![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/asset\/47d75f54-f318-41f6-b7a2-608bb813d5bE\/Part+of+the+Auckland+protest.JPG?rendition=image480\")
Part of the Auckland protest<\/div>\nThe nationwide \u201cday of action,\u201d organised by the umbrella group It\u2019s Our Future, followed the release of the TPP text by the government earlier this month, after years of secret negotiations. The US-led agreement includes Japan, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico, Canada and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
The Socialist Equality Group distributed a statement in Auckland and Wellington, explaining that the TPP \u201cis the economic spearhead of a US strategy that aims at nothing less than the complete subordination of China to American economic and strategic interests. It goes hand-in-hand with the US military build-up throughout the region, its strengthening of alliances and accelerating preparations for war against China.\u201d The statement<\/a> called for a socialist strategy to unite workers throughout Asia and internationally to fight austerity and the drive to war.<\/p>\n As in previous rallies, speakers from the Green Party, Mana Party and New Zealand First, as well as academics and trade union officials, who addressed Saturday\u2019s events were silent about the role of the TPP in Washington\u2019s war preparations. This is because the entire political establishment supports New Zealand\u2019s alliance with US imperialism and its integration in the Obama administration\u2019s anti-China \u201cpivot to Asia\u201d strategy.<\/p>\n Speakers sought to divert opposition to the TPP into nationalist, pro-capitalist channels. Auckland University law professor Jane Kelsey, the main spokesperson for It\u2019s Our Future, told the Auckland crowd the deal was \u201cnot good for all New Zealanders and indeed it\u2019s not even good for the corporates that [the government] are acting on behalf of.\u201d It\u2019s Our Future has criticised the government for failing to secure better terms for New Zealand exporters, especially dairy producers.<\/p>\n Expressing similar pro-business sentiments, Ariana Paretutanganui-Tamati from the Maori nationalist Mana Party told the Wellington rally: \u201cUnderpinning the TPP is a system of capitalism, of neoliberalism, and what we need to do is ensure that we have a system that concentrates on looking after the interests of local businesses, not large corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n The TPP has attracted opposition from ordinary working people because of provisions handing more power to big business. The deal will allow corporations to sue governments if regulations cut into their profits. Doctor Pat Neuwelt, who has been analysing the text of the TPP, told the Auckland protest \u201cthere is little doubt\u201d that stronger patent protections will increase the cost of medicines.<\/p>\n The parties and unions opposing the deal, however, do not represent the interests of working people. They speak for less competitive sections of New Zealand capital, including Maori tribal-based and \u201cgreen\u201d businesses, which fear increased foreign investment under the TPP and favour protectionist policies. They promote the lie that New Zealand corporations, which have implemented savage job cuts and pro-business restructuring over the past three decades, are somehow less exploitative than their overseas counterparts.<\/p>\n The rallies once again exposed Mana\u2019s bourgeois nationalist politics. The party is falsely promoted as left wing and even \u201canti-capitalist\u201d by the middle class pseudo-left groups Fightback, Socialist Aotearoa and the International Socialist Organisation (ISO).<\/p>\n Mana has increasingly aligned itself with New Zealand First, which viciously opposes Asian immigration. Paretutanganui-Tamati criticised the main opposition Labour Party for endorsing the TPP and praised \u201cMana, New Zealand First [and the] Green Party\u201d for \u201cstanding up strongly because we understand what this is about.\u201d<\/p>\n A NZ First member spoke briefly to the Auckland rally, absurdly presenting her party\u2013which has been a coalition partner in both Labour- and National-led governments\u2013as an opponent of corporate greed. She was warmly received by the protest organisers.<\/p>\n Mana has supported NZ First and Labour\u2019s xenophobic campaign against Chinese immigration and investment over the past three years. In July it joined in efforts to scapegoat Chinese people for the country\u2019s housing crisis. This campaign dovetails with Washington\u2019s anti-Chinese propaganda and efforts to further integrate New Zealand into US war plans.<\/p>\n The ISO published an article on Saturday in an attempt to distance itself from the \u201ctoxic nationalism\u201d at the anti-TPP rallies. It criticised the involvement of NZ First, a \u201cparty of openly anti-Asian racism.\u201d The ISO still described the It\u2019s Our Future organisers, who collaborated with NZ First, as progressive and \u201canti-racist.\u201d<\/p>\n The article said nothing about Mana\u2019s pro-business statements or its embrace of NZ First. The ISO was affiliated to Mana and campaigned for it in the 2014 election, hoping that Mana would become a partner in a Labour-NZ First-Greens coalition government. The ISO exited Mana after its humiliating election defeat, but the pseudo-left group continues to support the party and cover up its reactionary politics.<\/p>\n The Socialist Equality Group spoke to some of the participants in the Auckland rally.<\/p>\n Rob<\/strong>, who owns a small retail business, said \u201cthe TPP is multi-national corporates taking ultimate control of 12 countries, led by Barack Obama, and we\u2019re losing our democracy big time.\u201d<\/p>\n He agreed that the TPP was part of US war preparations, saying: \u201cAbsolutely it is. America is on the brink of collapse. They\u2019re panicking, they don\u2019t know what to do. I don\u2019t think China should be setting up its own man-made islands. However, that is their seas, it is their area. The US is trying to rark them up [provoke them], to start a war with China, and if they do, that will be the beginning of World War III.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee<\/strong>, an unemployed builder, was alarmed to hear about the growing danger of war. \u201cIt\u2019s scary. I hadn\u2019t heard about that, but from what you say that\u2019s obviously [the aim of the TPP], with China\u2019s exclusion from it. There\u2019s got to be a reason for that.\u201d<\/p>\n He was deeply concerned about Auckland\u2019s soaring social inequality and housing crisis. \u201cI have a seven-year-old son and I can\u2019t stop thinking, what is there going to be for my son 20 years from now? It\u2019s going to be horrible. I feel bad for the world I\u2019m going to leave behind for him. The current model isn\u2019t working, so the question is what are we going to replace it with.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if he thought Mana offered any alternative, he replied: \u201cThey are saying no to [the TPP], which is good, but they\u2019re still part of the same system. For a while it seemed like they were serious, but then it fell apart.\u201d He criticised the party\u2019s opportunist electoral alliance with the pro-capitalist Internet Party, saying, \u201cIt was a joke. I don\u2019t know what to call it, but it was laughable.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee explained that he had given up voting because \u201cpeople are voted in with promises and big smiles and rallies and they don\u2019t do anything that they said they would do.\u201d<\/p>\n Thousands of people protested throughout New Zealand on Saturday demanding that the National Party government \u201cwalk away\u201d from the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. More than 1,000 people marched in Auckland and hundreds more rallied in Wellington, Christchurch and about a dozen smaller towns. Part of the Auckland protest The nationwide \u201cday of action,\u201d organised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-200888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/asset\/392f15dd-4104-464e-9eae-9e95fd8c720K\/Section+of+Wellington+Protest.JPG?rendition=image480\")
A section of the Wellington protest<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/asset\/f2adc722-f89c-4132-8430-285154d1d49I\/Rob+%28right%29.JPG?rendition=image240\")
Rob<\/div>\n
\nVia WSWS<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.
\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"