R U FOR US OR AGAINST US???

Are you for or against us? The ‘battle cry’  of political commitment or sometimes nothing more than a declaration of war.

If the left loses the war (define them as you wish), they can be found turning on non-voters, utilising trite cries of denigration ‘if you didn’t vote then you cannot complain’. This punitive castigating is victim blaming for the lefts inability to engage honestly with those they wanted to gain votes from. It is a smokescreen for lies dished out as promises. A vote for us is a vote for sanity whilst the political left courts the middle-classes promising them the fruits of the gods and distancing themselves from the great unwashed, yet spouting catchphrases and slogans that make them appear that they do really care about the disenfranchised. 

Well this voter is over it. I have had enough of post-election blame – I am sick of the catch cry ‘if you don't vote you can't complain’ or any of the victim blaming that has washed facebook since election night.

In the 1980’s Andrea Dworkin explored the fight or flight of women in the face of violence in Right Wing women” The politics of domesticated Females (1978).  She explained why many women colluded with the patriarchy - bottom-line: women bought into male stereotypes of womanhood to avoid the violence of men. This violence as many women know is so embedded in society it is impossible find solace from it. Conformity therefore meant survival. She went on to state that unless women could speak their truths about violence then this violence would continue. However, when women did speak they were ridiculed – threatened back into silence, “…buried in a cultural silence”. Her solution - to entirely supplement patriarchal language with a women focused language that identifies woman’s experiences of the world.  

It was this theorising that made me consider the plight of marginalised peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand and the discourse of blame from the left, right and centre . As the great neo-liberal experiment became a permanent fixture in our everyday lives those closest to its fallout - workers, the unemployed and marginalised communities suffered the full brunt of its devastating effects. As unions sold out or collapsed under the weight of consecutive governments anti-union laws, as benefits stagnated and wage increases became a thing of the past a tiredness amongst the poor set in. A tiredness that has become rooted in 30 years of bombardment and the need to survive, to make what little is left in the fridge stretch.

An essential component of neoliberalism is its castigating discourse. It portions out blame on those who have not reaped the rewards of this grand experiment. People are reproached for not trying hard enough, for not saving hard enough, spending too much, not spending enough and not understanding the long term goals of tightening their belts. Just listen to Mike Hosking’s who between whinny breaths, blames the poor for a) not investing in housing and b) thinking that a state house or rented property is theirs to call home. ‘Tut tut’ he says ‘…you have misread the fine print, a home is a white middleclass man’s castle - be away with you’.

30 years of being punished many New Zealanders have become a silent, like an abused child – afraid to raise their heads to high. Linda Tirado in Hand to Mouth points out: “Living on minimum wage… means being on your feet for eight hours at a stretch, having to ask permission to go to the loo and walking miles to work if your car breaks down. Worse than all of this, however, is the assumption made by wealthier people that Tirado and her peers just aren't trying hard enough.” Dammed if you do dammed if you don’t.

Returning to Andrea Dworking’s argument - fear of violence – violence that has become embedded in society for centuries brings about a state of fight or collaboration.  The only hope was the recalibration of language in the hope that all women’s voices could be included and heard. Until this occurred women had only two choices - fight or collaborate. Those of us who call ourselves social justice activists need to take up a similar challenge. We need to cease blaming the poor for our loss. We need to rethink how we speak our truth and the truths of those we fight with and for. Our language needs to be one of inclusion.