Economic restructure with #Covid19 slump: sustainable safety vs #crisis in #oil over-production

“US crude oil futures collapsed below $0 on Monday for the first time in history, amid a coronavirus-induced supply glut, ending the day at a stunning minus $US37.63 a barrel as desperate traders paid to get rid of oil. Brent crude, the international benchmark, also slumped, but that contract was nowhere near as weak because more storage is available worldwide” – Reuters via ODT, 21 April 2020 – But “a record 160 million barrels is sitting in tankers around the world”, as storage is quickly running out. Little will be available beyond May, Al Jazeera reported just before this news. – see Reuters.[1] This expresses the classic crisis of over-production,[2] in which the impacts can only compound and intensify. We have 1918 and 1929 rolled into one.

Oil production “cuts will come too slowly to offset rising inventories, which hit 518.6 million barrels in the US last week, just 3 percent off an all-time record, the Energy Department said. ‘If storage continues to increase at the end of the day, which seems likely considering all these Saudi barrels knocking at the door, then we are going to get to maximum storage sometime in the not so distant future,’ said Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho in New York.”

US oil storage January 2017 to April 2020 – Bloomberg

Source: Brent and US oil rebound after two days of historic losses, Al Jazeera, 23 April 2020.

Two days after dip, medium-term WTI and Brent oil TradingEconomics.com ‘recovery’ graphs:

WTI year to 23 Apr 2020

Brent year to 23 Apr 2020

What will happen next?

It is easy to forecast another crude oil price collapse as April closes, to below $10 a barrel, trading through May to hold the $16 latest low line if possible when all the stream spare storage capacity fills up. Output cannot be curtailed by enough producers in time to stop this lengthy return to medium to long term base value lows.

The logic of the market is to settle in at single digit barrels for the duration, while the costliest North American production is demolished. Such is the damage to demand and employment now locked in by pandemic shut-down response and unleashed technological upgrades. This is the beginning of the third Great Depression. Problematic war in the Middle East is the only potential diversion of this course, and the slump’s most likely remedy – under traditional mechanisms.

We have entered a vastly different world, with a deadly pandemic unparalleled since 1918. So will we, the people, shape the new world coming? ‘Recovery must be inclusive for the social contract to survive’, the Inside Story panel concluded, in “Why did US oil prices hit negative territory?”, Al Jazeera, 22 April 2020. Also regard Earth Day: Coronavirus crisis offers big green opportunity and ask Is civil disobedience enough or do we need a climate revolution?, 23 April 2020. The young generation know their future is imperilled and precisely by what: aged infrastructure/maintainers.

Nothing is guaranteed, except that the level of comfort so many knew before Covid is now gone – Goldman: Don’t Expect U.S. Oil Prices To Recover Soon, OilPrice.com, 21 April 2020. So much of financial sector credit is based upon appreciating energy industry shares, almost ‘too big to fail’ but not quite. It is the critical modern resource, the lifeblood of industrial economy, the core carrier of growth: too little or too much energy cost, both inhibit prosperity. The long answer is we have to move on from utter dependency on fossil fuel burning.

Competing large national oil interests – North American, Russian, Middle East – are all pitched against each other, on a currently shrinking transport market with no recovery in near sight. Smaller producer countries – in Africa, Asia and South America – face at this time the same and thus proportionately larger challenges of internal cohesion – resulting from this loss of revenue, profit, reinvestment and jobs.

The March surge of Saudi oil has been shunned by the US administration so will divert to Europe and Asia, flooding the markets there, viz Rising calls to block Saudi crude shipments to US, Al Jazeera, 23 April 2020. China is stockpiling the cheapened flow as fast as it can, as the world’s biggest oil consumer.[3] Contrast to North America’s accelerating market chaos.[4]

“A slow recovery that keeps oil prices down below $20 would mean heightened risk of political instability throughout the oil-producing world. It would strain cooperation in OPEC because the members would not see the benefit of their cutbacks” – Crude carnage: ‘There’s pain everywhere’ says analyst, Al Jazeera, 22 April 2020.

It is essential to recreate trade as sustainable, now and for the future, with whole new food, energy and distribution dynamics and underpinnings. The health framework can then improve for everyone too.

Current values under watch:
tradingeconomics.com/commodity/brent-crude-oil or oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/45 WTI + Brent.

The estimated 12 to 18 month recovery time expected while awaiting a globally available Covid19 vaccine is reinforced by this being the expected time to clear the mounting glut, to effect enough oil/shale well shut-in to start lifting values. A very slow and expensive process, especially in jobs.

This will be a protracted, increasingly painful slump; most like 1929’s. The stark choice of ways out of, it is high time to discuss.[5]

[1] “Stocks are likely to be growing by 10% per month… the entire supply chain is likely to be completely full within 2-4 months. … At the end of January [industry storage] was a mere 200 million barrels below the record high of 3.1 billion barrels – reported in July 2016, shortly after the end of the previous oil price slump. … As the petroleum market moves into massive surplus, storage has become the most scarce commodity in the industry.” – Global oil storage to fill rapidly as consumption plunges, Reuters, 28 March, & “The US Energy Information Administration last week reported a record 19.3 million-barrel crude stock build. There is currently a remaining 21 million barrels of storage available at the Cushing hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. But that will fill up to the brim by mid-to-late May, Rystad Energy predicts”, U.S. crude oil storage is filling rapidly, 18 April 2020.

The World Is Running Out of Places to Store Its Oil, New York Times, 26 March 2020.

“Goldman Sachs … estimates that the world has around 1 billion barrels of spare storage capacity, but much of that will never be accessed ‘as the velocity of the current shock will breach transportation networks’ … ‘With demand collapsing but supply rising after OPEC and non-affiliated Russia failed to reach a production cut agreement in early March, global inventories could reach their maximum capacity within weeks,’ analysts at Eurasia Group said … ‘Industry participants are saying it is virtually impossible to find conventional onshore tanks. Even if OPEC and other producers start restricting their output again soon, the supply overhang from the global lockdown is so big that storage capacity will likely hit its limit by midyear. Already, ports and refiners are turning away oil tankers. This will put even more downward pressure on prices and pose an existential threat to many companies,’ Eurasia Group said. Analysts at Energy Aspects expect the ongoing oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia will keep production elevated until the end of the year. This means the world will run out of crude storage capacity early in the third quarter of the year, they added, with product containment arriving earlier” Oil prices could soon turn negative as the world runs out of places to store crude, analysts warn, CNBC, 1 April 2020.

The Surprising Winners And Losers Of The Global Oil Glut, yahoo finance, 20 April 2020.

A hunt for any storage space turns urgent as oil glut grows, Reuters, 21 April 2020.

“Oil prices were already weighed down by oversupply going into 2020 … ‘Market prices are showing that oil is all but worthless now. It’s going to take a long time to draw down the huge supply overhang'” – Crash! US crude futures turn negative for first time in history, Al Jazeera, 21 April 2020.

“OPEC+ coalition… agreed to slash production by about 10 million barrels a day earlier this month, but the cuts won’t kick in until May. Even then, they won’t be enough to balance out the demand destruction from the virus in the short term, which could be as high as 30 million barrels a day… Inventories at the biggest U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, are at the highest since 2017 and are expected to rise further. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported that nationwide crude stockpiles rose 13.2 million barrels last week… Meanwhile, Indian fuel tanks are now 95% full, according to officials at three state-owned refiners” – Brent nears a 21-year low under demand and storage pressure, WorldOil, 22 April 2020.

[2] More e.g.: Overproduction, Wikipedia; The Marxist Theory of Overaccumulation and Crisis, Simon Clarke; Will coronavirus signal the end of capitalism?, Al Jazeera, 3 April 2020.

[3] “Rather than cutting back on imports, China pushed crude oil into storage tanks at almost double the rate in the first quarter of this year than it did in the same period in 2019 as the new coronavirus hit domestic consumption … Other major crude importing countries lack the ability to simply divert oil into storage on the scale that China can, meaning they will have to lower the amount of crude being imported. Even countries with large commercial and strategic storages, such as the United States, will find that the volume of crude available is so much that it will overwhelm available tank space within weeks, rather that months … by itself it’s nowhere near enough to compensate for the loss of an estimated 30 million bpd of global consumption” – China doubled crude oil storage inflows during coronavirus demand hit, Reuters, 20 April 2020.

[4] “an acute state of oversupply in North America … ‘This inflection will play out in a matter of weeks, not months, with the market likely forced to balance before June,’ Goldman analysts warned. In other words, the U.S. oil industry could lose several million barrels per day in the next few weeks in what Goldman analysts called a ‘violent rebalancing.'” The Worst Is Yet To Come For Oil Prices, OilPrice.com, 21 April + Oil Prices Hit $15 For The First Time In 21 Years 19 April + “Canada, Venezuela, Iraq, Brazil, Libya, Ecuador and even the U.S. are seeing forced shut-ins due to storage constraints, COVID-19 and low prices” A Massive Wave Of Shut-Ins Fails To Halt Oil Price Crash 21 April + $1 Oil: Saudi Arabia’s Attempt To Crush U.S. Shale 1 April + “fewest number of active rigs since January 2017.. EIA’s estimate is that the United States still produced 13 million barrels of oil per day on average this week, just 100,000 bpd off the all-time high” The Largest Rig Count Collapse In 5 Years 3 April + “only if the United States joins the cuts” Russia To Cut 1 Million Barrels Per Day, But Under One Condition + The World’s Biggest Oil Deal Can’t Save Crude Prices 6 April + Oil Prices Hit $1 Following A 90% Crash, 20 April + How Oil Prices Could Go To $100 + In Rare Development, Oil Majors Are Forced To Cut Output Under OPEC Deal viz British Petroleum-led project in Azerbaijan, 23 April + “According to Goldman Sachs, global oil storage could be completely full within the next three weeks, and another dramatic crash could follow” Oil Prices Crash 24% As Storage Fears Mount + “unprecedented situation in global energy markets has provided traditional producers with an opportunity to displace incumbents in primarily the U.S. The price war Saudi Arabia started after Russia refused to reduce output in early March has decimated budgets of energy-dependent countries and oil companies. Riyadh and Moscow are playing with fire.. Riyadh is also upping the ante in Asia where Aramco has cut prices by $3 to $5 per barrel, which is the second drastic cut in two months.. energy industry seems to be heading full speed towards a cliff, exporters in Russia and Saudi Arabia prefer to maintain their market share instead of saving the industry. Only time will tell where this strategy will lead to” Saudi Arabia And Russia Fight Bitter Market Share Battle As Oil Prices Collapse, 27 April + “UBS, a Swiss financial firm, sees oil prices rising by as much as 115 percent by the end of the year. ‘While the oil market is heavily oversupplied this quarter, we expect it to move toward balance next quarter and become under-supplied in 4Q this year as lockdown restrictions are eased and oil demand picks up,’ Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, explained. OPEC, which is preparing to roll out its joint plan to cut global oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day, is even more hopeful, predicting a recovery by the second half of the year. Mohamed Arkab, Energy Minister of OPEC’s rotating president Algeria, noted, ‘the global economy is not going to stay paralyzed,’ adding that he predicts the price of the Brent benchmark could reach $40 by the beginning of the third quarter” Are Oil Prices Heading Back Into Negative Territory? + “’this is a never-before-seen level of national economic calamity; history doesn’t get bigger than this’.. Most people, policy makers and economists are energy blind and cannot, therefore, fully grasp the gravity or the consequences of what is happening.. Oil production and prices are unlikely to regain late 2018 levels. Renewable sources will fall behind along with efforts to mitigate climate change. It’s Really Bad.. Gross domestic product (GDP) is proportional to oil consumption.. because oil is the economy. Every aspect of production and use of goods and services requires burning fossil energy. There are approximately 4.5 years of human labor in a barrel of oil. No other energy source comes close to that level of energy density.. Large segments of the U.S. oil industry will have to be nationalized before the year is over.. productivity multiplier will be essential if the U.S. economy is to avoid collapse or for it to recover if collapse is unavoidable.. foolish practice of draining America first since the beginning of tight oil production a decade ago.. The game is over for oil. We should place all of our attention on saving the economy.. a chance to simplify and to learn to be satisfied with no more than what we need. It is unlikely that we will have much choice” The Death Of U.S. Oil, 28 April + The World’s Largest Oil Fund Is Sitting On $725 Million In Unrealized Losses re United States Oil Fund, 29 April + Venezuela Oil Exports Climb As OPEC Agreement Kicks In, 4 May 2020.

