The scientific evidence is clear, reducing inequality with cash injections to the most disadvantaged gives them the resources they need to escape poverty benefiting and enriching the whole of society.
Where does the cash come?
It comes from government which gains its income from taxes on the more well off.
The political representatives of the more well off, like National and ACT are against taxing the well off for any sort of social programs even if those programs would benefit the whole of society. And so will campaign to oppose them.
Fundamental to this campaign is the promotion of the idea, that the poor are indigent, irresponsible, stupid and lazy, and responsible for their own distress and powerlessness.
Relentlessly the representatives of the rich will push the idea, that taxing the well off to fund social programs will only see the less well off spend more on drugs and booze and gambling and other social evils.
Again and again studies like this prove the opposite. That given the resources the poor will use them raise themselves and their families out of poverty.
There is more than one way that society's wealth can be distributed more equitably, While the benefits of governments doing this directly is backed by studies like this.
Governments are not the only agencies that have the power to redistribue the wealth of society more equitably. More traditionally, trade unions have played this role.
I am reminded here of the rise of South Korea to become the economic power house that it is today. This transformation began with the rise of powerful trade unions that led successful struggles to wrest more of that society's wealth for the working people. The increase in well being of the working population led to increases in productivity, the continuing rise in incomes and resources at the bottom of South Korean society led to higher achievement levels for South Korean children in schools leading to more children of working families to be more able to move up to receive the advantages of higher education. The struggle of the trade union movement in South Korea was also linked to the struggle for more democracy and openness in South Koran society.
These hard won advances were fought every step of the way. As will the proven benfits of government led redistribution will be too.
These experiments could lift millions out of dire poverty
Randomized trials are changing the way governments and aid organizations study — and deliver — measures to reduce inequality and poverty.
In 2012, the government of Niger began giving some of its poorest citizens free money. Over the next few years, around 100,000 participating households received 24 monthly payments of roughly US$16 — which more than doubled their typical spending power.
The programme was based on decades of evidence from carefully controlled trials, suggesting that simple cash infusions can transform lives…..
On Saturday Mickysavage, posted in praise of UK union leader Mick Lynch.
Attached to the bottom of his post, Mickysavage added the Green Day rendition of John Lennon's song 'Working Class Hero'.
The Green Day backing video features refugees from tyrannies where campaigns for social justice and against extreme inequality are suppressed with massive violence and oppression. Local ruling elites of these countries, quick to suppress any sort of trade union or democratic activity, are often supported and backed, (and also armed with military aid), by Western powers that benefit from the neo-colonial oppression, exploitation and looting of these countries in an international web of binding business contracts, trade deals and political and military partnership links.
What reminded me of your comment, Barry, and the link you provided to proven studies of how to relieve poverty, was the first line sung by Green Day,
"As soon as you're born, they make you feel small
By giving you nothing instead of it all"
Despite the proven success of the trials in relieving poverty by providing resources and funds to poor people, these trials will never be rolled out as government programs. The international links between the local ruling elites and the ruling elites in the West who in partnership also benefit from the inequality, poverty and low incomes in these countries, (possibly even more than the local elites), will simply not allow it.
It will take a hard fought campaign against these vested interests, the same for the struggle of the RMTU workers, led my Mick Lynch.
Royal Navy could escort grain ships through Odesa blockade
Tuesday May 24 2022, 12.15pm BST
Britain is in discussion with allies about sending warships to the Black Sea to protect freighters carrying Ukrainian grain. A “coalition of the willing” would aim to break Russia’s blockade in weeks by providing a “protective corridor” from Odesa through the Bosphorus….
…..the coalition could include some Nato countries and other countries reliant on the grain.
It is thought that Egypt, which has been hit hard by the wheat shortage, might be willing to take part….
While the US hegemon might regard the Pacific region as a US Lake.
(on a smaller scale), Russia regards the Black Sea as a Russian lake,
Moscow claims it sees ‘true’ plans behind Ukrainian grain coalition
RT – 23 Jun, 2022 13:16
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
“The attempts to organize some kind of international coalition for the implementation of these procedures are aimed solely at interfering in the Black Sea region under the auspices of the UN. And we see this quite clearly,”
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Thursday also addressed the issue of helping Ukrainian grain leave the ports, saying that it would require “an international effort.”
Both war and climate change have the same drivers.
It follows, that if we can't stop the war, We can't stop climate change.
Stopping war, is stopping climate change.
…..Austria has already had to restart a mothballed power plant running on coal (which is much dirtier as a fuel than gas). Germany is also firing up its coal generators. That’s bitter for a country that had instead been planning to exit coal power altogether. It’s especially wrenching for the Greens, who are running the combined energy and commerce ministry and have to implement this policy U-turn.
Russian warlord Putin gloats at Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuel supplies while mocking the urgent need to turn toward renewables. A turn which would undermine Europe's (and the world's), dependence on fossil fuels, and Putin's ability to use this dependence as a weapon.
Russian leader has buried the old world order and outlined his view on Russia’s and the world’s future, in a key address
…..“blindly believing in renewable sources” and abandoning long-term natural gas contracts with Russia led to the spike in energy prices last year, according to the Russian leader.
When asked why Mr Ross was allowed to run for election in Botany last year given the earlier complaint about his behaviour, Mr Goodfellow said the matter was simple.
"It was a matter that was raised by a couple of people and was dealt with – and actually to the satisfaction of the parties," he said.
At the time of the agreement Ross was the senior whip for the National Party and one of their best fundraisers. He went on to be promoted to the front bench after serving as Bridges' "numbers man" during the leadership election.
Happy Matariki to everyone. I have a question about the Commercialisation of the celebration. I know it has been discussed recently but, in my opinion, posed by bad faith actors on this site. Am watching the TVNZ Matariki Special and in ad breaks they are advertising a "Give me a Clue Matariki Special" If they can advertise that, why can't other commercial identities use Matariki in their advertising. I'm just asking about consistency. Cheers.
Only really caught up on yesterday's conversation later in the day.
I don't really understand the impulse to determine how others view this holiday, and pre-determine what significance it holds for all.
The Christians I know celebrate Christmas in both the commercialised cultural way, and with attendant church activities and sermons. They neither demand the same from others, or begrudge those that hold different faiths from not recognising the religious component.
I don't know any monarchists that have a particular form of celebration on Queen's Birthday, or unionists that hold particular celebrations on Labour Day. If they do, I've heard nothing from them about how everyone celebrated the same.
Isn't the point of any state holiday is a day to do what you wish, with those you want to share it with?
In response to any references to the commercialisation of a Māori holiday. Well, I view it as a holiday named in recognition of a Māori calendar event, which has been allotted in a multicultural society. The recognition and assignment of that name is enough.
An assumed world view about all Māori is not helpful.
Although, I choose to be a feminist, I have differing ideas about feminism than other feminists, and often disagree on feminism. As a Māori, I recognise that the diversity of individuals and their thoughts and perspectives – as with non-Māori – do not often align. As with other demographics, even if there is agreement on a topic, there remains diverse views on both outcomes and implementation.
In this region, Māori were the prime traders and were exporting produce to England, in the mid-late 1800's. To assume that they would be against trading on a holiday (if the concept of national holiday was understood) is just that… an assumption.
If to be treated and accepted equally is the goal, the the use of Matariki in advertising is an indicator.
Funny thing about this all is that i was asked by Maori – last year and this year – to make "Matariki Stars" for them to give away to children in foster care and children in school.
Should i have refused? Lol, of course not. As a native Caucasian /nonmale/nontrans/formerly known as woman person thingy from a country were we happily invent food to eat for special holidays it was a pleasure for me to make these chocolate stars and i will do them again last year.
Manawatia a Matariki to you Molly. My the ‘new’ year bring you many blessing and happiness.
You could call it commercialisation as it is literally the same as making Easter Bunnies for Easter or Santas for Christmas. It is a product made for sale for that particular day. It just depends on which step of the ideological purity ladder one stands.
To me any holiday needs a special food that you can only get that one day or few days during which the festival/holiday is feted. It makes it a celebration. But i am roman catholic and grew up with pretend drinking of blood and eating of flesh of Christ and thus have no issue with symbolism in food attached to ones culture. Food is part of celebrations.
I don't have a problem with people being paid, and I don't think this is commercialisation in this context either. Commercialisation would be a business making up some product to sell to take advantage of Matariki and putting on a big sale.
I view both to some extend as 'commercialisation, but i don't understand why we are ok with boxing day sales, Easter sales, Queens birthday sales but suddenly draw the line at this holiday. Either we do or we don't. Re- Community thing, making these stars cost money, and i no longer – like many other small businesses my size that used to support various charities fully and for free- can no longer afford to support these charities without at least charging for cost of making hte products that they would like to get from us. Premises, lisencing, material, etc all that costs money.
In fact i am open and working today. Just as i would do on any other holiday. Too poor to not work. 🙂
Boxing Day sales are evil, and a direct result of the whole global system that is killing the planet, enforcing slave labour in poor countries, and undermining worker rights in places like NZ.
I fully support shops to be closed on those days other than essentials.
Like I said, no problem with you making the stars as part of your business, it just wasn't apparent in the first comment where you talked about the stars being given away and I assumed it was a community thing.
and yes, yes, I understand poor people need sales to be able to buy stuff. However politically, we still have to argue against neoliberalism and for a better system. Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever.
A Big Sale that happens to coincide with a public holiday when many flock to the shops & malls to kill time wandering with their heads bent down focussed on the little screens they hold in their hands and spend money to re-fill their materialistic needs. Viva la Commerce!
These neoliberal attitudes are almost impossible to shake. They have become normalised (as in normative), legalised & regulated, and embedded and permeate almost everything and everybody in our society. It took a few decades, but here we are.
Briefly toyed with the idea of a ‘quick’ Post but quickly running out of time, as usual 🙁
From my perspective, giving the role and responsibility of making a statement about neoliberalism and commercialism to this new Māori named state holiday is disrespectful to people as a whole, and a disservice to Māori long-term.
Address the issue across the board, instead of placing that whole conversation and burden on Māori concepts.
You’re accusing me of something I have not committed and reading way too much into it – I did not mention or imply anything specific about Māori and/or Matariki.
But since you provoked me, I’ll give you something to sink your teeth in.
Māori concepts and culture are being (mis-)appropriated all the time, usually for commercial (and political) reasons. At the same time, Māori concepts and culture are under permanent threat, socially, economically (e.g. tourism), and demographically and they are in chronic danger of being assimilated into our Westerns ways. To keep up, to get ahead, and to counteract past damages that have led and still lead to inequality and inequity in our society the answer/solution for some seems to be education, career, success, and then trying (out-)compete with Pākehā in the Pākehā world. In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance.
As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts. You have turned it upside-down and back-to-front.
I don't want to quibble with much of what you say here. In particular I fully agree that culture can be easily misappropriated. We are for example seeing this play out as Putin steals the Russian memory of their honourable role in defeating Hitler, for a wholly debased purpose in Ukraine.
But it is also true that any living culture evolves all the time, adapting as the world around it shifts. We cannot and should not demand the Maori world remain frozen in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic.
Yes, I agree completely, cultures evolve, which is something entirely different from being assimilated by a dominant and/or colonial culture. What I see happening is ‘Māori- washing’ thanks to the good intentions of PC warriors and the likes. It is superficial and commercial and only has the veneer of the culture it is supposed to represent but it is just empty hollow packaging and meaningless as such. Having good intentions is not the same as doing the right thing.
Te Ao Māori cannot remain frozen “in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic” because: 1) it no longer exists; 2) who determines this way anyway? If we were to trust and respect and allow Māori some agency in determining these things for, by, and with themselves we would be on the right track, IMO. However, this seems to lead to absurd notions and equally absurd resistance, IMHO.
Final note: I guess that because some of the efforts feel so superficial and meaningless people feel more (easily) inclined to take a stance against them, i.e., they object and attack what they see as ‘virtue-signalling’ and ‘posturing’ rather than a genuine cause.
I apologise. My comment was not directed at you specifically. It was a generalised comment about the idea of treating this holiday in a different way to other state holidays, and addressing the reasons for doing so.
"In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance."
In some cases this may be true, in other cases individuals will make choices that are not congruent with Māori values, because of other reasons, including personal selfishness, ego and sometimes for reasons of opportunity. These universal impediments to collective thinking are also experienced and acted on by Māori and non-Māori individuals.
"As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts."
As I said, this was not intended as being directed at you as an individual, just the general idea that Māori are assigned this responsibility, in such a way in regards to this holiday. I don't believe that is fair.
I'm going to have to re-read these conversations, because I have probably lost track of it as I've come back and forth over the last few hours. I do agree with what you have said above, but I don't think it is the whole picture in regards to Māori and this holiday.
Right. I apologise again. Was making the erroneous assumption that it was in reference to the original question regarding Matariki and the advertising, but it obviously was not.
(I'm leaving the start of this comment, where I got it all wrong, to show that I got it all wrong, and responded to something that you did not say.)
Just letting you know I’ve seen your reply and all is good 🙂
I appreciate and respect your views in general and specifically as Māori and look forward to future convos on this topic. I think your attention is directed elsewhere today 😉
"Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever."
We have been saying that for a while now, in fact in Rotorua we have a street full of 'underclass' people whom we tell just that.
I am very over 'talking points' and purity spirals and the likes. People who have no money or who have obligations in this current environment all have a hustle to survive, and that hustle gives no fucks about holidays, culture, and the purity levels of people in
Academia, Arts, Politics, Pundit class etc who are either on benefits by the government or on good salaries. Those of us who are on no wages by an employer or on a benefit will have to work. And we will work when people are there and go out and about to have a good time.
Boxing day Sale is no more and no less evil then any other sale. People have money, people gift money – specially for young ones and they tend to spend it in their holiday period. And Businesses that would like to stay closed or don't want to incur the expense of paying extra to staff can stay closed. And some do.
I personally like sales to be organised as it was in Germany, i.e. Winter sale the first two weeks of January, and Summer sale the first two weeks of August (might be September not sure) and that is it. Any other promotion needs to be called just that, a promotion.
