Posted on by Pablo

Reactionary bookends.

Now that election season is underway in NZ, I shall very briefly drift into a subject I usually tend to avoid: NZ domestic politics, and more specifically, policy agendas during election campaigns. In this case I would like to note two examples of what I (and many experts far more knowledgeable than myself) see as a major flaw in MMP, as exemplified by the Right’s embrace of populist themes.

First we have NZ First and its NZ version of MAGA mendacity. Slamming all contrary views as “woke,” sucking up to mining and fishing interests, going full xenophobic racist on Opposition MPs and communities of Chinese and Indian descent, dog-whistling homo- and trans-phobic hysteria, kissing the rear of the gun lobby and generally being grumpy old codgers is pretty rich for a party led by opportunistic rather than self-recognised Maori men in parliament. They may have been born Maori but when it comes to election agendas, they are anything but. In the US such type of MAGA people–people of color who use their color only when it suits them–have some processed snack-related names attached to them.

They are also unimaginative. They might have some One Nation/Hanson tropes in their policy mix but they are simply MAGA lite, Kiwi style. Insults included. It is a pity that a former academic political scientist is one of Peter’s main advisors because he certainly has the capacity to know better about how corrosive that brand of politics is to national cohesion and civilised debate. But for Peters and his colleagues the main goal is to exploit the MMP weakness and carve out the 5 percent needed to stay in parliament and perhaps figure in coalition discussions. Forget the other 95 percent of voters. What matters is to grab that sliver of electoral pie and if that means catering to the baser instincts of reactionary Deep State and other conspiracy theory types as well as religious bigots and assorted other anti-social ideological riff-raff, then so be it. They just need to reach the election threshold to convert their narcissistic self-interest into a parliamentary presence, perhaps as no more than a vanity project but also perhaps as a power-broker faction under MMP (as we have recently and sadly seen).

Phrased differently: The price of Grumpy Winston’s and Greasy-palmed Shane’s baubles is stirring the effluent pools of NZ politics. PM Luxon’s tepid response to NZ First’s antics demonstrate more than his personal weakness. It serves as a passive enabling device that allows racist and xenophobic beliefs to be mainstreamed into election politics. Luxon needs the financial contributions to National from certain ethnic-based business groups, but he also knows that on current polling he can either condemn MAGA-style sectarian and culture war extremism or he can hope to make a pact with the devil. He has chosen the latter.

Then there is ACT. One thing is obvious beyond the racism that is behind its Treaty Principles bill and its corporate pimping with regard to the Resources Management Reform bill. It also does not know or care about children or educators. Take its latest campaign initiative. With a strong female majority employee base, who does ACT expect to be the ones who use “reasonable force” on unruly middle and secondary school students, some of whom may either be large, violent or both. Does ACT propose to hire school discipline officers to deal with such students? If not, then what? Does Seymour, a posterboi for incels who says he has a girlfriend but whose obsession with former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman was more that of the stalker creep rather than the partisan policy difference type, have a clue about how to deal with contrarian, disturbed, distressed or alienated 12 to 18 year olds? And no, I do not include as “experience” chatting up minor females on social media.

Plus, what about teacher safety? Does he really expect teachers, not trained in physical restraint techniques and deescalation procedures, to be on the front line against “miscreant” students once things threaten to or get physical? How would the chickenhawk Paul Henry fare in a tussle with a teenager? Or will it be the Cruella de Ville South African woman who cracks the whip on those do not conform, obey and bow to the rod? And if all of this was somehow achievable, what is the cost and who pays for it? Is not ACT’s schtick about reducing budgetary deficits and bloated public sector expenditures? How does a “reasonable force” policy enter into that equation, both in terms of financial costs but also in terms of the human costs involved in the resort to physical control of young people? Who pays the price for all of this, and how?

Surely ACT know that the proposal is not practicable. But they can blame teacher’s unions for being “soft” on student misbehaviour and pass the buck onto education professionals who know how and why “reasonable force” is not the answer to problems that begin far from classrooms. They can talk about parental failure and inter-generational dependencies resulting in bad school-kid behaviour. They do so not because they care or have realistic remedies, but because as with the NZ First racists and xenophobes, they hope that it stirs the pot enough to keep them in parliament as power-brokers using the same logic as Winston and company.

And true to form, Luxon and fellow National Party leaders dutiful go along with the proposed uncosted “tough on youth crime” overreach.

I say all of this only slightly tongue in cheek because this is what NZ has become, at least on the Right. And from what I can see, the corporate media is happy to give them a platform to spew their nonsense as if it were common sense.