[5] By the late 1920s in the United States, “the huge oversupply of crude totally disrupted the market and rational planning, thus creating sudden price collapses.” The October 1930 opening of the East Texas Black Giant, a well reservoir so vast it dwarfed everything previously known in America, caused the $1.85 per barrel price of 1926 – that had dropped to $1 by 1930 – to fall to 15, 6 or even 2 cents at times, by May 1931. – The Prize, Daniel Yergin, 1991, pp.223, 247.

[DRAFT #5 – more to be added.]

“Oil companies are some of the most important payers of dividends across financial market worldwide, providing vital income streams to pension funds and millions of smaller investors. ..fears about the ability of oil companies to maintain dividend payments beyond 2020 are unlikely to subside until a vaccine for Covid-19 is discovered” Oil prices on a slippery slope, Financial Times, 24 April 2020.
“There are about 3.2 billion barrels of crude oil already in global inventories, according to Orbital Insight, a record high. The majority of land-based oil storage is in the form of Floating Roof Tanks (FRT). Overall, Orbital Insight says the world’s FRT storage is at 55.6% capacity, so the firm sees about 2 billion more barrels of storage capacity available. Beyond FRT storage are alternatives, such as fixed roof tanks, salt caverns, or even more expensive floating storage like tankers at sea. Ursa said recent estimates put sea-based tanker storage at about 160 million barrels. Essentially, the lower price of oil drops, the more oil producers look to expensive types of storage capacity as viable. Storage capacity options have an inverse relationship to production methods, as more expensive methods of extracting oil become viable as the price rises. ‘There’s still places to put oil. It’s been diminished because volumes have increased because of the amount that’s been leased out. But they’re going to keep searching out for more and more tanks to fill,’ [Ursa Space Systems analyst Geoffrey] Craig said. ‘If this continues, there’s going to be another phase where you would have to have another shift down in price,’ Craig added. June contracts for WTI crude traded at $16.54 a barrel on Friday, down more than 9% this week. Brent crude traded at $21.22 a barrel, down more than 20% this week. Hall noted that the recent panicked sell-off was largely focused on storage capacity running out in Cushing, Oklahoma. He pointed out that storage facilities in West Texas are below 50% capacity, with Europe and the Middle East each at 60% capacity as well. ‘Throughout the rest of the U.S., in Canada and then across the rest of the world, there’s still a lot of capacity out there for storage,’ [Kayrros market strategist Ted] Hall said. ‘Tanks are relatively full and have been filling, but there’s still a lot of a lot of room to grow globally.’ So long as major production cuts don’t happen while capacity remains, the price of oil will remain tied significantly to how much storage is left. ‘Based on what’s gone on the past week, there’s certainly a chance that we’ll see more breakdowns based on really unique financial moments related to the financial contracts in crude,’ Hall added.” Oil prices could remain under pressure, according to satellite imagery analysis, CNBC, 24 April 2020.

“With a sizable contraction anticipated, the current consensus expectation is for a negative 4% reading. Economists at ING are more pessimistic, looking at the destruction in retail as they forecast a 6% dive in productivity. Retail activity outside of groceries has practically collapsed and manufacturing surveys have reported plummeting activity. Given this situation, we look for the economy to have contracted 6% annualised in Q1 with much worse to come in 2Q.” The Dow Is Eerily Calm – But Next Week Could Be Menacingly Volatile, CCN, 24 April 2020.
“product that the state-run Bank of China dubbed Yuan You Bao, or Crude Oil Treasure.. branches posted ads on Wechat.. ‘Crude oil is cheaper than water’.. The physical settlement for the benchmark WTI takes place at Cushing, Oklahoma. When storage tanks there fill up, the price on the expiring contract can plunge and become disconnected from the global market. With demand evaporating, inventories at Cushing were soaring. In March and April, they climbed 60% to just under 60 million barrels, out of a total working capacity of 76 million – and analysts reckon much of the remaining space is already earmarked.. ‘The trading at settlement mechanism failed. It shows the fragility of the WTI market, which is not as big as people think’.. Prices in the U.S. physical market, set by reference to the WTI settlement, also plunged, with some refiners and pipeline companies posting prices to their suppliers as low as minus $54 a barrel.. The bank had a total position of about 1.4 million barrels of oil, or 1,400 contracts, according to a person familiar with the matter. It wound up having to pay about 400 million yuan ($56 million) to settle the contracts.. a new wave of selling that swept across oil markets. On Tuesday, the June WTI contract plunged by 68% to a low of just $6.50. And this time it was not limited to U.S. contracts: Brent futures also plunged, hitting a 20-year low of $15.98 on Wednesday, driving the price of Russian, Middle Eastern and West African oil that is priced relative to it to levels near zero.. ‘suspicion of market manipulation or a flawed new computer model’.. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.. exploring.. whether the storage capacity data posted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration accurately reflected the actual availability of space.. CME [Group Inc, which owns the oil-futures exchange] argues.. market working efficiently.. ‘We witnessed history’.. brokerage PVM. ‘For the sake of oil-market stability,” this “should not be allowed to happen again'” The 20 Minutes That Broke the U.S. Oil Market, Bloomberg, 25 April + Icahn Bought Cheap Oil in Monday’s Plummet to Historic Lows, 24 April Ref. Icahn Enterprises Wikipedia + What’s Next for Global Oil Prices?: The Industry May Shut Down , Bloomberg, 26 April 2020.
“The implosion of crude oil markets in the past week holds a mirror to the broader distress in the U.S. and global economy. Social distancing measures imposed on consumers and business shutdowns enforced to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic have led to a collapse in international trade and travel. Gasoline and jet fuel prices have sunk as a result leading to crude oil inventories rapidly filling the available storage space. The lockdowns have also led to a slump in business revenues and consumer spending, causing mass unemployment in the U.S. not seen since the 1930s, at least temporarily. The issue for business earnings, economic growth and stock market values is that the U.S. is more dependent on consumer spending than some other economies.. ‘It shows us that the reality of demand destruction in the economy is more dire than what other risk asset prices, particularly U.S. equity prices, reflect’.. The stock market may have shrugged off the oil slump though in part because the direct hit from low oil prices is limited for Wall Street. The overall share of the energy sector in U.S. equity and even in corporate bond markets is minimal, and many fund managers have steered clear of the industry due to the challenging economics of crude production and the growing adoption of more carbon-friendly investment approaches in the U.S. and abroad. Energy represents less than 3% of the overall S&P 500 index, and around 12% of the index for sub investment-grade corporate bonds.. ” Could the crude oil market bust spell trouble for high-flying U.S. stocks?, MarketWatch, 25 April.
“The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures expiring in May plunged 321%, to -$40.32 a barrel, the lowest level ever recorded” Oil plunges 321% into negative territory for the first time ever as demand evaporates, Markets Insider, 20 April 2020 – WTI:
Date, Closing Price, Open, Daily High, Daily Low
05/04/2020 20.39 19.11 21.42 18.05
05/01/2020 19.78 19.04 20.48 18.07
04/30/2020 18.84 15.64 19.44 15.45
04/29/2020 15.06 13.35 16.78 12.67
04/28/2020 12.34 12.96 13.69 10.07
04/27/2020 12.78 16.84 16.98 11.88
04/24/2020 16.94 16.78 17.97 15.64
04/23/2020 16.50 14.20 18.26 13.35
04/22/2020 13.78 16.18 10.26
04/21/2020 10.01 -14.00 13.86 -16.74
04/20/2020 -37.63 17.73 17.85 -40.32
04/17/2020 18.27 20.00 20.22 17.31
‘There is no reason to be bailing out Middle Eastern overproduction’: Analysts break down how to prevent further oil price volatility, Markets Insider, 25 April 2020 – Brent:
Date, Closing Price, Open, Daily High, Daily Low
05/05/2020 30.97 28.10 32.06 27.77
05/04/2020 27.20 26.10 28.08 25.50
05/01/2020 26.44 26.95 27.88 25.76
04/30/2020 25.27 22.87 25.76 22.87
04/29/2020 22.54 20.66 23.88 20.53
04/29/2020 22.54 20.66 23.88 20.53
04/28/2020 20.46 19.90 21.29 18.73
04/27/2020 19.99 21.55 21.91 19.11
04/24/2020 21.44 21.93 22.70 20.50
04/23/2020 21.33 20.89 23.22 20.07
04/22/2020 20.37 20.23 22.45 15.98
04/21/2020 19.33 26.33 26.50 17.51
04/20/2020 25.57 28.05 28.25 25.37
“Brent crude oil is at its lowest level in 17 years.. The US exports roughly 4 million barrels of oil per day, but much of that outflow will fade as Saudi Arabia and Russia undercut US pricing. Mizuho [Securities]’s analysis pegs the US’s spare capacity at 273 million barrels and estimates the tanks could top out in as soon as four months.. negative prices could become a reality if the US can’t build new storage at the pace of its inventory buildup.. The oil-price war kicked off March 6, when Russia declined to lower production. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had hoped to curb supply as the coronavirus outbreak pummeled oil demand around the world. Russia’s move prompted retaliation from Saudi Arabia in the form of massive price cuts, igniting a race to claw more market share” The oil market’s threats combine 9/11 with the financial crisis – and could turn prices negative, analyst says, Markets Insider, 18 March 2020.
“U.S. market history points to a final bottom in August” Stocks will revisit their coronavirus crash low, and here’s when to expect it, MarketWatch, 11 April 2020.
“We have clearly gone to full scale day-to-day market management crisis, and as we said when we first called for negative prices, the physical reality of oil is that it is difficult to handle, volatile, potentially polluting, and actually useless without a refinery. If you had a stinking barrel of oil in your backyard, would you pay someone $100/bbl to take it away? Yes, and you would probably be relieved you were not charged $300/bbl,” Oil could hit negative $100 per barrel next month, according to one analyst, Markets Insider, 22 April 2020.
“The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported last Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories rose 15 million barrels for the week ended April 17 to 518.6 million barrels. That marked a 13th straight weekly climb and followed a record weekly increase of 19.2 million barrels a week earlier.. January 2021 CLG21 contract trading near $29.37 on Monday or still well below the $54 per barrel levels of mid-February that already were viewed as a threat to the viability of some weaker players” Here’s why oil majors may struggle to find bargains in the shale patch, MarketWatch, 27 April 2020.
“The United States Oil Fund (USO) that was responsible for last Monday’s oil crash into negative territory is once again shaking up oil markets, and WTI is now down more than 21% on the day. The USO Fund’s administration, USCF, announced on Monday that it intends to sell off all of its WTI contracts for June delivery—that’s all its front-month contracts that the fund was designed to invest in. Instead, the fund will now focus on futures contracts that are further out. The USO’s breakdown will now be comprised of 30% in the July contract, 15% each in the August, September, October, and December contracts, and 10% in the June 2021 contract. The June 2020 contract fell $3.85 on Monday to $13.09 by 3:52 p.m. EDT. Meanwhile, the July contract is trading $5 higher, and the August contract $8 higher at $21.47. The last time the USO fund shook up the oil market was one week ago today, the last day before the May 2020 futures contract for WTI expired. What set the disastrous events in motion was traders wishing to exit their positions before the contract expired. The USO, which would be unable to accept delivery of physical barrels of oil, headed for the exit, but found few willing buyers. This time around, the USO fund is pulling out of all its near-term contracts over the course of the next few days, sending oil prices reeling once again. The shift away from front-month contracts will amount to dumping 20% of its $3.6 billion portfolio over the next few days, Financial Times reports, citing a regulatory filing by USO.” World’s Largest Oil Fund Is Once Again Crashing Crude Markets, OilPrice.com, 27 April 2020.

