-based, rather than a total lie.
A return to power of Labour combined with the Greens and a broad "centre-left" alliance ( I would say anti-fascist) is the only hope for this county to avert disaster - at least for the foreseeable future.
However, the largely manufactured polls (designed to manufacture consent) have indicated that dirty politics has not done anything to increase support for Cunliffe and Labour.
Already we are seeing the Greens sounding out the Nats (couched in a way that makes it seem that there is no change).
Laile Harre is absolutely right when she criticises the Greens - there should be NO (let me say it differently, ZERO) dialogue with the National Party.
They are the enemy, Russell Norman.
It doesn't even matter what terms you couch it in. Even mentioning the possility of any co-operation is treachery.
The same goes for Winston Peters.
Winston, who impressed us when we heard him the other day, is as an article in today's New Zealand Herald a pitbull before an election and a pussycat after an election, especially when he whiffs the possibility of getting his seat on the government benches.
All of this is politics- as-usual, to be distinguished from the dirty, sordid politics played by the government in power.
I expect that now that it seems that Labour is not getting any traction parties will abandon principle and follow their own self-interest.
I would not expect it to be any other way, although the effects of this would be dire.
Say goodbye to any democracy that we have left.
My greatest disdain for is reserved for the Green Party (and Russell Norman in particular) - because I hold them to a higher standard.
Although I can support them on a purely political level for their position on important policies they have long since ceased to be a party of principle which they were when I was a member.
The right people were in charge and the policies were right for the time we were living in - based on social justice and defence of the environment. Political liberalism was right for the day.
Since 9/11/2001 much has changed, and since the financial meltdown of 2008 still more.
Those halcyon days were before it became obvious that we are looking down the barrel of runaway, catastrophic climate change - before we discovered about the firing of the clathrate gun and the increasing number of positive, self-reinforcing forces.
It was also before the days before civil war in Syria and Ukraine, before the destruction of Libya and the unleashing by the United States of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS fanning out from Tripoli through the region.
Before liberals (personified by the likes of the Guardian) became the attack dogs of Empire.
Before that the Greens, George Monbiot, the Guardian, were my heroes.
That day has passed.
The 2011 election was in many ways a watershed. We had the Green Party (post-2008) launching their campaign "for a richer New Zealand", and Russell Norman calling for quantitative easing.
What I wrote back then (November, 2011), still stands, even though we did not see the expected melt-down and the ponzi scheme still keeps limping on":
For
me, as a 20 year supporter I have to make special mention of the
Green Party.
Congratulations
on stepping over the 10 percent threshold. Your policies of lifting
children out of poverty, cleaning up the rivers and creating
‘thousands’ of Green jobs are ones that I can only applaud -
perhaps 5 or ten years ago!
You,
of all the political parties KNOW about the twin threats of climate
change and Peak Oil.
You
alone of all the parties could have been preparing the public for
what is coming - even IF they don’t want to hear and would punish
you at the polls.
Instead
you have opted for ‘a richer New Zealand’ (even if that means all
the positive things we would all like a clean environment).
You
have decided that doing well at the polls (and the public have
responded) is more important than principle.
You
have the opportunity to prepare the public (as Winston in his limited
way, and Hone, are doing).
Welcome
to the world of zombie politics!
Other parties I do not expect anything from but I have been sufficiently involved in the Green Party to know that one should expect something more. They KNOW the reality (or at least some do) of the state of the planet.
I remember Jeanette Fitzsimons used to give a state of the planet report -when did I last hear that?!
I recall one conversation from a Green Party policymaker (this was about Peak Oil). His opinion - he painted it as a 'scientific fact' enshrined by some academic paper - was that what was needed was a message that was 80% (or was it 90%?) POSITIVE, otherwise people would 'switch off' (read, people wouldn't vote for them) (You can see this reflected amongst the comments by McTap on my article HERE)
"If
you want peak oil and climate change to be mainstream issues, then
you must bring them into the mainstream.....You
cannot bring issues into the mainstream as a political party if you
are marginalised and ineffective".
This is a recipe for LYING.
