“Rockstar economy”? Let’s hear it for another chorus of,”There is no depression in New Zealand”! Demographia reports on absolute food and housing poverty for too many Kiwis. Simon Collins reports on the ethnic inequality gaps & high rates of Maori imprisonment.
The West Auckland Peasants Film Club FB page says: “The greatest threat to freedom and well-being everywhere is corporate ambition: the greatest threat to corporate ambition is a well-informed public”. This week the PFC is showing, I Am (Dir. Tom Shadyac) – how to get such information seen more widely?
Sorry to hear that Tony Benn has died today, at age 88. He came from an aristocratic background, but became part of the UK Labour Party’s “radical” left. He spoke for Unions, people power and democratic process, and against neoliberalism. [Update – Tony Benn quotes]
International, cronyist, corporate capitalism skews democratic processes in NZ, making it harder for the majority of battling Kiwis to get a fair go – harder to ensure all New Zealanders live in a society that works for them. The TPPA is a power-play between the US and other powerful countries. There’s nothing in it for NZ. National Day of action March 29th, 2014.
That thing about truth and war…
Gower’s one-dimensional, distorted, gotcha reporting, highlights the failings of TV3 news & The Nation. Corin Dann and Qu &A are less one-dimensional, but speak within the B-Hive-Media Loop, that speaks for the comfortable middle & Business classes, & manufactured a “problem” week for Cunliffe.
In need of public service media. TV3 News is a neoliberal propaganda vehicle. I’ve stopped watching it. However, today Martyn Bradbury posted a transcription of last night’s highly distorted report by Patrick Gower, with a critical analysis of just how much the report misrepresents.
A photo/video documentary project in March Metro Magazine shows Glen Innes as a war zone. The National Government’s war on the poor continues with the sales and removal of state housing. Protest this evening at Glen Innes.
Labour’s current policy to gradually increase the age of retirement is a fiscally appropriate response to the pressures that will result from the baby boomer bulge in the population approaching retirement. But is it the right thing to do?
So under National Treasury has underestimated poverty significantly for the past five years. And rather than acknowledging this immediately they have waited two months and presented a full court press of information when admitting the mistake. And they still have ministers saying that poverty is not increasing in Aotearoa …
Sadly those that don’t want workers to be trained in health and safety are attacking the courses the CTU runs for health and safety rep training, ironically including the Minister of ACC. This blog is a rather boring “on the record” blog setting out how the contract is run in preparation for any further attacks. They might not happen over night, but they will happen!
I looked at some local newspapers to get away from the endless support for neoliberal values that dominates out MSM. I found people living with unaffordable housing – & how the power of song can unite people in their struggles at the sharp end of the big inequality gap. Maori TV, “Songs from the Inside”.
Popular songs can capture the heartbeat of communities. “Rock Star” economy”? Or “No Depression in New Zealand”? A song that links the NZ of Muldoon & John Key. “History Never Repeats”? Who has pulled up the ladder & who wants to replace ladders with something more accessible to all?
National is now targeting David Cunliffe and his family. Metiria Turei was attacked for living in a castle and wearing designer jackets, and now David Cunliffe is being attacked for being wealthy. The criticisms miss the point. There is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy. But there is everything wrong in setting fire to the ladder of social support after you have had the opportunity to climb it.
The documentary ‘Mind the Gap’ and an interview with a UNICEF advocacy manager focus on poverty and inequality. Zombie “neoliberal” policies have increased poverty & inequality, damaging the futures of too many children. We will all benefit from good government policies underpinned by a commitment to collective approaches and responsibility.
Damien Grant has argued in the latest Herald that those convicted of tax evasion should be treated more leniently than those convicted of beneficiary fraud even though an average tax fraud case resulting in jail may involve eleven times as much money. Obviously wealthy people are somehow better …
One handwritten poster by a student in South Korea, asking “How are you all doing?” has started a poster movement where people doing it tough talk truth to power. Campbell Live featured a woman writing to John Key about her struggles on low pay.