Compassion for #Christchurch martyr community; integrity in #NewZealand leadership response

15 March 2019, Christchurch had its darkest day, our very worst as mass fatality was inflicted by an ill-intentioned visitor and avoidable, when compared to the decade’s horrendous earthquakes. Rest In Peace. With condolence and aroha we remember all those hurt, still in hospital, the families and friends, communities, and those lost so extremely sadly:

Christchurch mosque attack victims – Press graphic

Husna Ahmed. Ahmed Abdel-Ghany. Syed Areeb Ahmed. Farhaj Ahsan. Mohsen Mohammed Al Harbi. Hussein Al-Umari. Ashraf Ali. Ashraf Ali. Syed Jahandad Ali. Ansi Karippakulam Alibava. Linda Armstrong. Muse Nur Awale. Zakaria Bhuiya. Karam Bibi. Kamel Darwish. Atta Elayyan. Ali Elmadani. Abdukadir Elmi. Mohammad Omar Faruk. Amjad Kasem Hamid. Lilik Abdul Hamid. Mojammel Hoq. Ghulam Hussain. Mucaad Ibrahim. Junaid Ismail. Ozair Kadir. Mohammed Imran Khan. Maheboob Allarakha Khokhar. Osama Adnan Yousef Abukwaik. Haroon Mahmood. Sayyad Milne. Muhammad Haziq Mohd-Tarmizi. Ashraf El-Moursy Ragheb. Mohamad Moosid Mohamedhosen. Hussein Moustafa. Khaled Mustafa. Hamza Mustafa. Haji Mohemmed Daoud Nabi. Tariq Rashid Omar. Hafiz Musa Patel. Abdelfattah Qasem. Naeem Rashid. Talha Naeem. Muhammad Zeshan Raza. Matiullah Safi. Muhammad Abdus Samad. Muhammad Suhail Shahid. Mounir Guirgis Soliman. Arif Mohamedali Vohra. Ramiz Arifbhai Vora.
Alphabetical name list source: Christchurch mosque shootings: Faces of the fallen NZHerald.

Reeling at the atrocious harm done, trying to make sense of what had just happened in our community, for a city and country, aspects of great significance emerged, such as Islam being a kind of Christianity, in different language and costume, also peace advocacy. And very locally, Cashmere High School head boy behind vigil to bring students together in peace and love – “Seven people associated with the school were believed to have been killed or injured. Three of those were current students.” Youth immediately rallied to front the response, with passion and compassion, as 15 March was to have been their day and they had been brutally robbed.[1]

Thus one suburb became known as affected along with host Riccarton, a representative focus of urgent, heartfelt response – Cashmere, of Christchurch Port Hills, is background pictured here:

Hagley Park, Al Noor Mosque outdoor service, 22 March 2019

Screen capture is from Thousands disperse after honouring Christchurch mosque attack victims – ‘We have shown NZ is unbreakable’, TVNZ coverage.

So in the week following this horrific tragedy, to build comfort and response, Prime Minister Ardern visited Cashmere High School, as pictured here from TV3 Newshub:

NZ PM Adern at Cashmere High School 20 March 2019

The story was also covered in TV One News Cashmere High pupil asks Jacinda Ardern touching question – ‘How am I? Very sad’ and on countless other media internationally. Muslims everywhere had found a genuine hero, especially young women, e.g. across the Tasman Sea: “An open letter to Jacinda Ardern” – Summer Joyan

The mood of support has not been even, however, e.g. where Destiny’s Brian Tamaki ‘strongly denounces’ use of Islamic Call to Prayer for victims of the Christchurch terror attacks and Brian Tamaki defends his controversial tweets. Inevitably, a deeper look at religious influences must come to the fore, e.g. Christchurch attacks were a form of ‘Christian terrorism’, as well as racial hatred, says religion expert. No country is ethnically homogeneous, and in the founding of New Zealand where referring to the Cracroft settler farm estate, a city councillor points out that “Muslims have been in Christchurch since the 1850s, citing the old Christchurch suburb of Cashmere with streets named after several Indian provinces, both Hindu and Muslim” – in Easy money era fuelled global terror says Christchurch politician in The Australian Financial Review. Communities are being undermined and weakened, anew, it is true – yet by who, in broad total?

Which makes us take time to consider belief and ideology behind actions, and begin by answering the question echo Is Kashmir the most dangerous place in the world? on Al Jazeera simultaneously. Because underneath the Labour government’s use of local rallying lay some real contributions to conflict. These they need to own, in the spotlit Cashmere context, and now.

Pictured behind PM Adern at Cashmere High’s podium are local MPs Dyson and Woods. Monopoly in community politics, serving the fossil energy empires, is the Labour game played, ruthlessly and unethically, to maintain power and attention like this. The Labour house is built on sand, literally; blood on sand and now amongst the silver fern, for oil, most tragically, and this they want no one in a position to speak to, no left opposition. So they distort and manipulate local community voice into parroting them and worse, into increased danger.

“Cashmere” itself, for example, has been silenced – this school is in Somerfield. Hence the current article, to point out that Labour, if sincere would immediately start programs for replacement of imported fossil crude oil – to stem the deadly pressure upon refugees of Middle East nations.

Labour comforts victims yet remains active social-democratic channel of the oil wars [3]

The reality of Labour’s effect is to make Cashmere suburb less safe, not more. Through party affiliates – the Reverend Silvia Purdie and campaigner Leona Murahidy – they have robbed and destroyed the residents’ association here, in order to take over / claim credit for the resilience project the residents established for themselves at and with Cashmere Presbyterian Church.[2]

The Labour local body campaign leader – Phil Clearwater, a city councillor in the area – has installed wife Pam to steal the residents’ project resource base: a Labour-Presbyterian defrauding of Cashmere, immobilising its own resilience with grievous intent. (Pam Clearwater’s theft of Cashmere residents’ preparedness resource, as “CREST”, is the smoking gun of NZ Labour Party fraud and cronyism – aided and abetted by grasping, dishonest Presbyterians). The minister attempted to rob the generator fund – raised by residents from the Red Cross for installation at the church – in order to fete these ‘high and mighty’ on 18.2.2018 instead of assist a basic community lunch. When that offensive failed, the Clearwater gang handed Purdie city rate-payer funds for the same purpose, to invite themselves to unearned public profile.

Appalling corruption. Petty, malicious and destructive is the Labour underling hallmark, exposing some ‘Christian’ religious faith here as very cruel and false. Hold Labour to account, for better community outcomes and true leadership. End Labour corruption, move them to truth objectives.

Joining the two threads of this story together are Australians that we were much better off without. One is in high security wing of Paremoremo prison. The other is Leona Murahidy, Cashmere Residents’ Association wrecker, Labour activist and vicious Presbyterian schemer, a proven liar in court.

Be ever-vigilant, communities have no government support to mitigate disaster risk, building as we speak. “This is not us!” belies the fact that it is, through ingrained ‘Christian’ entitlement (of the gunman etc.) and the deadly petroleum in our cars, freight deliveries, sailings and flights.

Hypocrites and dunderheads, make peace. As-salamu Alaykum.