But here lies the rub, because “common sense” is what elites tell us how things should be, whereas good sense is what our hearts and minds tell us what should be regardless of what elites say. Something tells me that, notwithstanding the crackpots in Groundswell and other astroturf outfits associated with the Wellington protests a few years back, in their hearts and minds most Kiwis know that when it comes to public policy, Seymour, Peters and their entourages are no more than grandiloquent turd-polishers posing as politicians.

27 Replies to “Reactionary bookends.”

  1. I love your strong language Pablo – thank you.
    It summarises/paraphrases so much of what I see too. The parties, the ‘policies’. Travesties.
    I am concerned about Martyn Bradbury. Our houshold enjoys his Bradbury Group very much, fast and hard-hitting, eloquent and honest.
    Have just given some $$ support for his legal defence. Methinks from rulings today that the judge is a tad conservative, and I am worried about ‘outcomes’.

    For any here who believe in free speech esp on blogs, please give to his cause.

    Kind regards – thanks again for the good work!!

    PS I have often wondered about JJ – Winnie’s chief advisor – too. He is often there in the background of news clips. Looking harassed, I might add.

  2. Cheers Barbara.

    My use of strong language with reference to the likes of Jones, Peters and Seymour is my way of mocking them by imitating their rhetorical styles. They deserve whatever crudity comes their ways.

    I realise that people sell out their principles for any number of things, but the JJ-NZ First marriage, which at first looked like one of convenience and opportunity, may now be one of shared belief. JJ never showed that when in academic as far as I know, but everyone. has a dark side and NZ First may just be the rock under which he feels most comfortable. I had heard that he was a voice of moderation in Winnie’s ear, but it no longer looks like that.

    Martyn has gone from Bomber to martyr. I do not know what he wrote and what are the reasons for the court orders against his publishing some blog posts. There is a heck of a lot of latitude in what people can write as opinion pieces, which his posts are, so I am curious as to why he has been singled out when there is so much more out there, mostly from the Right, that is hateful, demeaning, slanderous and defamatory. So I do hope he walks away uncensored, in any event.

    What I do not like is him doing the exact same thing the jerks at the Free Speech Union and assorted right-wingers do, which is to act like he is the Joan of Arc of free speech defenders being burned at the stake by the State for his heroic defense of the right to an opinion that may or may not have broken some media rule (the HDCA). Since I have not seen the posts in question I cannot offer an opinion on whether they are harmful or not under the HDCA, but the carry-on is a bit much and seems very close to the snowflake whinging about free speech of the FSU, Taxpayers Union and the rest of NZ’e on-line rightwing rabble. And he even solicits money for his defense from nice people like you! Yeah, nah.

  3. I found out who JJ is, and like you I sometimes wonder if he really believes Winston’s agenda or if it’s filthy lucre, given JJ criticised Don Brash’s race-baiting Orewa Rotary speech.

    Paul Henry is a big $#!t who thinks “little $#!ts” are the problem. It’s plausible Greta Thunberg & the School Strike for Climate she inspired scare him & his ilk more than gangs and terrorists.

  4. PS. While the FSU is consistent on issues like gang patch bans, flag burning, and anti-colonialist poetry, it remains selective on who & what it boosts. And it seems rather too keen on boosting reactionary centrist views of the kind espoused by Bari Weiss and Bill Maher.

  5. lol my (relatively) modest donation was because I like what he does – on the Bradbury Group; and when he guests on similar lw progs. I do not read his blogs (The Daily Blog).
    But I feel for him, he is rubbing up against the legal machine – and was told off by the judge for even speaking in a very circuitous way about – nothing – really, to do with the case. Told to get a lawyer.
    I am not really into social media as I have said before, watch a few things on youtube and thats about it, no twitter (X), fb or suchlike. I do not care for it.
    But as you say it does seem that he has been singled out, and the right have more $$ to throw away on these things than the left.
    Help, you only need to look at the huge discrepancies in political donations between the right and the left parties to see that.
    I make no apologies for supporting the left, and esp the independent lw media.

    Kind regards :-)

  6. I will confine my comments to two points below.

    1) Like Hispanic communities in the U.S., Maori aren’t obliged to hold any particular political views. Going against that idea alienates voters.

    I am a ‘regular white guy’, but I don’t tie my identity to a single political viewpoint. If another white male holds different political views from me, that is their democratic right. However, free speech/the right to hold opposing views doesn’t mean I have to take someone else’s ideas seriously.

    Besides, if I discounted someone’s views solely based on political differences, I would sometimes fail to find value in the articles on this blog. I often respect the quality of the arguments found in those articles, despite my disagreements with them.

    2) Concerning MMP: A sound argument exists that MMP is behind anti-democratic forces/the Greens and the Te Pāti Māori parties into parliament.