The ratings/sales driven ethos of the corporate MSM skews the coverage of the election campaigns of parties of the “left” and the “right”. Focus on individuals, implying they represent large sections of the population. The left are leading the agenda on inequality.
This post isn’t a ‘contrast and compare’ piece on the policy announcements of National, the Greens and Labour. Enough to say that National are pursuing privatisation while both Labour and Green are at least trying to do good things.
Shame about the reality of the bigger picture then.
The PMs’ statement todaywas a bit of a fizzer: lacking ideas, a lot of waffle. Some opposition speeches were more inspiring, & laid out some real alternatives: like the speeches from Cunliffe (on fire), Norman (inspiring), Ardern (animated) & Harawira (real people; real struggles).
Metiria Turei delivered a very strong, inspiring, and well-targeted speech yesterday. She reclaimed fractured values of inclusive, collaborative communities. She framed inequality as the issue for the coming election; the Greens’ education hub policy central. Labour, NZEI responded favourably.
There has been an abundance of research showing that communities and societies function better when their resources are shared around. But the need to persuade ordinary people that this is so is the most important thing to achieve. Because without popular support attempts to change the current system are bound to fail.
However, a UBI is a change in distribution of incomes, not an increase in the size of Government.
Progressive taxation is the price of living in a well resourced, pleasant, and cohesive society.
A video by Auckland Action Against Poverty is a record of their work and achievements. Narrated by Sue Bradford, it’s must see viewing for anyone interested in actions against poverty, grassroots campaigning, networking and direct action. Very impressive!
John Key presented one great idea in isolation instead of a full election agenda: a desperate attempt to stop the growing discontents with his government. He failed to address underlying problems. Cunliffe will outline a broader political agenda. Turei addresses poverty & income inequalities.
A response to recent exchanges between Pablo (on Kiwipolitico) & Chris Trotter. I agree and I don’t. I argue that Pablo’s Marxism needs some updating to include the politics of various kinds of oppression & the intertwining of and interaction between cultural “superstructure” & “economic base”.
No Right Turn writes on the Oxfam report about the deliberate concentration of wealth by subverting the political process towards the inequality levels displayed in the movie Elysium. Today’s shock statistic: the 85 richest people in the world control as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion of us.
The inhumane (un)affordability of housing in NZ, especially in the cities of Christchurch & Auckland, is beyond crisis point. The answer is not letting the “market” (aka the wealthy and powerful) decide. As Utah shows the solution is more state housing.
Why a UBI?
Firstly. To overturn some paradigms:
That a great many people should lead poor and constricted lives, so a very few can be rich.
That ordinary people are disposable economic production units.
Saturday afternoon. 1 O’Clock. Bandstand in Dunedin Botanic Gardens.
The first results of Paula Bennett’s drug testing of beneficiaries has been released. Only 0.27% of the 8,000 beneficiaries required to be tested either failed or refused to take the test. The testing is a colossal waste of money but is performing an important political role by making the Government look like it is being tough on beneficiaries.
Those growing up after the 80’s will find it hard to imagine the paradigm shift, that was the rise of Neo-liberalism, in the 80’s, in New Zealand. The colossal untested experiment, it really was, and the huge shift of wealth from the lower and middle classes to the richest of us.
Garth George’s latest newspaper column has a progressive prescription for the abolishing of poverty, some marxist analysis, a heavy criticism of Australian Banks and a conclusion that laissez-faire capitalism has to go. I never thought he was a radical …
Celebrity golf! Which one will get voted off the island first!? Meanwhile the world burns, the poor struggle, and the wealth gap continues to be a blight on our country.
Here & in the UK: food poverty, increases in queues to foodbanks, in diseases of poverty, a crisis in affordable housing, & struggles & insecurites of the working poor. But poverty denialists blame the poor, smear beneficiaries, & talk of (always-around-the-corner) “brighter futures”.
It appears that America is becoming rich in name only as more and more of its people in jobs rely on state assistance to make ends meet. And many of these jobs are in highly profitable industries such as the Banks and Wal Mart where people at the top of those organisations make huge amounts. And the payments are a drain on the State’s finances and prevent it from funding important things such as asset renewal and education.
