BY ANNOUNCING his 'war on woke', Winston Peters is hoping to deflect attention from the fact that New Zealand First is helping to prop up a government languishing in the polls and in real danger of being kicked out of office after just one term. Peters doesn't want to be known as the Deputy Prime Minister in a Government that has implemented an unpopular austerity agenda. This is forcing ordinary New Zealanders to wear the consequences of an economic crisis that they aren't responsible for.
Having decided that he is going to be New Zealand's answer to Donald Trump, Peters told his followers in Christchurch yesterday that 'We together are going to take back control, take back our country, and Make New Zealand First Again.' The baseball cap will be available soon.
But Peters isn't about to embark on a war against New Zealand's chronic levels of poverty and inequality. He's not going to try to wrest control of the country back from the handful of people who own most of the wealth. Instead, he's going to fight against 'wokeness'. But his 'anti-woke' views are just the codifying of bigotry and the rejection of liberal values. Peters is even suggesting that the struggle against climate change, the fight to save the planet, is 'woke'. At this point, we have entered Crazy Town where the climate charge deniers, anti-vaxers and Brian Tamaki live.
Peters has proven himself to be little more than a political grifter, but his attempt to swindle people into supporting New Zealand First is unlikely to succeed. Peters might want to fight the culture wars again, but the left, if it's wise, won't allow itself to be dragged down this road to nowhere again. Fortunately, even the determinedly centrist Labour leader Chris Hipkins understands that it's all about the economy, stupid:
'While Winston Peters was yelling at protesters and channeling Donald Trump, Labour is focused on what really matters: jobs, health, and homes. This coalition drove the economy into a recession, and now they're trying to distract from the damage they've done with even more division.'
The polls all indicate that people aren't obsessing about issues of race and gender, but the more pressing issues surrounding economic survival. Most folk are worried about the cost of living, the lack of jobs, the lack of affordable housing, the denial of ready access to basic health services. They are not fretting about the Treaty of Waitangi or drag queens reading stories to children in public libraries.
During the six years of the Labour Government, identity politics were employed to defend neoliberal policies. It was a cynical, but effective, way to distract from issues of class and capitalist exploitation. In 2025, the 'anti-woke' views of Winston Peters serve much the same purpose, The difference this time though, is that a helluva lot more people understand that they are being lied to.
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