The Official AOTEAROA IS NOT FOR SALE Campaign Site

PRESS RELEASE:

AOTEAROA IS NOT FOR SALE CELEBRATES DELAY IN ASSET SALES

MONDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER, 2012

Aotearoa Is Not For Sale is delighted that the Waitangi Tribunal has been successful in its recommendation to the Government that the sale of Mighty River power shares be delayed until iwi claims over water rights and guardianship are negotiated.

This delay is a victory for all those who have worked tirelessly in the campaign against the Government’s policies to sell our state-owned assets under the mixed ownership model, and ANFS will continue to support Tangata Whenua in their struggle to have their rights and responsibilities as kaitiaki recognized and upheld.  Respect for te Tiriti o Waitangi is a reminder of the need for the government to protect the rights of Maori and all other New Zealanders, who built these assets together, and who together assert that the government cannot sell them.

“When Maori and the agreement they entered into with the Crown in 1840 is undermined, all New Zealanders are undermined. The decision today can therefore be celebrated by everyone,” says Miriam Pierard, ANFS spokesperson. “The Government is clearly reluctant to back down completely on its very unpopular policy, so although we can take heart today, we must remember that we still have a battle ahead of us.”

Aotearoa Is Not For Sale will continue to build a national, direct action movement against asset sales, while supporting Maori in their principled negotiation for recognition of water rights as an issue in it’s own right. We will also continue to boycott Mercury Energy as a subsidiary of Mighty River Power and promote the Keep Our Assets petition for a public referendum on the issue.

Aotearoa Is Not For Sale stands for the retention of all SOEs by all New Zealanders. No special deals. No special shares. No special payments. No asset sales means no asset sales at all, to anyone.

We will not be divided like our assets. We will be united, we will not be silenced, we will resist this together.

For comment, please contact ANFS Spokesperson

Miriam Pierard

021 057 7960

http://aotearoaisnotforsale.com/

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The People of New Zealand Send Their Strongest Message to Date

Aotearoa is Not For Sale J14: An Outstanding Success.

All around the country, in an unprecedented display of organisation and coordination, the people of New Zealand told John Key in no uncertain terms, “You’ve Got Mail!”

Unfortunately for John Key and his plans to sell our precious national assets, it ain’t no love letter.

It is impossible to summarise or even highlight all of the incredible colour and humour and camaraderie that went on. To explore just some of it, click on the links to the Facebook pages in the main post on the Home Page. For a detailed overview and a lot of interesting discussion of many aspects of the events in Auckland and other places, go to the Facebook ANFS Group Page. Some pictures from the day can be found at the J14 Picture Page. Congratulations to all who organised and participated in events, you did brilliantly well.

Our Media Watch page provides a comprehensive directory of Main Stream Media coverage from all over the web, and is perhaps the best collection of MSM media “clippings” and critiques available.

Twitter feeds for #ANFS and #J14 are also helpful.

The links above provide a great deal of information and commentary for those who wish to experience the National Day of Action from multiple perspectives. However, they do not tell the most essential part of the story – it is easy to miss the crucial elements in the blizzard of information.

J14 marks the second major protest in the campaign against Asset Sales. In this recent event, we see a shift in focus and intention which is important to understand. The ANFS Campaign is not concerned primarily with organising “bigger and bigger marches.” Immediately after A28, the emphasis turned from quantity to quality, and concentrated on breadth and depth. Instead of one giant protest in Auckland, and a slightly smaller protest in Wellington, a great deal of effort was expended on building relationships in as many regional centres as possible, to make this a truly “national” movement.

The results speak for themselves; protests were held the full length of the country. Numbers this time were near to those of the last protest, except that they were spread throughout the country. Media coverage also increased. And yet again, popular protests have cracked the government’s normally unblemished facade of aristocratic disdain; the Minister of State Own Enterprises has attempted to directly address our issues, for all the good it will do him.

It is important to understand that the ANFS Movement now refuses to play the old-school “Protest Game”, where the people are goaded into competing with themselves, trying to put on ever bigger protests, until they can’t do it any more, and they are exhausted and defeated. Those days are over. ANFS protests in New Zealand should no longer be regarded as entertainments for the Chardonnay Set to guffaw at. Instead, protests are but one tactic in the overall strategy of the campaign.

The protest is now the means, not the end. Protests are for our benefit, not for the benefit of the Establishment. They are used primarily to bring people together and build relationships. They are used to reverse the effects of alienation, to introduce isolated individuals into new groups, and to knit small groups into larger groups. They serve to hone skills essential to every healthy democracy, and of course to communicate strong messages. The principle objective of all ANFS action is in essence;

Stopping Asset Sales through the encouragement and promotion of Participatory Democracy everywhere in New Zealand.

