Communalism Aotearoa

Below is the Freedom Shop‘s excellent position on the ‘anti-mandate’ protests. The Freedom Shop is an anarchist bookshop in Te Whanganui-A-Tara/Wellington.

It’s easy to write off the ‘anti-mandate’ protests in Wellington and other towns. Given New Zealand has had few deaths and a smaller economic impact than most countries, the mandates may be one of the more justifiable of the many restrictions on freedom that the government has come up with and the politically clueless, erratic nature of the protest makes it easy to sneer at.

However, judgement shouldn’t be made on the basis of the way the protest is being conducted – that’s a red herring. Sure, there seem to be a high proportion of nutters, and lots of counter-productive behaviour, but the real reason for opposing the protest is the awful politics.

In terms of policy, the protests are a mess, not only are a hodge-podge of issues being raised, but no alternatives are being offered and a wide range of conspiracy theories are being promoted.

Marty Verry, chief executive of timber and tourism company Red Stag, who acknowledges funding the protest says “the major axe to grind I’ve got is with regards to what I’m seeing as to whether there is any justification now to maintain a quarantine system at the border for international tourism.” So it seems his problem is not personal freedom, he just wants to make money. Many others seem to be involved to push a particular political barrow that has little to do with mandates.

Wealthy America’s Cup yacht guy Russell Coutts said the main reason he was joining the protest was because he believed the government was funding the media “conditional on them promoting government policy, propaganda and spin”. Though he added to his list that “I’m against creating different rights, laws and privileges based on race” which obviously clashes with the insistence by others there that the 1835 He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni nullifies government laws and allows them to exercise control over parliament grounds.

Others on the protest have called for the reinstatement of Trump, a military coup or the abandonment of the government’s re-structuring of water supply management. There’s anti-semitic and misogynist slogans, plenty of toxic masculinity, and references to ‘Agenda 2030’ and ‘The Great Reset’ all on display. Some fret about masked ‘antifa’ infiltrators sneaking in at night causing trouble, reflecting right-wing paranoia that makes left activists a mixture of commissar, ninja and hobgoblin.

This protest seems to have been funded and orchestrated by people whose real aim is to attack anything they perceive as ‘leftist’. For some of those it’s a means of discrediting Labour in order to replace the present government with a more business friendly one, be it Luxon, a National-Act coalition or anyone else who will bow down to the gods of the ‘free-market’. Making it about mandates is just a convenient way to pull a crowd.

Another faction (if they have enough agreement to call them that) has a more frightening agenda. The presence of far-right individuals and white supremacists ranging from National Front members to former National Party publicist John Ansell isn’t coincidental. The political drift towards the left in recent years – even if the present government is hardly ‘left’ by any sensible analysis – is something that worries them, and they are using the pandemic to try and gain a following.

Never mind that these groups’ aims are in direct contradiction to those of many actually at the protest, this is an opportunity to undermine mildly progressive social policies, and to connect with people who in normal circumstances would have nothing in common with racist right-wingers or free-marketeers. When you are obsessed with a particular issue, you are likely to welcome allies regardless of their other views. Protestors who profess to hate corporate control cheered former ACT MP Rodney Hide when he spoke at the protest.

Shared opposition to covid restrictions gives the far-right a foot in a door that would normally be slammed shut, and opposing government measures allows them to position themselves as wanting ‘freedom’ even when calling for a military coup.

Believing anti-covid policies, which while often clumsy and poorly executed do have a rational aim, have destroyed our freedom, is an absurd fantasy. We’ve never been free. Since covid hit, stress and mental health problems have increased. The cost of living has risen. House prices are even more exorbitant than before. Some have lost their jobs. But none of these are new problems. We’ve suffered from them for decades.

The right-wing’s steering of discontent towards opposition to covid mandates is effectively saying “Let’s go back to the good old days – neo-liberalism, racism, poverty and a housing crisis”.

The reality is that there is no great plan to tighten control of the population. The elite’s plan is the same as it has always been – maintain as much economic inequality as possible and scramble to keep your own place near the top. ‘Business as usual’ has suited them fine, and they desire nothing more than a return to it. For the rest of us, this is a ghastly prospect in itself, for the elite, there’s no need to tamper with a system that is working perfectly well for them. They already have all the control they need.

