People before Profit against Motorways & the Man!

DIRECT ACTION-
Civil Disobedience and Blockades against the SH20 Motorway

DEMOCRACY-
No to the Supercity. Devolve and Decentralise Power

DECENT LIVING STANDARDS-
$15ph minimum wage now- support the Referendum on Fair Pay

WATCH MALCOLM HERE ON TV3
LISTEN TO MALCOLM
HERE ON Bfm
Jon Facebook Supporters Group HERE

Auckland environmental and social activist Malcolm France has thrown his dreads into the ring for the Mount Albert By Election, standing on a "People Before Profit" ticket. Malcolm, an organiser for Save Happy Valley Coalition in Auckland, thinks that an alternative to the mainstream parties is badly needed in the city.


"Don't just vote for me- get active!" says Malcolm. "We're seeing an arrogant government literally bulldozing hundreds of Mt Albert and Waterview homes so they can build a useless motorway costing billions- all so we can get to the traffic jam quicker. I'll be standing on a platform of direct action and civil disobedience against this motorway, and arguing that the billions spent on it would be better spent on free and frequent public transport."

"There is no democracy in Auckland at the moment- the Government has not allowed Aucklanders decide how they want their city run. I believe in decentralising power into the hands of local communities, not giving party politicians more power. They want to privatise our publicly owned assets behind closed doors. We'll be marching on the Hikoi on May 25th against the Supercity, and for more local participatory democracy."

"Thousands of people who live in my area are on low wages, many on the basic minimum wage. As an active supporter of the Unite union, I'll be taking their Citizens Initiated referendum petition out to the people of Mt Albert, to increase the minimum wage first to $15 per hour NOW, and then in steps until it reaches two thirds the average wage."

"I don't care about parliamentary democracy- I care about building a grassroots movement that puts People Before Profits. That's why I'll be running a punk rock campaign to get up the noses of the Politrickers and support local people against motorways, miserly wages and the Man."

give MALCOLM your X-
Contact Malcolm
mobile: 021 256 4676
email: francemalcolm@yahoo.com
web: www.peoplebeforeprofitalliance.blogspot.com


WHAT WE ARE ABOUT

We are a group of people that realise real change is not going to come through the parliamentary system but through the grass roots struggle of the people.

While we understand the growth of the Greens as a political voice of people and the environment, they are not radical enough to make changes and we feel eventually like the Labour party and the unions they will get caught up in managing the system. That's what's happened in countries like Germany and Ireland.

It should be very clear by now that capitalist economic system that we live under doesn't work. It controls us not the other way around. It is a cycle of boom and bust and so very unstable. It allows those with money and power to rise to the top and control those underneath and so is very exploitative of people and the environment.

It is based on free market and competition. Competition forces diminishing returns and pits person against person with ethics, human rights and the environment suffering.
Resources are running out, especially oil. Current food production methods are unsustainable. Yet our mainly privatised banking system which charges interest, forces growth which will come to a sudden stop in the near future.
50 million people will lose their jobs this year alone because of the Global Crisis.

Capitalism helped erase feudalism but it has run its course in the western world, so has the form of democracy we have which supports it and its ruling class.

The current political and economic system is irreformable and it is time for a change. The longer we leave it the worse the crash. It is time to visit anti capitalist ideas on alternatives to both.

We are about that change.

Visit the attached websites and blogs to learn what socialism and anarchism is really about- not the public misconceptions or the corporatised media version or your state school version of it

Cheers
Malcolm

Friday, July 24, 2015

Aucaklands Housing Crisis


So whats the deal. Many are crying foul and anger over aucklands extremely high and increasing house prices , averaging 10% annual increase for over a decade . Compared to the low inflation of NZ around 2% as measured by the CPI putting the average house price close to $800,000 currently (July 2015). Putting that out of reach of most kiwis and resident wage earners.

 The NZ Labour party has caused a stink with its claims  its chinese buyers causing it, the assumption being they are foreign based on anecdotal data from a single real estate firm. Not the most reliable data but it has highlighted the issue of Aucklands super expensive houses. Labour have called for a foreign buyers register and thats been rejected by the Government , as this would provide some info on who the buyers are there is some validatiy releasing this data.

