understand and you will be free

I've been an avid follower of John Michael Greer for a few years now - he has really helped me see the truth and reality of today and our tomorrows. His latest post is no exception

...May I please be frank? The reason that millions of Americans have had their standard of living hammered for forty years, while the most affluent twenty per cent have become even more affluent, is no mystery. What happened was that corporate interests in this country, aided and abetted by a bipartisan consensus in government and cheered on by the great majority of the salary class, stripped the US economy of living wage jobs by offshoring most of America’s industrial economy, on the one hand, and flooding the domestic job market with millions of legal and illegal immigrants on the other. 

That’s why a family living on one average full-time wage in 1966 could afford a home, a car, three square meals a day, and the other necessities and comforts of an ordinary American lifestyle, while a family with one average full time wage in most US cities today is living on the street. None of that happened by accident; no acts of God were responsible; no inexplicable moral collapse swept over the American wage class and made them incapable of embracing all those imaginary opportunities that salary class pundits like to babble about. That change was brought about, rather, by specific, easily identifiable policies. As a result, all things considered, blaming the American poor for the poverty that has been imposed on them by policies promoted by the affluent is the precise economic equivalent of blaming rape victims for the actions of rapists. 

In both cases, please note, blaming the victim makes a convenient substitute for talking about who’s actually responsible, who benefits from the current state of affairs, and what the real issues are. When that conversation is one that people who have a privileged role in shaping public discourse desperately don’t want to have, blaming the victim is an effective diversionary tactic, and accordingly it gets much use in the US media these days. There are, after all, plenty of things that the people who shape public discourse in today’s America don’t want to talk about. The fact that the policies pushed by those same shapers of opinion have driven millions of American families into poverty and misery isn’t the most unmentionable of these things, as it happens. The most unmentionable of the things that don’t get discussed is the fact that those policies have failed. 

It really is as simple as that. The policies we’re talking about—lavish handouts for corporations and the rich, punitive austerity schemes for the poor, endless wars in the Middle East and elsewhere, malign neglect of domestic infrastructure, and deer-in-the-headlights blank looks or vacuous sound bites in response to climate change and the other consequences of our frankly moronic maltreatment of the biosphere that keeps us all alive—were supposed to bring prosperity to the United States and its allies and stability to the world. They haven’t done that, they won’t do that, and with whatever respect is due to the supporters of Hillary Clinton, four more years of those same policies won’t change that fact. The difficulty here is simply that no one in the political establishment, and precious few in the salary class in general, are willing to recognize that failure, much less learn its obvious lessons or notice the ghastly burdens that those policies have imposed on the majorities who have been forced to carry the costs...

If you want to know what is really going on - read JMG, if you want an idea of how everything is likely to go over the next few years and decades - read JMG. If you are worried about your children's and their children's and their children's future - read JMG. Knowledge is power - the power to make it as good as it can be, the power to protect and nurture, the power to live simply in community sustainable and free. The power to fulfill our destinies. Don't give up your power because you are afraid of the knowledge. Embrace the knowing and the uncertainties, embrace the 'now' and let's work together for the future.

how many heroes?

I've often wondered about the question - who are your heroes? When I think of people that inspire me and are heroes to me, one name stands high and that is John Minto. I have blogged about him here and the words that Hone has spoken about him are my sentiments exactly.

Stuff

"In terms of a New Zealander, he is what I call a great New Zealander," Harawira told the Sunday Star-Times.

"He will be formally invited to be a candidate for Mana, first of all on the list.

"I have people talking about me being the leader of the Mana Party. But when I decided to chase Annette Sykes, I knew full well that she is a leader in her own right and in her own world.

"And John Minto is another person like that. People like that don't work around proclaiming their leadership... they are naturally leaders in the field they are involved."

The naysayers don't get it - how can they all be leaders and work together? But, to me it is the way Rangatira have always worked and make no mistake they are leaders and heroes and that is why I have sent my membership into the Mana Party, and like John Minto I have never joined a political party before, but the time for sitting on the fence is over - now is the time to seize the opportunity and create history. 

Harawira said he was "genuinely over the moon" that Minto would consider any offer.

