From RAM to Winston
December 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pm by David FarrarA reader has pointed out to me the unusual political journey of Curwen Rolinson. Curwen just last year was the Auckland Chairman of RAM – the socialist party to the left of the Alliance. And he stood for them in the 2008 election.
Now in 2010 he is on the board of NZ First, and heads up their Young NZ First section.
Now I think it is good that NZ First has a dedicated section for their members aged under 80.
But I do wonder how one goes from a party that “has a very strong policy of anti-racism and particularly of supporting Muslim migrants to integrate into New Zealand society” to supporting the Winston First party.
Next I guess we’ll see the President of Act on Campus dating the local chair of Young Labour – oh wait a second ….
December 8th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
“But I do wonder how one goes from a party that “has a very strong policy of anti-racism and particularly of supporting Muslim migrants to integrate into New Zealand society” to supporting the Winston First party.”
Whereas you make a good point about this person’s apparent political flexibility, we badly need to stop confusing the Muslim religion with a race. People who either support of oppose the integration of Muslims should not be described as “non-racists” or “racists”.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Next a Green Party member who works for the EPMU will suddenly decide he is an ACT supporter right about the time they offer him No.10 on their list. Oh wait a second…….
[DPF: Heh forgot about that]
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
True Redbaiter. An atheist Arab should not be tarred with the label of infidel slaughtering Muslim just as an atheist visitor from the U.S. should not assumed to be a frothy mouthed Christian bigot.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
I heard some political analyst-type the other day telling Larry Williams on ZB that Winston was getting good hearings in his speeches at universities.
I don’t know why you, other bloggers, and most of the media keep calling him racist. I’m not sure that he is, and I don’t think the Asian nations he went to thought he was, either, otherwise they would not have shaken his hand.
If he is the clown that some of you continue to portray him as, then why did you devote so much effort in 2007-08 to getting him out of Parliament?
I voted for his party only once, and the young woman I voted for turned out to be a dead loss, and now she has reinvented herself as some sort of crusader for children.
I’d never vote for his party again, but I don’t think he was the disaster he was portrayed as. Some Foreign Affairs people say that he was New Zealand’s best Foreign Affairs minister in years.
That we’re getting along so well with the Americans these days (good or bad, you can decide for yourself) is a lot down to him.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Yes, apparently Curwen Rolinson has been instrumental in setting up the Auckland University campus branch of NZ First. In fact yesterday, I blogged on the question of “A Comeback for NZ First?”, including some insider information about the state of the party. Apparently, ‘the party has managed to build a functioning branch at Auckland University that has recruited some good people on board already – including Indians and Asians!’ and ‘young members are being recruited all over the country, including some pretty talented young Maori and Pacific Islanders’. For more info and analysis see here:
http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2010/12/a-new-zealand-first-comeback.html
On the apparent political contradiction of a lefty like Rolinson moving from RAM to NZF, I’d point to the shared “economic nationalism” of both RAM and NZF, which for someone like Rolinson might be seen as much more important than any disagreements he might have over social and ethnicity issues. The essential political character of NZF has always been a particularly contested issue for the NZ left. Some regard the party as a very anti-Establishment party that stands up for “the little people”. Others on the left regard it as a reactionary, nationalist and populist vehicle for a opportunistic tory.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Flip flops are not uncommon in politics. For example we have a politician saying he would be an ETS follower, and now we’re leader. Or saying National is not about raising taxes, but about cutting them. Once in office, he just rearranged the deck chairs, or perhaps worse. Borrowing $275 million a week is more like making a hole in the Titanic so it will sink faster.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
People mature and change and the political spectrum is not measured in 2 dimensions.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I’m definitely in that grouping, Bryce. Even though I have the same concerns NZFirst purports to have over free trade agreements and foreign investment, their concerns are usually presented in a manner designed to dogwhistle to racists.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
So he went from one dangerous, ridiculous ideology to another. I think that’s entirely consistent.
And yes, in the neverending battle between sex and politics, sex will always win.
Thank God.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
.”…..including some pretty talented young Maoris and Pacific Islanders”
Comes across rather patronising and racist to me bro.
NZ First and it’s supporters are a joke.
I lived in Asia when Peters was stirring down here and it was not a good look for NZ. Big headlines.Once in office Peters was quick to make up with the Asiatic hordes ,the fear of whom got him into power.Populst hypocrite.
People vote for racist Peters and then he doesn’t deliver,fools if they continue to vote for him.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
“Next I guess we’ll see the President of Act on Campus dating the local chair of Young Labour – oh wait a second ….”
I believe thats happened on more than one occasion..
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Winston and NZ First have historically taken a tactical approach to politics that is designed to capture enough of the vote to get them into a position to peddle their influence. Of course they are not alone on this Modus Operandi. Where they differ from ACT and The Green party is that NZ First are far more likely to shift with the political winds to gain a spot on the treasury benches.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
“Some Foreign Affairs people say that he was New Zealand’s best Foreign Affairs minister in years.”