But keep in mind for some people Boxing Day Sales is a day out with their family.
if you cannot politically analyse (or won't) the dynamics and forces at work in capitalism, including Boxing Day sales, then there's no pathway out of poverty at the class level. There's only adaptation to neoliberalism and sorry for those that can't adapt. That's basically Labour's position.
I'm not arguing purity, I clearly said there are reasons why people need the sales. This is a both/and situation. We can both acknowledge that people need to adapt as well as talk about why this adaptation thing exists in the first place.
Typing on phone promotes brevity. But I do want to reach out and wholeheartedly support your underlying sentiment here. Rational, tolerant and most importantly to my mind, celebrating diversity in our common universal humanity.
The Christians I know celebrate Christmas in both the commercialised cultural way
What does that mean? They have adverts? They try and sell thing on Christmas day?
If people don't see commercialisation as a negative then it makes sense to commercialise Matariki. But commercialisation causes problems in society. Consider alcohol or tobacco or pharmaceutical advertisements. Or if we get to the point of advertising breast binders, puberty blockers and cross sex hormones on TV.
Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays.
We know from long experience with neoliberalism, that if commerce is given free reign then bad shit happens. Pākehā culture no longer has the sense to keep some things free of that for the betterment of socidety, thankfully Māori does.
In this region, Māori were the prime traders and were exporting produce to England, in the mid-late 1800's. To assume that they would be against trading on a holiday (if the concept of national holiday was understood) is just that… an assumption.
But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality.
I meant that the Christians I know, do the whole holiday spiel. Including the buying of gifts, etc. Or at Easter, include the pagan symbols of Hot Cross Buns or Easter Eggs. It doesn't seem to create much angst for them to do both.
As an atheist, my family has it's own traditions. One that the children hate – and I love – is that they are not allowed to give me anything, but if they do, it has to be made by them. I sometimes get nothing – but do have several years of short videos made by them as they have grown. My point is, individuals and families create their own ways to mark holidays in ways that are significant to them.
Whether it is because people are a mix of their religious beliefs, and their cultural environment is for the social sciences to provide evidence for.
As an individual, I just know that for several years in my young adulthood, I both looked forward and participated enthusiastically in St Patrick's day. Neither my digestion or inclination trends that way at this stage of may life.
The significance of Matariki as a holiday, is going to be different for all, and that significance will change. Some may celebrate by use of stories and symbols – most particularly in education, maraes etc. Others who have stronger connections to Matariki will probably have their own way of celebrating that is more traditional and proscribed. But many others will just be grateful that they have another day to spend with friends and family.
Exposure to advertising that recognises and promotes the symbols of Matariki, is a commercialised but gentle reminder of the recognition of the Maaori aspect of the holiday, that replicates the advertising of other events such as Easter and Christmas.
I don't consider buying Christmas presents to be commercialisation per se. Depending on how people do it I guess, it's definitely become much more consumerist over my lifetime especially with children.
People and families marking/celebrating Matariki in their own way is also not commercialisation. Has someone objected to people doing this?
Exposure to advertising that recognises and promotes the symbols of Matariki, is a commercialised but gentle reminder of the recognition of the Maaori aspect of the holiday, that replicates the advertising of other events such as Easter and Christmas.
Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori. I don’t see it as a mainstream, Pāhekā dominant culture holiday with a Māori name that has a Māori aspect. I suspect this right here is the fundamental disagreement about commercialisation.
Plenty of ways for people to come to understand what it means without commercialising it, and I can't see how commercialising it will improve understanding of te ao Māori, I would guess it will make it worse. We will see.
"Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori."
That make sense. We are approaching this from completely different perspectives.
I consider it to be a government recognition of Māori by the assigning of a name of a state holiday. The significance to some Māori and is neither enhanced or impacted by this act. A separation of state and 'church' in terms of its implementation.
I wouldn't really want it to be otherwise, on reflection.
Sorry, meant to address your question re the pressure to work on holidays.
"Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays."
I was one of many workers who loved being rostered on a state holiday, because of the day in lieu and the extra hourly. Many of our lower income households are the ones that already work the shifts, and weekends. They already accommodate within their households the varying conflicts of their work with the assumption of normal schedules for schooling, activities etc. Those families co-ordinate their time off with other family members, rather than the community at large.
It is a consequence of falling incomes and rising costs, but we shouldn't ignore those that welcome the financial benefit of increased wages by working on a state holiday.
"But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality."
Pakeha history also contains examples of group knowledge and support. Māori, historically and now, have individuals that also are proponents of individual enrichment.
I believe it is as vitally important to recognise the diversity of views and life practices within the Māori demographic, as we automatically do within the non-Māori demographic.
It is both a sign of respect – and equality – to do so.
It is a consequence of falling incomes and rising costs, but we shouldn't ignore those that welcome the financial benefit of increased wages by working on a state holiday.
Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. Understandable and I support the pragmatics, but politically I'm in favour of system change. Better employment law, living wage etc. Public holidays with strong symbolic meaning are a chance to shift culture.
Pakeha history also contains examples of group knowledge and support. Māori, historically and now, have individuals that also are proponents of individual enrichment.
Yes, and British and Māori cultures were quite different in the 1800s, as are Māori and Pākeha today. My point stands, that us now, are engrained in individualism, and this is in contrast to Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. The problem with commercialisation centres on the collective good.
"Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. "
Could be viewed that way. Personally, I see it as one of the more inventive and pragmatic ways that people find to deal with the failures of neoliberalism. Until the political landscape improves and material changes are felt at individual levels, people find ways to adapt and thrive.
"Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. "
Many cultures have this emphasis. Many demographics also contain individuals that practice this without cultural reference, whether it be through religion, environmentalism, socialism etc. It's a perspective to support, but not necessarily adhered to by all Māori individuals or organisations.
there's a balance to be had about adapting and political change. Much of the GI debate is centred in adapting to and making the most of neoliberalism.
It's a perspective to support, but not necessarily adhered to by all Māori individuals or organisations.
Of course. When I talk about cultural norms, it's a given that not every individual or org fits or adheres to that. But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally.
But I am cognisant of the difference between a concept, and how the concept is lived across modern Maoridom.
Part of that comes from my lived experience with my relatives and marae, some from the same observational scrutiny I use for others. I am fully aware my experience is only one of many, and not necessarily representative, but it is still true, and not one-off.
For me it's a given that in any culture (or set of cultures) there is variation. Is it me making a general statement about Māori culture that is the sticking point here? Is it an untrue statement? Or are you wanting to make more visible the variation within Māoridom?
"But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally."
Purely from my personal perspective, it's a generalisation that I think it is not necessarily helpful.
If Māori have a really good functioning community, this is where the best aspects of Te Ao Māori can be lived, and seen. But there are Pākeha examples of the same too. We can recognise both, without the need for a comparison of merit.
As in all common groups, there is the possibility of those within in acting outside of those values, but not being held to account because of the roles, or power, or relationships they hold in those groups. Eg. Marae based organisations have the same vulnerability of church based in this regard, and just as my Pākeha friend has borne the brunt of that protection in her church, I have direct Māori relatives with similar experiences in their marae, that were also failed because of the commitment to solidarity rather than individual accountability.
I love those aspects of Te Ao Māori, and I acknowledge their value. But for me credit is given to whomever encompasses those values, in all ways. Whether Māori or Pākeha. Growing up with both Māori and Pākeha relatives, that had similar methods of sharing and community endeavours, I had always thought of it as New Zealand culture, and am reluctant to let that understanding go, so I realise it might be a personal one, rather than one that expresses adequately the conflict between the cultures today.
This deprecation of individualism out of hand omits the enormous benefits it brings. The kind of overreaching tribalism that readily sacrifices personal welfare for the greater good comes at its own terrible cost. It is why most people choose modernity at the first opportunity they get.
Unconstrained individualism on the other hand carries its own alienation and social ills.
I would suggest these two principles are best thought of as mutually interdependent, each necessary to support the other. It is impossible to imagine a good, healthy society full of depraved, dysfunctional people. Equally a tyrannical, oppressive society will fail to inculcate admirable people.
In conversations where I know the understanding and perspective of the other person, it is easier to give my perspective without going into areas I did not intend.
So, it is easier to explain in principle, rather than specifics.
I believe that in most cases – if not all – when implementing a process, or determining a solution, there is going to be impact or cost. This recognition doesn't mean that the solution is not the right one to undertake, just that there are costs to that decision that should be recognised and accommodated in some way.
As you say, both unconstrained individualism and tribalism carry both their own benefits and costs. A system that finds a way to capture the benefits of both would be ideal. Of course, in some situations one approach will predominate, while in others the opposite will be true.
Regardless, there is a cost to either of those approaches.
Effective (rather than punitive) regulation and policies might address the excesses of individualism, while processes that ensure individual accountability despite a recognition that the group embraces us in all our flawed humanity need to be included.
It is the optimal balance between the two that is so very hard to achieve, and requires ongoing review and tinkering. Sometimes, in real life, people who see the benefits of either approach, champion that approach and don’t recognise the costs when they occur – because we are not trained to look for additional problems resulting from our mostly great solutions.
And some people have to work, regardless of whether it's a holiday or not (or our civilization will grind to a halt). Nurses, electricity workers, sewerage station workers, water supply, etc., etc.
Public holidays have never (and can never) include everyone.
Was in the CBD this morning catching up with a friend, and came across a Matariki festival. Maori musicians, stalls selling food, and general Maori themed nicknacks, jewellery, clothes, etc. Observationally (I didn't instigate a whakapapa check), these were all Maori – happily commercializing 'their' festival.
Absolutely don't have a problem with this. And I think that it reflects a range of views on this from within the Maori sphere, just as there are a range of views on Christmas/Easter within the Christian sphere.
I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. I gave examples above about areas we restrict eg alcohol advertising.
People having a local market and selling stuff isn't commercialisation, it's community.
Public holidays have never (and can never) include everyone.
Obviously. The point was that commercialisation has enforced more people having to work on public holidays, unnecessarily. Easy to make a case for nurses being needed every day of the year. Not so a $2 shop, or a baby shop.
"I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. "
OK, I think I understand the distinction here.
If I do, I believe this to be a bigger conversation, rather than application to Matariki as a state holiday.
My point stands, that us now (sic), are engrained in individualism, and this is in contrast to Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good.
Noble Savage Romanticism.
The public adoption of this posture is a form of narcissistic virtue-signalling from affluent Culturalists utterly divorced from cold hard Reality.
you appear to be the one with noble savage notions in your head Swordfish. There's absolutely nothing overt or implied about the nobela savage in the observation that Māori cultures are more collective focused than Pākehā in NZ. Neither is there anything controversial in my statement. Nearly 40 years of neoliberalism ffs.
By all means use lazy anti-woke virtueless signalling in lieu of an actual argument against what I said though.
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, reality is the totality of a system, known and unknown.
Information gives rise to "every it-every particle,every field of force,even the space time continuum itself"
Not only is the observer observing,she is asking questions,and making statements that are expressed in discrete bits,"what we call reality" as Wheeler wrote "arises in the last analysis of yes/no questions'' and added 'All things physical are information -theoretic in origin,and this is a participatory universe'
How unkind, swordfish, and ad hom 🙂
“affluent old virtue-signaling hippie fantasists in the rural idyll of small town Riverton.” is harsh.
Why are you so harsh?
There has been some interesting korero today. I had hard day behind the chainsaw, followed by the weed eater for desert. Nothing like some honest levity to end my day.
Those who hold political and increasingly commercial power in New Zealand are a rag-tag battlefleet of educated post-settlement Maori, gays in all their forms, remaining unionists, urban activists, environmentalists, feminists, sustainability types, fitness and muesli freaks, poverty activists, all the massive companies addicted to the state, the deep left within key ministries, the great HoMoPoMo conspiracy of them …
… and together they have changed the language of political discourse forever.
It's OK. We know you hate them all. But your view will soon die.
Today is just one day where all of them break out into the open, official and permanent. Hoisted to something as real as the stars.
You're beyond clueless … I’ve noticed time & again when you can’t adequately answer a point, you concoct any old smear that happens to be passing through that narcissistic brain of yours.
Obviously you think a cheap bit of character assassination will give you some sort of quick “win”.
Many years ago, I became aware of aspects of the Matariki cluster (I drove a Subaru back then) and it's importance to gardening. The two "figures" around whom on the ground action was centred, Rongomatane and Haumietikitiki ( nga atua of cultivated & wild food) really inspired me, as did the focus on assessing food stocks and planning the next seasons mahi nga kai. I've marked Matariki ever since then, with regards to those aspects. I'm not a good star-gazer – myopia and colour-blindness aren't advantages to peering into outer space, so the earthier effects are where I connect with nga whetu. The national celebration we are enjoying now, hasn't changed my prosaic view of the celestial event; I still only consider Matariki from the growers point of view, but I do celebrate the wider involvement and awareness of all of us living here on these South Pacific islands of ours.
A good friend of mine, who has just complete a degree in weaving, incorporated the Matariki cluster in her final submissions and her graduation korowai. The stories related to her pieces are both connected to her iwi's stories, and her own life.
Such personal recognition and how we honour it at individual levels will be wonderfully diverse and significant, even if that recognition is not universal.
Your personal story is another example, and with your circle of influence – which I know is considerable – may spread that knowledge wider and create another unique but shared celebration of Matariki in your community.
I hope that is the case in many different rohe, but believe that it is sustainable only as an organic and personal process rather than a proscribed one.
Chris Trotter has a go at the issue and sweeps across many of the points, but ends with this:
"Isn’t it possible that Matariki may yet prove a cure for, rather than a cause of, racist contention? Maybe, as the Earth grows warmer, and the pretensions of science and modernity are increasingly laid bare, the hunger of all Aotearoans for gods and heroes will increase. Perhaps, when we realise that these islands are all we’ve got, the thought may grow in our hearts and minds: If all things are, indeed, related and alive, then why not be guided by the stars?"
That's a good quote from Chris Trotter, but I think fails to acknowledge the overlap between the Te Ao Maori view and many other perspectives that are also aligned with recognising the connectiveness of all things, and the value of recognising this in the day-to-day choices we make. I also don't need a god or superhero to follow in order to make informed choices, but I can understand the residual longing for such easy solutions to the problems we have ahead.
