If to predict the victory of Javier Milei and his chainsaw it was only necessary to talk to the Argentines who have made Barcelona their home, to predict the arrival of the hard right in New Zealand it was enough to tempt the fifty thousand Kiwis who they live in Great Britain. They were fed up with six years of Labor and eager for a change.
Inflation, the cost of living, the lack of housing and the dedication of body and soul to issues of gender equality, rights of the Maori (aboriginal population) and the environment – at the expense of a more important attention to the poverty, the deterioration of healthcare and education – made the charismatic Jacinda Ardern go from icon of international progressivism to ex-prime minister, ex-MP (she resigned the seat) and ex-politician. He currently works, without pay, for an organization that combats incitement to violence on the internet.
After his surprise resignation in January, things have gone from bad to worse for Labour, which was the only party to have been able to govern alone since the establishment of a proportional system in 1993 (everything else have been coalitions). Chris Hipkins, the successor, resoundingly lost the October election and Christopher Luxon, a former chief executive of Air New Zealand and leader of the National Party, has officially been prime minister for a fortnight.
New Zealand is further proof that, in the midst of a culture war, with the rise of populism and nationalism, in a world of misinformation where any nonsense conveniently disseminated by social networks becomes a parallel reality, it is possible to pass from the ‘left to right, or even to the extreme right, in a jiffy.
Luxon, at the head of a coalition with two smaller and more radical parties, the libertarian ACT and New Zealand First (populist, socially ultra-conservative, protectionist, anti-immigration, anti-globalisation and defender of the interests of pensioners), has not lost a minute in begin to dismantle Labour’s policies.
Goodbye to tobacco restrictions, with a drastic reduction in points of sale and a ban on buying for everyone born after 2008, with a progressive rise in the age at which smoking is allowed until reaching a situation where no one does could legally do, a policy that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has copied. Money rules, and the Wellington government receives around 800 million euros annually in taxes (70% of the roughly twenty euros a pack costs) thanks to this addiction. The justification is not, of course, this, but to prevent a black market from appearing.
But it is not only the anti-tobacco lobby that is irritated by the new path taken by the New Zealand conservatives. Also the environmentalists (their ministry has been replaced by one of Hunting and Fishing), with the new Government’s renunciation of the most ambitious objectives in this area, such as incentives to buy electric cars, creation of a marine reserve, strict measures to combat the pollution of river waters, reduction of traffic in residential areas, promotion of cycling and public transport, reduction of the amount of cattle… Goes backwards in everything.
The legacy of Jacinda Ardern, who came to be considered one of the most influential people in the world, is destroyed not with a chainsaw, but with a bulldozer. The 49-point program by Luxon and coalition allies abandons the legal obligation to reduce the country’s prison population, dismantles a special body dedicated to Maori health and makes little of the recommendations of a commission set up to reduce the differences between the aboriginal and white population, and give natives a role in governance. “We will never support a formula that undermines our liberal democracy and treats people differently based on ethnicity, rights cannot be determined by ancestral criteria, but must be identical for everyone,” he said. said the new premier. The problem is that, like in Orwell’s farm, all the animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Thousands of Maori have demonstrated in recent days in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and cities large and small across the country, blocking traffic to protest “the rollback of decades of progress on indigenous rights”.
The coalition has proposed revising the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, a founding document signed by Aboriginal leaders and the British crown. The objective of reducing the official use of the native language has also been set. “We will not accept being second-class citizens,” says the Maori Party (Te P?ti M?ori), which has expanded its seats from two to six.
Fewer taxes and regulations, extreme defense of private property as the first commandment, owners before tenants, harsher sentences, fewer officials, austerity, suppression of public infrastructure works, war on the nanny state. ..
The country has gone from the social democrat Santa Jacinda to the most right-wing Government in a generation. In a nothing