He was the best Minister for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is why they might say that.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
No its very clear what will happen. The party interloper will be involved in a falling out over immigration and race issues around election time. Winston will take centre stage and bluster his way onto the front page. Votes will be counted, Winston will stuff around for weeks before he and he alone decides who will govern.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
More than one date?
I suspect that political junkies, when they get together, discover that they have more in common with each other than they have in common with the rest of the population. Which is probably very scary for them.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Thanks, David.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Similarly I’ve always wondered how there’s so much easy movement back and forth between anarchists and communists. How can someone go from thinking the state should control absolutely everything to thinking the state should control absolutely nothing, in one step ? I get the impression that making sense is just not that big a priority to these people.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Bryce Edwards points out:
That’s exactly the situation. Because NZF is remembered for the furore that was raised over its immigration policy it’s forgotten that that was only a fractional part of an economic nationalist whole. And not a particularly important part at that – just the bit the media chose to focus on.
There were many in the party at the outset who joined primarily or solely because of concerns about NZ’s sovereignty and in particular its asset base. Many – myself included – had no issue with any (sustainable) number of migrants coming into NZ provided they intended to make it their home and not use its lax immigration provisions to obtain citizenship and exploit its resources while living offshore.
Sure, it’s stance was supported by racists (like the National Front) in the early to mid 90s, but it was also supported by CAFCA, which is hardly right wing.
As I’ve said before, I had several media people admit that they’d trawled through my speeches (or rather, “Winston’s speeches”) looking for something racist they could lift, and failed.
The party never dog whistled to racists till Laws first joined as an MP and then was employed as some sort of supremo after his resignation from Parliament. It then became so obvious, and so distasteful, that many (again including myself) found it utterly unpalatable.
Unfortunately, that period also led to a rise in membership amongst the racists and other reactionaries, who thought they’d found a home. People like Rolinson, who join for the same reasons I did back in the early 90s, are going to find they’re in some pretty strange company.
Of course both factions will look to Winston for leadership, and – as he did in 1995 – he’ll fail to provide it, choosing not on principle but solely on which faction he thinks is the most powerful and the most personally loyal. And that’s usually the racists, as they have no other interests or principles.
Good luck, Curwen.
PaulL notes:
Sad but true. Many of my friends and acquaintances hold wildly different political views to myself – the one common factor is we can debate them all night without becoming so bored we want to slit our wrists, which is the reaction of most “normal” people.
And anyway, what else is there to talk about? Sport?! TV?! Those are just professions for people too dumb and unambitious to get into politics
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
“I’d never vote for his party again, but I don’t think he was the disaster he was portrayed as. Some Foreign Affairs people say that he was New Zealand’s best Foreign Affairs minister in years.”
You’ve got no concern about his flexible principles then, much the same as “some Foreign Affairs people” it seems. This man was reprimanded by Parliament for receiving secret donations from a person he wanted to appoint to an “Honorary Consul” position. A Minister of Racing who used his leverage over a desperate Government to obtain many millions of dollars to lavish on his favourite “sport”. A person who will take it upon himself to insist that black is in fact a vivid white, all the while denigrating and abusing anyone who dares to question his version of the truth.
We don’t need an embarrassment of his sort representing our country as Foreign Minister. That he was appointed to that role was a measure of Helen Clark’s desperation to remain in power (and no doubt her preference for him to spend much of his time out of the jurisdiction.) He has all the personal charm skills associated with the arcane world of diplomacy, but who would be prepared to believe a word he says?
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Calendar Girl:
I think you read too much into what I say. But … is he any worse than any other politician in New Zealand?
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
“I’d never vote for his party again, but I don’t think he was the disaster he was portrayed as. Some Foreign Affairs people say that he was New Zealand’s best Foreign Affairs minister in years.”
Everyone knows that Goff was the doing the real Foreign Affairs work in the background while Peters was swanning around collecting the baubles and photo-ops. It may be the only thing that Goff is good at.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
SSNZF (Symonds Street New Zealand First) is an absolute joke, they have about 10 members, most of whom only congregate to celebrate 4:20.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
very funny Farrar.
Vote:prepare to be humbled NAT
December 8th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Put it away:
Well, I didn’t know ‘everyone knows’. I was quoting Foreign Affairs people, two of whom are ambassadors.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Tripe – see Calendar Giirl’s comment above. Might be worthwhile wondering how they got to be ambassadors.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
TripeWriter@4:17. Yes. He is a skilled manipulator with no redeeming values.
Vote:December 8th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Totally Irrelevant Video
Vote:Shut up Catherine Delahunty
December 8th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
New Zealand First versus Vested interests First?
Vote: