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ENTER HERE...Kia Ora and gidday. Welcome to Thr@ll # 11, our last issue of the millennium! We hope you're as excited as we are about this impending milestone. Just the thought of it makes me want to sit down with a glass of sherry and have a wee rest. Well, talking of milestones (or should that be millstones), it's election time, and as anarchists we couldn't let this pass without having a little dig at what passes far democracy in this country. Yes, every three years (more often if we're lucky) we get to choose some of the people who'll lie and oppress us till the next election. Of course we have no say in all the others who oppress us, like our bosses, Winz case managers or cops, but that would be asking for too much, wouldn't it. Anyway, you can read all about it below. Inside you'll also find a round up of local happenings on the recent World ay of Action against McDonald's as well as the usual collection of national and international news.Remember, we welcome contributions from readers whether they be letters, graphics or articles. We could also do with some more stamps and money to keep us going. Send your stuff to: Thr@ll, PO Box 22-076, Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand. If you're sending a cheque, make it out to "SMOG". You can also contact us by e-mail at:cybersmog@geocities.com. Max
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CONTENTS
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ELECTIONS: THE DEMOCRATIC MYTHAs another general election approaches, it's about time we called elections for what they really are. Elections today have become a stage-managed circus. Democracy is supposed to be about the people ruling. Instead we get endlessly manipulated by a whole raft of experts (campaign managers, "PR" (public relations) experts and spin doctors) who manufacture what we see and hear. Elections have become a show put on to deceive us into believing we have some say into what is going on in society, whilst in reality we have next to none.
CHOOSING OUR OPPRESSORSFrom day one we are told we live in a "democracy", and that voting in elections is exercising our "democratic right". Granted: we do not live under a totalitarian state. But we live in a very *limited* democracy. We get the chance to elect a few politicians every three years, but we do not get the chance to elect our boss. Electing people to public office is like being given a limited choice of our political oppressors. Besides, the politicians we do elect seem to do the opposite of what they were elected for, as with Labour in 1984, National in 1990, and NZ First in 1996. Since 1984 we have been subject to a free-market New Right experiment. The majority of people did not vote for severe free market "de-regulation" and the erosion of the welfare state. It is hardly surprising that New Right reforms have been imposed upon us by the state in an undemocratic way because 80% of us have had our living standards reduced under the New Right, whilst power has been concentrated in the hands of the rich few and giant transnational mega-corporations to an extent never seen before. The New Right is fundamentally anti-democratic: it wants little or no public participation in politics, so that its new unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy of managers and consultants can decide what to do with our lives for us.
MORE PARTIES, LESS CHOICEUnderstandably, this has produced a general disillusionment with politics and political parties. Nobody trusts politicians any more. MMP was introduced as a safety valve to let off the steam of popular discontent. MMP has produced more parties but less choice. We can now choose between the free-market capitalism of Labour or of National - Labour and National are now so similar perhaps they should join into one party. Labour accepts the draconian Employment Contracts Act - which denies the right of workers to strike - except for one minor clause. With the lack of any real difference between National and Labour, the election has become a stream of banalities: it seems to be more about image and "personality" (Clark's hairstyle, Shipley's family) than about policy. Alliance and ACT appear to be radical but they just offer some minor tinkering with the free-market. As each party seemingly becomes more pro-business and boring than each other, the needs of ordinary people become more overlooked.
PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACYRepresentative democracy as practiced in New Zealand in recent years is not all that democratic. It has produced in New Zealand corrupt politicians and parties who care more about the profits of big business than people. There is no guarantee that elected representatives will implement the policies they stood for in the election. What we need is more, not less, democracy. We need a participatory democracy where everyone has a genuine say in what is going on. A democracy where people run their own communities and workplaces themselves. A democracy of frequent and regular elections, and temporary delegates who are elected for a specific task and can be recalled at any instant. The resources of society ought not to be owned and controlled for the profit of a small exploiting class, but instead ought to be communally owned for the benefit of everybody. Only under free and voluntary communism can true democracy, freedom and equality for all be achieved. To produce this, we need a radical, grassroots anti-capitalist movement to build genuine self-governing communities based upon mutual aid. The real purpose of elections is to legitimate those in power. They give us the illusion we are in control of our lives whilst we are not. Thus elections suppress, pacify and channel dissent into a limited, non-threatening and manageable form. Voting does not challenge fundamental power structures and inequalities in society. It does not really challenge class, ethnic and gender inequalities. If voting really did change anything they would make it illegal. True democracy is only possible when power is decentralised to everyone, where everyone enjoys genuine liberty and equality: anarchism. Toby
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