[1] Ending climate change requires the end of capitalism. Have we got the stomach for it? – The Guardian, 18 March 2019

[2] Cashmere Residents’ Emergency Support Team – http://www.cashmere.org.nz/CREST.html

[3] Jacinda Ardern: I didn’t want to work for Tony Blair – Stuff, Aug 2017
Jacinda Ardern is no radical, but the 21st-century face of Blair’s Third Way – The Spinoff, Jan 2018

Acknowledging sure compassion and leadership during very difficult days, March 2019

Jacinda Ardern, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND – Encyclopædia Britannica

In Memoriam

Christchurch mosque attack victims – NZME graphic

Not Wanted: #Cashmere frauds – #NZLabour #Christchurch #CREST #Aotearoa #NewZealand #nzpol #Chch #NZ

Cast ye not the first stone, lest it become avalanche — Gospel of John, chapter 8, verses 3–7.*

Reverend Purdie, Cashmere Presbyterian Church, October 2018

2018 is the year, five years after it began, that the Cashmere Residents’ Emergency Support Team (CREST) got taken down. For repair, we’d hope. Though that is uncertain. Bringing certainty will be wresting the great weight, of false witness heaped upon CREST, off of it. Stone by stone, traced back to the throwing hand, demanding withdrawal, exposing rich hypocrisy.

In February, the new business manager at Cashmere Presbyterian chose to crush CREST (a local community volunteer initiative, invited within church walls) to rob CREST role and finances, instead of collaborating through it – as had been the previous minister’s clear promise. This action was downright nasty, largely fraudulent.

The new minister chose not to support the CREST Red Cross project and community lunch event, as led by the Cashmere Residents’ Association (CRA), wanting leadership of community response direct from the church instead. This action reveals fraudulent deceit. It kicked CRA initiative out. It took advantage, to profit from several years’ honest, hard volunteer work at this ‘community hub’. And it first had to destroy its trusting partner: broad, stable, good open leadership at the CRA.

Despite having been part of deciding the 18 February public event date and supporting council permit application, Reverend Silvia Purdie turned around to attack the CREST coordination, with venom, to get at the funds. No negotiation would be entertained on the high price Purdie wanted for church help with the catering and hosting: wholly inappropriate as it was a budgeted CRA activity booked with the church. But hungry eyes were set on a prize. If CREST coordination stood between Purdie and use of the CRA-raised Red Cross funds, then CREST coordination would have to go – which Purdie precipitated with aggressive and false accusations of project impropriety.

Further self-interest dove-tailed into Purdie’s, each enabling the other.

The CRA old guard had undeclared axes to grind. They had previously volunteered then fallen out with the church, over an heritage issue and where their works record was weak. Vengeance was nigh and CREST became instant brunt of it. Aggressive accusations of project impropriety were repeated, though later disproved, to deprive the church of resilience infrastructure investment. Merge of conflicted interests this way, robbing good community service cruelly, exposed the CRA old guard as blindly corrupt: narrowly venal; a sad Purdie match. The CRA funding oversight of CREST was rapidly shut down.

Against these great odds, the CRA-CREST 18 Feb 2018 preparedness exercise event carried through – though savagely and needlessly compromised in scale of outcomes (e.g. our community was forced off ‘our space’ – Cashmere Green – and onto church land, making cause for criticism): facebook.com/events/183405702246003/permalink/192092061377367

180218 would-be-CREST community lunch

CRA-CREST 180218 community lunch event poster

The agendas to destroy CREST, or CRA leadership of it at the church, within Cashmere community, were only just gathering steam. Division and heat would only grow. These are not finished yet.

At stake is potentially increased official support, for community activity in the area, which is generally very tied up: captured and unavailable, in fact.

And so it was when ‘Cashmere was compensated’, eight month’s later, through council funding of Purdie to run the “Cashmere Carnival” – in the space and with the permit that Purdie had denied to CREST (to line herself up for new event funds, eight months later).

Funny, that. It confirms the adage that ‘money will only be spent in Cashmere if it is spent on promoting the Labour Party’. And so it was on 28 October, when all the area Labour politicians rolled out. Smiling and laughing, enjoying the big joke – upon Cashmere itself. Making a very clear point: that Cashmere would be done to, and never doing on its own, ‘ad infinitum’.

‘Cashmere’ Carnivàle 281018

For this was a turn out of Presbyterian parishioners, mostly, from the wider south city and not locals. The church was actually proud of this, that it (by Dr David Troughton) could run up the CREST banner, on this occasion, with no real input from Cashmere residents’ organising at all. The coup to shed CRA, from its CREST planning property, work and opportunity, was well underway.

The dirty Labour-Presbyterian council link to undermine residents is confirmed in the Purdie-Clearwater joy, at placing themselves at the heart of faux Cashmere, on 28/10/18:

Faux Cashmere Carnival 281018

It is astounding, the sheer waste of resource pumped into this two-hour ‘public’ jaunt, to only make the point of ‘who’s in charge’ of all Cashmere community funded project space, to ‘ice the cake’ of Cashmere-CREST independence demolition. Appalling. In great need of being exposed.

Two-hour, faux Cashmere Carnival, 281018

Rev. Purdie enjoys the splash of rate-payer cash, yet behind it, the Labour Melanie Coker face still ‘smells a rat’.

Also sighted present on 28/10/18, at this rates-funded jolly, was Labour Port Hills MP Ruth Dyson.

Error in Cashmere Fire Report, re 15.02.17: “Leona described to me how she sat at her window all night, watching trees burst into flame in the valley above Princess Margaret Hospital” – facebook.com/1434260603455144/posts/cashmere-fire-reportfrom-silvia-purdie-minister-cashmere-presbyterian-church-chr/1847315355482998/ – Fire was on Worsleys Spur, above Cracroft Valley, nowhere near Princess Margaret Hospital. And the message – “today, after the fire, our church will care for our people, be there for others. We’re part of a good network and response systems. I’m thinking a community BarBQ would be good. But there’s not really much we can do” – casts intentional slight upon CREST, which did activate its response hub at the church that next day, on 16.02.17 around control of the fire, lost homes, evacuations and very worried uncertainty. This attack upon CREST follows that from Mrs Purdie’s first arrival at her church post, when she moved CREST’s small store of equipment from its designated place at the church, showing contempt of clear labelling not to move it, and a $50 item (the CREST banner spike) has been missing since that time. Unresolved angst? A hazard in itself. So one year later, rotten Labour-Presbyterian take-down of CRA-CREST began in earnest; in events detailed above.

No CREST partners that had committed to 18.02.18 Red Cross exercise event saw it through – not the church, nor the school, nor CRA committee, and Rotary were inactive with us then. So CREST could not activate as designed to, though volunteers committed to CREST were fully capable of carrying event response to success – with new Business Association invited help. It is strategic lying to say CREST could function normally from that time on until now (this is yet unresolved). Repairing the CRA-Presbyterian relationship is very first order, for CREST to be able to continue authentically. Anything moved without that is plain deceit.

Bellowing Clearwater misinformation for Labour is: https://hail.to/cashmere-primary-te-pae-kereru/publication/EIr27V2/article/Q44WTff – where all partner parties absented from agreed CREST 180218 event, so have no valid vote for bringing such fake news about. Simply dangerous.

CREST is formally suspended, for safety and repair, as it must be – see COMMUNITY NOTICES.

If people knew that, in approaching a church, there was risk of being beaten up and robbed, they really would not go there. This has been the Cashmere residents’ group experience, to learn from.

To recap, Reverend Purdie made a grab for the maximum possible Red Cross CREST generator and water tank fund amount, to be diverted into her church consolidated fund to run a public event, contrary to the facts that CRA had raised the fund to run the event and all the related items were strictly budgeted. The concluding, reporting-to-community event, was not the main purpose – as the minister insisted it be. So Purdie attacked the Red Cross project coordinator, to undermine it all and ultimately stop the generator and water tank purchases from being completed. Shame!!!

From this whiff of funding, some church leaders now push to complete Mrs Purdie’s attack upon the residents’ leadership of CREST, for travelling on without us. But significant investment has already been made there, and this grab falls far beside the point – of serving Cashmere residents, in readiness. Of being able to connect Cashmere residents, in our own interest, in an emergency, without dirty politics.

CREST had formed at the church in 2013 because: a. the door was open; b. an inviting Community Centre sign stood outside; c. Christchurch city council (Cr Clearwater) had refused Cashmere its own community centre, at the time of Cashmere Masonic Lodge building sale; d. conversations had been taking place about a community response hub in the church facility, since its 2009 upgrade, between its managers and city council CDEM**; and e. because of interest in preparedness by CRA members post-earthquakes, that moved to utilise the opportunity of meeting space to organise CREST and start the Cashmere response planning. CREST, through overwhelming failure of institutional support on 18.2.2018 plan exercise day, has had to be withdrawn from service – temporarily? Reverend Purdie caused that, with equally destructive help:

Cashmere Residents’ Association (CRA)
Note, uploaded reports to Companies Office (search # 697181): CRA Financial Report AGM 2017 and CRA Financial Report 31 Feb 2018 – “I / we Leona Murahidy (Secretary) certify that the annual statement attached has been approved by the members of a general meeting held on 21st day of March 2018 for 2017.” – As with the dates referenced, and the disappeared $9,312.50 CREST Red Cross project balance revealed in comparison here, everything about Murahidy ‘management’ in Cashmere is fictional. Unaccountable. Too often dishonest. Of extreme harm.

23 May 2018, a CRA Special General Meeting did happen, that had capacity to make the above declaration true. But before that, on 21 March, a closed and domesticated ‘committee’ meeting would have taken place. This (basically illegal) role confusion sums up the huge liability Leona Murahidy is to Cashmere community organising. Devastation of constructive and viable systems lay in its wake. The year has mostly been a write-off, due to this. Someone, our community, has to bring the CRA back on track. Or suspend it, for safety and regrouping, adding vision for change.

The October 2018 CRA AGM put this committee on a very short leash, until February 2019. Officer written reports were read but not given out or made public yet. Read an AGM review here. CRA has run outside of its Constitution all year – by Associate member illegal votes, etc. etc.

Ms Murahidy and family/cohorts are running a private club – in the name of Cashmere Residents’ Association – to further very particular, less than community, interests. When a CRA committee member pointed out that the 2017 financial report needed to be uploaded to the Companies Office, but after membership endorsement through a Special General Meeting therefore due, the response was instant and unconstitutional expulsion – and then the false financial reporting. Completely sackable offences by Murahidy and crew; looking prosecutable. – Not a transparent organisation or responsibly open to all as it should be: true victim of Murahidy-Labour ‘activism’.

Summary
The link between all points of wreckage done to Cashmere and its sound resilience program (up until this year) is that of Labour affiliation or alliance by the above main actors. No question. These are public figures who have generated an absolute shambles out of nothing, to advance their own Labour-loyalist grubby career agendas. Performances have been corrupt. Caustically jealous and vengeful. Acquisitive.