When I first became aware of, and was finding out as much as I could about climate change – I can date this by one of my children – so around 23 years ago, I included in my immersion searches for organisations around NZ that were not only identifying the problem, but recognising the scope of it, and inviting solutions.
There were a few, but none organised that did all three. It was easier to find individuals speaking out or writing about the issue.
As the children got older, I looked in particular for Māori organisations, and found one Māori youth group – bookmarked on a now defunct desktop. But even then, the understanding of the impact of climate change was limited.
Over time, references to climate change started to appear in organisations Māori and non-Māori alike, but mostly in reference to getting funding or grants for local conservation or regeneration efforts, rather than a demonstrated understanding of the impact of the whole. Thankfully, this has slowly changed over time.
My point is that Māori, just like non-Māori – despite their common good view – often treated the example of climate change as it affected their group and rohe, not as the wider global problem it is, even though they had the concepts to consider the whole, in practice the scope was limited to the familiar immediate.
I agree with the concept of understanding the value of the living biosphere.
For me, I recognise that in a myriad of ways: in teachings of Te Ao Māori, in the environmental perspectives that I follow, my understandings of science, my personal values and political views, my concern for those who follow us… etc. The more we encounter that perspective in our lives, the better.
The case centers around a law that requires public contractors to sign a pledge promising that they do not boycott Israel. If you refuse to sign the pro-Israel pledge, you are fired from your job. Versions of this law now exist in 33 states. https://t.co/eBLipSKna6
"You don’t have to like or agree with Vladimir Putin to take seriously the speech he made to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum last week. Five paragraphs – from an otherwise long and somewhat dull presentation – stand out:"
I don't know if this has been discussed before on TS but apparently Putin was aboard the Mikhail Lermontov when it sank in the sounds in 1986. Shame he made it off the ship.
Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, born October 15 1814, Moscow, Russia died July 27 1841, Pyatigorsk, the leading Russian Romantic poet and author of the novel Geroy nashego vremeni – A Hero of Our Time – 1840.
Albert Camus' novel The Fall begins with an excerpt from Lermontov's foreword to A Hero of Our Time: "Some were dreadfully insulted, and quite seriously, to have held up as a model such an immoral character as A Hero of Our Time; others shrewdly noticed that the author had portrayed himself and his acquaintances. A Hero of Our Time, gentlemen, is in fact a portrait, but not of an individual; it is the aggregate of the vices of our whole generation in their fullest expression."
In Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love the plot revolves upon Soviet agent Tatiana Romanova feigning an infatuation with MI6's James Bond and offering to defect to the West provided he'll be sent to pick her up in Istanbul, Turkey. The Soviets elaborate a complex backstory about how she spotted the file about the English spy during her clerical work at SMERSH headquarters and became smitten with him, making her state that his picture made her think of Lermontov's Pechorin. The fact that Pechorin was anything but a 'hero' or even a positive character at all in Lermontov's narration stands to indicate Fleming's wry self-deprecating wit about his most famous creation; the irony is lost, however, on western readers not familiar with Lermontov's work.
I had heard that Putin was supposed to have been in New Zealand and attended the inquiry into the sinking. I hadn't heard the idea that he had actually been on the ship though. Where did you hear this?
My favorite memory of the event was David Lange's quip about the sinking. "Lange declared that little old New Zealand was "the only nation to sink a Russian Ship since the Second World War."
A usually reliable friend of mine told me last night. Happy to be contradicted if wrong. I must admit I thought I would have heard about this before if it is true.
It was, and probably still is, normal practice of the Soviet submarine service to mask the acoustic signature of their submarines with a surface vessel when transiting shallow waters where the opposition could be listening.
Many of the Pilot's actions, going close to shore and going through the channel that turned out to be a bit tight, could be interpreted as trying to minimise or remove this masking.
It was also odd that our navy arrived to pick up the pieces within minutes, they were doing a hydrographic job nearby.
I suppose that once the details of the affair are disclosed, (aren't they held in Richard Prebble's personal library?) we may get to know a bit more.
There was a cartoon in Southern Cross of a Fred Dang character telling one side to bugger off, turning around and telling the other side to bugger off too. I understood that related to NZ telling USA to bugger off with it's nukes, and someone else.
PS How do you upload an image (jpeg) to TS? I've got the cartoon but not as a url
Maggie Thatcher sent Baroness somebody-or-another to NZ to tell David Lange he wasn't to do the Oxford Union Debate. The encounter was contentious to say the least and when she left his office he called out to her "hey Baroness you've left your broomstick behind".
This is who they are and the Bethlehem school mob are singing from the same sheet.
Christian hate-preacher Roger Jimenez says (very loudly) that his position on LGBTQ people is that "they should be made un-alive." pic.twitter.com/XMTcwFKy0e
This is who they are and the Bethlehem school mob are singing from the same sheet.
I've looked….but I can't find where the Bethlehem School are saying that LGBTQ people should be killed. Or that violence should be directed towards them.
Pray, joe90, provide a link to where you found the information that led you to make this claim.
(There's a difference between believing that 'God doesn't make mistakes.' and 'LGBTQ people should be killed.')
It may be correct or it may be incorrect, if you want to deal in/with binaries only. Question is what you’re going to do with it that adds to the convo here?
Defend them all you want, but statements like 'God doesn't make mistakes' does get people killed. Either by gun or pills it makes no difference. If you're beaten down enough by words from those you are supposed to look up to, life can become very bleak.
One oft repeated Christian viewpoint, when people are going through personal struggles, or times of crisis is: 'God doesn't make mistakes' or 'God moves in mysterious ways'. Not particularly helpful, from my point of view, but not deliberately meant to harm, but rather to console.
And so, we really need to know the context of that quote. How the conversation was initiated, and who was involved. If a student has made the statement that God had given them the wrong body, then I am not surprised that it has been challenged with the response that 'God doesn't make mistakes' within a Christian environment.
Why are so many feigning surprise at this viewpoint, as if we know nothing at all about Christian beliefs?
Suicide. If a member of the LBGT Community continues to be told they are a mistake or you're going to hell because you're an abomination, etc etc etc, either by their church leaders or idols (looking at you, Folau), the potential for suicide is elevated. If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite.
From the inside of a fundamentalist church for my early life I know exactly what it's like to watch people question their sexuality, let alone their gender assignment.
I've seen the demon outcastings, the shunnings, humiliations, the one-on-one interviews, the training camps to re-educate you. Usually they leave, to start their entire life again, fairly damaged.
And yup, suicide and lifelong depressions among a few.
He claims he confronted his GP about his doubts and said there was no guidance for those who regretted the surgery.
I wonder if the new funding for trans healthcare will cover such situations.
The mental health impact on detrans people is intense. I don't think it's controversial to say that gay and trans people in fundamentalist churches can also have their mental health put at risk. Maybe we could have consideration for all people.
Can you explain how a gender is assigend at birth?
Sex is 'identified' early on in a pregnancy and then confirmed by birth. Sex being the visual secondary sexual characteristics of a human being i.e in an new born it is a boy – penis/scrotum, a girl – vagina.
But last i checked babies are not born without these sexual organs (or like barbie dolls with nothing down there blelow) , and no doctor will order a nurse to go into a Storage room in wich there are shelfes full of spare penises/vaginas that can then be affixed to the new born child on the whims of a doctor/midwife/nurse. If that would be the case i believe that femicide in India or China for that matter would not happen as all the parents would choose the 'boy tackle' to be affixed to the sex less new born.
Sexed bodies are OBSERVED at birth and not 'assigned'
assign
/əˈsʌɪn/
verb
past tense: assigned; past participle: assigned
1.
allocate (a job or duty).
"Congress had assigned the task to the agency"
Similar:
allocate
allot
give
set
charge with
entrust with
2.
designate or set (something) aside for a specific purpose.
"managers happily assign large sums of money to travel budgets"
I have a dear friend that also had harms that were not helped by the involvement in such a church.
It affects all those who fall outside of the church doctrines in any way, not only those with different sexual orientations or gender expressions.
That constancy of having someone tell you the right things to do comes at a a very high cost to all. The church either adapts or fails, as the people within it find they are able to survive without such control.
I'm sorry to hear that your upbringing meant that you witnessed such things as a child, Ad. But it doesn't seem that Bethlehem College is at that extreme from what has been reported so far.
Mental distress, and not being able to get appropriate support for that distress makes people more likely to attempt, and possibly succeed at ending their own lives.
" If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite."
Given that I – and it seems many of the commentators who dictate a "good and right side of Christianity" – are atheists, I fail to see what the intent is here.
Tell those whose sense of self falls outside the teachings of the church in about the failures of historic religious doctrines to serve anyone other than the church.
Tell them, that they can find other more understanding churches to accommodate their belief in God. If they don't have a belief in God, then encourage them to dismiss anything they say.
AFAIK, Bethlehem College did not put up a display or make a determined point in regards to this question. From the (very little) that was reported a teacher answered a student with "God doesn't make mistakes" – a familiar and oft used Christian phrase.
Give ALL students the resilience and tools to deal with disagreements without resorting to self-harm as a response.
Now, let's address the common use of suicide ideation in transgender advocacy. Despite this being against every suicide prevention guideline, advocates bring up the issue of suicide as impetus for non-therapeutic social and medical interventions.
This is using the threat of suicide as a means of coercive control and manipulation.
Surely, the answer to mental distress at this level is extensive and comprehensive therapy (and only therapy).
Further point: The student was told that there was NO mistake in their existence. Not the opposite. They wanted to be told there had been a mistake.
How about "no child is born in the wrong body"? The vast majority of young people with bodily dysphoria related to their sexed body will resolve that with the right support by the time they finish puberty. Most will grow up to be perfectly "ordinary" same sex attracted people.
Thanks for your diversion, but that's not a road I'm able to go down, other than 'if NO child is born in the wrong body' how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. I'm off out to join a diverse group of people to celebrate Matariki so, Cheerio.
The people who don't desist from their gender dysphoria I think will likely have a tough life and I do feel for them. I hope they get the right support.
I posted further down about a man who had gender reassignment surgery and woke up full of regret and realized he had been castrated. He is now suing the NHS and I wish him luck.
"… how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. "
If we had the answer to this, then any concerns about the long-term effects of inappropriate treatment would melt away like morning dew.
It is precisely the inability of being able to determine who will persist and who won't that makes the issue of both social and medical interventions for minors such a contentious issue.
If the majority do grow out of it – and there are other issues here regarding the very large increase in adolescent girls – then caution regarding treatment is well advised for this cohort. Not providing medical interventions until they are grown seems a precaution that seems advisable, given the permanent and long-term outcomes from intervention.
For those that do persist – is there a way to alleviate the distress until such time they are fully cognitive adults?
This is the conversation we need to be having about treatment for minors.
It is one that requires a lot of research, input, perspectives and considerations. But the consequences of failing to even contemplate this discussion by the adults, will – as ever, be borne by the children and young people we are entrusted to protect.
How about canning the whataboutery just to shoehorn in your favourite bogeyman just this once? That would be nice. We know where you stand on that particular issue, ad nauseam.
I think there are parallels between 'god doesn't make mistakes' and 'born in the wrong body' that are worth exploring. If you don't like the conversation, maybe just scroll on by. Telling other people to shut up because you don't like their politics isn't going to run on a political blog.
Uncle sam the old rooster wants to gather in as many of his loyal hens as he can reminding them that they need him to keep them safe but he knows the cold wind of change is beginning to stir and he sees the young challengers on the periphery strutting their stuff……….
During the last six months, similar Russian cyber influence operations sought to help inflame public opposition to COVID-19 policies in New Zealand and Canada…..
I had noticed that a number of the covid-19 deniers and anti-vaxxer commenters also supported the Russian Federation invasion and war against Ukraine.
I had thought it was just the same old anti-government useful idiots pushing wacky right wing pseudo-science conspiracy theories.
Anyone able to fill out Josie Pagani’s CV? I’ve seen an awful lot based on her candidacy for a Labour seat a decade ago. Then I hear rumors about her being an oil lobbyist or having connections to one which you never see listed at the bottom of her columns. Does she have P.R. or lobbying clients?
Just sticking my nose in really, but you know it would be interesting to know when reading her writing.
The newly merged media company will be named "Aoeteroa New Zealand Public Media " lmfao oooh boy that's a name that'll catch on.
ANZPM. Could they fit any more letters on it?? That's the best this govt and it's army of pr reps and gargantuan legions of consultants can come up with ?!? Really?!? Lmao. Ridiculous. Call it NZBC like ABC CBC , BBC.
When the majority of the public see ANZ they think ANZ Bank or Australia/New Zealand and NZPM is shorthand for the Prime minister.
If ANZPM is the name of this new organization, thanks but no thanks rnz and tvnz can keep.
Ridiculous.
If they name it anzpm I'd almost be inclined to vote act in the hopes that shit gets privatized.
I'm a millennial, My generation has no interest in watching NZ content, why should we have to pay to fund it ?
On Wednesday, these anti-vaccine groups kicked off a summer of planned protest with an event inside Canada’s Parliament buildings in Ottawa, supported by sitting Members of Parliament. Outside those buildings is where the so-called “freedom convoy” took over Canada’s capital for several weeks this past winter, setting off similar movements across the globe.
[…]
The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, an arm of the Canadian intelligence community that provides intel to local law enforcement agencies, warned in a special bulletin that they’re seeing mounting “aspirations to overthrow the federal government or to engage in mass violent resistance.” The bulletin was provided to VICE World News by a law enforcement source.
According to the intelligence assessment, the chance of an organized attack, a storming of Parliament, or another occupation of the city is “unlikely,” and Canadian intelligence and law enforcement believe the protests will most likely be peaceful and lawful.
Yet, they warn, they’re increasingly witnessing “a culture in which individuals, including supporters of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE), feel that they can threaten, incite, and celebrate violence online without consequence.”
