Listening and getting involved.
Whether you think the last few years have been Socialist Utopia or Communist State.
One of my favourite things about writing this newsletter is the stories that people tell me. I feel very privileged that you share them with me and I always ask permission before using any of them, it’s only polite. A friend got in touch with me yesterday.
I just feel broken with all the Jacinda stuff. We have an immune compromised child with complex disabilities, she saved her life. It just feels like with the way Chippy’s had to pare everything back, it just feels like in the end the bad guys won.
My dad has been a long time labour member/supporter. He had been really down and lost his spark after an accident (he broke his back) I took him to the campaign launch in 2017. He hadn't been active in politics for a long time, he hung around right to the end, shook her hand. She made him feel so seen, this man who once was almost 7ft now hunched over, almost 80, looked over by people, she saw him, and properly listened to him, shook his hand.
I don't know what she said. He got into the car, just beaming he looked so happy. And he said - I just shook the next prime ministers hand. Signed up to volunteer in that campaign the next day. I'll never forget it.
Afterwards on the news, they revealed that her nana was sick in the hospital - she stayed, making my dad feel seen and part of a bigger thing, while knowing her next stop would be the hospital bedside of her own grandmother.
I had forgotten. I had always been a certified lefty but had never been involved directly, it felt an important time to start, I took my kids and dad. We came away so uplifted It really felt like change. I'm tired of people criticising Labour’s legacy while forgetting that the pandemic would of been so all consuming. The lives they saved, you can't even fathom.
She was one of a number of people I spoke to, still unable to comprehend the negativity and anger towards Jacinda. For those of us so grateful for what she did, it is hard to understand that some people feel so differently.
I have long wondered about the different reactions people have had to our Covid response. And let’s be honest, the anger is mostly about Covid. People aren’t up in arms over how Jacinda responded to March 15 in Christchurch. What is different about us that some feel so positive, and others so negative, about the same thing?
I’m not talking about the people who have responded so grotesquely with violent threats and horrible words. I suspect many of those people would be angry no matter who was in charge and whatever the circumstances were. If the government had taken a completely different approach and not had the restrictions they did, no doubt many of these same people would have been angry about that.
No, I’m talking about regular every day Kiwis. Whether you were grieving Wednesday evening watching the valedictory speech, or you think it all went a bit far and it’s for the best that we move on.
At the best of times it can be hard for us to understand the view point of others. Right vs left, liberals vs conservatives. Let alone in the aftermath of a global pandemic that saw far greater government intervention in our day to day lives than we normally experience.
I have a confession to make, and I’m not sure we’re supposed to say this. But the truth is - I really enjoyed the lockdowns. The family time that we wouldn’t otherwise have had. My kids have dance, and other activities, pretty much seven days a week, often out from early in the morning until late in the evening. The time with family and the feeling that our community were all in it together working for a common cause.
The funny thing is I’ve rebelled against rules my whole life. If a rule appeared absurd or unfair my instinct was to ignore it. But the Covid ones made sense. They were well communicated and it was easy to understand they were for our own good.
Thinking about that makes me wonder. Is that the reason that we on the left loved New Zealand’s response to Covid so much, apart from - you know, all the people that didn’t die as a result?
Was it because socialism was working like we always knew it could? That what we’d been advocating for years, was in action and obviously producing better results than the alternative? The state intervening for the betterment of the people, over the priorities, the “values”, of capitalism.
Some of us believe in socialism - we pay the government taxes according to our ability to pay and the state provides services like health and education to all. The state provides a safety net, and seeks to make things a bit more equal in society. Although there is still plenty of scope for people to work hard and get ahead.
Others prefer a more market driven approach that rewards the achievements of the individual. A belief that individuals and companies should strive to generate wealth, and the state should be kept to a minimum. That we should trust people to make choices for themselves without the government shaping or interfering in their lives.
By and large we fall into these two categories. Those who value personal freedoms, the individual, and tend to vote for right wing parties versus those who place value in the group, and support left wing parties. That isn’t meant as a judgement, it doesn’t mean people on the right don’t care about others - I’m sure the majority do. It is my understanding of the way our differing groups see the world and why we typically vote the way we do. Although not in 2020 of course.
No, 2020 was the election where the population said this socialism thing of putting health first with government support payments to companies so most people don’t lose their jobs is working pretty well. I don’t think we’re ready to go back to capitalism, plus have you seen the other lot? C’mon if you want to win an election at a time when people are looking for support and security from the state you don’t choose Judith “Crusher” Collins!
