From: "Jim Delahunty" <jimddig at clear.net.nz> To: <jmage at panix.com> Subject: Re: nz greens Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 11:38:14 +1300
I am not sure how to link in to this debate so give you my comments direct. Looking at various parties my touchstone for the Left is whether a party is one aiming to further the people's interests at the expense of capital. On this basis none of Labour, Alliance or the Greens are Left. Labour is Centre- Right on its 1980s record, the Alliance is a mixture which is still centrist and parliamentary based with some of the "softer bits for horses" aspects which Labour on occasion shares. They do not contemplate taking the bit off the work horse. The Greens are very much like the Alliance with a mixture of policy tending more toward the environment but not just about trees and animals . They are thus another variety of centrist. None of these three challenge the main tenets of capitalism. The Greens also have some anti hierarchical ideas , which have been sharpened up by their experience with Anderton and his "top down" habits. None of this very heartening but what better can be expected of parliamentary government? The job as I see it is to build peoples action outside the parliament and from this to look toward a Left movement somewhere down the line, though with the present and continuing crisis of capital this should be done if possible sooner rather than later.