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So far, the closer military relationship envisaged by Jacinda Ardern and Joseph Biden at their recent White House meeting has been analysed mainly in terms of what this means for our supposedly “independent” foreign policy. Not much attention has been paid to what having more interoperable defence forces might mean ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters For those puzzling over the various hurricane computer forecast models to figure out which one to believe, the best answer is: Don’t believe any of them. Put your trust in the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, forecast. Although an individual ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Scott Denning The excellent Julia Steinberger essay posted at this site in May provides a disturbing window into the psychology of teaching climate change to young people. It’s critically important to talk with youth about hard topics: love and sex, deadly contagion, school shootings, vicious ...
By Imogen Foote (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) A lack of consensus among international conservation regimes regarding albatross taxonomy makes management of these ocean roaming birds tricky. My PhD research aims to generate whole genome data for some of our most threatened albatrosses in a first attempt ...
Well, if that’s “minor” I’d be interested to see what a major reshuffle looks like.Jacinda Ardern has reminded New Zealand of the steel behind the spin in her cabinet refresh announced today. While the Prime Minister stressed that the changes were “triggered” by Kris Faafoi and Trevor Mallard and their ...
A company gives a large amount of money to a political party because they are concerned about law changes which might affect their business model. And lo and behold, the changes are dumped, and a special exemption written into the law to protect them. Its the sort of thing we ...
Active Shooters: With more than two dozen gang-related drive-by shootings dominating (entirely justifiably) the headlines of the past few weeks, there would be something amiss with our democracy if at least one major political party did not raise the issues of law and order in the most aggressive fashion. (Photo ...
Going Down? Governments also suffer in recessions and depressions – just like their citizens. Slowing economic activity means fewer companies making profits, fewer people in paid employment, fewer dollars being spent, and much less revenue being collected. With its own “income” shrinking, the instinct of most government’s is to sharply ...
In the 50 years since Norm Kirk first promised to take the bikes off the bikies, our politicians have tried again and again to win votes by promising to crack down on gangs. Canterbury University academic Jarrod Gilbert (an expert on New Zealand’s gang culture) recently gave chapter and verse ...
Misdirection: New Zealanders see burly gang members, decked out in their patches, sitting astride their deafening motorcycles, cruising six abreast down the motorway as frightened civilians scramble to get out of their way, and they think these guys are the problem. Fact is, these guys represent little more than the misdirection ...
New Zealand’s defence minister, Peeni Henare, has had a very busy first half of the year. In January, Henare was the face of New Zealand’s relief effort to Tonga, following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano. Then, from March onwards, Henare was often involved in Jacinda Ardern’s announcements ...
James Heartfield wrote this article on intersectionalism and its flaws nine years ago. He noted on Twitter: “Looking back, these problems got worse, not better.” Published 17 November 2013. Is self-styled revolutionary Russell Brand really just a ‘Brocialist’? Is Lily Allen’s feminist pop-video racist? Is lesbian activist Julie Bindel a ...
The New Zealand First donations scandal trial began in the High Court this week. And it’s already showing why the political finance laws in this country need a significant overhaul. The trial is the outcome of a high-profile scandal that unfolded in the 2020 election year, when documents were made ...
The televised hearings into the storming of the Capitol are revealing to the American public a truth that was obvious to some of us from the outset – that the Trumpian “big lie” about a “stolen” election was part of a determined attempt at a coup that would have been ...
When in 1980 I introduced the term ‘Think Big’ to characterise the major (mainly energy) projects, I was concerned about the wider issue of state-led development strategies. From that perspective, the 1980s program was not our first ‘think big’. That goes back to Vogel in 1870, who wanted to develop ...
Malaysia will abolish the death penalty: The government has agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty, giving judges discretion in sentencing. Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the decision was reached following the presentation of a report on substitute sentences for the mandatory death penalty, which he presented ...
The Petitions Committee has reported back on a petition to introduce a capital gains tax on residential property, with a response that basicly boils down to "fuck off, we're not interested". Which is sadly unsurprising. According to the current Register of Members' Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests, the eight members ...
We Can Be Heroes: Ukrainian newly-weds pose for the cameras before heading-off to the front-lines. The Russo-Ukrainian War has presented young people with the inescapable reality of heroism. They see Volodymyr Zelensky in his olive-drab T-shirts; they see men and women their own age stepping-up to do their bit. They have ...
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed the irony of Boris Johnson's desperate attempts to cling onto power.I recall, almost immediately after Jermey Corbyn was elected, a bunch of memes based on the WW2 film Downfall, associating the mild manner Jermey Corbyn with Hitler in his final, ...
Terms and conditions may change For myriad reasons we'd like to think and know that dumping our outmoded and dangerous fossil fuel energy sources may be difficult and may require a lot of investment but that when we're done, it'll be back to business as usual in terms of what ...
Yesterday the Supreme Court quashed Alan Hall's conviction for murder, declaring it was a miscarriage of justice. In doing so, the Chief Justice found that "such departures from accepted standards must either be the result of extreme incompetence or of a deliberate and wrongful strategy to secure conviction" - effectively, ...
New Zealand may have finally jumped off its foreign policy tightrope act between China and the US. Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern effectively chose sides, leaping into the arms of the US, at the expense of the country’s crucial relationship with China. That’s the growing consensus amongst observers of ...
Farmers are currently enjoying the highest prices and payouts in the history of this country. They will never be better placed to acknowledge that their wealth comes on the back of climate-changing emissions and causes serious amounts of water and soil pollution. Costs which everyone else is having to shoulder. ...
A ballot for two member's bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Electoral (Right to Switch Rolls Freely) Amendment Bill (Rawiri Waititi) Customs and Excise (Child Sex Offender Register Information Sharing) Amendment Bill (Erica Stanford) The first is also covered in Golriz Ghahraman's ...
A strong Green voice in Parliament has helped reduce the influence large secret money will have in future elections and finally ensured overseas New Zealanders will retain the right to vote even while stranded by the Pandemic. But, the Government needs to go further to ensure our democracy works for ...
A new poll shows that the majority of people back the Greens’ call on the Government to overhaul the country’s criminally punitive, anti-evidence drug law. ...
The US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion is a reminder that we must take nothing for granted in Aotearoa, the Green Party says. “Aotearoa should be a place where everyone, no matter where they are from, or who they love, can choose what is right for their body and their ...
We’re proud to have delivered on our election commitment to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki. For the first time this year, New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own. ...
Proposed new legislation to reduce the risk that timber imported into Aotearoa New Zealand is sourced from illegal logging is a positive first step but it should go further, the Green Party says. ...
On World Refugee Day, the Green Party is calling on the new Minister for Immigration, Michael Wood to make up for the support that was not provided to people forced to leave their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This week, we’ve marked a major milestone in our school upgrade programme. We've supported 4,500 projects across the country for schools to upgrade classrooms, sports facilities, playgrounds and more, so Kiwi kids have the best possible environments to learn in. ...
We’ve delivered on our election commitment to make Matariki a public holiday. For the first time this year, all New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own with family and friends. Try our quiz below, then challenge your whānau! To celebrate, we’ve ...
The Green Party says the removal of pre-departure testing for arrivals into New Zealand means the Government must step up domestic measures to protect communities most at risk. ...
The long overdue resumption of the Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota must be followed by an overhaul of the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme, says the Green Party. ...
Lessons must be learned from the Government's response to the Delta outbreak, which the Ministry of Health confirmed today left Māori, Pacific, and disabled communities at greater risk. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to withdraw the proposed Oranga Tamariki oversight legislation which strips away independence and fails to put children at the heart. ...
As New Zealand reconnects with the world, we’re making the most of every opportunity to show we’re a great place to visit, trade with and invest in as part of our plan to grow our economy and build a secure future for all Kiwis. Just this week we saw further ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has welcomed the announcement that a 110km/hr speed limit has been set for the SH1 Waikato Expressway, between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. “The Waikato Expressway is a key transport route for the Waikato region, connecting Auckland to the agricultural and business centres of the central North ...
Following feedback from the sector, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti, today confirmed that new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me te pāngarau standards will be aligned with wider NCEA changes. “The education sector has asked for more time to put the literacy and numeracy | te reo ...
$4.5 million to provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal equipment and supplies such as medical kit for the Ukrainian Army Deployments extended for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) intelligence, logistics and liaison officers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium Secondment of a senior New Zealand military officer to support International ...
Changes to electoral law announced by Justice Minister Kiri Allan today aim to support participation in parliamentary elections, and improve public trust and confidence in New Zealand’s electoral system. The changes are targeted at increasing transparency around political donations and loans and include requiring the disclosure of: donor identities for ...
The Labour government has announced a significant investment to prevent and minimise harm caused by gambling. “Gambling harm is a serious public health issue and can have a devastating effect on the wellbeing of individuals, whānau and communities. One in five New Zealanders will experience gambling harm in their lives, ...
The Government has widened access to free flu vaccines with an extra 800,000 New Zealanders eligible from this Friday, July 1 Children aged 3-12 years and people with serious mental health or addiction needs now eligible for free flu dose. From tomorrow (Tuesday), second COVID-19 booster available six months ...
The Government is investing to create new product categories and new international markets for our strong wool and is calling on Kiwi businesses and consumers to get behind the environmentally friendly fibre, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said today. Wool Impact is a collaboration between the Government and sheep sector partners ...
At today’s commemoration of the start of the Korean War, Veterans Minister Meka Whaitiri has paid tribute to the service and sacrifice of our New Zealand veterans, their families and both nations. “It’s an honour to be with our Korean War veterans at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park to commemorate ...
Minister of Tourism Stuart Nash and Associate Minister of Tourism Peeni Henare announced the sixth round of recipients of the Government’s Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF), which supports local government to address tourism infrastructure needs. This TIF round will invest $15 million into projects around the country. For the first time, ...
Matariki tohu mate, rātou ki a rātou Matariki tohu ora, tātou ki a tātou Tīhei Matariki Matariki – remembering those who have passed Matariki – celebrating the present and future Salutations to Matariki I want to begin by thanking everyone who is here today, and in particular the Matariki ...
Oho mai ana te motu i te rangi nei ki te hararei tūmatanui motuhake tuatahi o Aotearoa, Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki, me te hono atu a te Pirīmia a Jacinda Ardern ki ngā mahi whakanui a te motu i tētahi huihuinga mō te Hautapu i te ata nei. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker will represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the second United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, which runs from 27 June to 1 July. The Conference will take stock of progress and aims to galvanise further action towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, to "conserve and sustainably use ...
The Government is boosting its partnership with New Zealand’s dairy sheep sector to help it lift its value and volume, and become an established primary industry, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “Globally, the premium alternative dairy category is growing by about 20 percent a year. With New Zealand food ...
The Government is continuing to support the Buller district to recover from severe flooding over the past year, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today during a visit with the local leadership. An extra $10 million has been announced to fund an infrastructure recovery programme, bringing the total ...
“The Government has undertaken preparatory work to combat new and more dangerous variants of COVID-19,” COVID-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall set out today. “This is about being ready to adapt our response, especially knowing that new variants will likely continue to appear. “We have undertaken a piece of work ...
The Government’s strong trade agenda is underscored today with the introduction of the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill to the House, Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “I’m very pleased with the quick progress of the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill being introduced ...
A ministerial advisory group that provides young people with an opportunity to help shape the education system has five new members, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins said today. “I am delighted to announce that Harshinni Nayyar, Te Atamihi Papa, Humaira Khan, Eniselini Ali and Malakai Tahaafe will join the seven ...
Austria Centre, Vienna [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] E ngā mana, e ngā reo Tēnā koutou katoa Thank you, Mr President. I extend my warm congratulations to you on the assumption of the Presidency of this inaugural meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. You ...
The Government is taking action to make sure homecare and support workers have the right to take a pay-equity claim, while at the same time protecting their current working conditions and delivering a pay rise. “In 2016, homecare and support workers – who look after people in their own homes ...
A law change passed today streamlines the process for allowing COVID-19 boosters to be given without requiring a prescription. Health Minister Andrew Little said the changes made to the Medicines Act were a more enduring way to manage the administration of vaccine boosters from now on. “The Ministry of Health’s ...
New powers will be given to the Commerce Commission allowing it to require supermarkets to hand over information regarding contracts, arrangements and land covenants which make it difficult for competing retailers to set up shop. “The Government and New Zealanders have been very clear that the grocery sector is not ...
Ministerial taskforce of industry experts will give advice and troubleshoot plasterboard shortages Letter of expectation sent to Fletcher Building on trademark protections A renewed focus on competition in the construction sector The Minister for Building and Construction Megan Woods has set up a Ministerial taskforce with key construction, building ...
Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson and Minister for Māori Crown Relations Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis announced today the inaugural Matariki public holiday will be marked by a pre-dawn hautapu ceremony at Te Papa Tongarewa, and will be a part of a five-hour broadcast carried by all major broadcasters in ...
Volunteers from all over the country are being recognised in this year’s Minister of Health Volunteer Awards, just announced at an event in Parliament’s Grand Hall. “These awards celebrate and recognise the thousands of dedicated health and disability sector volunteers who give many hours of their time to help other ...
New Zealand’s trade agenda continues to build positive momentum as Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor travels to Europe, Canada and Australia to advance New Zealand’s economic interests. “Our trade agenda has excellent momentum, and is a key part of the Government’s wider plan to help provide economic security for ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will leave this weekend to travel to Europe and Australia for a range of trade, tourism and foreign policy events. “This is the third leg of our reconnecting plan as we continue to promote Aotearoa New Zealand’s trade and tourism interests. We’re letting the world know ...
[CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Nga mihi ki a koutou. Let me start by acknowledging the nuclear survivors, the people who lost their lives to nuclear war or testing, and all the peoples driven off their lands by nuclear testing, whose lands and waters were poisoned, and who suffer the inter-generational health ...
New Zealand’s leadership has contributed to a number of significant outcomes and progress at the Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which concluded in the early hours of Friday morning after a week of intense negotiations between its 164 members. A major outcome is a new ...
The Government has delivered on its commitment to roll out the free methamphetamine harm reduction programme Te Ara Oranga to the eastern Bay of Plenty, with services now available in Murupara. “We’re building a whole new mental health system, and that includes expanding successful programmes like Te Ara Oranga,” Health ...
