Well, here we are, watching the Nazis rise again. It feels like hyperbole to say so, but I think it is now undeniable that a group of very dangerous men have wrested control in the US and have no qualms about openly displaying their immoral, inhumane and corrupt beliefs – and doing all they can to perpetuate them and bring their awful ideas to fruition. It must be terrifying to be there. It’s terrifying enough simply watching from afar.
I wish the fact we’re in Aotearoa meant we’re safe from it but looking at the agenda of our current coalition government I fear they’re heading us in a equally corrupt and immoral direction. They’re trashing our environment for their financial gain, unpicking all the safeguards while undermining huge swathes of protections: human rights, employment, Māori, health, climate-change, guns, body autonomy, housing, legal protections . . . in fact, every way I look, I see them smirking as they fuck us over.
I have no confidence that any of them have the needs of ordinary citizens in their frame. They are pandering to the corporate and business world, screaming, ‘growth, growth, growth’ while it’s apparent that any further growth is dangerous for us all, including all the other species on this planet.
It’s time to stop them. Time that every fair-minded person halts giving them the benefit of the doubt, when they’ve proved time and time again they have nothing but contempt for those not blessed to be in their monied silo. We look askance at Trump rewarding those who scrape and bow the lowest, yet this is what is happening here: a government rewarding the environmental pirates and looters, the bosses, the bankers, the lobbyists and, yes, the racists.
We have to call this out at every opportunity. We need to put pressure on Christopher Luxon, not let him off the hook. We need to roundly reject David Seymour and his ugly Atlas Network/Hobson’s Pledge agenda (no different from Trump’s). Call out Shane Jones’ total disregard for the environment. Reject Nicola Willis’s neoliberal assault on the middle and working classes. Call out the punitive rules and backsliding of rights for those least fortunate.
Our silence now makes us complicit. Every day, in some way, we should be fighting back. Whether it’s writing submissions, booing when you see them in the street, writing letters to local papers, standing on a street corner with a placard, funding organisations that are doing good work, rejecting plastics, boycotting certain firms or imports from certain countries, we must be the change we want to see.
With this in mind, today I delete my Facebook pages and WhatsApp in protest. I already left X (Twitter) when Musk took over, and I urge you to do the same with every social platform that is allowing the flood of hate and misinformation. Be wary of your news sources too – and be prepared to complain or vote with your feet when they cross a line. We’re now in a fight of monumental proportions for the sake of decency, fairness, freedom and protection of the planet,
Mandy Hager 
it’s all going to be very interesting but don’t fear the worst. He’s like a bull in the china shop when all the China is broken he might behave himself. I would never vote for him but the world needs a bully. Man with a big stick. I think it’s mostly bluff and bravado at the moment so don’t get too concerned. I must come and see you in NZ, maybe in the autumn Nick Roxburgh
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Not sure I agree the world needs a bully or a man with a big stick. We need leaders who show compassion and empathy – and reject violence. I do, however, applaud your optimism!
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