Wellingtonians rally to send a message to the Beehive! (part tahi)
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NZ, Wellington, 13 February 2013 – Set against an overcast early evening sky, and a chilly southerly, several hundred Wellingtonians of all ages, races, political affiliations, and backgrounds came together at Frank Kitts Park, on Wellington’s waterfront,
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Their common unity of purpose was to oppose the partial sale of state-owned assets,
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Electricity-dustry expert, Molly Melhuish, with others from DEUN (Domestic Electricity Users Network). Ms Melhuish (center, holding white clipboard) is intimately familiar with the working of the electricity industry in this country and was a key member in campaigns to oppose electricity privatisation in the 1990s – including Wellington’s Capital Power.
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The messages were simple, and to the point. From Labour,
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… to the Mana Party,
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The message for National was clear – what’s ours is ours,
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This Wellingtonian understood the folly and false-economy of selling state assets which are money-making cash-cows. Right wing politicians know this – but their zealous obedience to neo-liberal dogma seems to over-ride any semblance of common-sense,
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Many in the crowd were of an age to recall the sale of Telecom – something that was resisted by 93% of New Zealanders,
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Interestingly, at least one right-wing politician has belatedly realised that selling state assets was a mistake – see: Bolger: Telecom sale a mistake
Dedicated ANFS activist, Frances, had a very simple question for Dear Leader,
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ANFS activist, Athena, handing out leaflets to people in the crowd and discussing issues with them,
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With media filming the event, ANFS co-convenor, Ariana, opened the Rally with a welcome to the crowd and an introduction of the speakers who had been invited to address the rally, with their thoughts on the sale of state assets,
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The speakers came from a variety of backgrounds, and each gave their perspective on the issue of selling the people’s assets.
To be continued:
Wellingtonians rally to send a message to the Beehive! (part rua)
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Additional
TV3: Asset sales referendum likely (6 Feb 2013)
TV3: Govt under fire over Contact redundancies (14 Feb 2013)
NBR: Supreme Court to ignore govt deadline on water rights decision (15 Feb 2013)
Youtube: Say No to Asset sales in Aotearoa NZ.mov
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Relevant orgs
Aotearoa is Not for Sale | Facebook
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Fabulous Peoples..
I’m looking forward to the next two parts, Frank. I think the issues in this article need to be addressed as well: http://iso.org.nz/2013/02/14/anti-chinese-rants-wont-stop-asset-sales/
Interesting take, Grant.
Unfortunately, I only scribbled a few notes about Peter Love’s speech, as my Voice Recorder failed to work properly when he (and Bunny McDiamid) were speaking.
Peter Love’s comments were the only one that referred to one nationality per se – the rest spoke in broad terms about sovereignty, Treaty obligations, the TPPA, etc.
As for Maanu Paul’s comments – I’m guessing, but there may’ve been an element of irony in his statement about Peters (considering Peters’ track record on Treaty issues)…
The next two articles are linked at the bottom of each page. (I may need to make it clearer?)
Reblogged this on Occupy Savvy and commented:
Fantastic coverage from eye-witness & ONZ media member Frank Macskasy. Continues in another two parts on http://www.fmacskasy.wordpress.com
Thanks, OS. Always happy to provide the medium to share information and events!