But this sidesteps a very important point , housing is a right not a privilege.

There is nothing wrong with everyone owning their own home.In fact its a good thing despite what economists would say. Owning your own home gives you more privacy and more security and locks in cost of living and therefore stability and peace of mind.

So if its such a good thing why do many economists and others pointing to europes low ownership rate say its not. How can something good for people be bad for the economy ? Or vice-a-versa, how can something good for the economy be bad for the people. Because capitalist economic system we live in has many contradictions . For example the low wage is good for individual employers as increases profit , it is not good for the whole economy as less wages means less consumer purchasing power and less commodity sales.

If the price of the house has got too high and your wages are low then it becomes cheaper to  rent rather than buy. The other reason is economies are measured in the flawed measurement of GDP , Gross Domestic Product.This effectively measures all  commodity sales in NZ or put another way how many times money circulates in the economy. The higher the GDP the healthier the economy so its said. House owners who bought years ago have locked in their cost of dwelling from rising in the future (except for rates) by inflation and those who continue renting dont so their dwelling cost will continually rise while inflation exists, thereby spending ore money in the economy.

Houses in a capitalist economy are sold at price set by supply and demand. currently demand is greater than supply.
 
So while Labour are correct and foreign buyers are a problem , they arent looking at the full picture and that is those buying houses you dont own is the problem be it landlord or speculator , foreign or kiwi. Those buyers compete with the kiwis and residents for houses they (speculators/landlords) dont need in order to make profit therby driving up the price of houses. People and corporations should not be allowed to buy a house they are not going to live in, depriving some else of their right to privacy and security and financial stability in their own home.

Of course Investor speculation can only exist in a climate of population growth. Because youre counting on someone else buying from you at higher price.Which leads me to the second part of the problem.
 Population growth. Given its considered 2:2.1 is required birth rate to maintain a steady stable population and NZs is around that somewhere, the cause of population increase must be immigration. We live under capitalism, an economics model based on profit drive and capital accumulation thru workers and environment exploitation and scarcity and continuous growth. Growth is mandatory or capitalism does not function and is not helped by a corrupt banking system based on fiat currency , debt and interest. One of the best ways to increase growth by increasing sales is to increase the number of consumers. This helps overcome the inherent contradictions and failure of a capitalist economy. Another of course is debt generated by speculation and by workers not being paid high enough wages and needing to borrow to support their familys. Increasing house prices generally will increase borrowing and therefore bankers profits. ALL GOVERNMENTS and political partys in NZ to my knowledge have a policy of increasing the population of NZ by immigration to sustain the capitalist economic system. This increase in population to sustain capitalism puts pressure on housing when there is not enough existing houses which is happening in Auckland. Immigration is not necessarily bad for housing , its just bad under a capitalist model. Population growth doesnt exist because capitalism exists , it exists because people breed faster than they die. But in the western world it is only increasing principally by immigration which exist because Govt allow it. 
The question needs to be asked do we (both Maori 15% of the population and the rest of us 85% who are immigrants ourselves) want population increase in the beautiful low populated country ? Those of us already living here should be able to have a say on if we want to reduce our quality of life in order just to keep a failing economic system going , should we not . Isnt that democracy ?
This is without starting on the erosion of Maori sovereignty immigration causes , but thats another topic for another day.
To my knowledge no Government or political party is willing to either change (not reform) the capitalist economic system or to educate you on the problems of capitalism and the solutions known accept Mana. Go on write to them and ask, I dare you, after all its a “democracy”, they will listen to you, wont they ?

 Given the $ millions of profit private enterprises is making s and people and corporations are getting wealthy from increasing land prices the other option is the Government to build thousands more state houses instead of selling off thousands of the existing ones. 

But if you insist on being told what to do and voting Government back in, write to the Government and ask :
1) Forbid non residents or citizens not living in NZ from owning houses
2) Pass legislation forbidding owning more than one house and a holiday batch by an individual or family living in NZ
3) Build more state houses.


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American Indian Saying

When the last tree has been cut down
When the last river has been polluted
When the last fish has been eaten
Only then will you realise money cannot be eaten