THE STUFF APOLOGY : NEOLIBERALISM MEETS LIBERAL GUILT

Stuff's apology for its historical coverage of Maori issues and concerns might appear liberating but the media company is trying to reconcile its support for Maori with support for an economic system that has not benefited most Maori. Missing in Stuff's argument is any effort to address the question of economic class.

THOUGH NO ONE in the mainstream media seems to have picked up on it, Stuff's decision to apologise for both its past and present coverage of Maori issues and concerns has close parallels with the 1619 project of the New York Times. Launched in 2019 this is an attempt to view United States history also through a racial lense and 'reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very centre of the national narrative.' It seems that Stuff's much publicised apology is also the beginning of a project to put the experience of Maori at the centre of our own national narrative. Although there have been a handful of dissident voices, mostly reactionary, the mainstream media seems to have embraced Stuff's apology as its own. These are days, after all, where New Zealand cricketers 'take the knee'  in support of Black Lives Matter.

But while Stuff is trying to take the moral high ground and beat its detractors into submission, its apology is little more than the corporate media flying the flag for identity politics because identity politics is very much the capitalist-friendly ideology of our political and chattering class. It unites parliamentary politicians and media pundits alike. While people like Stuff editorial director Mark Stevens and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern can seemingly embrace Maori issues, what is missing in their views and actions is any acknowledgement of the inequalities and injustices of capitalism. Race apparently is a 'standalone' issue divorced from our class-ridden society.

But since they are very much representatives and defenders of our present economic system the failure of people like Ardern and Stevens  to address the concerns of the working class is not altogether surprising. But, as its been said time and time again, Maori are over represented in such areas as unemployment, poverty and homelessness. And this is not a race issue. This is a class issue. That's because Maori are overwhelming working class. So where's Stuff's apology to the working class for defending the capitalist status quo? Where's its apology for deliberating excluding socialist views from its publications?

I know my liberal detractors - the same people who loyally support this neoliberal Labour Government - will view me as 'class reductionist'. In my experience this is normally code for 'he's a bloody commie'. But the reality is that Stuff and others sharing its liberal politics - like RNZ, for example - are not so much interested in eliminating inequality but rather sharing the inequality around so there's more 'diversity' (another liberal buzz word) among the political elite. While Stuff journalists can parade as 'progressive' the media organisation they work for is actually hostile to the idea of a united anti-capitalist left.

Stuff's apology is where neoliberalism meets liberal guilt. But while Stuff and its supporters elsewhere might be busy trying to reconcile their support for Maori with support for an economic system that has not benefited most Maori, they are only helping to undermine the work of building of a working class movement which, by definition, would contain most Maori.

In the spirit of reconciliation can we expect Stuff to apologise for blatantly anti-working class columns like  'I'm All For Capitalism' and 'Using Green capitalism to save the planet'?  Will it now allow socialist views into its publications? Will Mark Stevens announce that economic class will be central to all its news coverage and general reporting? I don't think so. Capitalism can embrace most things, but not a class-based politics.