Fighting the fight

The photo above is from one of the NZ folks I follow on Twitter and whose blog I read regularly, Frank Macskasy. I’ve consistently found his blog to be among the most thorough NZ politics blogs out there and, unlike some others, very accessible. I highly recommend it.

The photo is from his post today about the Stop Asset Sales March today in Wellington. Some of his other photos depict children participating, which is something that frankly makes me uncomfortable, no matter which end of the spectrum is doing it. Parents can and should teach their values, and that should mean political values, but taking children to political rallies and having them hold signs that they can scarcely read, much less understand, just seems a bit wrong to me, again, not matter the end of the spectrum.

Still, I think it’s important to help convey the message that plenty of ordinary New Zealanders oppose asset sales, and the photo above is one of my favourites that Frank posted. Honestly, I don’t see anything that can now stop the partial sale of Mighty River Power, and those shares will inevitably end up in foreign ownership. Both are colossally bad for New Zealand.

But it’s important to document that the National/Act Government started selling off the property of the New Zealand people without a real mandate (despite their propaganda claims) and with huge opposition. A saner future government, one that actually cares about New Zealand and its people, must fix this—and learn from it.

In the meantime, reality—not spin—must be documented.

Update 28 April: Protesters at the National Party Conference being held at Hanmer Springs came up with a clever way to protest: The set up a "toll booth" at a "privatised bridge" to show what New Zealanders can expect from National's privatisation agenda, in this case, its so-called "public/private partnership" method for building infrastructure. The protesters weren't collecting money, just making a point.