SILENCE IS COMPLICITY

The Wellington occupation continues with little support from the so-called 'liberal left'. It has either chosen to attack the occupation or remain silent. 

ANTICIPATING THAT the police would bring the Wellington occupation of Parliament grounds to an abrupt end, Labour-friendly academic and commentator Morgan Godfery announced on Thursday 'and so it ends as it began - in farce'. But, four days later, the protesters are still there and the only farcical element that has been introduced has come in the shape of the Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard and his bizarre attempt to 'flush out' the demonstrators via switching on the water sprinklers and playing dodgy music on repeat. For a Government that is so image conscious as this one, these have been trying times. Little wonder that the 'Queen of the Selfies', Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has been nowhere to be seen.

But its not only Trevor Mallard who has embarrassed himself. So has what we can loosely describe as 'the liberal left'. Its hostility toward the demonstration has been both deeply illiberal and ludicrous at the same time. Illiberal because, in some quarters, there have been consistent calls for the police to go in and bash the demonstrators and ludicrous because the liberal left has descended into paranoia. It has become a McCarthy-like hunt  for 'far right extremists'. We have well and truly plunged into the twilight zone when we have 'Idiot/Savant' of the No Right Turn blog describing an innocent seller of donuts as a 'Nazi'.  But I'm sure self appointed 'far right expert' Byron Clark will have a ready 'explanation'.

What this demonstration has underlined is that the progressive politics of the liberal left is largely cosmetic. It plays within certain perimeters that don't extend much further than supporting Labour or the Green's. The liberal left, now largely overwhelmed by identity politics, is as much a part of the political establishment as the right it criticises. And any dissent from the 'party line' must be crushed.

Of course the demonstrators have been well aware of the attacks coming from the so called 'progressive' left. In the face of it, they have maintained a remarkable sense of  joie de vivre - even in the wind and rain.  In fact the attacks have probably strengthened the determination of the protesters to carry on.

But some on the liberal left think they have been boxing clever by refraining from comment. At least someone like Martyn Bradbury of The Daily Blog has had the honesty to reveal his true political colours by attacking the demonstrators as 'fringe lunatics' but others of his ilk think they have been able to avoid scrutiny by refraining from any public criticism. But as someone once wrote 'silence has always been the language of betrayal'. 

Its certainly a language that the Maori and Pasifika politicians within Parliament are familiar with. Despite the large number of Maori and Pasifika  demonstrators, their politicians have maintained a steely silence. Someone like the Government's Maori caucus leader Willie Jackson usually has so much to say on issues involving Maori but he too appears to have lost his voice as far as this demonstration is concerned.

The only comment of any note has come from Green co-leader Marama Davidson but she  has only piped up to patronisingly describe the demonstrators as 'misinformed'.