The above incidents speak to the lengths that the Labour Party network will go, to manipulate communities, to assert outright authority over them, and to waste any measure of good value in building up social hegemony this way.

There must be political neutrality for good community organising to thrive. Cashmere, its Residents’ Association and Emergency Support Team, to succeed, must claim this back through thoughtful shared action. It is to our collective loss and significant risk otherwise.

Kia kaha

* N.B. Those deep in religion do not understand religion.

** CDEM = Civil Defence Emergency Management
e.g. see Nationwide test of Emergency Mobile Alert 25 November 2018.

Those deep in religion do not #understand #religion. Let me explain. Friendly #science. Towards #peace.

1. We all mean well, at least initially, and struggle to express this, struggling to exist with others.

2. As an intensely competitive species, with social context from the start, our struggle can employ critical thought, interactive dialogue and peaceful techniques, or default to violence (habituated from hunting meat).

3. We want and need to work together, the question is how.

4. Compassionate, affinity and spiritual emotions seek more than second place.

5. Agreement on anything is amongst our greatest challenges, words always fail us.

6. Religion emerged in human history to forge large-scale agreements, especially in law for peace.

7. Agreement, truth and belief are related within culture, that scientific method tests into known facts.

8. Belief and faith were culturally-sanctioned agreements pre-dating science and survive subjectively.

9. Religion was not only the law we had, before we developed secular, rights-based law.

10. Religion was also the science we had, before we developed science.

11. Religion was the medicine we had, before we developed medicine.

12. Religion was the politics we had, before we developed politics.

13. Religion was the arts form we had, before we re-liberated the arts.

14. Other forms of all these things existed before we developed religion.

15. Religion filled many gaps for many years, before we improved the knowledge and expertise.

16. Religion made systematic a compassionate choice for the earliest organised societies, for good.

17. Religion was the original statecraft, and as such is inapplicable and unavailable, locally today.

18. Hope for a better world that conforms with derived belief has many still clinging to religion.

19. The world and universe do not conform with belief, human or supernatural, being composed of discernible material facts, from the atom up (not from ‘heaven’ down – metaphysics are illusory).

20. The material world (in human form) makes belief possible, not the other way around – no super-human being made the world, to suit itself, or actually exists to ‘create’ belief.

21. The growth of religion has been primarily the growth of human unity of purpose, always needed, through common points of belief.

22. Religious study teaches us things about human unity that nothing else can, our major driver.

23. Religion is easily misunderstood, undervalued and dismissed, as a social fact, to our detriment.

24. Religion has always been exploited to justify evil killing, not killing evil, which needs to cease.

25. Our tribal nature explains most about religion and transcendence it can bring.

26. What makes a god real in one culture is the same for every god in every other culture.

27. Faith as a unifying mechanism merges many gods into one god, logically and historically.

28. From many gods (polytheism, superstitious causation theory) came one god (monotheism, politically unified superstitious causation, enabling unified-market economic prosperity).

29. Superstitious belief held science, markets and industrial transformation back, unsuccessfully in western Europe – until the Reformation (battles for diversity of belief).

30. Amongst the nastiest people you are ever likely to meet can be those professing a religious faith, when it comes to competitiveness on the material plane. Viz. global bloodshed: insincere.

[Fourth draft – more to come – thanks for visiting]

Trends:

Losing our religion: Kiwis losing the faith in record numbers – Newshub, 6 Feb 2017.

#NZ #Labour just lost the 2017 election. #NZLabour #Christchurch #ECan #NewZealand #water #NZpol #KNZB

The New Zealand Labour Party just showed voting is not about democracy but their bureaucratic privilege, not about principle but only corporate power.

The 2016 local elections confirmed Labour corruption as the greatest non-natural hazard to New Zealand communities – the adjunct reflection of Tory corruption, bogus presentation of empty alternative. This truth makes them unelectable, ever again, and explains declining voter turnout and resident disengagement: Labour deviously monopolises community politics for any and all available wins to their spirit-crushing machine.

Communities will not find ways forward – out of increasing corporate control, unaffordable housing, loss of natural environment and growing natural hazards – except through electorally smashing the NZLP then starting over again in communities’ interests instead. 2017 is almost soon enough for this essential project.

Various fake lefts tell you otherwise, to try choosing Labour again to displace National, but let us look at facts.

The Christchurch public has only quietly been informed that their new Papanui ward councillor is actually the returning mayor’s son-in-law.[1] So you have to ask whether proper prior knowledge of this would have affected the outcome: Mike “Davidson said he did not believe his family relationship with Dalziel would change how he operated as a councillor”[2] – yeah, right? Davidson is now part of a highly dominant, dynastic centrist bloc.
[1] http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/84403451/Mike-Yardley-Apathy-rules-in-Christchurch-elections
[2] http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/85129112/five-new-christchurch-councillors-join-the-ranks-while-another-is-ousted
Hasty Press update http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/85307289/new-christchurch-city-councillor-mike-davidson-breaks-family-curse 16-Oct-2016

Labour-rort government only gets worse the harder you look at it.

Another example here, where a campaigning Karolin Potter, Spreydon-Heathcote Community Board chair, demonstrates dishonest hypocrisy for People’s Choice at a Keep New Zealand Beautiful local clean-up event:

Addington Times October 2016 p1, Karolin Potter in bottom left picture in blue

Potter’s Labour-dominated board had withdrawn all support for KNZB in 2015, to spitefully and corruptly prevent one Board member from ever working with it. This officially appointed SHCB KNZB rep had to pay their own way to the national KNZB conference in Christchurch that year, with zero Board support. By comparison, Potter claimed an all-expenses, disability-enabled long weekend hotel trip to Waitangi, Bay of Islands, for the LGNZ conference in 2014 – a privilege of high office with Labour. The SHCB KNZB rep was the only SHCB member who attended every one of the SHCB 2013-2016 term meetings, working diligently.

The corrupt ouster and takeover of all SHCB seats in 2016, using paid council staff to reinforce Labour local power, is already part-documented here: riktindall.wordpress.com/2016/06/06/corporate-fascism-at-ccc-sampson-to-resign-christchurch-city-council-nzlabour-nzpol-newzealand-politics/. An update is here.

So to the Environment Canterbury (ECan) part-election of 2016.

The first things people need to know are:
a) How much ECan money has Working Waters Trust ever received – by date and amount?
b) What ECan staff are or have been a part of Working Waters Trust?

If there are material answers to these questions then electoral fraud has just been conducted by the NZ Labour Party. Because the director of Working Waters Trust, Lan Pham, has just been elected to ECan councillor on Labour’s behalf – perhaps using rate-payer resource. We need to know. Is this council staff or contractors determining public representation?! A shocking corporate turn of events.

Pham’s fraud is well-documented in “the People’s Choice” campaign statements, where ‘defending democracy’ was the last of their core policy trio: clean water, better public transport, “a democratic ECan”. Having had the opportunity to choose solidarity against National’s unwarranted deposing of the 2007-elected ECan council, to support one representative of that council in running again, Pham chose not to. Instead Pham took personal advantage of National’s coup. But not only that, Pham directed voters AWAY from solidarity with the elected ECan council representative, in crooked Labour team- and self-serving manner:

Lan Pham Facebook campaign screenshot 170816

ECan candidate handbook, electoral offences, extract p.31

Pham’s call here, over which four ECan candidates voters should choose – to NOT support representation from the deposed ECan council – advantaged her Labour-backed team by splitting the vote such that all three People’s Choice candidates then gained election. And, it was highly illegal to have influenced voters in this way.

Pham’s electoral offence is described at left here, from ECan candidate handbook p.31.

Graphic extract source: ecan.govt.nz/publications/Council/LGE2016_CandidateHandbook_ECan_v10.pdf

Lan Pham is therefore a false democrat, undeserving of an elected public role, at the least for this published prejudice. Pham’s campaign action, on behalf of ‘the firm’, shows precisely why Environment Canterbury is so disliked and so distrusted by so many people. e.g. “Cattle in Christchurch river were on Canterbury regional council’s land”, 12 October 2016 – stuff.co.nz/environment/85202980/cattle-in-christchurch-river-were-on-canterbury-regional-councils-land – The many false democrats who have ‘liked’ this electoral offence is equally revealing.

Labour’s dirty tactics, in replacing community reps with council staff or contractors, is to achieve one thing only: corporate monopoly at local political level. Never to listen and share or to innovate, never to allow a community voice. Always to dictate. In the ECan case it is to dishonestly claim back leadership in clean-water activism where they had lost it, quite rightly, in 2007. Labour is fully responsible for irrigation and intensive farming development in Canterbury and its polluting effects. And they know it. Rotten fouls like this, like Lan Pham’s here, are futile attempts to recover the Labour reputation and to overtly cover their highly polluting tracks.

So how did the Labour ECan campaign appearances roll? Lan Pham never appeared, except by remote video, at any candidate forum: she wasn’t in the South Island until Ocober 1st. A swathe of scientific helpers, likers and supporters pushed Pham to online/media victory. This dragged the rest of her team forward, regardless of what little they knew or had to say. Cynthia Roberts decried the Canterbury Water Management Strategy work (of the previous elected council). Steve Lowndes repeated John Key’s lie, that the previous elected council was ‘quagmired with 7:7 drawn votes’ (there was only one 7:7 vote during the 2007-2010 ECan term and that was still a decision, for the status quo). Lowndes extended Labour’s election fraud by campaigning with the ECan corporate logo very prominently on his website (unless the ECan logo design copyright belongs to him?) …

Steve Lowndes ECan campaign screenshot, June to October 2016

ECan candidate handbook, electoral offences, extract p.17

Lowndes’ electoral offence is described at left here, from ECan candidate handbook p.17.

Confirming that Labour now conveniently sings from the Tory songbook, in its criticism of the 2007-2010 elected council that echoes National’s lies, Rod Cullinane, for Fish & Game (the farmers of the rivers and lakes) claims “the internal disarray was untenable” at ECan in this interview: stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/84590193/the-issues-what-do-the-ecan-candidates-think.

The Press had picked the four 2016 ECan winners at the very outset of campaigning. Using a two-day ultimatum for comment to publish, here they cemented their gatekeeper choice in. The Press is yet to be honest and add what was sent to them on the third day: https://communityvoice.nz/2016/09/25/the-press-interview-23-9-16/

From this identified basis of bias, misrepresentation and outright lying, we can understand exactly what the minority local vote of 2016 represents. No one else, with an honest brain, believes in the local governance. Myth-makers rule. 38.29% of eligible voters had a say on ECan and 38.34% on the Christchurch City candidates.

