How much longer do we have to live with this”neoliberal” nightmare?!
It should have died with the global financial crisis, caused by the unfettered greed of the banksters, their enablers, and the socially callous. It promised so much – raise the life-enhancing boats for all – and delivered inequalities across the globe. The rich are gorging on their unnecessary wealth of gated mansions, over-sized luxury yachts, status enhancing baubles, plastic sculptured bodies and minds, and their Hawaiian getaways: the hungry queue for scraps, and the homeless live in tents beside flood-prone rivers.
This morning I caught a bit of a replay on Al Jazeera, of an episode in their “Meltdown” series. The four part-er explored the causes and impacts of the global financial crisis of 2008: the men who crashed the world, and those who paid the price.
Today they aired part 3 “Paying the Price”
The episode showed the impact on people in different countries: the collapse of a government in Iceland; workers unions in France campaigning for workers’ rights; and middle class families in California who lost their homes and jobs.
In California, some people were living in tents, in exactly the same spot as the homeless of the 1930s depression.
What sort of society calls it self the home of the free and brave, claims super power status, advocates we all follow their model, while so many of their own live in poverty?
And our current government would like NZ to be more like them!
They claim they are working for Kiwis, to a brighter future. Meanwhile they gradually and ruthlessly continuing to tighten the screws on those who already are looking towards the bleakest of futures.
Today, Auckland Action Against Poverty started its third Action Impact advocating for beneficiaries – in Mangere this time.
I have posted on the previous two Action Impacts:
First in Onehunga: “Advocacy action in precarious times” explains what the AAAP action impact is about.
The second was in New Lynn last year: “Tales from the precariat” includes some AAAP videos, telling of the hardships of many Kiwis. I wrote:
They speak of people incorrectly/illegally having their benefits cut, leaving people struggling and hungry.
Today AAAP posted a video about the first day of their Mangere Impact:
Sue Bradford talks of dealing with someone who had no food in the house for days, and had sent her daughter to school with no food.
What the welfare reforms have meant over the last year has been that AAAP and other beneficiary groups have been very very busy trying to help people it impacts. So many people are not being granted a benefit, or are having their benefits cut when they shouldn’t be or are on the wrong benefit.
The whole drive of Work and Income these days is to keep people of the benefit, or if they’re on it, to keep it as low as possible. And for many many people they simply do not have enough food to live on – enough to live on altogether from one week to he next.
The Mangere Action Impact is going for two more days: Wednesday and Thursday. Anyone can go and get support from advocates, to claim the benefits they are entitled to.
In this year’s elections:
The Greens have a raft of policies to bring about and maintain a fair society.
Labour have policies that focus on full employment and living wages, also aiming for a “fair and decent society”.
The Mana Party has a collection of policy statements, aiming to realise their founding principles:
to bring rangatiratanga to the poor, the powerless and the dispossessed. It is they who carry the brunt of government by the rich and powerful for the rich and powerful. We will lead the fight against welfare that punishes children, against greed that is rewarded by corporate payouts, against the damage to Papatūānku by pollution and oil drilling and against governments who fill the pockets of foreign companies at our expense.
The Internet Party is developing policies to:
to get an open, free, fair, connected and innovative society.
Vote Left this election to change the government, a start building towards a fair society!
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