Stop the False Compromise
Workers are gaining confidence since the election of the new Government. Now is the time to push forward.
There is a pervasive myth on the left that while we may want to see
significant, systemic change to society, we have to constantly tone down
the demands we make and the reforms we argue for, because doing so will
win support from business and the media and neutralise the arguments
that National and their outriders try to make. This argument has been
disproven time and time again, and this article demonstrates precisely
why. Simon Bridges is saying that Ardern and her Government "must pause
radical reforms or risk economic consequences of falling business
confidence".
Now, which of the policies that the Government is
proposing are "radical reforms"? Apparently, the main "radical reform"
is the ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling — a supposed
environmental win which in reality is tiny and fairly meaningless, given
the likely expansion of onshore drilling, and given the difficulty at
this stage of finding anywhere else to drill in our oceans since all of
the low hanging fruits for offshore drilling have already been handed
out in decades-long permits, which Labour have committed to honouring.
The other concern Bridges mentioned is the minor changes the Government
is proposing to industrial relations.
We saw this exact same
thing during the election. National didn't care for a second that
Labour and the Greens had committed to neoliberal, small government
economics with the Budget Responsibility Rules. They accused Labour of
having an $11 billion hole in their manifesto, the media endlessly
repeated it as if it were true, and the kind of people who fall for that
kind of rhetoric were convinced. The kind of people who aren't
inclined to believe National didn't. Labour didn't fight back, they
conceded ground, and did a u-turn on their tax policy.
It is so
important for those of us who do want real change to understand that
moderating all of the reforms we propose, that giving up on hope of
significant progress in favour of tinkering around the edges to blunt
the worst aspects of the system we live under, never actually works. A
supposedly progressive Government can put forward the most pathetic,
milquetoast platform, and still get attacked by business, the media, and
of course the National Party, with the exact same lines they would use
if we were actually fighting for a transformational agenda: business
confidence is down, the economy is going to collapse, stop these
"radical reforms", the left are crazy radicals, etc.
Both the
National Party and the corporate-owned media exist to perpetuate the
interests of the business and property owning class. They will fight
tooth and nail against the tiniest concession to the working class or
the environment if it at all harms the capital accumulation of the
wealthy. They will NEVER compromise with us.
So we need to stop
compromising with them. Call their bluff. See how ordinary people feel
about a programme which fights for the interests of the many, not the
few. And stop paying attention to the lies, smears and attacks of those
who will never, ever stop howling that we are ruining everything every
time we take any action, no matter how small, against the vested
interests of the establishment.
By Elliot Crossan
By Elliot Crossan
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