Thus, having understood the Christchurch 2016 vote in detail – what it represents and what largely drove it – we know precisely what governs our day-to-day lives. We, the people, strongly need local ethical upgrade and the ability to contribute, for moving forward.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201819311/labour’s-local-government-success-a-springboard-for-2017 – clearly Not.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/85144199/chris-trotter-democracys-disappearing-hand is Labour local hegemony.

#NZLabour Party #corruption: Paul McMahon, #Christchurch #CCC #NewZealand #Labour politician of prejudice #NZ

Preferential treatment of associates is a hallmark of corrupt administration, of gangster politics. In Labour Party governance, is it the norm? Is this why New Zealand does not trust Labour to be elected? Should it ever? …

As much as Christchurch City is directed by Labour influence, the very pressing question is, how far up the tree does this rot go? For without unobstructed democracy, real majority voice from below, there can be no answers or forward movement in earthquake recovery. It is our moral duty to attack and root out democratic obstacles and political corruption wherever these are found.

Abusing a position of authority to treat associates preferentially is a variety of personal corruption. And this is common practise for Paul McMahon, Labour local government leader and current Chair of Spreydon-Heathcote Community Board.[1] McMahon fails to separate his affiliate loyalty from his council governance role, as is required of an elected board chair.

Whereas on Burwood-Pegasus Community Board it is permitted for a community resilience volunteer to speak and to vote, on McMahon’s Board it is not. The difference? – Whether the volunteer is a Labour Party member. McMahon thus demonstrates a vile corruption.[2]

Another instance of McMahon’s anti-democratic pattern, his manipulation of speaking order as a corrupt Chair, came when he claimed shortage of time, cut off questions of a deputation but then invited them from his party colleagues, Melanie Coker and Helene Mautner. Accepting this preferential treatment, this subordination of community voice to their own bureaucracy, Mautner and Coker implicated themselves in McMahon’s overt corruption too. These also must answer for it.[3]

An Aucklander in Christchurch for the past ten years, McMahon lives outside Spreydon-Heathcote ward so is not part of our community; he just exploits and oppresses it. [A Creationist pastor on the make,?] McMahon’s shoddy governance, his crushing of public voice, stems from dangerous disconnection from reality. A Labour Party is a closed, cliquey mechanism by which second-rate talent can escalate beyond its potential. And then it always comes down.

McMahon is a sloppy Chair and cannot control his own party colleagues: standing orders are not maintained and a bullying environment prevails on his watch through constant partiality in speaking rights. A council continuing to stand by Paul McMahon would be equally corrupt, equally deserving of attack.

McMahon’s dictatorial abuse of office requires that he must STAND DOWN. Immediately.

Answer the charge of corruption and take punishment, Paul. You will become the better for it. Cleanse your wayward soul.

So what did the Labour bureaucrats do once they had illegitimately barred the only trained and experienced civil defence volunteer at their table from communicating in public session with civil defence staff? They showed plain ignorance of how the city’s emergency response works, how its decisions are taken, and an eagerness to implant themselves as interference in action where up to now they have offered none. Clearly, the city is safer without such foolishness.

For those wanting to move John Key’s National government on, of which I am one, we must start with not accepting National’s imitators as replacement. The open crooks in office should not be replaced with the pretend-not-to-be crooks of Labour. Genuine Opposition, of higher ethical and intellectual quality, is essential to lead New Zealand through sustainable development, onto its next plane of prosperity. This must extend democracy, the greatest source for good that industrial society has known, and not restrain it.

Silencing competition anti-democratically is the trademark of Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Labour politics is a related fake-left breed, of no further contribution to humanity: our greatest roadblock instead, which Paul McMahon exemplifies well.

Paul McMahon is a shame upon Labour’s reputation. The New Zealand Labour Party must advise him:

STAND DOWN NOW!

Kim Jong-un McMahon

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Haere atu. Kua mutu.

[1] http://www.ccc.govt.nz/thecouncil/communityboards/spreydonheathcotecommunityboard/
[2] Spreydon-Heathcote Community Board meeting, 5 May 2015.
[3] Opawaho-Heathcote River ‘No-fishing Zone’ objector, Spreydon-Heathcote Community Board meeting, 3 March 2015.

Kia ora.

Postscript – 15/5/15:

Was Dame Margaret correct when she said Christchurch City Council dealt in words other than the truth? http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8771242/Christchurch-City-Council-totally-incompetent It appears so.

For the record, the minutes in this agenda – at page 5, item 2, 5/5/15 – are falsified: http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/TheCouncil/meetingsminutes/agendas/2015/May/SpreydonHeathcoteCommunityBoard-Agenda-15%20May%202015.pdf Today I voted against the adoption of these minutes as ‘a true and correct record’, and not for the first time in relation to minute accuracy there. But this fact never gets recorded. The record never gets put straight. So here I must document the facts; to right the formative wrong.

There was no ‘interest’ to declare in relation to the agenda items listed, and none was declared. However, our board chairman insisted that there was, that I must stand down from the decision-making table during their discussion. I re-countered disagreement with him twice, and the matter was either way in fact none of his business to manage, but my own. That is the law. So Paul McMahon broke the law for personal advantage. Yet faced with the choice of public argument, in which standing orders give him all power to order anyone’s removal from the boardroom, the rational thing to do was to step away, for the time being, and keep the peace of public decorum that good offices require. McMahon had succeeded, from of a party-political agenda of aggressive bias, to create a discussion (leading to ‘perception’) of conflict of interest, illegitimately – to rudely drive competition out of the expected democratic debate for which rate-payers elect and hire us. For that work Paul McMahon characterises the council he represents as dishonest and corrupt. Christchurch City democracy is suffering.

This is the second time that Paul McMahon can be proven to have lied, in a public forum, for political advantage. And both times he has had a particular target he is trying to discredit and disable, and that is the community of Cashmere and communities’ independent ability to organise their own resilience well-being. For some reason.

McMahon’s law-breaking is important to recognise and understand. It explains why Labour, McMahon’s affiliated party, is not trusted by New Zealand electors to govern. And that is for their dishonesty, their corrupt lack of principle – their abandonment of the sector they claim, in their commercial branding, to represent.

Cast as ‘left’ on the political spectrum, Labour are in fact a dirty platform monopoly of semi-professionals, setting the pattern of misleadership for all the fake left. Fake because the general public can see straight through Labour (and its imitators, like the Greens and MANA) and are seldom fooled into electing them to significant office. Fake because Labour cannot be trusted to make and uphold law that they do not themselves respect, hypocritically. Double-standards do not wash.

The real left knows that law is all we have to cohere society, in the main, and does respect it. Being in a small political minority thus, with interests the same as the general public, the real left is most often disempowered – like the public it serves – by the wide mass of crooks in government.

Let us change this status quo, for a better now and future. Build the Left Opposition. Kia ora.

19/5/15 – Mike Yardley: Give community boards more power?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/68636843/mike-yardley-give-community-boards-more-power “do our community boards currently comprise the requisite calibre and nous, to make the hard calls and reach firm decisions, frugally and fairly?” – The presentation in question: https://youtu.be/uPV0U6Vl3pk and board chair response: http://paulmcmahon.info/image/119538624772

20/5/15 – Observation from direct experience:

You would think that Labour-aligned decision-making on a community board would be to enact what was best for the community, but it is not. Labour representative decisions always reflect, first and foremost, what will best enhance and reinforce their power and control OVER the community, their collective hold on their seats, and what is best for the community second. Labour local reps constantly watch for good ideas that they can champion – having few of their own – to ride their way to popularity through local news reports, monopolistically. So the Labour-aligned approach to community development comes across as erratic and making little sense, being parasitic in fact. Community is much stronger without it.

[page maybe still being drafted – please check back later]

#InternetParty in name only ~ #OWS #NewZealand #nzpol

Q: When is a political party not a political party?

A: When it is the New Zealand Internet Party.

The internet party 101

The IPNZ must implement internal democratic processes quickly or be cast into the dustbin of history.

IPNZ must show that it respects democracy or New Zealand voters will throw it out by September.

The IPNZ leadership must be elected by the IPNZ membership, by transparent democratic process soon, or they lose what credibility they may have had: Vikram Kumar and Laila Harre can no longer represent Kim Dotcom; they are his employees and have 100% conflict of interest, as such, and are therefore unable to represent democracy at the same time.

Think of the equivalent civic voices in the New Zealand Labour Party – Moira Coatsworth and Mike Williams, current and past party presidents – elected by and accountable to the NZLP membership, to run the organisation well: working for democracy, as expression of democracy, is apparent in the party structure. But the same cannot yet be said of the Internet Party, who, on the face of it, are anti-democratic therefore.

Kumar fills the role of Coatsworth for the IPNZ, but as hired chief executive. This defines the Internet Party as a corporation operating in the political space, and not a ‘political party’ at all. IPNZ is a political corporation, so far… and, like all corporations, is anti-democratic in getting its way.

So IPNZ dangles dollars to hire representatives – of Kim Dotcom, not the New Zealand public – to push into Parliament, using multi-media advertising cash instead of traditional, on-the-ground community organising and legwork. A revolution, indeed, but not in a good way.

Hence the coat-tailing exploit by which IPNZ seeks entry to Parliament, which is wrong on numerous counts:
a) New Zealanders are not fools and reject such tactics for the scamming ruse that they are;
b) Dotcom, Kumar and Harre are dictating this strategy to IPNZ members, never thinking to consult them on what electoral strategy is best for progressive politics (top-down politics at its worst, securing only Harre’s seat);
c) denying IPNZ members and voters electorate candidate representation, to rely on the coat-tailing exploit and an untested parliamentary list, undermines the democratic process New Zealanders have and greatly value – confirming the anti-democratic nature of IPNZ so far;
d) in total this is a patently stupid, losing strategy, that wastes the opportunity to achieve more – strong and stable new coalition government with a 5%+ IPNZ contribution – which thus wastes everybody’s time and should stop. Internet Party viability looks like this.

Bring democracy to the New Zealand Internet Party, now!