This is an eminently political purpose. For an activist movement to have legitimacy, especially where it seeks to overturn decisions taken by an unrepresentative government, it must demonstrate greater political legitimacy than its foes. It is possible for a small but growing activist group to claim such legitimacy only through a combination of superior ideas and enthusiastic direct democracy.

It doesn’t take a cast of thousands to divine the will of the people. You just have to listen. Something this government refuses to do. We are listening. What we hear encourages us that the largest part of the populace of New Zealand feels the same way we do. But we never presume, nor do we dictate. We ask, respectfully, and we listen, respectfully. To confirm that our understanding is correct, we ask the people to vote. It is not a perfect system, but it is at least respectful.

Voting, conducted within small groups spread over a wide area can provide a highly accurate sampling of the General Will more effectively than large numbers in a homogeneous demographic area. Yet another reason why we are no longer playing the Big Protest Game.

When all is said and done, we want to save our assets. But what if, in the process of recovering our stolen assets, we discover that our democracy has been stolen as well? Naturally, in that case we will have to reclaim them both. We cannot do that unless we are manifestly more representative in our views and our actions than the Oligarchy we seek to thwart.

 

Protest + Direct Democracy

Yesterday, the ANFS Campaign took its first tentative steps toward Mass Direct Democracy. At the Auckland ANFS J14 Event in Queen Street and elsewhere, this campaign conducted a popular vote involving more than 5,000 people, deciding on Three Propositions;

Proposal #1: That all shares in Mighty River Power/Mercury Energy should be declared to be “Unethical Investments”.

Proposal #2: That all persons opposed to Asset Sales should refuse to buy shares in the assets sold.

Proposal #3: That all persons opposed to Asset Sales should boycott Mighty River Power/Mercury Energy, and if possible switch to another NZ Owned Energy Retailer.

All three of these propositions were passed enthusiastically in Auckland. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour, verging on unanimous. Returns coming from Napier, the only other city known to vote were also positive. Napier voted on the first two proposals and passed both. There were no negative returns. All motions were carried. No votes are expected from other areas at this time, due to insufficient promotion on the part of the proposers.

What did we learn from our first attempt at conducting a national vote? We underestimated the effort required, but discovered that it is indeed possible, with better organisation. We need to give people more notice, and we need to use something besides Facebook to manage the process. The “Request for Guidance” did not go out until Friday morning. All of these issues are very easily resolved, and now the electoral organising committees will no longer be caught unawares. This should make things easier in future. Practice will make perfect.

Summary:

The National J14 Action was an outstanding success. A national organisation is coming together. These are merely the first steps toward creating a cohesive nation-wide network of activists opposed to Asset Sales in New Zealand.

Out of this new public democratic process has come our first formal policy directives. It is now the policy of the ANFS Movement that;

Mighty River Power/Mercury Energy is an Unethical Investment.

All persons opposed to Asset Sales should refuse to buy shares in the assets sold.

All persons opposed to Asset Sales should boycott Mighty River Power/Mercury Energy, and if possible switch to another NZ Owned Energy Retailer.

These resolutions are hereby duly published, and form part of the ANFS Campaign platform going forward. We will begin promoting these policies immediately.

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Join an action at a place near you!

AUCKLAND	2pm at Britomart, Queen Street, Auckland Central	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
CHRISTCHURCH	2pm at the corner of Deans Ave & Riccarton Rd, Christchurch City	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
DUNEDIN	11am at the Octagon, Dunedin City Centre	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
HAMILTON	10am until 12 noon at the Corner of Te Rapa Road & Avalon Drive, Hamilton	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
HOKIANGA	12pm at the Town Hall Square, Rawene	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
NAPIER	2pm at the beach end of Clive Square, Napier	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
NELSON	10.45am on Trafalgar Street entrance to the Nelson Markets	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
PALMERSTON NORTH	2pm at the Square, Palmerston North	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
TARANAKI	12pm at Huatoki Plaza, Devon Street West, New Plymouth	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
TAURANGA	10am at Red Square, Tauranga City Centre	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
TIMARU	2pm March from The Piazza	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
WELLINGTON	2pm, Cuba Street by the Bucket Fountain	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)
WHANGANUI	10am at Pakaitore (Moutua Gardens), Whanganui	Facebook Event Page (Calendar)

Organising a Protest in Your Area is a LOT easier than you think;

1. You and two mates – that’s all it takes. Three people is actually enough to start with. More will come if you…

2. Network! Join this web site. Create a Facebook Page. Organise a meeting to plan the action. After that…

3. Promote! Let everyone you know know about the event. Make posters and flyers, get local shop-keepers to put them into their windows. Send out a Press Release to local Newspapers and Media

4. Turn up with banners and posters! Show up on the day. It is amazing the effect you can have, even if there are only 5 or 6 of you!