"What he did during the Springbok tour, particularly for us Maori and Pacific Islanders, was impressive," he said.

The Party List for Mana is building and it is heroes 1, 2, 3 for me. Harawira, Sykes, Minto - a dream team for social activists and those who believe in equality and tino rangatiratanga and a nightmare team for the powers that be - they will cut through the bullshit like hot knives through butter. 

what have we got

The maori party have said that Hone has broken his agreement, which was for him to stand as an independent, and they have called the truce off, but will stand a candidate against Hone in the by-election? They are having a hui on it. No doubt they have someone ready to go but it was interesting to hear Pem Bird say he was shocked about the by-election - that seems a bit weird.

So what have we got.


The Greens are good and can get into their campaigning - hopefully with a few joint statements with the Mana Party on key issues.


Winston will continue to gain support and he may go for the race card if he feels desperate.


National have Brash to worry about and Winston to some extent - sure they have a fondness for the maori party but how far that goes depends on the polls and probably the RWC. I would like to see them stand a candidate against Hone.


Labour have big issues and I think they are stuffed. As other partys get support i expect goff to trot out some 'race' issues - you know like how maori are privileged and not like real kiwis. It doesn't matter if they stand a candidate because I think their party vote from maori is going to dive big time. They have been living on borrowed time and the generous nature of Māori but that has changed and the bullshit won't work anymore not when the truth is there in all its horrible glory. The Foreshore and Seabed debarcle is not forgotten. But it's funny how the Gods work because now we have two maori parties, a wonderful unintended consequence.


The maori party are now fighting for their political lives and they will fight and that is sad because who are they fighting against? They should stick to their non-aggression agreement but their pride won't let them. Make no mistake it is all very personal now. Could they take the seat from Hone? Anything can happen but i cannot see it - it is all over for the maori party but they don't recognise that. However, I wouldn't have a problem if they kept a couple of seats. Over the next wee while it will be good for them to be there giving Brash some stick but then again, i am sure I heard Pita Sharples say he wouldn't have an issue going into coalition with Brash, so the only stick given will be one to bash maori with.


Brash is bad and he will use the race card at will and the really sad and sick thing is that he will get support from numbers of people who live in this country. Yes some of our fellow citizens really believe that Māori are lessor than them and they will be coming out of their holes to back Brash. Māori are about to recieve a severe thrashing from Brash as he builds his bought party. Luckily Mana and the Greens are there and labour and Winston to some small extent. Even the maori party will get their chance to walk their talk. It will get nasty, these guys have money and are not happy - they aren't making enough money and something has got to be done about that.


The battlefields will be the rights of Māori, the environment and their exploitation of it, and the continued suffering of people disadvantaged within our system. The economy is always there because that is their reason and excuse for everything.


I am optimistic because Brash will alienate people. He will suck a few from the gnats and he will battle with Winston for others. Key's image will gradually erode as more people see how shallow he really is. Goff will continue to act concerned. The maori party will become irrelevant. The Greens will grow and Mana will too. I am optimistic that people will see that an alternative is now available and they will support Mana.

threat recognition

I have just posted this comment up on Maui Street in response to Muzza's latest post on corporate iwi elite - based on Annette Sykes Bruce Jesson lecture. Why would I bother arguing against such a thing as corporate iwi elite when I cannot stand injustice and inequality? Well for one thing the line is too pat, too easy to roll off the tongue - what does it actually mean?

The other main reason is I want to effect change and villifying people won't do that.

I’ve been considering this issue of corporate iwi elite for a while - I’d like to put a counter argument almost as a devils advocate.

Maori as people have all sorts of ideologies – they have evolved as we have and they are valid because at the core they incorporate Te Ao Maori. Do we really believe that Tuku Morgan or Mark Solomon have plans to make themselves billionaires whilst their people starve and suffer. Are the members of the ILG and all of the other ones scum who are betraying themselves and their people? Or is it that they are doing their best under an oppressive capitalist worldview, combined with the monumental effects of colonisation, to gather power and influence for maori. What influence do they actually have? What jet airplanes are they flying around in? Mark Solomon’s pay is in Ngai Tahu’s annual report along with all of the various ways the money is being spent to empower maori. So what is the story? They are victims like all maori because they are maori. They aren’t some powerful elite – they are ex truck drivers and school teachers who have been elevated to positions within their iwi. They didn’t ask the government to set up the corporate iwi structures – they were given them and we have seen the scrutiny they get and the ridicule when mistakes are made. By defining maori via class or some other western construct, we devalue our own heritage and kaupapa. We are maori that is the beginning and end of the story. We use whatever to further the empowerment of maori as we always have done. We use the throwaways they give us and we tunnel away and undermine their paltry agendas and when the dust is settled, maori are empowered.