Kura and schools around New Zealand can start applying for Round 4 of the Creatives in Schools programme, Minister for Education Chris Hipkins and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni said today. Both ministers were at Auckland’s Rosehill Intermediate to meet with the ākonga, teachers and the professional ...
It is my pleasure to be here at MEETINGS 2022. I want to start by thanking Lisa and Steve from Business Events Industry Aotearoa and everyone that has been involved in organising and hosting this event. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to welcome you all here. It is ...
Aotearoa New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, met in Wellington today for the biannual Australia - Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Minister Consultations. Minister Mahuta welcomed Minister Wong for her first official visit to Aotearoa New Zealand ...
The volatile global situation has been reflected in today’s quarterly GDP figures, although strong annual growth shows New Zealand is still well positioned to deal with the challenging global environment, Grant Robertson said. GDP fell 0.2 percent in the March quarter, as the global economic trends caused exports to fall ...
More than a million New Zealanders have already received their flu vaccine in time for winter, but we need lots more to get vaccinated to help relieve pressure on the health system, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Getting to one million doses by June is a significant milestone and sits ...
It’s a pleasure to be here today in person “ka nohi ke te ka nohi, face to face as we look back on a very challenging two years when you as Principals, as leaders in education, have pivoted, and done what you needed to do, under challenging circumstances for your ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is successfully creating jobs and boosting regional economic growth, an independent evaluation report confirms. Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash announced the results of the report during a visit to the Mihiroa Marae in Hastings, which recently completed renovation work funded through the PGF. ...
Travellers to New Zealand will no longer need a COVID-19 pre-departure test from 11.59pm Monday 20 June, COVID-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. “We’ve taken a careful and staged approach to reopening our borders to ensure we aren’t overwhelmed with an influx of COVID-19 cases. Our strategy has ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to Rwanda this week to represent New Zealand at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali. “This is the first CHOGM meeting since 2018 and I am delighted to be representing Aotearoa New Zealand,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “Reconnecting New Zealand with the ...
We, the Ministers for trade from Costa Rica, Fiji, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, welcome the meeting of Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS) partners on 15 June 2022, in Geneva to discuss progress on negotiations for the ACCTS. Our meeting was chaired by Hon Damien O’Connor, New Zealand’s Minister for ...
Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti has today announced Caroline Flora as the new Chief Censor of Film and Literature, for a three-year term from 20 July. Ms Flora is a senior public servant who has recently held the role of Associate Deputy‑Director General System Strategy and Performance at the Ministry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist), The Conversation At the May 21 federal election, Labor won 77 of the 151 House of Representatives seats (up eight since 2019 when adjusted for redistributions), the Coalition won 58 seats (down 18), the Greens four (up ...
Our report Governance of the City Rail Link project was presented to the House of Representatives today. In our work, we often identify poor governance as the reason why major projects have problems. Therefore, we wanted to provide Parliament and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Crawford Spencer, Professor of Law, Charles Darwin University Shutterstock In 2012, legislation was introduced in the Northern Territory to restrict the possession and supply of alcohol without a liquor license or permit in designated alcohol protected areas in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock The Australian Census numbers have been released, showing women typically do many more hours of unpaid housework per week compared to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mischa Bongers, Sessional Lecturer, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock “Kegels” and pelvic floor exercises are usually associated with “women’s business” – think pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. But men have pelvic floors too. Just like women, at various times in their lives ...
Under the Human Rights Act it is unlawful for schools to refuse enrolment or subject students to detrimental treatment on any of the grounds of discrimination in the Act, including sexual orientation and family status, says Te Kāhui Tika Tangata ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dougal Sutherland, Clinical Psychologist, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Getty Images Healthcare workers in New Zealand already face life-and-death decisions daily. But as multiple winter illnesses add pressure to a system already stretched by COVID, staff now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Portia Dilena, History PhD Candidate, La Trobe University Interviewee Eileen Clark Regional women are too often forgotten in Australia’s political movements. The “big teal steal” focuses on the independent candidates from Melbourne and Sydney, forgetting that independent Cathy McGowan stole ...
National MP Simon O'Connor has returned to Parliament with an apology to colleagues over a social media post that celebrated the US Supreme Court's overturning of abortion law. ...
ACT MP Chris Baillie’s Member’s Bill on repealing Easter shopping restrictions should be voted through at first reading so we can have the debate on retailers having the choice to open or not over Easter, according to Retail NZ. “We are calling ...
Justice Minister Kiri Allan says changes to political donations will lead to greater transparency in New Zealand's electoral system, but National says the current laws are adequate. ...
The Supreme Court in Wellington has just handed down their judgement in Attorney-General v Family First New Zealand, and the Government and the Charities Board have won the right to deregister Family First as a registered charity. “This decision is a sad ...
On Wednesday 29 June, at 1pm, the students behind Gender Neutral Bathrooms NZ , with the support of national rainbow charity InsideOUT Kōaro will gather on the steps of Parliament to handover a petition that calls on the government to uphold ...
Winston Peters has issued judicial review proceedings against Speaker of the House the Rt Honourable Trevor Mallard, challenging Mr Mallard’s issue of a trespass warning against Mr Peters on 28 April 2022, which the Speaker then withdrew on 4 ...
The community group fighting to save 345 trees on Ōwairaka Mt Albert says the Supreme Court has done the right thing in denying Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s request to appeal a judicial decision around the proposed tree felling. The Supreme Court said ...
SAFE is urging kiwis who want to see the caging of pigs banned to make their thoughts known on the draft code of welfare for pigs. The draft, put out by the Ministry for Primary Industries and the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, proposes a ...
Allied health workers have voted to ratify the settlement reached by employers and the PSA last month. Over 98 percent of health professionals covered by the allied, public health, scientific and technical collective agreements voted to accept the ...
On this coming Thursday, June 30th - with a giant albatross sculpture - Greenpeace Aotearoa will deliver a petition signed by almost 100,000 people calling on the Government to ban single-use plastic bottles and incentivise reusable and refillable alternatives. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Savin Chand, Senior Lecturer, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Federation University Australia Shutterstock The annual number of tropical cyclones forming globally decreased by about 13% during the 20th century compared to the 19th, according to research published today in Nature Climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Renae Barker, Senior Lecturer, The University of Western Australia The latest census results are out and the number of Australians who selected “no religion” has risen again to 38.9%, up from 30.1% in 2016. This makes them the second-largest “religious group” after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jake M Robinson, Ecologist and Researcher, Flinders University Gontran Isnard/Unsplash, CC BY Technology has undoubtedly contributed to global biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Where forests once stood, artificial lights now illuminate vast urban jungles. Where animals once roamed, huge factories ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lucas Walsh, Professor and Director of the Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice, Monash University Shutterstock When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared victory on election night, he said he wanted to unite Australians around “our shared values of fairness ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Dean Lewins/AAP Census data to be released Tuesday shows Australia changing rapidly before COVID, gaining an extra one million residents from overseas in the past five years, almost ...
By Craig McCulloch, RNZ News deputy political editor Former National MP and Justice Minister Amy Adams says opposition leader Christopher Luxon is right to rule out restricting abortion laws in Aotearoa New Zealand, calling the alternative “absolutely soul-destroying”. Speaking to RNZ, Adams also sounded a note of warning to her ...
RNZ Pacific The Tuvalu government has withdrawn from a UN Oceans Conference in Portugal after China blocked Taiwanese delegates in its team. An officer with Tuvalu’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Jessica Marinaccio, told RNZ Pacific that Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Simon Kofe was already en route to the Portuguese capital, ...
The Opposition leader says all his MPs are united around the commitment not to change abortion law, as former Justice Minister Amy Adams says restricting the law would be "absolutely soul-destroying". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ivan Charles Hanigan, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health Impact Assessment and Senior Lecturer in Climate Change and Health, , Faculty of Health Science, School of Population Health, Curtin University., Curtin University Shutterstock New research has found suicide increases ...
For long enough New Zealanders have liked to think they enjoyed one of the highest living standards in the world. More recently those familiar with what is happening in those countries which are leading the world have understood NZ has been slipping down the ladder. Under a Labour-led government, the slide ...
In the face of the greatest health crisis the country has ever faced more than 3000 health care professionals are sitting at home twiddling their thumbs. Hospitals are paying GPs ridiculous amounts to moonlight for emergency departments to cope with ...
Te Pāti Māori Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer MP was to travel to Lisbon, Portugal to help build an international coalition against deep sea mining at the United Nations Oceans Conference 2022. This comes off the back of a 36,000 strong petition to ban ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rod Davies, Lecturer in popular music and songwriting, Monash University Shutterstock Most of the music we listen to is made by session musicians. These guns for hire are experts in their field, much sought after and often bring a unique ...
As the war in Ukraine rolls on, New Zealand is providing another $4.5m through NATO, extending NZDF deployments in Europe, and legal support for international courts. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert G. Patman, Professor of International Relations, University of Otago Getty Images/Hagen Hopkins Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s acceptance of an invitation to speak at this week’s NATO leaders’ summit in Madrid has fuelled a narrative that New Zealand’s independent foreign ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Winter, Associate Professor (New Testament Studies), University of Divinity In many churches across the United States of America, and even perhaps here in Australia, Sunday worship would have been an opportunity to celebrate the decision of the US Supreme Court to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wayne Hing, Professor, Physiotherapy, Bond University Shutterstock Physiotherapists are increasingly offering needling therapies in addition to their standard care. Many Australian physiotherapists in private practice now offer dry needling or Western medical acupuncture as part of a treatment approach. Is ...
As the war in Ukraine rolls on, New Zealand is providing another $4.5m through NATO, extending NZDF deployments in Europe, and legal support for international courts. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean security forces have intercepted and stopped seven trucks carrying seven containers containing sensitive election material in the Southern Highlands after it was found that the containers had been allegedly tampered with. “Manager Alwyn Jimmy called police in SHP to stop the ...
RNZ Pacific The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting has ended in Rwanda with Samoa confirmed as the next host of the meeting. Samoa’s hosting of the 2024 event will be the first time a Pacific member country will host CHOGM Samoa’s Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa attended the meeting in ...
ANALYSIS:By Professor Steven Ratuva The West and China continue to exert influence over the Pacific region. But discussions of Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are increasingly patronising, framing them as vulnerable, and omitting their agency. In the battle for geopolitical influence and supremacy in the Pacific, the two most visible ...
Buzz from the Beehive The National Party’s strong objection to plans to overhaul New Zealand’s political donations regime, expressed in submissions on the Government’s proposed sweeping changes to electoral law, were reported in a Stuff report last week. The changes would include lowering the threshold for political parties to disclose ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Andrejevic, Professor, School of Media, Film, and Journalism, Monash University, Monash University Shutterstock Private companies and public authorities are quietly using facial recognition systems around Australia. Despite the growing use of this controversial technology, there is little in ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling on mayoral candidates Efeso Collins and Leo Molloy to be upfront with voters about whether they will reduce capital investment in roading or increase rates to fund free public transport. There are growing calls ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stuart Khan, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UNSW Sydney Dean Lewins/AAP During the federal election campaign, Labor promised to future-proof Australia’s water resources. Now, new Water Minister Tanya Plibersek must deliver on the policy – one vital to securing ...
Family Planning and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists - Toi Mata Hauora say if one thing can be learned from the overturning of Roe v Wade it is that access to safe abortion and contraceptive care must be embedded as a core service within ...
A new Class Actions Act should be developed to improve access to justice and efficiency in litigation, concludes Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission in its report, Ko ngā Hunga Take Whaipānga me ngā Pūtea Tautiringa | Class Actions and Litigation ...
OP-Ed by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana – Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). As ...
Opinion - Jacinda Ardern needs to deploy every aspect of her starpower if she wants to rescue New Zealand's faltering free trade EU negotiations, writes [Geoffrey Miller. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Payne, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, The Sydney School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney My experience as an adviser to Peter Andren – perhaps the first of the modern-day wave of non-party MPs to arrive in Canberra – suggests Labor’s ...
On Friday, 24 June 2022 (local time), millions of United States citizens lost the right to control their bodies and make decisions affecting their lives, families, and futures. The US Supreme Court reached a majority decision to overturn the constitutional ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Most women are not working full-time during most of their working lives, which holds them back from management positions and accentuates the pay gap with men, according to data released on Monday. Men on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lindsay Robertson, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago Getty Images The number of young New Zealanders aged 15 to 17 who vape every day has tripled in two years, from 2% in 2018-19 ...
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How to help people facing poverty?
This is a good read about scientific studies.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01679-y
Thanks for this Barry.
The scientific evidence is clear, reducing inequality with cash injections to the most disadvantaged gives them the resources they need to escape poverty benefiting and enriching the whole of society.
Where does the cash come?
It comes from government which gains its income from taxes on the more well off.
The political representatives of the more well off, like National and ACT are against taxing the well off for any sort of social programs even if those programs would benefit the whole of society. And so will campaign to oppose them.
Fundamental to this campaign is the promotion of the idea, that the poor are indigent, irresponsible, stupid and lazy, and responsible for their own distress and powerlessness.
Relentlessly the representatives of the rich will push the idea, that taxing the well off to fund social programs will only see the less well off spend more on drugs and booze and gambling and other social evils.
Again and again studies like this prove the opposite. That given the resources the poor will use them raise themselves and their families out of poverty.
There is more than one way that society's wealth can be distributed more equitably, While the benefits of governments doing this directly is backed by studies like this.
Governments are not the only agencies that have the power to redistribue the wealth of society more equitably. More traditionally, trade unions have played this role.
I am reminded here of the rise of South Korea to become the economic power house that it is today. This transformation began with the rise of powerful trade unions that led successful struggles to wrest more of that society's wealth for the working people. The increase in well being of the working population led to increases in productivity, the continuing rise in incomes and resources at the bottom of South Korean society led to higher achievement levels for South Korean children in schools leading to more children of working families to be more able to move up to receive the advantages of higher education. The struggle of the trade union movement in South Korea was also linked to the struggle for more democracy and openness in South Koran society.
