Vernon Tava

My recent post on why the Green Party is not truly a left-wing party  provoked a lot of debate and was timely given the popular speculation in the wake of the 2014 general election that the time has come for a blue-green party. I’m not sure that a separate blue-green party is the way forward at this point in time – although that may change in years to come and there is much to be said for the Blue Greens advisory group’s influence within the National Party. But a red-green party is also problematic and alienates most New Zealand voters while facing the current challenge of its preferred coalition partner being very weak and also not placing ecological concern at the centre of its thinking.

The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is commonly perceived as a red-green party. Indeed, some Green MPs refer to themselves as being ‘lefties’ and the Party’s framing in mainstream media is certainly on the Left.

But what kind of Left? The party’s persistently poor results in the three big South Auckland electorates (Manukau East, Mangere, Manurewa) over the last five elections suggest that although the party is concerned about the poor, it does not resonate in lower socio-economic areas. It must be said that this is not for a lack of good social policy but there are obviously other more significant factors keeping these areas loyal to Labour. The Greens’ strongest electorates are in the wealthier, urban centres and despite an overall drop in the party vote in the 2014 general election the party vote in Rongotai and Wellington Central improved slightly with a 3.4% lift in Mt Albert putting the vote over 20% in that seat.

Social Responsibility and Social Justice: Ecocentrism and Anthropocentrism

Many commenters continued to use the terms ‘social justice’ and ‘social responsibility’ interchangeably so I set out in this post to make the distinction between social justice and social responsibility more clear. Or, more precisely, to point out that social justice intersects with social responsibility not as a competing idea but one that can sit comfortably alongside the wider conception of social responsibility. Continue reading →