The reason why we as Indigenous people still respect our ancestors is because we still see them. People see it as farfetched but look up at the stars, do you respect them? Most people do, do they also realise many of them are dead? #indigenous

open.substack.com/pub/kaimataa... My most recent article on New Zealand's history of red scares. Lenin really hated New Zealand settlers haha #nzpol #marxism #communism #anarchism

Note how quickly Hipkins himself was to condemn Hamas Literally the day after. Shows you that his priorities are to not rattle the imperial boat regardless of who suffers in Venezuela in the meantime. Domestically too, more than happy to call Wahine Māori "stupid" yet is mild towards Lux #nzpol

so funny to me all the people STILL trying to claim that Trump et al is “un american” when the rest of the world can easily identify the current regime as the distillation of, the peak, of US ideology.

it's so frustrating. we're seeing the same thing in NZ, the right wing government is giving SO many opportunities for really easy political messaging to the leftwing opposition and they're just... not... doing it.

Which is good but this matter deserves the country's attention that a Hipkins statement would bring, just like Luxon also should and not just weaksauce concern from Winnie. This is a genuine First They Came For global moment. #nzpol

I'm sorry, Sarah, but that's nonsense. This IS a big leader-level issue and Hipkins should be fronting. No leader of a major party is that offline. Guarantee you that if the King or the Pope had just died, we'd have heard from Hipkins by now and not just punting three free doctors visits...

so Hipkins could completely scoop Luxon AND set the frame for the discourse by making even a quite muted announcement on Venezuela. why are Labour so FUCKING BAD at comms OR being in the right side of history?

This fucker was a human rights lawyer apparently…. #nzpol I don’t fucking trust centrists, which is why I’m so depressed Labour is keeping Hipkins.

i think the Greens would greatly benefit from antagonising NZ Labour directly. Lord knows, Hipkins has been happy to outright *smear* the Greens. Force him into a situation where he has to couch relative to his left flank. Labour doesn't currently respect the left at all, even internally

Well Hipkins said when Wellington went Green for the first time ever that people just wanted a change. Yeah mate a change to what? What message did we try to send you?

Yep. 100%. "Voters have to vote for US!" Reality: no, we don't...

This is EXACTLY my fear regarding NZ Labour, this mindset

Chris Hipkins is like if you made a Fallout character and just didn't spend any of your SPECIAL points strength = 0/10 perception = -4/10 somehow endurance = maybe 2/10? charisma = INVALID ARGUMENT/10 intelligence = probably at least 1/10 agility = lmao/10 luck = 3/10 (bc he hasn't been rolled yet)

also part of Mamdani's appeal is his charisma which is just not an attribute Hipkins has

labourites are allergic to having conviction in the things they believe

People talking about lessons Hipkins could take from Mamdani, as if Hipkins would ever pay attention to a brown leftist

Hey NZ Labour. Takes notes. This is how you do it. If you won't revoke or reverse every single monstrous policy that the coalition has put in place, if you don't reinstate policies that benefitted the country - you are next to worthless. Do it. #nzpol

We had her. Her name is Tory Whanau. And they did everything they could to tear her down.

Watch nz politics fall over themselves trying to “find our Mamdani” but not fix the way we treat wahine and takatāpui Māori in politics 👀

not just Māori either, institutionally NZ is a VERY racist country. People looking for Mamdani, but how do you think NZ media would react to most muslim candidates?

I don't know how to feel about the fact this is an election year. If Labour had a better person in charge, I'd feel a lot better. But with things as they are now.... Yeah I really don't know how I feel about it all. 😮‍💨

cc: chris hipkins

Can only hope Chris Hipkins is taking note

To me this speaks to REALLY taking a different yardstick to politics, a different vision of what things are being measured against. More often than not our voting choices are just between colours of neoliberalism, flavours of centrist capitalist incrementalism. Not actual alternate critical lens.

I hope Hipkins is listening #nzpol

@lyrafay.bsky.social "My dream was lost in the war 💔. My project was destroyed, and my family is without shelter. We need your support. Donate now 🙏."

Same in New Zealand. We want Labour to be a Labour Party, not National lite. #nzpol

tbh nz labour is less lurching to the right and more "what if we did literally nothing" as opposed to national's "what if we hated poor people even more"

A riddle about New Zealand's healthcare system: A Māori person arrives in a clinical room. The clinicians examine them closely, they write notes, take measurements. Every irregularity is identified. Nothing is rushed and the examination is thorough. 🧵

I don't have high hopes for NZ or Aus without significant change in direction. It's rare for Kiwis to vote out a first term gov and the Nats will probably roll Luxon to improve their election chances. Even if they do get voted out, the Labour party is looking to the UK for inspiration.

Especially as Hipkins was so adamant that he wouldn't do anything with Winston Peters and now all of that has softened.

Nothing tells me "Don't vote Labour" more than Labour hinting that they may go into coalition with NZF.

PSA: Definitely a Covid spike around with people meeting up more... simple to take a little care, be a little vigilant, it's still a dangerous virus that can have long term impacts.

Eek. There‘s been quite the spike in the wastewater surveillance. And anecdata also suggests an increase in Covid cases in the Wellington region. My neighbours have just all had it, and one of the leads in my daughter’s ballet show had to pull out because she got sick.

Also NZ Labour #nzpol

Very Hipkins #nzpol #AusPol

Hipkins being less popular than the party should be significant.

Chippy could benefit from understanding this. #nzpol

What is the difference between this Christmas and next Christmas for Chris Hipkins? Nothing. Unless he sorts his act out and starts LEADING the Left. #nzpol

Oh fuck OFF, Hipkins has completely forgotten he’s supposed to be opposing the sitting govt, rather than his potential allies

That sentence is confusing...

Couple of cunts who don’t pay enough taxes or wages decide to be personally responsible for dumping more CO2 into the atmosphere than any two humans could otherwise.

Been seeing a lot of AI action figure memes this year so I decided to try my hand making a non AI one of Winston Peters #nzpol

Yeah it really seems like the current iteration of Labour just wants to be National's junior coalition partner. No energy in opposition, no effort to draw a contrast, no instinct to put the boot in when they're flailing. There's more vitriol toward TPM and the Greens than toward National and ACT.

Did you know that Polynesia is one of the most important foundations in the history of socialism? I'm not kidding, I'll be writing an article it eventually. #nzpol #socialism

It would be political malpractice for Labour to vote for this because of bipartisanship right after National tore up a bipartisan climate agreement. Labour has leverage: Luxon desperately wants this, and NZF won't play ball. Restoring the climate agreement would be a good price for Labour votes...

The problem isn't that Labour want to campaign hard to win the Māori seats The problem is Labour think they are *entitled* to win the Māori seats