THE LEFT CONTINUES ITS SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE WELLINGTON OCCUPATION

Will the open contempt that the New Zealand left, much of it allied to the Labour Party, continues to display for the Wellington occupation of Parliament grounds and the protests that are occurring elsewhere, simply push the protest movement toward the populist right? 

WE'RE NOW into the eleventh day of the occupation of Parliament grounds and, given the Government's continued refusal to engage in any meaningful dialogue with the demonstrators, no-one is going anywhere soon. Stick around folks, we could be here awhile...

Also unlikely to be going anywhere soon is the sheer volume of vitriolic and hysterical attacks being directed at the demonstrators on a daily basis. 

Some attacks have been fairly mild - like the polite attempt by Corin Dann and Susie Ferguson on Morning Report to frame the protest as 'far right'. And then there's Hilary Barry of TVNZ snarkily tweeting : 'RT if you're NOT going to the anti-vax protest in Wellington. Oops I mean anti-mandate.'

But today's deranged description of the protesters as violent conspiracy theorists by the New Zealand Public Service Association is the standard fare. Incidentally, its also worth noting that some of the demonstrators that the NZPSA is presently denigrating used to be NZPSA members themselves - until they lost their jobs when vaccine mandates were enforced. You reckon that's the reason they might be protesting?

It won't have escaped the notice of the demonstrators that most of the attacks have come from organisations that normally describe themselves as 'liberal', 'progressive' or even 'socialist'. Certainly an organisation like the International Socialist Organisation Aotearoa would consider itself to be socialist - the clue is in its name - but this week it issued a statement condemning the occupation as a 'reactionary convergence'. It describes the occupation as consisting of 'small businesspeople, traders able to camp indefinitely in Wellington, the flotsam and jetsam of alternative lifestyles and health cures, and groups of the oppressed organised against their own class by religious sects..' 

Or maybe the ISO is just annoyed that the occupation is not being led by groups like, well, the ISO. Its also worth noting that the ISO will be calling for a vote in Labour in the next general election so maybe its also worried about Labour's election chances being damaged by the present occupation of Parliament grounds.

In an article for the independent Mint Press, UK journalist Jonathan Cook has some observations to make about the present 'Trucker's Protests' in Canada - which have been a source of inspiration for the protests in New Zealand. 

Cook also makes some comments about the general contempt the Canadian left has continued to demonstrate for the protests. Cook's comments are relevant to New Zealand, I think:

'Large sections of the left always find a reason to object to those taking to the streets. The Occupy Movement, the Yellow Vests in France, the Black Lives Matter Protests, the January 6th Rally, the Extinction Rebellion Blockades, the Trucker Protests. None of them are worthy. Their motives are not pure enough. The messages are too vague. The chants are too noisy. The anger is too alienating and the populism too discomfiting. And the participants are from the wrong tribe.

'The longer this disdain for protest lasts, the more the protesters’ alienation from the corrupt power-elites evokes fear rather than solidarity, the more the left itself is paralysed into inaction, then the more certain it is that these protests will be captured by the right, by the Donald Trumps and the Tucker Carlsons. The more we insult the protesters by calling them rightwing, Nazis, anti-worker, dangerous, Trumpists, the more we ensure they become what we accuse them of being.'

It could well be a scenario that plays out in New Zealand if the left continues to treat the protest movement with contempt and derision. And the left will only have itself to blame.