These hard won advances were fought every step of the way. As will the proven benfits of government led redistribution will be too.
Everything is connected
On Saturday Mickysavage, posted in praise of UK union leader Mick Lynch.
Attached to the bottom of his post, Mickysavage added the Green Day rendition of John Lennon's song 'Working Class Hero'.
The Green Day backing video features refugees from tyrannies where campaigns for social justice and against extreme inequality are suppressed with massive violence and oppression. Local ruling elites of these countries, quick to suppress any sort of trade union or democratic activity, are often supported and backed, (and also armed with military aid), by Western powers that benefit from the neo-colonial oppression, exploitation and looting of these countries in an international web of binding business contracts, trade deals and political and military partnership links.
What reminded me of your comment, Barry, and the link you provided to proven studies of how to relieve poverty, was the first line sung by Green Day,
"As soon as you're born, they make you feel small
By giving you nothing instead of it all"
Despite the proven success of the trials in relieving poverty by providing resources and funds to poor people, these trials will never be rolled out as government programs. The international links between the local ruling elites and the ruling elites in the West who in partnership also benefit from the inequality, poverty and low incomes in these countries, (possibly even more than the local elites), will simply not allow it.
It will take a hard fought campaign against these vested interests, the same for the struggle of the RMTU workers, led my Mick Lynch.
Everything is connected.
World War III edges closer.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-navy-could-escortgrain-ships-through-odesa-blockade-6cdp626xq#:~:text=Britain%20is%20in%20discussion%20with,protect%20freighters%20carrying%20Ukrainian%20grain.
Both war and climate change have the same drivers.
It follows, that if we can't stop the war, We can't stop climate change.
Stop the war Russian troops out!
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/stop-fuelling-the-war-in-ukraine-russian-troops-out-no-to-nato-trident/
While the US hegemon might regard the Pacific region as a US Lake.
(on a smaller scale), Russia regards the Black Sea as a Russian lake,
Both war and climate change have the same drivers.
It follows, that if we can't stop the war, We can't stop climate change.
Stopping war, is stopping climate change.
Russian warlord Putin gloats at Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuel supplies while mocking the urgent need to turn toward renewables. A turn which would undermine Europe's (and the world's), dependence on fossil fuels, and Putin's ability to use this dependence as a weapon.
Yeah….not hush money at ALL. JLR allgood… until he wasn’t. Dirty politics for sure
Happy Matariki to everyone. I have a question about the Commercialisation of the celebration. I know it has been discussed recently but, in my opinion, posed by bad faith actors on this site. Am watching the TVNZ Matariki Special and in ad breaks they are advertising a "Give me a Clue Matariki Special" If they can advertise that, why can't other commercial identities use Matariki in their advertising. I'm just asking about consistency. Cheers.
Only really caught up on yesterday's conversation later in the day.
I don't really understand the impulse to determine how others view this holiday, and pre-determine what significance it holds for all.
The Christians I know celebrate Christmas in both the commercialised cultural way, and with attendant church activities and sermons. They neither demand the same from others, or begrudge those that hold different faiths from not recognising the religious component.
I don't know any monarchists that have a particular form of celebration on Queen's Birthday, or unionists that hold particular celebrations on Labour Day. If they do, I've heard nothing from them about how everyone celebrated the same.
Isn't the point of any state holiday is a day to do what you wish, with those you want to share it with?
In response to any references to the commercialisation of a Māori holiday. Well, I view it as a holiday named in recognition of a Māori calendar event, which has been allotted in a multicultural society. The recognition and assignment of that name is enough.
An assumed world view about all Māori is not helpful.
Although, I choose to be a feminist, I have differing ideas about feminism than other feminists, and often disagree on feminism. As a Māori, I recognise that the diversity of individuals and their thoughts and perspectives – as with non-Māori – do not often align. As with other demographics, even if there is agreement on a topic, there remains diverse views on both outcomes and implementation.
In this region, Māori were the prime traders and were exporting produce to England, in the mid-late 1800's. To assume that they would be against trading on a holiday (if the concept of national holiday was understood) is just that… an assumption.
If to be treated and accepted equally is the goal, the the use of Matariki in advertising is an indicator.
Funny thing about this all is that i was asked by Maori – last year and this year – to make "Matariki Stars" for them to give away to children in foster care and children in school.
Should i have refused? Lol, of course not. As a native Caucasian /nonmale/nontrans/formerly known as woman person thingy from a country were we happily invent food to eat for special holidays it was a pleasure for me to make these chocolate stars and i will do them again last year.
Manawatia a Matariki to you Molly. My the ‘new’ year bring you many blessing and happiness.
why shouldn't you make stars? This has nothing to do with the commercialisation argument.
You could call it commercialisation as it is literally the same as making Easter Bunnies for Easter or Santas for Christmas. It is a product made for sale for that particular day. It just depends on which step of the ideological purity ladder one stands.
To me any holiday needs a special food that you can only get that one day or few days during which the festival/holiday is feted. It makes it a celebration. But i am roman catholic and grew up with pretend drinking of blood and eating of flesh of Christ and thus have no issue with symbolism in food attached to ones culture. Food is part of celebrations.
you were paid to make the stars?
Absolutely, without pay I don't work. I am too poor to not charge, and for what its worth i was not expected to make these for free either.
I thought it was a community thing.
I don't have a problem with people being paid, and I don't think this is commercialisation in this context either. Commercialisation would be a business making up some product to sell to take advantage of Matariki and putting on a big sale.
I view both to some extend as 'commercialisation, but i don't understand why we are ok with boxing day sales, Easter sales, Queens birthday sales but suddenly draw the line at this holiday. Either we do or we don't. Re- Community thing, making these stars cost money, and i no longer – like many other small businesses my size that used to support various charities fully and for free- can no longer afford to support these charities without at least charging for cost of making hte products that they would like to get from us. Premises, lisencing, material, etc all that costs money.
In fact i am open and working today. Just as i would do on any other holiday. Too poor to not work. 🙂
Boxing Day sales are evil, and a direct result of the whole global system that is killing the planet, enforcing slave labour in poor countries, and undermining worker rights in places like NZ.
I fully support shops to be closed on those days other than essentials.
Like I said, no problem with you making the stars as part of your business, it just wasn't apparent in the first comment where you talked about the stars being given away and I assumed it was a community thing.
and yes, yes, I understand poor people need sales to be able to buy stuff. However politically, we still have to argue against neoliberalism and for a better system. Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever.
A Big Sale that happens to coincide with a public holiday when many flock to the shops & malls to kill time wandering with their heads bent down focussed on the little screens they hold in their hands and spend money to re-fill their materialistic needs. Viva la Commerce!
thanks for that. I was starting to wonder if I'd wandered into a parallel lw universe where consumerism was a desired god.
These neoliberal attitudes are almost impossible to shake. They have become normalised (as in normative), legalised & regulated, and embedded and permeate almost everything and everybody in our society. It took a few decades, but here we are.
Briefly toyed with the idea of a ‘quick’ Post but quickly running out of time, as usual 🙁
From my perspective, giving the role and responsibility of making a statement about neoliberalism and commercialism to this new Māori named state holiday is disrespectful to people as a whole, and a disservice to Māori long-term.
Address the issue across the board, instead of placing that whole conversation and burden on Māori concepts.
You’re accusing me of something I have not committed and reading way too much into it – I did not mention or imply anything specific about Māori and/or Matariki.
But since you provoked me, I’ll give you something to sink your teeth in.
Māori concepts and culture are being (mis-)appropriated all the time, usually for commercial (and political) reasons. At the same time, Māori concepts and culture are under permanent threat, socially, economically (e.g. tourism), and demographically and they are in chronic danger of being assimilated into our Westerns ways. To keep up, to get ahead, and to counteract past damages that have led and still lead to inequality and inequity in our society the answer/solution for some seems to be education, career, success, and then trying (out-)compete with Pākehā in the Pākehā world. In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance.
As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts. You have turned it upside-down and back-to-front.
I don't want to quibble with much of what you say here. In particular I fully agree that culture can be easily misappropriated. We are for example seeing this play out as Putin steals the Russian memory of their honourable role in defeating Hitler, for a wholly debased purpose in Ukraine.
But it is also true that any living culture evolves all the time, adapting as the world around it shifts. We cannot and should not demand the Maori world remain frozen in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic.
Yes, I agree completely, cultures evolve, which is something entirely different from being assimilated by a dominant and/or colonial culture. What I see happening is ‘Māori- washing’ thanks to the good intentions of PC warriors and the likes. It is superficial and commercial and only has the veneer of the culture it is supposed to represent but it is just empty hollow packaging and meaningless as such. Having good intentions is not the same as doing the right thing.
Te Ao Māori cannot remain frozen “in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic” because: 1) it no longer exists; 2) who determines this way anyway? If we were to trust and respect and allow Māori some agency in determining these things for, by, and with themselves we would be on the right track, IMO. However, this seems to lead to absurd notions and equally absurd resistance, IMHO.
Final note: I guess that because some of the efforts feel so superficial and meaningless people feel more (easily) inclined to take a stance against them, i.e., they object and attack what they see as ‘virtue-signalling’ and ‘posturing’ rather than a genuine cause.
Not following that Molly. My comment about consumerism was in reference to discussion on TS.
@Incognito
I apologise. My comment was not directed at you specifically. It was a generalised comment about the idea of treating this holiday in a different way to other state holidays, and addressing the reasons for doing so.
"In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance."
In some cases this may be true, in other cases individuals will make choices that are not congruent with Māori values, because of other reasons, including personal selfishness, ego and sometimes for reasons of opportunity. These universal impediments to collective thinking are also experienced and acted on by Māori and non-Māori individuals.
"As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts."
As I said, this was not intended as being directed at you as an individual, just the general idea that Māori are assigned this responsibility, in such a way in regards to this holiday. I don't believe that is fair.
I'm going to have to re-read these conversations, because I have probably lost track of it as I've come back and forth over the last few hours. I do agree with what you have said above, but I don't think it is the whole picture in regards to Māori and this holiday.
Right. I apologise again. Was making the erroneous assumption that it was in reference to the original question regarding Matariki and the advertising, but it obviously was not.
(I'm leaving the start of this comment, where I got it all wrong, to show that I got it all wrong, and responded to something that you did not say.)
Just letting you know I’ve seen your reply and all is good 🙂
I appreciate and respect your views in general and specifically as Māori and look forward to future convos on this topic. I think your attention is directed elsewhere today 😉
So true and sad.
"Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever."
We have been saying that for a while now, in fact in Rotorua we have a street full of 'underclass' people whom we tell just that.
I am very over 'talking points' and purity spirals and the likes. People who have no money or who have obligations in this current environment all have a hustle to survive, and that hustle gives no fucks about holidays, culture, and the purity levels of people in
Academia, Arts, Politics, Pundit class etc who are either on benefits by the government or on good salaries. Those of us who are on no wages by an employer or on a benefit will have to work. And we will work when people are there and go out and about to have a good time.
Boxing day Sale is no more and no less evil then any other sale. People have money, people gift money – specially for young ones and they tend to spend it in their holiday period. And Businesses that would like to stay closed or don't want to incur the expense of paying extra to staff can stay closed. And some do.
I personally like sales to be organised as it was in Germany, i.e. Winter sale the first two weeks of January, and Summer sale the first two weeks of August (might be September not sure) and that is it. Any other promotion needs to be called just that, a promotion.
But keep in mind for some people Boxing Day Sales is a day out with their family.
if you cannot politically analyse (or won't) the dynamics and forces at work in capitalism, including Boxing Day sales, then there's no pathway out of poverty at the class level. There's only adaptation to neoliberalism and sorry for those that can't adapt. That's basically Labour's position.
I'm not arguing purity, I clearly said there are reasons why people need the sales. This is a both/and situation. We can both acknowledge that people need to adapt as well as talk about why this adaptation thing exists in the first place.
Thanks, Sabine. You too.
Good on you Molly.
Typing on phone promotes brevity. But I do want to reach out and wholeheartedly support your underlying sentiment here. Rational, tolerant and most importantly to my mind, celebrating diversity in our common universal humanity.
Great comments Molly
Cheers
Agree with all that Molly. Thanks.
What does that mean? They have adverts? They try and sell thing on Christmas day?
If people don't see commercialisation as a negative then it makes sense to commercialise Matariki. But commercialisation causes problems in society. Consider alcohol or tobacco or pharmaceutical advertisements. Or if we get to the point of advertising breast binders, puberty blockers and cross sex hormones on TV.
Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays.
We know from long experience with neoliberalism, that if commerce is given free reign then bad shit happens. Pākehā culture no longer has the sense to keep some things free of that for the betterment of socidety, thankfully Māori does.
But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality.
I meant that the Christians I know, do the whole holiday spiel. Including the buying of gifts, etc. Or at Easter, include the pagan symbols of Hot Cross Buns or Easter Eggs. It doesn't seem to create much angst for them to do both.
As an atheist, my family has it's own traditions. One that the children hate – and I love – is that they are not allowed to give me anything, but if they do, it has to be made by them. I sometimes get nothing – but do have several years of short videos made by them as they have grown. My point is, individuals and families create their own ways to mark holidays in ways that are significant to them.
Whether it is because people are a mix of their religious beliefs, and their cultural environment is for the social sciences to provide evidence for.
As an individual, I just know that for several years in my young adulthood, I both looked forward and participated enthusiastically in St Patrick's day. Neither my digestion or inclination trends that way at this stage of may life.
The significance of Matariki as a holiday, is going to be different for all, and that significance will change. Some may celebrate by use of stories and symbols – most particularly in education, maraes etc. Others who have stronger connections to Matariki will probably have their own way of celebrating that is more traditional and proscribed. But many others will just be grateful that they have another day to spend with friends and family.
Exposure to advertising that recognises and promotes the symbols of Matariki, is a commercialised but gentle reminder of the recognition of the Maaori aspect of the holiday, that replicates the advertising of other events such as Easter and Christmas.
I don't consider buying Christmas presents to be commercialisation per se. Depending on how people do it I guess, it's definitely become much more consumerist over my lifetime especially with children.
