To The Front: A Decent Option In Election Year
Column - By John Minto.
In my lifetime there have been many parties which sought to offer something more progressive to the left of Labour. They include the
Values Party, Mana Motuhake, New Labour, the Greens, the Alliance and the Maori Party. Other smaller Marxist parties
have had lower profiles and more limited electoral success.
Most have failed but they have provided learning opportunities for aspiring political activists - a bit like rock bands
which form and reform with different lineups under different names. This has increased since MMP which allows
parliamentary representation based on the actual level of a party's support as opposed to the old "first past the post"
system which denied political representation to large chunks of voters.
The latest formation is the Mana Party as a left-wing party prepared to acknowledge the "working class" and provide a
determination to fight for low-paid workers and beneficiaries across the country. Leader Hone Harawira doesn't make the
bland statements of National and Labour about working in the interests of all New Zealanders (while they deliver tax
cuts to the rich and follow the interests of their corporate backers). Neither are there the harsh ideological lines of
a Brash-led Act Party with its myopic brand of far-right economics.
Instead there has been a forthright thrust of policy objectives to empower low-paid workers and beneficiaries to get a
better deal. It's early days but at the launch last weekend there was a strong sense that this party will find its way
and develop its policies through struggle. It doesn't have a blueprint based on ideology but is taking a principled
position on behalf of the victims of economic policy. If it develops along these lines it has the potential to become a
powerful movement working outside the confines of a political party.
There are those on the left who deplore the party and leader Hone Harawira. Some argue that the party will never be a
genuine class-based party and that Mana is leading people down a dead end. That's not the way I see it. Those closely
involved with the party, such as Hone and Maori activist Annette Sykes, clearly differentiate between the corporate
agenda of the iwi leaders (as supported by the Maori Party) and Maori workers and beneficiaries. They see the plight of
Maori Workers as the plight of all workers and have explicitly sided with the poor and the marginalized across the
board.
I've been very critical of the Maori Party in the past for its refusal to criticize Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe
and its acts of solidarity with former Labour MP Taito Philip Field (found guilty of corruption) and former Act MP Donna
Awatere Huata (convicted of fraud). In each case the party leadership made excuses because of the race of the villain
while their behaviour seemed a secondary consideration, despite their victims being African, Maori and Pacifica people.
It's early days but I don't see Mana taking the same race-based approach. It's strong pro-Maori focus is on low-paid
Maori workers and beneficiaries rather than corporate Maori. For example Mana opposes outright the privatization of
state assets while the Maori Party supports this Act/National policy provided iwi leaders get a slice of the action.
Mana realizes Maori workers will not get a decent deal until all workers get a decent deal. But there's no doubt Maori
are in a rank of their own when it comes to negative social statistics and this is why it's important the new party
maintains a strong pro-Maori focus.
With the reanimation of Don Brash, infused as always with cash - or the threat to withhold cash, the debates for Maori
will become sharper than ever as our corporate elites and their political allies in Act/National strive to reduce the
Treaty of Waitangi to an agreement about property rights and citizenship.
Meanwhile the country and most of its people are in dire straits precisely because of the Don Brash type policies
followed for the past 27 years.
When you are in the dark you can fight your way towards the light with Mana or stumble further into the gloom with Don
Brash, National and Labour.
It's good to have at least one decent option in election year.