The confused, right-of-centre tendency of IPNZ was further revealed yesterday:

“For me it is not about the left or the right. It is about what is right or wrong. And the Internet Party is about fixing things,” said Dotcom. – By whose rules please, and is that by fixing elections too? IPNZ unelected leaders have proudly admitted it, with their strictly-list, Mana coat-tailing campaign: “Yes, we are disruptive. Yes, we are strategic… but that is what New Zealand needs.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10131512/Dotcoms-political-idol-under-way – Not good enough by far! *

Without a rapid absorption of democratic principle, of authentic progressive cause, the Internet Party’s further-right opponents will surely defeat them at the election polls this year:

“we need to be damn careful before we take our vote and put it behind a machine that is possibly one of the most aborted, mangled, and ugly conglomerates ever seen” http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/opinion-mana-and-internet-party-unholy-alliance-insult-all-nz-ict-workers-dc-157308

“reading the candidate bios and watching the news footage felt like just another nail in the coffin of the Internet Mana Party’s intention” http://jononatusch.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/internet-idol-just-as-bad-as-any-other-talent-show/

http://www.3news.co.nz/Internet-Party-shortlisted-candidates-go-into-battle/tabid/1607/articleID/347501/Default.aspx

On Saturday NZ needed to see political fireworks, to maintain IP momentum. The first thing we heard as Chch-IP candidate nominees was ‘We are sinking in the polls and need something to turn that around’. The candidate screening session involved many and gave us all that boost for a week. But then ‘know better’ (Alliance?) bureaucracy took over and hosed democratic impulse down, culminating in Laila’s “reveal” – a term from game show territory.

So three weeks later, where are the ‘fireworks’ of IP energy, grabbing media attention? No doubt there are stories like this in every NZ city and town – actual political experience discarded for a manicured, often boring or twee TV performance by Kim Dotcom avatars. Laughing stocks propped up by minor celebrity, otherwise barely noticeable or managerially embarrassing.

Full marks for gender and ethnic range though, none for the ageism.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Dotcom-considers-citizenship-run-for-Parliament/tabid/1607/articleID/347547/Default.aspx

http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/kim-dotcom-eyes-seat-in-parliament-5994563

From travesty to farce.. So Laila is already deputy? This can’t sell or fly, any way you spin it. Sad.
But welcome, if you make it, citizen K.

Yet who is telling the truth here? – * “Empty seats out-numbered those taken by Internet Party supporters” or “20 crowd-sourced candidates that people can actually relate to packed out the Q Theatre on Queen Street” http://occupysavvy.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/internet-party-of-nz-crowd-sources-candidates-live/ ? …

http://torrentfreak.com/how-kim-dotcoms-5m-whistleblower-bounty-will-work-140607/

http://grumpollie.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/how-internetmana-will-appear-on-the-ballot/

Keep Calm And Carry On: Why the Left should ignore the next round of poll results

http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/internet-party-push-decriminalise-cannabis-video-5992134 – false link at TVNZ

Social-#fascists rally in #Christchurch: #NZLabour-#Green #Canterbury #Water #Chch New Zealand #NewZealand #NZ

A nation dishonest at core, built on vigorous colonial and post-colonial theft, of course must be led in that direction – as royal pillage has. Moral upgrade and progressive change, with inclusive economic development, would look very different. But in the meantime it is more of the same:

The New Zealand ‘Labour’ and ‘Green’ parties (traditional reformist social-democrats) imitate the openly corrupt National Party (former Reform, big land/business owners) in far too many ways.[1] The mainstream ‘Opposition’ here fail to appreciate that the alternative they offer must be completely different and devoid of corruption, and so they are strongly flavoured with the manipulative and monopolist tactics they only pretend to oppose, awaiting their inevitable turn in the big chair.

‘Our Water Our Vote’ social-fascist rally, Christchurch Cathedral Square, 1 May 2014

The politics are basic twentieth-century, where ‘new world’ Anglo-militarism shattered 1900s working-class radicalism and became steadily fascist in its own way: Anglo-fascism reigns supreme. The monopoly capitalism of Lenin’s day became the corporate fascism of today, concentrated through the lens of industrial warfare, overcoming global economic depression, mostly through the agency of western social-fascist ‘Labourism’:

The capitalist class could not recover on their own; they needed eager subordinates – the ‘softer’ fascism of professional moderators, the New Zealand Labour Party of the 1930s, 40s and today; stopping strikes, squashing radical unionism and cancelling democratic elections (as in 1942) is Labour’s repressive forte.

So when National cancels democratic elections for Canterbury region in 2010, Labour are just hypocrites to complain. Why do they bother? Simply to maintain corrupt hegemony over workers and the alternative left discourse is the reason; that and seeing protest as an ‘elect me’ promotional opportunity in an election year. For in Canterbury it was the rotten Labour Party, under dairyman’s daughter Helen Clark, that set the course for running Canterbury aquifers dry. National simply wanting Labour’s dairying growth to continue – through artificial water storage for increasing dryland irrigation – explains why National pushed the Labour-led Environment Canterbury (ECan) council aside: they just want Labour’s dirty work done quicker, that’s all.

So when Greens connect with the fake Labour fightback, it is just as fake. Together they built their internal corruption into an ‘Our Water Our Vote’ foil with one main intention – to capture the radical mood of resistance to water degradation from Christchurch residents, to turn it to their own careerist advantage and defuse it. The Green Party in particular sought to extinguish a successful, competitive environmental brand, no matter what cost in loyal members, for centralist conformism.

May 1st’s weak Christchurch ‘protest’ shows that the social-fascist method is really working (negatively): 100-150 protesters is what various media have estimated attended, compared with the several thousands mobilised post ECan-intervention in 2010.

Our Water Our Vote sprang up immediately after the 2008 National government used Parliament to crush the successful Save Our Water (SOW) campaign of 2007, and never defended it one bit – because SOW’s appeal to honesty from agrarian representatives on council is something Labour-Green cannot stomach. Anything but honesty is Labour-Green’s method, and so they have dulled the water resistance’s radical edge; intentionally, as that is their corrupting historic role.

Corporate-fascist newsmedia, of course, connive with Our Water Our Vote to filter Save Our Water out of the discourse – such is its radical potential for change. Fascist apologists like Chris Lynch attack the former elected regional council without knowing much about it – experience and relevance are thrown out the window in NewsTalkZB’s rank toadying to government. Who is pulling Lynch’s strings? After all, he is muppet master. When Lynch attacks the former council, out of plain sensationalist ignorance, he defends the theft and lies of the irrigation sector and John Key himself, in inventing cause for stealing democratic assets, exposing Chris Lynch’s personal dishonesty stock in trade.

The spokesperson the journalist corporate cronies gathered around was MP Ruth Dyson – a Clark protege twinned with the city’s current mayor. No wonder Christchurch cannot move forward, when workers’ standing is eroded and substituted this way – a false ‘environmental’ opposition by dairying’s major advocates, and a broken church symbol they are preserving forever for the ‘heritage’ cause – as pictured above – again as substitute for human welfare policies. False False False, Labour-Green alliance.

It is the task of Aotearoa New Zealand voters in 2014, if they wish to see improvement in conditions, to bring down not only the corporate-fascist National Party but the social-fascist Green-Labour agglomeration as well – for their deceitful ‘conservative self-help’ is no less great.

Local entertainer and social-fascist leader James Dann claimed ownership of the public water fightback in 2010 – with no knowledge of it except that it was news-worthy – determined to bury the Save Our Water drive for honesty and integrity from all politicians, that had felled two Labour ECan incumbents in Christchurch East, October 2007; at ‘his gig’ May 1st 2014, the speaking list was tightly controlled and an expression of Dann’s single-mindedness, careerism and oh-so-typical, sub-Tory personal corruption: Dann is representing Labour for Ilam electorate in 2014.

But the list of bogus leaders in the Canterbury water fightback goes on..

Dyson shockingly supported the commissioners’ work in her speech – of course she would, with corrupted Labour man David Caygill imposed by National upon the ECan water portfolio – “Protesters marking four years today since the Canterbury regional council was taken over, say it’s all about irrigation and favouring farmers”. Don’t forget dictatorial power; unless it’s your own? SHAME! http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2594388/labour-writes-to-un-over-lack-of-democracy

“This week the first sod was also turned on the controversial Central Plains irrigation scheme, which will irrigate up to 60,000 hectares of Canterbury farmland.” http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/23108786/labour-asks-un-to-investigate-ecan/

“Port Hills MP Ruth Dyson says Canterbury people are being denied their democratic rights, contrary to international agreements we’re party to.” http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/23108893/mps-write-to-un-over-ecan-mess/

Save Our Water cause won’t go away

“The protest paled in comparison to the first one four years ago, where thousands gathered to place river stones in a cairn to protest the appointment of the commissioners.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/9997870/ECan-mourned-four-years-on

Aussie Norman rides the activist struggle of Cantabrians, into the ground. 1-5-14

Truer words never said. 1-5-14

Populist hocus pocus preferred to authentic class contest, by the social-fascist ‘Our Water Our Vote’ cabal

All from CTV News 1 May 2014: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPvIWXl2q0c#t=240 ; At pseudo-left above is MP Eugenie Sage, from private school Auckland then Helen Clark’s press office, more recently a ‘Green’ MP having ridden the wave of woe into plush surroundings. Pure traitor to the SOW cause, Sage never once spoke in support of exposure of the farmer-councillor illegalities on ECan, choosing to partner with them strategically instead: complicit in crime and never to be trusted.

With bend-over-backwards-for-Labour right-wing David Moorhouse – the Aoraki / Canterbury Co-convener who corruptly blocked aspiring Green candidates to favour his own political advancement – an unethical left obstruction was conceived that explains, as much as anything, why the Labour-Green empty pitch at the Treasury Benches will fail in 2014.

Moral and philosophical bankrupts that they are. Social-fascism will fade before great movement for CHANGE.

Summary
The corrupt, careerist and low-principled nature of the Green and Labour political machines has been revealed through Canterbury water politics. In 2007 Green members were part of the Save Our Water campaign that cut into two forms of Labour corruption on Environment Canterbury: a conflict-of-interest in the irrigation developments for one councillor and a tangata whenua iwi-corporate stranglehold, at the expense of less privileged, other-iwi Maaori and Tauiwi, in another: both were displaced electorally. Farmer-representative corruption on council using conflicted votes was then also exposed, so National sacked the whole council to hush things up and extend its crony capitalism directly as corporate fascism, in 2010. So what was Green-Labour’s response? To defend Save Our Water on principle? No. Never. Green-Labour started the Our Water Our Vote shill campaign (emphasising their job opportunities rather than environmental water quality and quantity) in competition, and won’t breathe a word about Save Our Water again. Why? To continue their own corrupt schemes, as adjuncts to National’s, as client social-fascists – the poor and begging cousins of the corporate fascism they will not name and challenge at all (extending the fascist expulsion of Save Our Water). None of these national political formations are part of a just, equitable and sustainable future at all, it has been shown.