People and families marking/celebrating Matariki in their own way is also not commercialisation. Has someone objected to people doing this?
Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori. I don’t see it as a mainstream, Pāhekā dominant culture holiday with a Māori name that has a Māori aspect. I suspect this right here is the fundamental disagreement about commercialisation.
Plenty of ways for people to come to understand what it means without commercialising it, and I can't see how commercialising it will improve understanding of te ao Māori, I would guess it will make it worse. We will see.
"Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori."
That make sense. We are approaching this from completely different perspectives.
I consider it to be a government recognition of Māori by the assigning of a name of a state holiday. The significance to some Māori and is neither enhanced or impacted by this act. A separation of state and 'church' in terms of its implementation.
I wouldn't really want it to be otherwise, on reflection.
Sorry, meant to address your question re the pressure to work on holidays.
"Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays."
I was one of many workers who loved being rostered on a state holiday, because of the day in lieu and the extra hourly. Many of our lower income households are the ones that already work the shifts, and weekends. They already accommodate within their households the varying conflicts of their work with the assumption of normal schedules for schooling, activities etc. Those families co-ordinate their time off with other family members, rather than the community at large.
It is a consequence of falling incomes and rising costs, but we shouldn't ignore those that welcome the financial benefit of increased wages by working on a state holiday.
"But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality."
Pakeha history also contains examples of group knowledge and support. Māori, historically and now, have individuals that also are proponents of individual enrichment.
I believe it is as vitally important to recognise the diversity of views and life practices within the Māori demographic, as we automatically do within the non-Māori demographic.
It is both a sign of respect – and equality – to do so.
Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. Understandable and I support the pragmatics, but politically I'm in favour of system change. Better employment law, living wage etc. Public holidays with strong symbolic meaning are a chance to shift culture.
Yes, and British and Māori cultures were quite different in the 1800s, as are Māori and Pākeha today. My point stands, that us now, are engrained in individualism, and this is in contrast to Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. The problem with commercialisation centres on the collective good.
"Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. "
Could be viewed that way. Personally, I see it as one of the more inventive and pragmatic ways that people find to deal with the failures of neoliberalism. Until the political landscape improves and material changes are felt at individual levels, people find ways to adapt and thrive.
"Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. "
Many cultures have this emphasis. Many demographics also contain individuals that practice this without cultural reference, whether it be through religion, environmentalism, socialism etc. It's a perspective to support, but not necessarily adhered to by all Māori individuals or organisations.
there's a balance to be had about adapting and political change. Much of the GI debate is centred in adapting to and making the most of neoliberalism.
Of course. When I talk about cultural norms, it's a given that not every individual or org fits or adheres to that. But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally.
I understand what you are saying.
But I am cognisant of the difference between a concept, and how the concept is lived across modern Maoridom.
Part of that comes from my lived experience with my relatives and marae, some from the same observational scrutiny I use for others. I am fully aware my experience is only one of many, and not necessarily representative, but it is still true, and not one-off.
not following this one either, sorry!
For me it's a given that in any culture (or set of cultures) there is variation. Is it me making a general statement about Māori culture that is the sticking point here? Is it an untrue statement? Or are you wanting to make more visible the variation within Māoridom?
"But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally."
Purely from my personal perspective, it's a generalisation that I think it is not necessarily helpful.
If Māori have a really good functioning community, this is where the best aspects of Te Ao Māori can be lived, and seen. But there are Pākeha examples of the same too. We can recognise both, without the need for a comparison of merit.
As in all common groups, there is the possibility of those within in acting outside of those values, but not being held to account because of the roles, or power, or relationships they hold in those groups. Eg. Marae based organisations have the same vulnerability of church based in this regard, and just as my Pākeha friend has borne the brunt of that protection in her church, I have direct Māori relatives with similar experiences in their marae, that were also failed because of the commitment to solidarity rather than individual accountability.
I love those aspects of Te Ao Māori, and I acknowledge their value. But for me credit is given to whomever encompasses those values, in all ways. Whether Māori or Pākeha. Growing up with both Māori and Pākeha relatives, that had similar methods of sharing and community endeavours, I had always thought of it as New Zealand culture, and am reluctant to let that understanding go, so I realise it might be a personal one, rather than one that expresses adequately the conflict between the cultures today.
This deprecation of individualism out of hand omits the enormous benefits it brings. The kind of overreaching tribalism that readily sacrifices personal welfare for the greater good comes at its own terrible cost. It is why most people choose modernity at the first opportunity they get.
Unconstrained individualism on the other hand carries its own alienation and social ills.
I would suggest these two principles are best thought of as mutually interdependent, each necessary to support the other. It is impossible to imagine a good, healthy society full of depraved, dysfunctional people. Equally a tyrannical, oppressive society will fail to inculcate admirable people.
In conversations where I know the understanding and perspective of the other person, it is easier to give my perspective without going into areas I did not intend.
So, it is easier to explain in principle, rather than specifics.
I believe that in most cases – if not all – when implementing a process, or determining a solution, there is going to be impact or cost. This recognition doesn't mean that the solution is not the right one to undertake, just that there are costs to that decision that should be recognised and accommodated in some way.
As you say, both unconstrained individualism and tribalism carry both their own benefits and costs. A system that finds a way to capture the benefits of both would be ideal. Of course, in some situations one approach will predominate, while in others the opposite will be true.
Regardless, there is a cost to either of those approaches.
Effective (rather than punitive) regulation and policies might address the excesses of individualism, while processes that ensure individual accountability despite a recognition that the group embraces us in all our flawed humanity need to be included.
It is the optimal balance between the two that is so very hard to achieve, and requires ongoing review and tinkering. Sometimes, in real life, people who see the benefits of either approach, champion that approach and don’t recognise the costs when they occur – because we are not trained to look for additional problems resulting from our mostly great solutions.
And some people have to work, regardless of whether it's a holiday or not (or our civilization will grind to a halt). Nurses, electricity workers, sewerage station workers, water supply, etc., etc.
Public holidays have never (and can never) include everyone.
Was in the CBD this morning catching up with a friend, and came across a Matariki festival. Maori musicians, stalls selling food, and general Maori themed nicknacks, jewellery, clothes, etc. Observationally (I didn't instigate a whakapapa check), these were all Maori – happily commercializing 'their' festival.
Absolutely don't have a problem with this. And I think that it reflects a range of views on this from within the Maori sphere, just as there are a range of views on Christmas/Easter within the Christian sphere.
I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. I gave examples above about areas we restrict eg alcohol advertising.
People having a local market and selling stuff isn't commercialisation, it's community.
Obviously. The point was that commercialisation has enforced more people having to work on public holidays, unnecessarily. Easy to make a case for nurses being needed every day of the year. Not so a $2 shop, or a baby shop.
"I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. "
OK, I think I understand the distinction here.
If I do, I believe this to be a bigger conversation, rather than application to Matariki as a state holiday.
You realise that our economy and civilisation will implode. Just ask Kirk Hope.
Who incidentally produces nothing.
Noble Savage Romanticism.
The public adoption of this posture is a form of narcissistic virtue-signalling from affluent Culturalists utterly divorced from cold hard Reality.
you appear to be the one with noble savage notions in your head Swordfish. There's absolutely nothing overt or implied about the nobela savage in the observation that Māori cultures are more collective focused than Pākehā in NZ. Neither is there anything controversial in my statement. Nearly 40 years of neoliberalism ffs.
By all means use lazy anti-woke virtueless signalling in lieu of an actual argument against what I said though.
Reality is cold and hard?
No, it ain't.
Reality is binary,
Then again
https://medium.com/encounter-in-nineveh/the-binary-universe-and-simulated-reality-dfc578658ac9
It from Bit (John wheeler)
Information gives rise to "every it-every particle,every field of force,even the space time continuum itself"
Not only is the observer observing,she is asking questions,and making statements that are expressed in discrete bits,"what we call reality" as Wheeler wrote "arises in the last analysis of yes/no questions'' and added 'All things physical are information -theoretic in origin,and this is a participatory universe'
From Gleick (the information)
It is or it is not. There’s no question about it.
Binary?
Christian mystics (and others) would argue that it's a ternary.
Your thoughts, Poission?
H=n log s
Democritus though, failed to understand what opinion is.
No it isn't. (sarc) (Reply to Poision at 3.50pm. – Reality is binary.)
I suspect it is unitary
You are writing of our perception.
Certainly not for affluent old virtue-signaling hippie fantasists in the rural idyll of small town Riverton.
You wouldn't have too much of a clue about life elsewhere, however.
"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
– John Ch1, v 46.
It's surprising what comes out of the periphery.
How unkind, swordfish, and ad hom 🙂
“affluent old virtue-signaling hippie fantasists in the rural idyll of small town Riverton.” is harsh.
Why are you so harsh?
There has been some interesting korero today. I had hard day behind the chainsaw, followed by the weed eater for desert. Nothing like some honest levity to end my day.
Those who hold your view are dying.
Those who hold political and increasingly commercial power in New Zealand are a rag-tag battlefleet of educated post-settlement Maori, gays in all their forms, remaining unionists, urban activists, environmentalists, feminists, sustainability types, fitness and muesli freaks, poverty activists, all the massive companies addicted to the state, the deep left within key ministries, the great HoMoPoMo conspiracy of them …
… and together they have changed the language of political discourse forever.
It's OK. We know you hate them all. But your view will soon die.
Today is just one day where all of them break out into the open, official and permanent. Hoisted to something as real as the stars.
Beautiful, Ad!
.
You're beyond clueless … I’ve noticed time & again when you can’t adequately answer a point, you concoct any old smear that happens to be passing through that narcissistic brain of yours.
Obviously you think a cheap bit of character assassination will give you some sort of quick “win”.
Agree Swordfish
Have you just read yourself?
Very blade-like, your sword, fish.
Pretty tactless Ad when you know Swordfish has cancer.
+1 Anker
A tag team of nasty bastards…so much for the 'empathic left'.
Really Ad? Don't you know Labour are going down in the polls and likely are on their way out.
Many years ago, I became aware of aspects of the Matariki cluster (I drove a Subaru back then) and it's importance to gardening. The two "figures" around whom on the ground action was centred, Rongomatane and Haumietikitiki ( nga atua of cultivated & wild food) really inspired me, as did the focus on assessing food stocks and planning the next seasons mahi nga kai. I've marked Matariki ever since then, with regards to those aspects. I'm not a good star-gazer – myopia and colour-blindness aren't advantages to peering into outer space, so the earthier effects are where I connect with nga whetu. The national celebration we are enjoying now, hasn't changed my prosaic view of the celestial event; I still only consider Matariki from the growers point of view, but I do celebrate the wider involvement and awareness of all of us living here on these South Pacific islands of ours.
A good friend of mine, who has just complete a degree in weaving, incorporated the Matariki cluster in her final submissions and her graduation korowai. The stories related to her pieces are both connected to her iwi's stories, and her own life.
Such personal recognition and how we honour it at individual levels will be wonderfully diverse and significant, even if that recognition is not universal.
Your personal story is another example, and with your circle of influence – which I know is considerable – may spread that knowledge wider and create another unique but shared celebration of Matariki in your community.
I hope that is the case in many different rohe, but believe that it is sustainable only as an organic and personal process rather than a proscribed one.
That's a good perspective, Molly.
Chris Trotter has a go at the issue and sweeps across many of the points, but ends with this:
"Isn’t it possible that Matariki may yet prove a cure for, rather than a cause of, racist contention? Maybe, as the Earth grows warmer, and the pretensions of science and modernity are increasingly laid bare, the hunger of all Aotearoans for gods and heroes will increase. Perhaps, when we realise that these islands are all we’ve got, the thought may grow in our hearts and minds: If all things are, indeed, related and alive, then why not be guided by the stars?"
I like that.
That's a good quote from Chris Trotter, but I think fails to acknowledge the overlap between the Te Ao Maori view and many other perspectives that are also aligned with recognising the connectiveness of all things, and the value of recognising this in the day-to-day choices we make. I also don't need a god or superhero to follow in order to make informed choices, but I can understand the residual longing for such easy solutions to the problems we have ahead.
When I first became aware of, and was finding out as much as I could about climate change – I can date this by one of my children – so around 23 years ago, I included in my immersion searches for organisations around NZ that were not only identifying the problem, but recognising the scope of it, and inviting solutions.
There were a few, but none organised that did all three. It was easier to find individuals speaking out or writing about the issue.
As the children got older, I looked in particular for Māori organisations, and found one Māori youth group – bookmarked on a now defunct desktop. But even then, the understanding of the impact of climate change was limited.
Over time, references to climate change started to appear in organisations Māori and non-Māori alike, but mostly in reference to getting funding or grants for local conservation or regeneration efforts, rather than a demonstrated understanding of the impact of the whole. Thankfully, this has slowly changed over time.
My point is that Māori, just like non-Māori – despite their common good view – often treated the example of climate change as it affected their group and rohe, not as the wider global problem it is, even though they had the concepts to consider the whole, in practice the scope was limited to the familiar immediate.
I agree with the concept of understanding the value of the living biosphere.
For me, I recognise that in a myriad of ways: in teachings of Te Ao Māori, in the environmental perspectives that I follow, my understandings of science, my personal values and political views, my concern for those who follow us… etc. The more we encounter that perspective in our lives, the better.
Well said Molly.
Nope, no Israeli influence over US policy.
//
Outrageous.
"You don’t have to like or agree with Vladimir Putin to take seriously the speech he made to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum last week. Five paragraphs – from an otherwise long and somewhat dull presentation – stand out:"
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2022/06/22/the-new-new-new-world-order/
I don't know if this has been discussed before on TS but apparently Putin was aboard the Mikhail Lermontov when it sank in the sounds in 1986. Shame he made it off the ship.
Excellent…I will read The Fall…Camus is good value…quirky.
Lermontov died at 27 like all of the good artists.
He died the way of Pushkin, shot in a duel.
I had heard that Putin was supposed to have been in New Zealand and attended the inquiry into the sinking. I hadn't heard the idea that he had actually been on the ship though. Where did you hear this?
