#nz stuff

[setnet]

this transmission tower over here with its feet in the air all casual knocking out power to a decent chunk of the country. you'd think a fuckup on this scale would at least concertina

[setnet]

apart from a couple things now out of date this is a pretty accurate summary of the crap that's been happening. and it's not just that labour was voted out, it's that a lot of people who would normally be labour supporters didn't turn out to vote.

however, comma, the coalition govt is not doing fascism. a great stew of right wing nastiness for certain - including elements of conservatism, economic liberalism and neoliberalism, libertarianism, populism, nationalism, and deeply reactionary in many ways - but fascism is a specific ideology and this ain't it.

USA please listen to me: the price of “teaching them a lesson” is too high. take it from New Zealand, who voted our Labour government out in the last election because they weren’t doing exactly what we wanted and got facism instead.

Trans rights are being attacked, public transport has been defunded, tax cuts issued for the wealthy, they've mass-defunded public services, cut and attacked the disability funding model, cut benefits, diverted transport funding to roads, cut all recent public transport subsidies, cancelled massive important infrastructure projects like damns and ferries (we are three ISLANDS), fast tracked mining, oil, and other massive environmentally detrimental projects and gave the power the to approve these projects singularly to three ministers who have been wined and dined by lobbyists of the companies that have put the bids in to approve them while one of the main minister infers he will not prioritise the protection of endangered species like the archeys frog over mining projects that do massive environmental harm. They have attacked indigenous rights in an attempt to negate the Treaty of Waitangi by “redefining it”; as a backup, they are also trying to remove all mentions of the treaty from legislation starting with our Child Protection laws no longer requiring social workers to consider the importance of Maori children’s culture when placing those children; when the Waitangi Tribunal who oversees indigenous matters sought to enquire about this, the Minister for Children blocked their enquiry in a breach of comity that was condemned in a ruling — too late to do anything — by our Supreme Court. They have repealed labour protections around pay and 90 day trials, reversed our smoking ban, cancelled our EV subsidy, cancelled our water infrastructure scheme that would have given Maori iwi a say in water asset management, cancelled our biggest city’s fuel tax, made our treasury and inland revenue departments less accountable, dispensed of our Productivity Commission, begun work on charter schools and military boot camps in an obvious push towards privatisation, cancelled grants for first home buyers, reduced access to emergency housing, allowed no cause evictions, cancelled our Maori health system that would have given Maori control over their own public medical care and funding, cut funding of services like budgeting advice and food banks, cancelled the consumer advocacy council, cancelled our medicine regulations, repealed free prescriptions, deferred multiple hospital builds, failed to deliver on pre-election medical promises, reversed a gun ban created in response to the mosque shootings, brought back three strikes = life sentence policy, increased minimum wage by half the recommended amount, cancelled fair pay for disabled workers, reduced wheelchair services, reversed our oil and gas exploration ban, cancelled our climate emergency fund, cut science research funding including climate research, removed limits on killing sea lions, cut funding for the climate change commission, weakened our methane targets, cancelled Significant National Areas protections, have begun reversing our ban on live exports. Much of this was passed under urgency.

It’s been six months.

[suburbanlegendstv]

yes another artist coming to Australia but skipping NZ 🥲🥲🥲

[mihotose]

[setnet]

Detailed rebuttals of the claim by Wehi et al that Polynesians discovered Antarctica from scholars associated with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu are at the links below:

http://abeltasman.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Anderson-et-al-Antarctic-Wehi-response.pdf (I'm not sure why this isn't linking properly but it's the most easily accessible summary.)

In summary, their view is that the claim Polynesians visited Antarctica arises from dubious sources: an 1860s inference (that a journey 'beyond Rapa' was a journey to the south not for eg the east) based on a probable mistranslation (in which bare rocks growing out of foaming seas were interpreted as icebergs in frozen seas) of a legendary history (the boat, in the same story, was said to be constructed of men's bones).

The voyager, Hui te Rangiora, was a Rarotongan who lived about seven centuries before Polynesian settlement began in New Zealand. That places the story in the realm of what Te Maire Tau calls mytho-history - stories based on actual people, but so distant in time that their stories are encoded in mythic templates and often overlaid with symbols.

