In January, New Zealand National Party leader Don Brash gave a speech viciously attacking affirmative action for Maoris. In the uproar that followed, New Zealand's Labour government made significant concessions to Brash, agreeing that a "new balance" on Maori issues must be found. Jill Ovens, the president of the New Zealand Alliance, argues that the incident highlights the need for a new political alternative.
The New Zealand Labour government's backdown in the face of race-based attacks by Brash highlights the failure of the Labour-led government to deliver real gains to workers.
Unfortunately, since Labour defeated the National Party in 1999, it has not undone the damage of the neoliberal years, despite some gains initiated by the Alliance (which was in coalition government with Labour from 1999-2002). The benefit cuts for the poor and tax cuts for the rich brought in by the National Party in 1992 have never been reversed, except for a small increase at the highest tax step.
The Labour Party has enjoyed a strong mandate from New Zealand workers and the most marginalised in society, which it has betrayed by paying too much heed to the voices of business and so-called "middle New Zealand".
Workers have every right to expect that a Labour-led government would address the problems of poverty and increasing inequality that are blighting the lives of too many New Zealanders, both brown and white.
New Zealand has been plunged into a deep political and social crisis as a result of Brash's speech. His words have opened up a can of worms, angering Maori and bringing out simmering racism amongst Pakeha.
We certainly have a divided nation, a nation of rich and poor. But in New Zealand, class is undeniably intertwined with race. Maori, Pacific people and recent immigrants are far more likely to be poor than Pakeha, three times more likely to be unemployed, far more likely to be in low-paid vulnerable work, more likely to be renting, more likely to be hospitalised, and in the case of Maori, die nearly 10 years earlier.
The hypocrisy in Brash's claim that the National Party stands for equality is astounding. During the 1984-1999 reign of the National Party New Right, the incomes of low- and middle-income earners declined in real terms, while the top 10% of earners saw their incomes soar. This was no accident. It was a deliberate policy to advance the class interests of the most privileged people in New Zealand society.
The Alliance is saying Labour should attack Brash, because his policies will mean a huge step backwards for the working class. But if it is to retain any credibility with the working class, Labour must also deliver decent housing, access to quality health and education, reliable public transport, cheap electricity and water, jobs and a strengthening of employment legislation to empower workers. The fact that Labour won't do much about any of these leaves those of us on the left the task of building a movement that will.
In December, the Alliance adopted a manifesto in which we declared ourselves to be a broad, inclusive party of the left with policies based on socialist principles: democracy, equality and social ownership. Our policies combine a concern with protection of the environment with the need to create a democratic economy and a modern welfare state.
In our view, the biggest impediment to a just and equal society is the unrestrained capitalist system dominated by powerful multinational corporations. If the legacy of poverty, war and environmental destruction is to be reversed, then we must regain democratic control of our society.
When the Scottish Socialist Party parliamentarian Colin Fox spoke in Auckland late last year, someone asked whether socialist policies would scare off international capital. Well, our leaders have spent the last 20 years making New Zealand very hospitable to international capital and where has it got us?
One in three New Zealand children live in poverty. Overcrowded, cold, mouldy houses result in Third World diseases and a high rate of asthma, especially amongst Maori. Public utilities are run on corporate lines and operate in the interests of capital, cutting off water, gas and power supplies to those who can't afford to pay. Children burn to death in houses where the only heat or light source is a naked flame.
There is a "pokie explosion" in low-income areas, with profits often being diverted from these communities to those of the privileged. Roads and rail networks have been opened up to profit-making by transnational corporations through public/private partnerships. Coastal shipping has been opened up to exploitive foreign operators. And there have been massive closures of industries through free-trade policies.
This is why the Alliance is opposed to capitalism. But we cannot be simply "anti-capitalist", nor simply anti-privatisation or anti-war. We have to offer people hope as well as anger, so they are prepared to take action to achieve a society where people live in harmony with each other and the environment, working co-operatively to satisfy their individual and social needs. We want to create a society where individuals can reach their fullest potential, where human diversity is celebrated in its unity, and human creative activity is liberated.
What are we doing to make this real?
- Organising and fighting for our principles and policies outside parliament; working as a united front with and within the peace movement, with the Greens, with other socialists, with students, and with Maori as we address the wrongs of the past together;
- Building electoral support for our policies, but not to win power for power's sake — it must be to achieve the just and equal society we dream of where the people own and control the resources;
- Getting our people up on councils and community boards, power boards and district health boards so we are in a position to stop asset sales and promote greater democracy, responsiveness to the people, and community empowerment, which means working with Labour, the Greens and others on the Left;
- Building links in solidarity with all those resisting inequality and injustice across the world and campaigning for the full participation of all those who are marginalised in society by advocating policies such as free health, free education, and an immediate rise in benefit levels
- Fighting to ensure our country's resources are collectively owned and democratically controlled by the people, fighting for immediate improvements in people's lives, challenging the idea that global capitalism is permanent or invincible, and campaigning to halt the plunder and destruction of our natural environment.
The Alliance must become a new type of party, where the emphasis is on local activism and local decision-making by the members. We must build a broad and inclusive left by working with the various socialist groups, as the Scottish Socialists have done, and as the Socialist Alliance has done in Australia. We must work with the Greens, and with the trade unions.
True united action by people fighting for their rights and social justice for others can only be guaranteed by real agreement and understanding that what is decided is the best way for those involved in the struggle to achieve these aims. This agreement cannot be assumed or imposed from above. The Alliance has experienced the reality that a party fighting to democratise society must have internal party democracy.
If we are to participate in the wide-ranging political, social, economic, environmental and cultural debate, we cannot be sectarian about it and nor can those who want to work with us. The left will have to make a conscious effort to tolerate diverse opinions.
We believe the conditions are right for greater unity on the left to turn the growing anti-capitalist movement into a force to replace capitalism with a fairer, more equitable society. We need to take the opportunity now. It is clear that staying as we are is not an option.
[For more information about the Alliance, visit <http://www.alliance.org.nz>
From Green Left Weekly, March 24, 2004.
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