– Nick Kelly

So-called ‘from the left’ political commentator Chris Trotter posed the following question to his post election column in the Sunday Star times:

 “What led the majority of the New Zealand electorate to reject a government that has not only done it no great harm but might even be said to have done it some good?”

 The answer according to Trotter is this:

 Last night’s result was manufactured out of the besetting sin of the last 150 years of western history – the crisis of masculinity. What, exactly, is a man in a world of corporate and public bureaucracies?

It was these: the men who just couldn’t cope with the idea of being led by an intelligent, idealistic, free-spirited woman; the gutless, witless, passionless creatures of the barbecue-pit and the sports bar (and the feckless females who put up with them); who voted Helen Clark out of office

John Key – you’re welcome to them.

If the NZ public were so anti having a Labour woman prime minister for the reasons Trotter outlined, then why did they re elect her three times?

Left: Young workers, led by Unite union protesting against youth rates under Labour.

[Read more…]

Daphna Whitmore

November 7, 1917 is the day the working class in the Soviet Union seized power. It marked a turning point in world history, and despite the reversals nothing can diminish the significance of that day.

There are a number of people who identify as socialist but will tomorrow vote for capitalist parties because they see that as the only realistic thing to do. Of course, if you vote for the status quo you’ll be stuck with it.

This election, for the first time in NZ, there is a socialist party on every ballot paper.

Why not vote for something you actually believe in.