27 April in Wellington – A Protest Against State Asset Theft (Part Rua)

Continued from: 27 April in Wellington – A Protest Against State Asset Theft (Part Tahi)

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NZ, Wellington, 27 April – Under a clear, sunny sky and only a slight breeze,  the march pushed off  at around 2.45pm, with a police escort;

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Following the police vehicle, the lead marchers, proudly grasping a message aimed at all National ministers;

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The marchers were in good spirit – knowing that they were on the side of the angels on this issue;

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Labour and Mana  standing side by side. A portent of things to come after the 2014 election? (Or earlier, if this rotten government collapses, or Key has a Muldoon-“moment” and calls for a snap election.)

If the sale of Mighty River Power goes badly for the thieving Nats; or Ohariu MP, Peter Dunne realises that the government he is a part of is on a hiding to nowhere,  a snap election may be on the cards.

We can only hope/pray…

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Lots of smiling faces; lots of hope and optimism for the future of this country;

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A bit of humour from one of the protesters;

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Aside from a couple of clowns who thought they were being clever (see dickhead on the left), we received good support from by-standers. Several joined the protest march – note the lady in the pink jersey on the right, who stepped off the footpath, and walked with us;

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Bringing up the rear of the protest march;

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Where there were smart-arses yelling desparaging comments, they were generally inarticulate boofheads. These four young ‘gentlemen’ yelled abuse, and in the process showed us the calibre of  right wing fools. No doubt they’ll become typical National Party (or ACT, if it survives) politicians;

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Ngarie had so much energy, as she took part in the chants and had some highly critical comments of her own to shout. People were left in no doubt what she thought of National and our illustrious Dear Leader;

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Near the end of the march; these guys may be at the bottom of the socio-economic heap, but they had a huge amount of positive, good nature and were staunch in their condemnation of National’s thieving of our state assets. When the poorest of the poor are politicised, the end is nigh for  neo-liberals and their fellow-travellers;

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The march eveventually wound it’s way up the entrance-way to Parliament. Note the senior citizens leading the way!

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By the time the protesters had reached the Parliamentary fore-court, their numbers had swelled to around 500-700 (estimated);

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Some street theatre by Aroha Priest, giving us a glimpse of a chilling  future, where poverty has increased and homeless  street-life is the  ‘norm’;

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Howard Phillips – Vice President of the Rail, Transport and Maritime Union – gave a rousing speech to the crowd, reminding us how many thousands of jobs had been lost over the last four years;

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Peter Hicks – Tasmanian singer-song writer – and Marama Te Kira – local performer/songwriter  – entertained the crowd with good music, assisted by an excellent sound-system.

A fine sunny day; good music; and “giving the fingers” to the Nats – what could be a better day?

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And Marilyn Head – from the NZ Nurses Organisation – expressed an excellent appraisal of how the s TPPA – currently being negotiated in secret –  will affect this country’s economic sovereignty.  Marilyn pointed out that, in the past, we were able to re-nationalise stressed  former-SOEs (KiwiRail and Air New Zealand).

Marilyn pointed out that the TPPA would no longer allow a New Zealand government the option of bailing out and re-nationalising a stressed ex-SOE (eg; Mighty River Power) and would tie it’s hands considerably. She raised the issue of trans-nationals suing our government; the loss of PHARMAC’s effectiveness; and secret overseas tribunals deciding disputes between coroporations and governments.

Marilyn said that the Australian government had refused to be a party to permitting corporations to sue them in  Investor-Government disputes – but that National was prepared to sign up to that accord.

Held in secret tribunals, it puts New Zealand in a very dangerous position. More foolishness from National.

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And meanwhile, lurking in the background, was this character.  Perhaps waiting for the death of our economic sovereignty?

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Not if we don’t let it happen.

Aotearoa – it’s NOT for sale!

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