The New Zealand government has frequently resorted to authoritarianism – again, this is nothing new. New Zealand’s history has included many repressive measures, the Maori Prisoners Act, for example, which made it legal to imprison people without trials and for the government to extend sentences without reference to a court.

The suppression of trade unions during the 1951 Waterfront dispute led to a state of emergency being declared and the media being censored to remove any articles supportive of the locked out workers. Even donating food to worker’s families was criminalised.

Military conscription during wars and compulsory military service in peacetime is another case.

In recent decades, our greatest loss of freedom has not come from direct government authoritarianism, but from economic pressures. Oppression has been privatised – participation in your community, in political organisations and debates, in society in general, is impossible if you have neither the time, the resources or the physical or mental health to do so. A large chunk of the population has been disempowered and excluded from democratic participation. They’ve been ground down, impoverished and disenfranchised.

While right-wing opportunists are stirring the pot, much of the fault for this situation lies with the mainstream left. Many of those at the protest are people the Labour Party, and many of the trade unions, abandoned when the party adopted neo-liberalism and the union leadership quietly let that happen. Sooner or later, these people were going to come under the influence of somebody else – somebody who could provide a sense of community and an understanding of the world, no matter how absurd – be it Destiny Church, conspiracy theorists or the alt-right.

The mainstream seems genuinely astonished that the social cohesion they themselves have been attacking for the last four decades is showing signs of cracking. Those who are marginalised by their policies were going to react in some way, and their reaction was unlikely to be pretty. Whatever its political – or apolitical – slant, it wouldn’t be the token, polite response the mainstream left considers acceptable. Hence the many ‘left’ commentators moaning that those on the protest didn’t just walk to parliament, listen to speeches and go home, as good citizens do.

Both the ruling class and parts of the middle class who have benefited from neo-liberalism have been living in a fool’s paradise, thinking they could wreck society for their own benefit without consequences.

In an emergency, such as a pandemic, social cohesion is crucial. But if the mainstream left continues its policy of rhetoric without delivery, and conveniently labels all opposition as irrational, things are only going to get worse. They have convinced themselves that a hugely unequal society is sustainable. It isn’t.

Sadly, I doubt what used to be the ‘mainstream left’ will learn from this. Their heads are too deeply buried in the sand.

The current manifestation of opposition to the mainstream is misguided, uninformed and unfocused. We can only hope that a genuine opposition, founded on a real understanding of economic and political forces, rather than conspiracy theories, can be built.

Those sucked in by conspiracy theories and right-wing idiocies need to be coaxed back to reality. And, before it’s too late, the crazy, socially destructive, economic experiment of the last few decades must be abandoned.

By Sam Buchanan

Those of us in the movement for climate justice have for many years advocated for systematic and radical changes to our economy and society to avert the threat of climate chaos. For decades, scientists have warned us about the implications of sea-level rise, droughts and super-storms to the point that we are now finding ourselves in earth’s sixth mass extinction event. While our movement against further fossil fuel extraction, the destruction of forests and the growing economic disparities within society has grown in recent years, we are still largely dealing with governments and corporations who remain part of the problem and are unwilling to shift.

1. COVID19 – an outpouring of solidarity and mutual aid

The last few months has seen the spread of COVID19 to all corners of our planet. A virus with no cure is killing and infecting thousands. Communities, iwi, councils and governments are rising up to the challenge to contain the virus. We are witnessing an outpouring of love, solidarity and mutual aid in the community and governments are taking drastic measures to protect the vulnerable in our society. The climate movement has nothing but admiration for how we are responding collectively and decisively.

2. Not going back to ‘normality’

Governments across the globe have pledged economic stimulus packages to support workers and companies who are facing the brunt of virus. In Aotearoa, this includes the tourism industry, which has more or less collapsed with entry restrictions; the hospitality sector; musicians and artists; and will also have long-term serious implications on the agricultural industry.