So we generally all got it back in 2020. The government was acting in our interests. We even had a shared pride in how well we were doing as a country compared to many others. Many others incidentally who had governments which were not socialist, like Brazil, the US, or the UK. Governments that were reluctant to impact businesses, and as a result they sometimes struggled to keep up with burying their dead.
But things started to deteriorate. Some people got fed up, and after the novelty had worn off just wanted to go back to normal life. Seeing friends and family, attending events, travelling, living their lives. Meanwhile those of us who were more comfortable with the priority of saving lives, including the government, said no, not yet - we need to keep going.
Sometimes, in hindsight, we kept going a bit too long with some restrictions. But given the nature of the problem being managed it seemed churlish to complain about the odd thing that could have been done a bit sooner or a bit later. Well, unless you were Chris Bishop - he bloody loved pointing out every single minor thing that could possibly have been done differently. Some on the right no doubt started to agree that it was a shambles, even as those of us on the left thought - what a dick.
But people got angrier and angrier. They started to say the country was operating as a totalitarian state, that it was communism. And David Seymour smiled - it was working.
Sometimes the frustration was understandable. Individual cases of people missing weddings or funerals, for example. But confusing our socialist utopia, leading most of the world in dealing with a pandemic that had killed more people than our entire population, with a Communist state? That was just a bit weird.
Some people seemed to lack an understanding that communism and socialism were quite different things. It made me wonder, do these people really not understand what communism is? Because this is definitely not it.
What do people associate with communism? Long queues! Well we certainly had plenty of those. Long queues to empty shelves, just like good old East Germany in 1985. Ok, so far, so communist.
An increase in alcoholism. Check. For many people beer or wine o’clock arrived a lot earlier than it might have otherwise. I mean if you’re working from your couch in your pyjamas and it’s past lunchtime then why not? Oh, you’re not having lunch today? OK very good.
Obviously some good old spying on your neighbours. You know, to make sure they’re following the rules? We all did that right?
Some people seemed genuinely unable to comprehend that wealth wouldn’t allow them to jump the queue for MIQ, or pay to stay in a nicer hotel. We ended up seeing enormous differences in peoples experiences. Some were delighted to be given a couple of weeks in a 4 star hotel, all expenses paid. Others wrote in horror about the quality of the free food they were being given.
And so it ever is. Some of us welcoming the state looking after us, and just as importantly everybody else. Others who hated the impositions on their freedoms and found the restrictions too much to put up with. Even if stopping them meant some people would die. They were probably elderly and going to die anyway right?
This week with Jacinda’s speech and much time reflecting on the last few years many of us on the left have been pretty emotional. But I think what will come from that is a renewed believe in the things we value. I don’t know for sure but I imagine the same may be true of people on the right. Glad it is behind us and never wanting to experience those sort of restrictions again.
I leave you with this thought. Whichever side you’re on this election year, whether you though the government’s response to Covid was fantastic or over the top. The coming months are a great time to get involved, take along a parent or your children, and listen to those who would perhaps be in charge the next time we face something like Covid.
Whichever party it is, National, ACT, Labour, the Greens, whoever. Look the politicians in the eye, listen to their words, shake their hands - like my friend’s father. Do you trust them to look after people like your family, vulnerable people like my friend’s family? You will learn more than you would from watching or reading someone else’s interpretation of it. Be it the news media, or mine.
There are many things that Jacinda has left us with but one of the key messages in her speech was that you can be yourself, remain true to yourself, and you can get involved and make a change.
I think that is a fine message, no matter what you believe in.
The sense that the inconveniences of managing a global pandemic should be felt by others but definitely not by me emerged quite early on in the pandemic, and at all levels of society. I'm thinking of all the people who shot off to holiday homes when lockdowns were announced, taking the virus with them. All the people who didn't wear masks, or who deliberately wore them incorrectly. The small number of MPs who broke the rules instead of vocally supporting them. The well-resourced couple who flew down to Queenstown. The large number of MPs who nit-picked at the pandemic requirements, for the political purpose of undermining the government. It all got worse over time and the sense of grievance grew into a "righteous" anger - this government is ruining my life/income/business/right to travel/right to come home etc. The sense of community was gradually eroded and rights outweighed responsibilities. Selfishness won for a while, but I think I'm feeling the community heal. And Sean Plunket is out of favour - yay!
I think the last display of unity was the vaccination day in October 2021. It was as if after that, everything was meant to be OK. Lots of people resented the restrictions over summer, and then of course Omicron was more widespread than the earlier variants, and the vaccines didn't seem to reduce transmission. But more insidiously, there was the assumption that the government could control everything and was therefore responsible for everything. Also, that they could predict everything, so that when they weren't right, it was a personal offence. Some people were stupid and forgetful, and still are.