5. Have fun! Make it a party. Let everyone know what you think of asset sale, but add music if you can. Make noise.

6. Take Photos! Add them to Facebook, send a couple with a post-action Press Release to local Media, send them to the organisers of this website so they can be displayed.

7. Hold a post-action meeting! This is not just a day for marching. This is a day for organising. Don’t leave without having a Hui, and setting a date to get together the following week.

You are not just holding a protest. You are helping to form a National Movement. In doing so, you will be creating the basis for direct democracy, with people taking charge of local decision making. One or two people can do something. If nothing else, they can join a growing and widespread base of opposition to Asset Sales and privatisation.

If you would like more information on how to get organised, visit the “how to organise a local action” page.

Note: Auckland protesters please note, trains will be replaced by buses on the network.  Train passengers please see the Train Information site

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A Request for Guidance

The Auckland ANFS Campaign Committee has requested guidance from all Electoral ANFS Organising Committees in New Zealand, in order to determine the Official Policy of the Movement.

The ANFS Campaign is organised along the principles of Direct Democracy. The Auckland Organising Committee does not and cannot formulate policy, or presume to speak for all New Zealanders. The Auckland Organisers therefore humbly request that EACH ELECTORAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE SHOULD HOLD A PUBLIC VOTE during the Hui conducted at their protest on July 14.
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Please vote on and inform us of your collective decision on the following propositions:

Proposal #1: That all shares in Mighty River Power/Mercury Energy should be declared to be “Unethical Investments”.
The majority of the people of New Zealand believe that these assets are being sold against their will. Selling another person’s property against their will or against their interests is generally regarded as theft. That would make investing in these privatised assets an “Unethical Investment” by most internationally accepted standards of ethical investment behaviour.

Proposal #2: That all persons opposed to Asset Sales should refuse to buy shares in the assets sold.

If buying privatised shares in Mighty River Power/Mercury Energy is an Unethical Investment, then all persons of conscience should refuse to buy these shares, but most especially, all persons opposed to these asset sales.

Proposal #3: That all persons opposed to Asset Sales should boycott Mighty River Power/Mercury Energy, and if possible switch to another NZ Owned Energy Retailer.

You can signal your displeasure before the asset sales begin by switching from Mercury Energy to another SOE power company, as a protest.

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We request that you please nominate a spokesperson who will be responsible for publishing your decision.

We request that you fairly and openly debate each question before voting.

We request that your decision should be by simple majority (51%) of those adults present.

If you cannot decide fairly and firmly, you have the right to abstain on any one or more proposals.

We request that your spokesperson should inform us officially of your decision by no later than 8PM, the evening of July 14, 2012. We will count your votes and our own, and we will tabulate the results. For openness and transparency, please post your results on your Facebook Event Page. (Please note: this Facebook Event Page must have been created before the event, and must be the generally accepted Event Page for your Event). This voting mechanism is only temporary until we can create a better system.

The Auckland ANFS Organising Committee has agreed to formally bind itself according to the determination of the national body.* This is because we truly believe in the principles and power of Direct Democracy. We humbly ask that as you vote, you should please be aware that the hopes and well-being of a very large number of people depend upon your decision; your vote is a sacred trust.

We agree to publish the results of the national vote no later than 6PM, Sunday, 15 July on the http://aotearoaisnotforsale.com/ website.

Thank you all for your terrific support and your kind assistance.

Most Humbly and Respectfully,

The Auckland Organising Committee,

“Aotearoa is Not for Sale” Campaign

[Posted by Admin, Authorised by the ANFS Media Team]

* Evidence of unnatural manipulation of the vote, by stacking, or improper conduct of the vote may invalidate the returns from any given area. If you have any information or evidence of vote tampering or rigging in any vote, please let us know.

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Something is Happening…

First, let me apologise for not posting on this site sooner after the end of the Hui. I have been thinking very deeply about the profound implications of all that was discussed, and I haven’t felt prepared to write about it until now.

All of the content was very well covered by Mr. News. Thanks Vinnie! Link to the Hui Video.

Rather than rehash what you can see for yourself by watching the video, I would like to share with you my personal takeout from this meeting, and what has happened since;

That night, I saw 60+ people who really cared about our future and the future of our children, come together to solve a major societal problem.