Government intervention is a must in these difficult times. But let’s be clear – the last thing we want is to return to ‘normality’.

Let’s just dissect ‘normality’ for a few sentences. Is it normal that the current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background rates? Is it normal that the past hundred years have seen global temperatures rise by over 1 degrees due to human activity? Is it normal that the world’s 26 richest people own as much wealth as poorest 50% together? No. no and no.

There is no going back to normality because normality is destroying our planet and our lives. So the last thing we should be doing right now is to collectivise the losses of companies that have been destroying this planet for decades.

3. Survive the pandemic – but extinct by the end of the millennia?

Surviving this pandemic is a priority. It has to be. It is a matter of survival, particularly for poor, indigenous and marginalised communities. But let’s intervene in the economy so that we not only get through the pandemic, but so that we also get through this millennia.

4. Capitalism is not our future

Capitalism is a relatively new economic model. For thousands of years, humans have lived in relative harmony with each other and the environment in tribal communities. Yes, there were rough times. Yes, there was war. But the presence of war, environmental degradation, disease and inequality with our current model is unprecedented. Capitalism is the root cause of the climate crisis. The never-ending concentration of economic and political power in the hands of a few at the expense of everyone else is bringing misery and hardship on a massive scale. We have to move on. We have to admit that capitalism was a bad mistake, learn from our mistakes and find collective solutions.

5. Solutions are beautiful – and they are everywhere

While the current pandemic has shown us the fragility of our own existence, it has also demonstrated that human nature is ultimately caring, kind and follows the maxim of ‘one for all, and all for one’. Values like solidarity and mutual aid – values that are so antithetical to the capitalist paradigm – run so strongly in our communities.

While many of us are involved on a day-to-day basis defending and expanding communal spaces and ideas as solutions to the climate crisis, we must be vocal now that we collectively seize this moment to move away and leave behind the age of capitalism, the age of plastic, the age of human domination over nature.

The New Zealand government will be hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Auckland in November 2021. This inter-governmental forum of 21 Pacific Rim countries has spent the last 30 years promoting its neo-liberal agenda, an agenda of endless capitalist growth at the expense of workers, communities and the environment. 

According to the government, “APEC 2021 will be the largest international event ever hosted by the New Zealand Government.” They are expecting presidents and prime ministers from across the Pacific: presidents of the USA, Russia, China and Indonesia to name but a few. 

Planning for the mega-get-together of warmongers is already in full swing. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade is taking the lead with organising events.  A key component to their planning is the recent introduction of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC 2021) Bill to parliament, giving the police, army and security guards a significant increase in temporary powers. 

We have been here before. 20 years ago, New Zealand hosted the APEC summit in Auckland. Back in early 1999, the government amended the Arms Act 1983 by temporarily inserting sections 65A – F which authorised “[authorised] foreign personal protection officer to carry and have possession of firearms.”

But the current proposed legislation goes a lot further than a change to the Arms Act. There are five key sections to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC 2021) Bill:

• the cops can authorise members of the army to assist the police – which is essentially a militarisation of every-day life
• the cops can authorise ‘appropriately trained’ people to assist them. This section refers to Australian cops and ‘employees of a New Zealand government agency’ (which is about as vague as you can be) but also – and here it gets more interesting – ‘people commonly known as security guards, who are called crowd controllers’. So basically the security guards that have been assaulting activists at blockades in recent years such as the Petroleum Summits or the Weapons Expo will be working hand-in-hand with the cops as private mercenaries
• ‘Foreign protection officers’ (think VIP security guards for visiting presidents and prime ministers) can be armed (just like in 1999)
• police can create ‘security areas’ giving them a whole heap of power including shutting down roads, public places, privately owned places and removing and searching people in those areas
• and finally, the Bill allows the police to use W-ECM – ‘Wireless electronic countermeasures’. This basically means using massive ‘jammers’ to stop anyone using cellphones or radios (the example given is a presidential motorcade where “there is a chance this technology will block your signal for a few minutes, after which it will return to normal”)

20 years ago, Peace Movement Aotearoa encouraged their supporters to make submissions against the government’s desire to amend the Arms Act to allow foreign secret service agents and others to carry firearms during the APEC meeting. While it appears this legislation will pass again, we can use this time to connect with each other, strategise and articulate our collective criticism of APEC and what it stands for. Submissions close on 12th February 2020 and it’s easy enough to use parliament’s submission form for a brief rant. 