A story about Tamarēreti, who is also said to have reached Antarctica, may be entirely legendary - the Ngāi Tahu scholars note no whakapapa (genealogy) connects to him, and 'te waka o Tamarēreti' (Tamarēreti's canoe) is a name for the constellation Scorpio.

The authors also note the implausibility of boats fashioned for tropical sailing, with sails that are fragile in wet weather, being able to survive the circumpolar westerlies.

They conclude that 'Southern Māori interests have extended into the Subantarctic Islands for 800 years but there is no reference to Antarctica in our historical traditions. Our archaeology and history document a southern boundary to Māori occupation at Port Ross (Auckland Islands), despite habitable islands existing further south. We think it is very unlikely that Māori or other Polynesian voyaging reached the Antarctic.'

i literally think of that "polynesians first to discover antarctica, not news to maori" headline so much it's so fucking funny

[setnet]

greenpeace cold caller referred to the coalition government's policies as a 'banquet of inedibles'

[setnet]

sex work was decriminalised in NZ in 2003. Afaik NZPC/nz sex workers collective is not formally a union but it provides similar services in terms of advocacy legal and practical advice and representation and its made up almost entirely of current or former sex workers.

The NZPC were big advocates for the decriminalisation and have a lot of research about its effects - their website is well worth a look:

if sex work was legal the workers could unionize

[turnaboutstar]

autistic people when there's collectable things with tv shows with multiple generations of them:

[setnet]

[ajarofpickledtears]

Wisst ihr noch, wenn man in der Schule im Geschichtsunterricht so von dem Nationalsozialismus und Hitler und so gelernt hat, Lehrer oft nichtmal den gesamten Text des Deutschlandlieds gezeigt haben, jeder sich gefragt hat "wie das alles denn passieren konnte", und man voller Überzeugung was, dass sowas nie wieder passieren wird, weil wir Deutschen es ja besser wissen?

War schon witzig.

[setnet]

an interesting exercise would be to examine NZ coverage of Anzac Day and see how many articles use the word "invasion" to describe what the Anzacs were doing at Gallipoli

[littledemon55]

Hey, Germany, how are we feeling about those Wahlergebnisse in America? This will teach us to not vote for die Nazis in Deutschland as well, right? Richtig?

[bugsb1te]

๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭ ⸙ My therian heart ᨒ↟ ⋆｡°

a poem by me :3

In the quiet hours, when the world softens to whispers, I feel them stir within me— The untamed echoes of my soul, Where I am a dog, barking, biting, gnawing.

There are days when my skin prickles, With sensations of fur on my naked skin— My maw stretching out, in a wide yawn Phantom paws padding softly on the edge of my mind.

In the heart of a moonlit night, My mind slips the leash of human form, And I am dog, bounding free, Chasing the scent trails of my memories.

Yet, there are mornings tinged with a feline grace, Where every movement is a languid stretch, And my eyes catch the dance of shadows, Pupils narrowing in predatory focus.

I am both and neither, yet wholly immersed, In the symphony of instincts that hum beneath my skin. A howl echoes in the chambers of my heart, A purr rumbles in the depths of my being.

For in this world, where the human mask slips, I am dog. I am cat. I am the wild spirit, Roaming the landscapes of my mind, In search of the untamed truths that bind.

So let me run with the wind, Let me curl in the sun's warm embrace, For in this tapestry of existence, I find solace in the pulse of my therian heart.

[were-my-demons-hide]

Right wingers are doing right wingers things again. I went to a protest and took my self painted sign which says "Marzipan statt Naziwahn" [Marzipan instead of nazi mania].

I already knew from previous protests that people love my sign. And so it was today. Many smiles, laughes and bright eyes in awe as they were staring at the painted cardboard. But there was this old man who really struck a chord with me. He clearly was very moved by my sign. I could feel his emotions being all too much in his heart. He came up to me and told me how fantastic he found my sign. I thanked him happily. A little later he came back in a hurry, as if he was afraid I would fade. Or get lost in the crowd of people at the protest. And what happened next melted my heart. He reached inside his pocket and handed me a "Marzipanbrot", which is basically a bar of marzipan coated with dark chocolate. I didn't believe him at first but he meant it. Suddenly, his eyes were kinda red and watery. And that was the moment when I understood how moved he was by my sign and the power of its words. His kindness made my day. The hope in his eyes made my day.

There are good people here. They exist. Don't let the cruelness blind you <3