So I let myself rant on a bit there - aroha mai. Just remember that IMO empowerment of maori, will empower us all and bring us all together - we are all connected on the same waka.

My point around the ranting is that the real enemies for all of us are capitalist, commodification, individualist, selfish and greedy ideologies - they are not maori constructs although some maori follow those false gods with vigour.

I oppose those false gods with vigour.

rift could form

It seems to be a busy time at the moment.

Politically the maori party are flexing over the increase in GST and the FSSB with the gnats. There have been some very stupid statements and actions taken of recent times from Pita on down, which is a worry.

But politics is a funny old game and if labour stopped putting the boot in, then I believe the maori party would move further away from the neocon agenda of the gnats. But they won't, especially as it is their avowed intention to destroy the maori party - dumb.

Hint to those opposed to the gnats - if key likes popularity then he will dislike unpopularity. Most people in this country don't like porkies or people who bend the truth so focus on those aspects of keys performance and there are plenty to choose from.

class and identity

In this comment Ana raised some excellent points. Go here to read the full article

from Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua blog

"The veneer is radical, but the substance is not

PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 11 (1) 2005 211

THE INDIGENOUS PUBLIC SPHERE

DR EVAN TE AHU POATA-SMITH

“ Neo-liberal reforms and the growing social inequalities in New Zealand society have not affected all Maori equally. Those Maori representing tribal corporations and commercial interests have directly benefited from the pro-business, neo- liberal agenda that was implemented to restore the conditions for profitable capital accumulation in the New Zealand economy from 1984 onwards.

They have benefited from the reduction in corporate taxation levels that was achieved through large cuts in welfare expenditure, the commercialisation of health, housing and education.

On the other hand, the dismantling of the welfare state, the cuts to benefit levels and the introduction of market rents for state housing in the 1990s brought increasing hardship and poverty for many New Zealanders.

Working class Maori have had to face the prospects of increased poverty, falling real incomes, unemployment, deteriorating employment conditions and job security, social welfare cuts and user-charges for education and health services. So, while those Maori representing tribal corporations and commercial interests have directly benefited from the economic policies of successive governments, the over-representation of Maori in the working class has meant that the vast majority of Maori families have borne the brunt of the economic restructuring.

With the growth of inequality and social polarisation within Maori communities it is increasingly difficult to sustain this notion that Maori communities are classless communities that share the same sets of experiences of inequality and the same political aspirations this ignores the critical divisions that have arisen within and between iwi, hapu and urban Maori communities over the allocation and distribution of the benefits of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process, a process that has resulted in a substantial shift in resources and compensation to those sections of Maori society already wealthy and powerful.

It is critical to acknowledge that Maori struggles over the past 15 years have not simply been directed against Pakeha and the state, but have involved the struggles of ordinary Maori families for a greater degree of control over resources within iwi, hapu and urban Maori communities.

Indeed, the revitalisation of militant Maori struggles in the 1990s represented a direct challenge to the Treaty settlement framework and the narrow commercial interests of tribal authorities. It revealed profound levels of discontent with the adoption of corporate models for the management and distribution of settlement assets and exposed the failure of cultural nationalist strategies to provide a real solution to historical grievances and Maori inequality in wider society."

I have struggled with 'çlass politics' verses 'identity politics' and have generally fallen on the side of identity. This article has made me think and this year we all have to a lot of thinking - about what is important, where the lines are, and what we will and won't accept. With national into their second year - the neo-con agenda will be pushed very hard and we must resist it.

Kia ora Ana for helping me see a bigger picture and getting me to think more.

Kia kaha