More importantly, the organised left in Aotearoa needs to start a serious discussion around how we can counter the neo-liberal and neo-colonial rhetoric that will be shoved down our throats for the next two years. 

Check out this new article by Debbie Bookchin and Sixtine van Outryve.

Confederalism as a revolutionary strategy provides us with the means to build and organize a radically democratic and egalitarian society at scale.

The Confederation as the Commune of Communes

The Morning Star Flag was flying in coastal Taranaki (Aotearoa / New Zealand) today in support of a world-wide call for an end to Indonesian military occupation of West Papua.

West Papua has been occupied by the Indonesian military since it was handed over, against the will of the indigenous population, to Indonesia in 1963. Since then, the people of West Papua have been subjected to gross human rights violations including rape, torture, cultural genocide, murder and massacre – more than 100,000 West Papuans have been killed. Many live in exile because it is not safe for them to go home.

Multi-national corporations have exploited West Papua’s natural resources to an extraordinary degree. This has caused massive social dislocation, devastation of rain forests, pollution of streams and rivers on which the local people depend for their survival, and serious human rights violations in areas where multinationals operate.

1 December is West Papua Independence Day, this year marking the fifty seventh 

anniversary of the day the West Papuans first raised their new flag, the Morning Star, as the symbol of their forthcoming independence from Dutch colonial rule. The flag is flown in solidarity at dozens of rallies and gatherings across the globe today.

#GlobalFlagRaising #FreeWestPapua #PapuaMerdeka

More information:

• https://www.freewestpapua.org/
• https://westpapuaactionauckland.wordpress.com
• Solidarity groups across the globe
• https://www.facebook.com/OceaniaInterrupted/

I vote YES – together for Kanaky

The votes from yesterday’s referendum on independence in New Caledonia are counted. 56.4% (78,361 people) voted against independence while 43.6% said yes (60,573 people). Voter turnout was very high with 80.63% of registered voters casting a vote. Voters were asked the following question: Do you want New Caledonia to attain full sovereignty and become independent? (Overview | Detail)

Obviously, it is not the result that Kanak people were campaigning for and many will be disappointed. There were reports of fires late last night with the police saying that roads were blocked in Saint-Louis.

A brief analysis of the votes shows massively different results in the various communes. New Caledonia is split into three provinces – the North, South and the outer islands. The islands and the North overwhelmingly voted in favour of independence. However, the more populous southern province with the capital Nouméa was able to swing the vote around.

It is crystal-clear that the villages with a majority Kanak population voted united for a move away from France with some communes having a yes vote of 94%. In the south, however, the situation is exactly reversed. One village voted with 97% to remain with France. According to the 2014 census, the Kanak people make up 39.1% of the total population.

It is important to compare the present result with the referendum held in 1987. Back then, less than 2% voted in favour of independence. The movement for liberation had boycotted the referendum. Fast forward 30 years, and the situation is completely different. The Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) was actively out in the streets campaigning for a yes. In villages where the majority of the population is indigenous, voter participation was definitely lower with the lowest participation of 53% in the island of Maré. Still though, it is clear that a majority of Kanak people can see participating in the referendum as a pathway towards independence and liberation.

The good news: it’s not over. There will be another referendum on independence in two years time and if that fails, there will be one more vote two years after that. The struggle will continue. The Union of Kanaky and Exploited Workers (USTKE) will continue to organise in workplaces and the various political parties and tribes will keep pushing for a more just and free society. In the meantime though, New Caledonia remains on the United Nations lists of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Réveillons notre conscience – marchons dans les pas de nos anciens

• http://unioncaledonienne.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/pg/FLNKSOfficiel
• http://ustke.org/
• http://archive.indymedia.org.nz/article/77593/fire-kanaky-ustke-french-state-clash-ove