[More details will be added – do check back later]

[1] wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Reform_Party; Judith Collins and Maurice Williamson are the names most recently associated with inappropriate and slack actions by National government ministers, leading to sackings. The rest were Richard Worth, Phil Heatley, Pansy Wong, Nick Smith, John Banks, Peter Dunne, Kate Wilkinson and Aaron Gilmore: never forget their rorting venality!

Why #Christchurch Cathedral fell: #Anglican political corruption #NewZealand #water #EQNZ #22Feb #Chch #SaveOurWater #NZ #Baal

As the fog of environmental war descends upon Wellington, a nation’s capital, we are reminded that Earth punishes a degraded humanity; and that Earth’s forces were once known as God.[1]

Where evolution carries intelligence and democratic sharing of the greater tribe forward, contentious, divisive dull ego, that holds these back, is an abhorrence to nature – which has ways of starting over again. This is the lesson of ChristChurch, at the three-year anniversary of its commercial heart’s levelling. What sayeth that lesson?

#1. A cultural centre has shifted radically and its spire, the city’s icon, no longer stands over All.

Why? – The tale of an errant priest doth pertain:

Christchurch Cathedral, 22 February 2011, set to meet its fate

This photograph, by Aranui’s Angela Thomas, surfaced on facebook on 17 January 2014. It is extraordinary, in that it was taken the night before large earthquake shattered the tranquil scene, on 22 February 2011 – three years ago. Rest In Peace those lost that day. Condolences to their families and friends. And great sympathy to the many and variously injured. Our story goes on. For generations to come.

This picture helps to decipher, to unpack and to understand, massive trauma.

For it clearly shows the shrine to Ba’al, created at the Cathedral’s doorstep, in the days before it fell to natural wrath. The wooded grove is the Biblical signature of such shrines to Ba’al, along with the bovine topiary statue. This signal cultural break – towards worship of Mammon – explains why heaven and earth didst protest, why ‘God’ hath rent this idyllic scene permanently.

The Dean of the church had been hailed in time, but scorned the Call greedily and foolishly. At Knox Church, on Bealey Avenue and Victoria Street corner, Dean Beck heard the following citation, during the local election forum of September 2007, from the Save Our Water campaign:

JEREMIAH 2,13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me[,] the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

This ancient quote referred to a good way of life, being lost as artificial storage for irrigation transforms the (Canterbury Plains) land into filth and damaging emissions: these form a travesty that cannot last.

The veracity of Save Our Water core was confirmed when the campaign’s main slogan – Keep Our Water Pure – kicked off a global meme of awareness, such as the cryptic and derivative New Zealand tourism “100% Pure” advertising. Authorities are yet to settle the environmental debt, however. And starting with Dean Beck, false pride needed to be put to one side, to validate the pure message of integrity – that everyone wants.

#2. We, the people, elected to Save Our Water – in Christchurch East (constituency of Environment Canterbury Regional Council) at least. No coincidence that the east, which includes the central city, should feel the brunt of social and economic loss, when democratic voice is denied.

For denied it was, by the 2008-201? National government, who swept the people’s clear wishes aside. In April 2010, National replaced the elected with hand-picked business and morally compromised voices. By September 2010, Earth rebellion had dramatically begun.

So how did our priest respond?

In winter 2010, Beck made pact with the politically compromised, not to Save Our Water but to promote Our Water Our Vote instead. A fair cry but a spoiler campaign, by a Labour-Green merger to monopolise progressive and environmental initiative, for controlling and centralising local election outcomes (upon Wellington, much like National). They too shut out and denied Save Our Water, ignoring the biblical Word.

That year Beck sank deeper in the moral mire of conflicted interest and political partisanship, when he chaired a mayoral candidate election forum, at the Catholic school in New Brighton. Selectively he ensured only incumbent Bob Parker and Labour candidate Jim Anderton were invited and made centre of aural attention. Shutting down alternatives corruptly this way, Beck was narrowing the pool to his own advantage.

By 2012 the purpose was clear, when Beck rode the change-wave into city council office in an east Christchurch by-election. But the talent of this pool was then further proved wanting, as Beck retired, out of energy, come 2013. In the meantime he had extended his sinecure, nonetheless, to replace ChristChurch income lost to his conniving sin, that he had enjoined from National via Labour-Green – all rejecting Jeremiah and to Save Our Water. Shame on them.

It can be no surprise, in knowing this scripture, that Beck’s church was ripped out from under him. For he had been put on very clear notice, to act for Good and not a false god.

Save Our Water launch, winter 2007

Save Our Water launch, winter 2007

Where some have mistaken Save Our Water for an economic injunction, it is actually a spiritual one – to bring us onside with universal All. ~ Rock met rock and our whole world shook, turning us upside down..

Christchurch Cathedral 2011 and water protest cairn, of winter 2010

Christchurch Cathedral 2011 and water protest cairn, of winter 2010

#3. Peter Beck’s sin of hypocrisy and false witness rests in fronting Labour-Green’s city direction, built on Our Water Our Vote collusion to exclude Save Our Water, when it was Labour’s agribusiness developments that sucked Canterbury dry from the 1990s onwards.

Beck’s haughty rejection of Jeremiah’s warning, to pave his own entry into local politics, spelt rapid ruin for the church in his care. His Labour method of abuse of office to achieve higher status (electioneering with a dog-collar) was seen again this week with the forced exit of Shane Taurima from TVNZ. The reason that Labour-Green is ineffective opposition to National is their refusal to realise that they actually have to be different: non-corrupt.[2]

Only new thoughts and ways of doing things, justice and better democracy can put this city back together again, with identity integrity, because the old material way has most obviously failed. Make this city one body again, one church if you like, that Jesus could indeed be proud of. Or Mohammed, let praise be upon him equally, and any other fe/male prophet that may name. And never forget the downtrodden, the women and children amongst these. Amen.

[1] Fog lingers around Wellington Airport, 3 News, 20 Feb 2014

[2] TVNZ manager resigns over fundraising revelations, 3 News, 17 Feb 2014

Postscript: A loud “two evils” 22-2-2011 echo, from the heavens, when twin tornadoes straddled Christchurch the day after the anniversary’s passing, causing property damage, with one vortex crossing ‘Double-Corner Road’ in North Canterbury ~ http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/237042/civil-defence-checks-tornado-hit-houses ~ Forsooth. Forsaged, upon manifest Word. Let there Be cognizance!

And Justice: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/237120/engineer-to-review-ctv-info-for-police

More #Christchurch city council #Labour corruption #CCC #Fonterra New Zealand #water #Chch #NZ

The more things change the more they stay the same. New constants – like Fonterra’s damaging impact as it grows, shedding quality and control in its wake – appear. The cost is to brand New Zealand, becoming “100% Pure BS” (cow shit, piss, pathogens and toxins spreading everywhere). Yet the forever-lying Labour Party – who under Waikato dairywoman Helen Clark pitched industrial invasion of Canterbury that brought us and the country low – pretend to be environmentalists to recover votes. Of course they cannot do it ethically and above board.

Lianne Dalziel – The Press – 200613

Last night, September 4th, was the Annual General Meeting of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust (AHEIT) – an organisation I first/last visited as an incoming Christchurch East councillor for Save Our Water in 2007. We had to defeat Labour to get in, and David Sutherland from our team served on the trust until this AGM. ..Well what do you know.. New trust board vacancies are being filled by announcement from the chair at AGM, with no opportunity for nominations, questions or debate from the floor, and usher in Labour MP Ruth Dyson (in absence). Then, surprise surprise, the guest speaker is Labour MP Lianne Dalziel, on her ‘politically neutral’ run for mayor. No other mayoral nominees were invited to speak. ECan Commissioner Rex Williams was party to these proceedings, confirming the anti-democratic National Party corruption of the 2013 local elections here too.

Rate-payer monies go into AHEIT, through Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) with staff support, and it must be that Labour members are strong amongst this – on a rort under National’s thumb. This is council rates-funded, anti-democratic, blatant electioneering! Of the slush-fund kind.

No wonder Peter Wakeman took Dalziel to task at her campaign launch last Sunday, gaining widespread support for his intervention over the same issue – exclusive use of city council resources by one candidate for mayor: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9112872/Dalziel-abused-at-campaign-launch

So what choice do the voting public have?

Dalziel’s pitch is for city “partnership” with the Canterbury Earthquake Rocovery Authority (Cera). Well, we have that already through SCIRT (Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team). National Party ring-ins have swooped on the demolition and rebuild cash, epitomised in the person of construction firm scion Warwick Isaacs, the CCDU chief executive (Christchurch Central Development Unit, on ?,$???,000 per year). Dalziel would be “collaborative”, as any mayor must be, but Christchurch wants a say, fair treatment, democracy and self-determination – not more roll-overs for dosh!

Dalziel and the Christchurch Wizard, 1 Sept 2013

Dalziel has changed her colours to blue for the expected, corporate media-promoted (corrupt, anti-democratic) win. Surprise surprise, the arch misogynist, anti-socialist ‘entertainer’ Wizard loves her for it, as he does every “old dunger” edifice in town.

Dalziel, relating to Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee: “In the interests of the country, we buried a hatchet in the ground, instead of each other’s head, and joined forces” – http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8817303/Animosity-with-Brownlee-history-Dalziel – pic 1 source.

Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust – AGM 2013 Flyer

http://www.estuary.org.nz

Post title refers to other Labour Party dishonesty at Christchurch City Council this term. But for Dalziel these underhand methods, by which her Labour “B team” has removed Mayor Bob Parker, are standard practise: “She resigned from Cabinet on 20 February 2004 after apparently lying about a leak of documents to the media” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lianne_Dalziel – Christchurch needs sounder ethical foundations by far!

“Dalziel’s position became difficult after she was accused of giving certain documents to the press to bolster the case for a decision her Associate Minister had made. The decision, concerning the deportation of a Sri Lankan teenager who was seeking asylum but who had originally lied about the reasons, was controversial, and Dalziel leaked the notes of the teenager’s lawyer to TV3, attempting to discredit the teenager’s case for asylum. Dalziel tried to avoid admitting to being the source of the documents, but was forced to admit that the leak had been at her direction. There was also significant controversy about how Dalziel had obtained the documents in the first place. Dalziel offered her resignation which Prime Minister Helen Clark accepted.”

In 2013 you still have a choice, VOTE People First instead of corporate and fake-left shenanigans!

More information on People First campaign: http://www.facebook.com/RikTindall4Chch
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/local-elections-2013/mayoral-candidate-videos/9130743/Rik-Tindall