And this is what the Green Party is doing. Now that everything they were warning could be a fact in 50 or a 100 years time is a present-day fact and the Greens are playing their bit to pull the wool over people's eyes.
And before you get offended (and this is almost certain!) let me express my gratitude to Greens who continue to do wonderful work in the area of conservation and the environment.
I freely acknowledge my debt of gratitude to those who, like Jeanette Fitzsimons and others (but especially her) who have had such an influence on me.
The truth is that times have changed.
It is true that we need political parties like the Greens, Internet-MANA in parliament. I can support anyone who stands up to maintain ethical standards and tries to prevent the rot.
However, it is true that the time has passed when political action can make any difference to anything when it comes to the future of the Living Planet and the species that live on it.
The time has come to recognise that the threshold has been passed.
The time has come to TELL THE TRUTH.
To see what the political parties are saying about the climate see the video below. Kudos to John Minto of Internet-MANA for standing up for justice for the peoples of the Pacific Islands who will be among the first victims of sea level rise
Dirty Politics
Back to Dirty Politcs.
On Monday we can look forward to hearing Kim Dotcom's revelations about John Key and his lies about spying and surveillance as well as details of his own case.
Featuring Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange - that's going to be excitingto watch!
Although, like Kim Dotcom, I don't expect it to be a game changer given that most of the electorate is in a trance
Meanwhile there are some bits of good news from the judiciary
Whale
Oil blogger Cameron Slater was acting as a journalist when writing
allegedly defamatory posts about an Auckland businessman but must
reveal his sources for the articles, a High Court judge has ruled.
The
judge reached the conclusion that Slater was a journalist even though
the Whale Oil publisher denied he was one in 2012, the year when the
articles in question were released
Satirists
are safe from breaching Electoral Commission rules if their work is
only for humour and not as an election advertisement, a court has
been told.
In
the High Court at Wellington yesterday, songwriter Darren Watson and
video designer Jeremy Jones challenged the Electoral Commission's
advisory opinion that their song and video Planet Key is an election
advertisement
I will leave you with an opinion piece from the NZ Herald
Josie
Pagani: National coasting on rival's policy
11
September, 2014
The
left has already won this election.
John
Key's National Party is still high in the polls, not because the
values of the right are popular, but because National's pitch is
essentially, "Trust us to implement Labour policy. We'll spend a
bit less than them doing it, and if you're lucky we'll give you a tax
cut from the savings -- maybe."
The
left won the contest of ideas a long time ago, and National has
completely capitulated. It wouldn't dare reverse Labour policies such
as state-funded education and health care, Working for Families tax
credits, interest-free student loans or KiwiSaver.
Almost
everyone working for wages today owes something to the Labour
movement, including the trade unions, from the 40-hour week to public
holidays.
The
right fought these attempts to improve working conditions. But change
was popular. The left won.
It
would be electoral suicide for National to sound like National right
now.
Take
Tony Ryall, who is exiting to applause not because he imposed
National's policy vision on the health system but because he
assiduously avoided doing anything of the sort; his success as Health
Minister lay in his mimicry of Labour predecessors.
Steven
Joyce is rolling out a five-year plan for growth and has created a
behemoth government department to intervene in the economy. Ironic,
really. The right usually wants smaller government.
National
has rolled over and accepted the left's analysis that markets are
there to service communities, not the other way around. Turns out the
market can't fix everything. National held its nose and intervened to
rebuild Christchurch and fix the failing housing market.
Winston
Peters might complain that Colin Craig has nicked his policies.
National is attempting to bodysnatch the look and feel of Labour.
Except that it's a poor copy. There is no economic vision to match
the nation-building projects from Labour in the 1930s and 1940s.
Labour's
electoral message is aimed at the parts National won't fix:
National's refusal to reduce economic inequality, or to actively
manage the economy in favour of exporters and producers; low wages
caused in part because working people have little negotiating power;
the excessive market power of energy companies and the supermarket
duopoly which increase the cost of living.
National
has given up the ideological ghost, promising only to administer the
policy wins of the left.
Mmmm... On the things that matter? I doubt it.
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