    If one accepts there are also right-wing kooks in Parliament via the same means, surely MMP needs to be axed?

  7. Luke:

    Was that intended to be a reply to the mentioned post? I ask because it goes (way) off on a tangent (a few, actually), rather than address the NZFirst racist/xenophobic/anti-woke rhetoric and/or the Seymour/ACT opportunistic populism about schoolkid discipline using the MMP structure to advance their minimum threshold appeals. Henceforth let’s try to stay within the lines of the conversation as drawn.

  8. Seriously good and accurate essay Pablo.
    What amuses me is that when the right wing specimens you mention are met with criticism in kind, they immediately resort to playing the victim card.
    And then there’s the female blokes – often being as cruel as the possibly can.
    One thing I noticed in the California’s Bay Area a year or so ago was members of the ‘left’ Black Community frequently using the UT and HN descriptors quite often. I couldn’t blame them, and in fact it won’t be long before we see the same thing here in ‘lil ‘ole NuZull that punches above its weight.

  9. Barbara:

    I fear that Bomber has played into the complainant’s hands and the advice to “get a lawyer” is a good one that he should have done earlier. He seems to be treating the court as a stage rather than as a legal proceeding and now will have to spend money defending himself–which is what the complainant likely wanted all along (to extract a pound of flesh for being insulted). I assume that if the complaint has no real merit any lawyer would have written the complainant prior to the court hearing telling them to cease their vexatious litigation because the DHCA was created as a response to people publishing non-consensual explicit images (e.e. revenge porn), not some blog opinion. But Bomber did not mention vexatious litigation to the judge as far as I can tell from his own published accounts, instead deciding to go for a version of Castro’s “history will absolve me” court speech made decades go, but without the historical merit or political significance. I think that is why the judge told him to secure a lawyer’s services.

    I agree that supporting Left media is a worthy cause. I just wish the Left media would be a little more savvy about how to play the game in a media environment dominated by reactionaries, corporate and otherwise.

  10. Pablo, I intended to address a couple of matters mentioned in the op. I was dealing with the concept of self-recognised Māori. I also dealt with how you mentioned a flaw in MMP.

    I deliberately confined my remarks to those points to avoid turning my comments into a loaded political gun at the author.

  11. Thanks Pablo – my point was, its the $$$, stupid lol
    My observation is that the Left does not have as much access to funds to pursue these things as the right. vis the court case funded by Jim Grenon in support of Julian Bachelor (which ultimately failed).
    Perhaps Bomber was naive in thinking he could represent himself.
    I have little personal experience of lawyers per se in my private life; the one time, they were invaluable and really highlighted to me how helpful personally they could be, like some kind of paid, hugely skilled, friend.
    No wonder the wealthy, Trump being the best example (more or less), forge deep bonds with their lawyers!
    I hope Bomber will come through this. He was worried that if he did not defend it somehow it would be the beginning of more attacks on lw independent media. Which is probably true.
    Otherwise, it will be one less, strong voice in support of the Left, coming into one of the most crucial elections for some years.
    We cannot afford to have another 3 years of this destructive govt.

  12. Paul H.:

    There is irony in that the Right attacks the Left but the Left spends more time attacking other parts of the Left rather than focusing on the Right. This has always been a problem for the Left. Although now in the US the fractures within MAGA are good to see, the obvious distaste felt towards each other by NACTFirst coalition leaders is sublimated to one goal: winning. Sadly, as Luxon’s response to the rhetoric of the Right extremists has shown, the NZ Right knows how to tactically unite for electoral purposes rather than argue in public. For them it is about power, not principle. For Labour it is about snatching defeat from the jaws of a victory being handed to them (could it be that they do not want to govern given current circumstances? Sometimes a tactical loss can turn into a strategic gain. But with NZ Labour, IMO, nah,).

    As for the Greens and te Pati Maori, it is all about performative politics in the face of Labour’s Third Way sell-out defeatism. SAD!

  13. Pablo:
    “……… (could it be that they do not want to govern given current circumstances? ”

    That may well be the case with a few of them, but I doubt it’s the case with the likes of Kieran Mc and a heap of others. They definitely have the wrong leader but seem to be scared of airing their dirty linen in public. It’s a shame Keiran said he’s got no desire to take over. Time is running out so I guess we just have to hope the electorate is fed up to the back teeth with the incompetence of the current specimens (NZ’s Scott Bessant (Goldsmith); the 3 Cruella deVille screachers -Willis, Upston and Stanford); Bogan 1 from the Hutt Valley and the rest of them.

