Written By:
Ben Clark - Date published:
12:29 pm, July 9th, 2012 - 7 comments
Categories: democratic participation, Maori Issues, petition, Privatisation, treaty settlements, water -
Tags: waitangi tribunal
As the Sir Graham Latimer and the Maori Council launch their bid to halt asset sales in the Waitangi Tribunal, the grassroots campaign is gathering steam too. This Saturday is to be a National Day of Action.
John Key, showing his usual respect for due process, the rule of law and other people’s opinions, tells us that National may ignore the Waitangi Tribunal anyway, but the process has the potential to at least delay the sale of Mighty River Power.
And any delay may give more time for petition signatures to be gathered ahead of the event. As signatures rapidly head towards the 200,000 mark, there is a distinct possibility that a delayed sale will mean the petition is submitted – with more than 10% of New Zealanders signed up – before anything is put on the block.
The Greens now apparently hold the lead with 72,000 signatures gathered before the weekend, and there will now be a friendly competition between the 2 main left political parties’ activists as they try and gather most. By the time the rest of the coalition – Grey Power, Student Associations, Unions and Greenpeace – have their signatures added, the numbers are rising fast.
It’s slow work (my friend and I got another 50 signatures at the weekend…) – even a popular petition like this gathers about 25-30 signatures per person-hour put in – but the fact that hundreds of activists are willing to spend tens of thousands of hours gathering the signatures, and the fact that people are so willing to sign, should really hammer home the message to this willfully-deaf government.
And so Saturday is to be a National Day of Action. There will be events in Auckland (2pm Britomart), Christchurch (2pm Riccarton Rd – Great Press!), Wellington (2pm Venue TBC), Dunedin (11am Octagon), Hamilton (10am Te Rapa Rd), as well as Hokianga, Napier, Taranaki, Whanganui, Palmerston North and Nelson. See Aotearoa Is Not For Sale for details, and if your town isn’t included – tell them and organise something yourself!
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One hopes the Maori Party at last is opening its eyes to what they in coalescence with, supporting a Party which actively works against their own people.
The fight does continue and i am pleased that Mana have come out in support of this Waitangi Claim, as Hone says, “”I suspect that there will be many Pakeha supporting this claim as well” said Harawira “as more and more of them come to realise that The Treaty is the only chance of keeping our power companies in the people”s hands”. I’m not sure about the ‘only’ way but the point is made anyway.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1207/S00100/mana-supports-water-claim.htm
The recent TAG report weakening the RMA is also part of their sinister agenda, as Fish and Game said, “Make no mistake – any attempt to lessen the protection of trout and salmon habitat in the RMA is full-frontal attack on the environment.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1207/S00064/rma-rejig-a-disaster-for-the-environment.htm
As i state in my post, “This will be a very interesting hearing and the report that comes out will show the truth, but the truth is irrelevant to key and his cronies. It is money they want and they will destroy us all to get it – well fuck them I say – we will stop them and we will do it with integrity and honesty – the two qualities our opposition lacks.”
http://mars2earth.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/stopping-rot.html
Thank you to all who are fighting against these exploiters.
AOTEAROA NZ IS STILL NOT FOR SALE. NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST ASSET SALES, SATURDAY JULY 14 2012
Make a big push for the National Day of Action this Saturday JUly 14th. It’s also Bastille Day 😉
endorsed by Helen Kelly for the Council of Trade unions, Phil Twyford for the Labour Party,the Green Party, Hone Harawira for the Mana Movement. Also endorsed by We Are the University (Auckland), Unite Union, the EPMU, the Public Service Association, the Service and Food Workers Union, the Maritime Union of New Zealand, New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Equity, Citizens Against Privatisation and Socialist Aotearoa.
Print out leaflet HERE-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kib1r28a8xctfph/anznfs-leaflet-july.pdf
Don’t just join- share this event and invite all your friends!
to help set up an action in your area, phone Joe at 029 44 55 702.
Hamilton- https://www.facebook.com/events/254089791366056/
Palmerston North- https://www.facebook.com/events/212098175579407/
Whanganui- http://www.facebook.com/events/411222562255038/
Taranaki- https://www.facebook.com/events/448550981834707/
Napier- https://www.facebook.com/events/206879449438201/
Chirstchurch- https://www.facebook.com/events/254862264628627
Nelson- https://www.facebook.com/events/328042460614102/
Dunedin- https://www.facebook.com/events/404108319625898/
Glad this day is happening. But it’s not enough notice for me to book a day off work.
Hope lots of people go to the demos.
THE NEXT STAGE OF THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ASSET SALES!
IT’S PEOPLE POWER TIME!!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4123508375979&set=a.3918182922971.2166233.1531441859&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4123431654061&set=p.4123431654061&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4123424253876&set=p.4123424253876&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4123408853491&set=p.4123408853491&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4123420773789&set=p.4123420773789&type=1&theater
IF YOU ARE A MERCURY ENERGY CUSTOMER AND YOU WANT TO SWITCH POWER COMPANIES TO HELP MAKE MIGHTY RIVER POWER A LESS ATTRACTIVE INVESTMENT – YOU CAN CHECK OUT HERE – WHERE BEST TO GO!
NB: DON’T SHIFT TO ‘CONTACT’ – THEY’RE ALREADY PRIVATISED.
http://www.powerswitch.org.nz/powerswitch
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption (and anti-privatisation) campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Had a great experience of signature collection up the Kapiti coast on saturday with some local Greens. We started the day in Otaki town, and were doing fairly well. However, we finished in Paekakariki were it went brilliantly. Every single person in the shops village signed, and then when we went down to the football field, another 50 people signed in about 10 minutes.
Also, the stupid Aotearoa Not for Sale website won’t let me register an account, because “only lower case letters and numbers are allowed on the form.” not sure how people are getting around the need to put @ in email addresses.
Anyway, the reason I was signing up was to promote two events. Firstly there will be a huge group of signature collecters at Wellington station this thursday in the evening, and secondly the Greens are going to be doing the Cuba precinct on the 14th. Come down and sign if you haven’t already.