These people took an evening out of their busy lives to come out and try to figure out what to do about the crisis we face. We saw prominent MPs arguing strongly against this disastrous policy by the government, genuine leaders like Phil Twyford from Labor, Hone Harawira from Mana and Julie Anne Genter from the Green Party. Terrific contributions were also made by Penny Bright, John Minto, Joe Carolan, Mike Smith and others. The calibre of the speakers was outstanding, and it was an honour to be part of it.

There is a new climate of protest in the country, and the ANFS Campaign is at the forefront of this. Of course, we are not alone. The forced implementation of austerity is the ultimate end-phase of a generation of relentless exploitation. The poverty and desperation that has come in the wake of this is fueling opposition everywhere. We are simply the latest local manifestation of an ongoing resistance movement organising in opposition to the globalised economy.

The collective pressure we are exerting is beginning to have an effect. The smug confidence and smooth facade of control of the government is crumbling, signalling that the hard resistence that is building up in the New Zealand populace is starting to rattle the policy makers. The fact that 10,000 people protested Asset Sales on April 28 in Auckland has not escaped their attention. Nor has the fact that 5,000 people marched on the hikoi in Wellington. The 800 strong protest at the Student Blockade last week drew a snide insult from the Minister of Finance, Bill English. It seems that everywhere they are, we are there also, at their National Party conventions, and their press conferences, putting out our message along with others, “Aotearoa is NOT for Sale.”

Be sure, we fit very comfortably within the wider context of social unrest. This has been building now for the last six months, with the Ports of Auckland Strike by MUNZ, the Meat Worker’s Strike and of course the prolonged Occupations. The MSM does what it can to block this out, but the government sees and analyses everything. Likewise, as these protests grow, it is getting harder and harder for ordinary people to ignore them no matter what the MSM does to un-report these events.

There is a Sea Change going on around the world, and believe it or not, New Zealand is right on the crest of the wave. The global rise in discontent and militancy confirms the long-held secret fears of many elitist governments, that the 30 year long ascendency of the super-rich is coming to an end.

This Sea Change is now irrepressible. I am personally satisfied that there is no possibility this Sea Change can be stopped, whether the sale of our assets goes ahead or not. We are now at the point where our “rate of change”, our ability to organise and build movements is beginning to accelerate past the rate at which governments can adapt and counter our energies. Though there are only a few tens of thousands of us now willing to commit to protest in New Zealand, for every one protester willing to march in Aotearoa, there may be as many as 20 silent supporters who have not yet had the opportunity or found the courage to participate but would like to. Inevitably, they will, if enough of us reach out to them. Provided we remain peaceful, we will continue to grow, in spite of, perhaps even because of the many thousands of arrests and attempts at repression we face in the wider global protest movement from which we benefit.

The ANFS Campaign must see itself as part of this movement, and must participate vigorously in it. Even though the consequences for New Zealand of selling our assets will be dire, not enough citizens understand the issue to appreciate how important it is that everyone protest. Therefore, we have to contribute all we can to the climate of dissent itself if we are to continue to draw down support.

Consequently, what benefits the wider protest movement in principle benefits us. As it grows, so we gain support. This is why we have emphasised time and again that we are part of a coalition, and that this is an on-going campaign. As well, speaker after speaker at the Hui underlined the need to take this campaign right into the heart of electoral politics in New Zealand, a theme I will take up in detail in future posts.

But for now it is important that we understand, the key to our growth is the spread of our ideas. Using Social Media, we can network and get out information instantly to thousands of people. Even so, social media is not enough. Our ideas must be “actuated” by participation in the physical world. That is why demonstrations and direct actions are so vital. The more protests we hold, the more participants we attract, the more emboldened we become, and the more we lose our fear. This then fuels more direct actions we can do in turn. The more often we go around this “virtuous circle”, the faster we grow.

To win, we must understand that the value we create is in the networks we build. Networks bring energy to bear, and are the foundation of all political gains. We win to the extent that we are able to organise, accumulate and maintain our support networks.

If you are not active, if you are hoping “someone else” will do it for you, if you are not engaged and involved, then really, don’t you think it’s time you woke up and smelled the coffee? We need your active participation. We need you at protests. We need you spreading the word. We need you initiating action. We need you networking. Please don’t just be a passenger or spectator. Please help. Please promote this site. Please contribute comments, articles, media, memberships and ideas.

Watch the video. There was so much covered, it will take us months to implement all of the plans and ideas that came from this forum. Over the next little while, I hope to discuss this further. I would like to hear your thoughts on this as well. Please feel free to comment.

Link to the Hui Video

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PS. Here is another excellent video – this video was banned from Ted, but has been released via other channels. If you know anything about the TED crowd, you’ll understand why this was banned. Enjoy!

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