    Bernard Hickey had an interesting take on it all on RNZ’s Morning Report this morning. (Basically they just don’t understand NZ’s economy)
    Anyway, cheers and keep up the good fight

  14. Re your comment re Maori men. My late husband (Maori, Ngati Kahungungu, not from round here!) was quite taken by Winston Peters in his early rise as a politician. There was much to admire, his oratory, charisma, his elegant dress sense (his nickname was Bond Street) and his sporting prowess. He had achieved academically. He and my husband shared a similar upbringing during the supression, or rather complete denial of Maori language and culture. Neither spoke Maori with any fluency. It’s ironic that The English Language Bill is going through the House at the moment.
    My husband had some right leanings, having his own business and employing people, despite both of us coming from solid working class stock (now a forgotten category?) His Mother used to walk three miles to town to vote Labour on Election Day.
    Winston Peters today is something different. The packaging is the same but what emerges is the worst of populism. Perhaps this was him all along but hidden and we are now seeing the true Winston. What really galls me though is that although both he and Shane Jones are Maori they do not advocate for their own people.

  15. Peters has always been a neo-Muldoonist, culturally and economically. He’s just making it a lot more obvious with age.

    If anyone’s been wondering where I stand politically – and some of you may already know – I took the “bread pill” when I became old enough to vote during the final moments of the last millennium, which coincidentally was also when the first Matrix movie came out in cinemas. The alternative was the “blue-rinse pill”, for lack of a better description.

  16. KR: If you read KP and are not trolling, it stands to reason that you are Left-leaning. One question. I can figure out what a blue rinse pill is but what is a “bread pill?” Greens?

  17. Maybe its generational but don’t know what a bread pill is or how you are using “blue rinse”? (Blue rinse is old lady but how could that refer to you as I assume you are male????)

  18. Barbara: The red pill-blue pill theme comes from the late 90s movie “The Matrix” with Keanu Reeves. Alternative reality stuff. I think KR is reference NZ First as the blue rinse pill given the preponderance of older (white) folk that gravitate to it. I also have no idea what bread pill means but I assume he is playing off the red pill theme.

  19. While we are on abbrevs. Can anyone tell what UT and HN stand for in Paul H’s post above, from the 5 Aug. ?
    I am interested that he thinks they will be adopted here – but I haven’t a clue what he’s talking about lol

  20. Barbara,
    I assume that UT refers to “Uncle Tom” and HN refers to “House Negro” or something more offensive. These are terms used on African-americans who defer to or seek favour from whites (referencing the slaves who served in plantation houses). Modern variants include the term “Oreo,” which is a reference to a cookie that has black wafers on the outside and white filling on the inside.

    The context for our exchange was my noting that Peters and Jones are more pakeha than Maori in their social orientations in spite of their bloodlines. There are food-related words that type of folk as well but I shall desist from using them.

  21. Interesting, thank you.
    I’m afraid its all above (or below) me lol

    I’m of the opinion (recently repeated on another podcast) that NZF will die a natural death when WP does. At 81 years old and seeking another 3 years (good grief) he’s a good candidate for quite literally being carted out feet 1st from Parliament. I cannot see Luxon having him as Foreign Minister again surely – so he will be consigned to interminable days (and nights) in the House. Which I do not think he will be able to hack. He has seemed to enjoy jetting around globally, skittering out of the country when it suits him. What a w—–, eh (‘scuse my French lol)
    Ah! life rolls on :-)

  22. Pablo, Barbara
    Yes you’re correct re UT and HN
    In California, I often heard it in relation to CNN’s panelistas (such as Shermichael Singleton et al). I’ve also heard the UT thing here in NZ – over several years.
    I don’t really like hearing the terms, but I can understand why.
    Enough said, and I hope the HN doesn’t catch on.
    When in Santa Clara a year or so ago, I often chatted with a very traumatised negro/black veteran – homeless and everything that goes with that. He had (by way of begging) enough for a gym membership which enabled him to shower, shave and shit, and basically lived by the local shopping mall, and a lazyboy type armchair parked up near the forest. we would provide him with food and transport as best we could. A seriously good bloke.

  24. KR: Thanks. I did not know about the term “breadpill,” although I assume that the bread part refers to the classic bread and roses phrase. As for the wretched Ms. O’Brien, her hypocrisy and cruelty are of equal measure. Bomber has had his issues with women and Phoney Annie has gotten her pound of flesh by forcing him to hire a lawyer, but I believe that lawyer has now told her what I said in a previous reply–this is vexatious litigation that does not fall within the purview of the HDCA. As such she should drop the complaint and be made to pay costs to Bomber. Like many right-wingers, she thinks that she is very clever when in reality she is not that smart, now exposed to be embarrassingly so. SAD!

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