My favorite memory of the event was David Lange's quip about the sinking. "Lange declared that little old New Zealand was "the only nation to sink a Russian Ship since the Second World War."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/tv-no-show-leaves-that-sinking-feeling/FKJ67R5OQ7JDEZ7KNSVTUEXUDA/
A usually reliable friend of mine told me last night. Happy to be contradicted if wrong. I must admit I thought I would have heard about this before if it is true.
There was funny goings on with that ship
It was, and probably still is, normal practice of the Soviet submarine service to mask the acoustic signature of their submarines with a surface vessel when transiting shallow waters where the opposition could be listening.
Many of the Pilot's actions, going close to shore and going through the channel that turned out to be a bit tight, could be interpreted as trying to minimise or remove this masking.
It was also odd that our navy arrived to pick up the pieces within minutes, they were doing a hydrographic job nearby.
I suppose that once the details of the affair are disclosed, (aren't they held in Richard Prebble's personal library?) we may get to know a bit more.
There was a cartoon in Southern Cross of a Fred Dang character telling one side to bugger off, turning around and telling the other side to bugger off too. I understood that related to NZ telling USA to bugger off with it's nukes, and someone else.
PS How do you upload an image (jpeg) to TS? I've got the cartoon but not as a url
There was funny goings on with that ship.
I remember that. Didn’t Winston Peters make some allegations along the lines we were not being told the truth about it?
That man's wit is legendary.
Maggie Thatcher sent Baroness somebody-or-another to NZ to tell David Lange he wasn't to do the Oxford Union Debate. The encounter was contentious to say the least and when she left his office he called out to her "hey Baroness you've left your broomstick behind".
For anyone who may be interested, the following is the latest session from the US Congressional hearings into the Jan. 6th Capitol riots:
It covers the shenanigans in the weeks leading up to the riot. Lengthy but gripping stuff.
Could have had worse!!
Our wannabe crusher will be green.
This is who they are and the Bethlehem school mob are singing from the same sheet.
https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/right-wing-media-are-pushing-vigilantism-against-trans-people-and-drag-queens
This is who they are and the Bethlehem school mob are singing from the same sheet.
I've looked….but I can't find where the Bethlehem School are saying that LGBTQ people should be killed. Or that violence should be directed towards them.
Pray, joe90, provide a link to where you found the information that led you to make this claim.
(There's a difference between believing that 'God doesn't make mistakes.' and 'LGBTQ people should be killed.')
WTF would I bother providing anything to you.
/
No link then Joe90
Can you read between the lines?
If I read between the lines there is a good chance I am making an interpretation that is not correct.
It may be correct or it may be incorrect, if you want to deal in/with binaries only. Question is what you’re going to do with it that adds to the convo here?
Defend them all you want, but statements like 'God doesn't make mistakes' does get people killed. Either by gun or pills it makes no difference. If you're beaten down enough by words from those you are supposed to look up to, life can become very bleak.
"Defend them all you want, but statements like 'God doesn't make mistakes' does get people killed."
How does that get people killed?
Their Statement of belief contains references to the sovereignty and will of God, https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/information-releases/issue-specific-releases/integration-agreements-for-state-integrated-schools/integration-agreements-for-state-integrated-schools-a-b/ .
One oft repeated Christian viewpoint, when people are going through personal struggles, or times of crisis is: 'God doesn't make mistakes' or 'God moves in mysterious ways'. Not particularly helpful, from my point of view, but not deliberately meant to harm, but rather to console.
And so, we really need to know the context of that quote. How the conversation was initiated, and who was involved. If a student has made the statement that God had given them the wrong body, then I am not surprised that it has been challenged with the response that 'God doesn't make mistakes' within a Christian environment.
Why are so many feigning surprise at this viewpoint, as if we know nothing at all about Christian beliefs?
Suicide. If a member of the LBGT Community continues to be told they are a mistake or you're going to hell because you're an abomination, etc etc etc, either by their church leaders or idols (looking at you, Folau), the potential for suicide is elevated. If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite.
Suicide or lifelong depression.
From the inside of a fundamentalist church for my early life I know exactly what it's like to watch people question their sexuality, let alone their gender assignment.
I've seen the demon outcastings, the shunnings, humiliations, the one-on-one interviews, the training camps to re-educate you. Usually they leave, to start their entire life again, fairly damaged.
And yup, suicide and lifelong depressions among a few.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2022/06/uk-transgender-patient-suing-national-health-service-after-changing-mind-about-reassignment-surgery.html
A story about a man who had surgery to transition as a woman and now is suiing the NHS. good on him. It is a harrowing tale.
good on newshub for covering that.
I wonder if the new funding for trans healthcare will cover such situations.
The mental health impact on detrans people is intense. I don't think it's controversial to say that gay and trans people in fundamentalist churches can also have their mental health put at risk. Maybe we could have consideration for all people.
Can you explain how a gender is assigend at birth?
Sex is 'identified' early on in a pregnancy and then confirmed by birth. Sex being the visual secondary sexual characteristics of a human being i.e in an new born it is a boy – penis/scrotum, a girl – vagina.
But last i checked babies are not born without these sexual organs (or like barbie dolls with nothing down there blelow) , and no doctor will order a nurse to go into a Storage room in wich there are shelfes full of spare penises/vaginas that can then be affixed to the new born child on the whims of a doctor/midwife/nurse. If that would be the case i believe that femicide in India or China for that matter would not happen as all the parents would choose the 'boy tackle' to be affixed to the sex less new born.
Sexed bodies are OBSERVED at birth and not 'assigned'
assign
/əˈsʌɪn/
verb
past tense: assigned; past participle: assigned
allocate (a job or duty).
"Congress had assigned the task to the agency"
Similar:
allocate
allot
give
set
charge with
entrust with
designate or set (something) aside for a specific purpose.
"managers happily assign large sums of money to travel budgets"
I have a dear friend that also had harms that were not helped by the involvement in such a church.
It affects all those who fall outside of the church doctrines in any way, not only those with different sexual orientations or gender expressions.
That constancy of having someone tell you the right things to do comes at a a very high cost to all. The church either adapts or fails, as the people within it find they are able to survive without such control.
I'm sorry to hear that your upbringing meant that you witnessed such things as a child, Ad. But it doesn't seem that Bethlehem College is at that extreme from what has been reported so far.
Suicide, is not "getting people killed".
Mental distress, and not being able to get appropriate support for that distress makes people more likely to attempt, and possibly succeed at ending their own lives.
" If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite."
Given that I – and it seems many of the commentators who dictate a "good and right side of Christianity" – are atheists, I fail to see what the intent is here.
Tell those whose sense of self falls outside the teachings of the church in about the failures of historic religious doctrines to serve anyone other than the church.
Tell them, that they can find other more understanding churches to accommodate their belief in God. If they don't have a belief in God, then encourage them to dismiss anything they say.
AFAIK, Bethlehem College did not put up a display or make a determined point in regards to this question. From the (very little) that was reported a teacher answered a student with "God doesn't make mistakes" – a familiar and oft used Christian phrase.
Give ALL students the resilience and tools to deal with disagreements without resorting to self-harm as a response.
Now, let's address the common use of suicide ideation in transgender advocacy. Despite this being against every suicide prevention guideline, advocates bring up the issue of suicide as impetus for non-therapeutic social and medical interventions.
This is using the threat of suicide as a means of coercive control and manipulation.
Surely, the answer to mental distress at this level is extensive and comprehensive therapy (and only therapy).
Further point: The student was told that there was NO mistake in their existence. Not the opposite. They wanted to be told there had been a mistake.
How about "no child is born in the wrong body"? The vast majority of young people with bodily dysphoria related to their sexed body will resolve that with the right support by the time they finish puberty. Most will grow up to be perfectly "ordinary" same sex attracted people.
Thanks for your diversion, but that's not a road I'm able to go down, other than 'if NO child is born in the wrong body' how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. I'm off out to join a diverse group of people to celebrate Matariki so, Cheerio.
The people who don't desist from their gender dysphoria I think will likely have a tough life and I do feel for them. I hope they get the right support.
I posted further down about a man who had gender reassignment surgery and woke up full of regret and realized he had been castrated. He is now suing the NHS and I wish him luck.
"… how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. "
If we had the answer to this, then any concerns about the long-term effects of inappropriate treatment would melt away like morning dew.
It is precisely the inability of being able to determine who will persist and who won't that makes the issue of both social and medical interventions for minors such a contentious issue.
If the majority do grow out of it – and there are other issues here regarding the very large increase in adolescent girls – then caution regarding treatment is well advised for this cohort. Not providing medical interventions until they are grown seems a precaution that seems advisable, given the permanent and long-term outcomes from intervention.
For those that do persist – is there a way to alleviate the distress until such time they are fully cognitive adults?
This is the conversation we need to be having about treatment for minors.
It is one that requires a lot of research, input, perspectives and considerations. But the consequences of failing to even contemplate this discussion by the adults, will – as ever, be borne by the children and young people we are entrusted to protect.
How about canning the whataboutery just to shoehorn in your favourite bogeyman just this once? That would be nice. We know where you stand on that particular issue, ad nauseam.
I think there are parallels between 'god doesn't make mistakes' and 'born in the wrong body' that are worth exploring. If you don't like the conversation, maybe just scroll on by. Telling other people to shut up because you don't like their politics isn't going to run on a political blog.
The original post on this thread was about the harm to transgender people by adherents of Christianity.
Extremists gonna extreme:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/14/violent-antipolice-memes-surge/
Rosemary yesterday mentioned (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23-06-2022/#comment-1896276) this Microsoft Report:
Defending Ukraine: Early Lessons from the Cyber War
https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE50KOK
Not an awful lot of data in it though and heavy on rhetoric. But it is more than what our Government has shared with us, so far.
SVR
• Historical revisionism
• Think tanks & academia
Who would have thought that could be so divisive.
Quite helpful russian propaganda though, giving kiwis a heads up on vaccine effectiveness and side effects was probably useful for many.
With half the cases and ten times the deaths per capita. Nah.
/
😀 You're by far the funniest commenter around here on TS and that's saying something. 😀
Uncle sam the old rooster wants to gather in as many of his loyal hens as he can reminding them that they need him to keep them safe but he knows the cold wind of change is beginning to stir and he sees the young challengers on the periphery strutting their stuff……….
From the Microsoft report
I had noticed that a number of the covid-19 deniers and anti-vaxxer commenters also supported the Russian Federation invasion and war against Ukraine.
I had thought it was just the same old anti-government useful idiots pushing wacky right wing pseudo-science conspiracy theories.
Anyone able to fill out Josie Pagani’s CV? I’ve seen an awful lot based on her candidacy for a Labour seat a decade ago. Then I hear rumors about her being an oil lobbyist or having connections to one which you never see listed at the bottom of her columns. Does she have P.R. or lobbying clients?
Just sticking my nose in really, but you know it would be interesting to know when reading her writing.
Her husband was the oil lobbyist.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/standing-her-centre-left-ground/KNL2I32IG65ZL5NTMU7JD3YCVU/?c_id=280&objectid=10847238
The newly merged media company will be named "Aoeteroa New Zealand Public Media " lmfao oooh boy that's a name that'll catch on.
ANZPM. Could they fit any more letters on it?? That's the best this govt and it's army of pr reps and gargantuan legions of consultants can come up with ?!? Really?!? Lmao. Ridiculous. Call it NZBC like ABC CBC , BBC.
When the majority of the public see ANZ they think ANZ Bank or Australia/New Zealand and NZPM is shorthand for the Prime minister.
If ANZPM is the name of this new organization, thanks but no thanks rnz and tvnz can keep.
Ridiculous.
If they name it anzpm I'd almost be inclined to vote act in the hopes that shit gets privatized.
I'm a millennial, My generation has no interest in watching NZ content, why should we have to pay to fund it ?
The world according to Corey Humm. Speaks for a generation, does young Corey.
I’m not surprised you want to vote ACT because they, like you, are culture killers.
Check your ego, son.
Cheek of you to talk of ego
[Stop needling Muttonbird – Incognito]
Mod note
Ok
Agree PR
It was not Muttonbird claiming to speak for a generation.
Corey Humm you have nailed it again! 100%
ANZ – does have a resonance here in NZ, as standing for Australia New Zealand.
ANZ bank is one. But ANZAC is another, and so is ANZUS.
I agree it is a fail on the acronym side.
Have to disagree here though:
"My generation has no interest in watching NZ content, why should we have to pay to fund it ?"
My response, typical of an old fuddy-dud, and partly – but not wholly – tongue-in-cheek: Eventually, you'll grow up.
We have two official names – and the media concerned is as much "consumed" online than by broadcast.
Sounds familiar.
On Wednesday, these anti-vaccine groups kicked off a summer of planned protest with an event inside Canada’s Parliament buildings in Ottawa, supported by sitting Members of Parliament. Outside those buildings is where the so-called “freedom convoy” took over Canada’s capital for several weeks this past winter, setting off similar movements across the globe.
[…]
The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, an arm of the Canadian intelligence community that provides intel to local law enforcement agencies, warned in a special bulletin that they’re seeing mounting “aspirations to overthrow the federal government or to engage in mass violent resistance.” The bulletin was provided to VICE World News by a law enforcement source.
According to the intelligence assessment, the chance of an organized attack, a storming of Parliament, or another occupation of the city is “unlikely,” and Canadian intelligence and law enforcement believe the protests will most likely be peaceful and lawful.
Yet, they warn, they’re increasingly witnessing “a culture in which individuals, including supporters of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE), feel that they can threaten, incite, and celebrate violence online without consequence.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3pz7x/conservative-mps-anti-vaccine-convoy-ottawa
Follow the money.
Who would have guessed that Wall Street has an interest in denying abortion rights.
https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-finance-anti-abortion-lawmakers-2022-5?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=referral
Roe v Wade was not a good ruling:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/us/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade.html
Follow the money II
https://www.businessinsider.com/employers-in-abortion-ban-states-face-retention-crisis-2022-5?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=referral
It is in big business interest to oppress women.
PR – RBG said it was the right ruling, but on the wrong basis.