Kia ora tātou,
I hope that you, your whānau and loved ones had a beautiful summer (despite the cyclones and flooding in different parts of the country).
As we move into an election year, let’s take stock of the year that has been at ActionStation.
2022 was a strange time - it felt like we cycled through many years in one. We started with Covid front and centre, as we navigated traffic light systems and adapted to another year of changing health protocols. Pandemic stress and grief came to a head when protesters descended on Parliament. When government regulations were changed, those of us without serious health conditions or disabilities started to venture out of our homes. At the end of the year, new variants started to show up in our communities once again.
I speak of Covid, because I don’t think it helps for it to be unspeakable. It has shaped our last three years. It has resulted in 2,157,933 recorded cases, and thousands of deaths. It has changed how we interact with the world and each other.
It also forced us to face the limits of our health, economic, and even education systems. It shone a glaring light on the gaps we have and it made some inequities worse. We saw the wealthiest people become nearly $1 trillion richer and supermarkets rake in massive profits. Over Christmas, food banks saw a 47% increase in the number of parcels being delivered. While research is still being done to track the impacts of Covid, many of the economic results are already obvious. Wealthy individuals and companies were protected (or benefited) from the pandemic, and the belt has kept tightening for low income families.
I also think that the pandemic has had a dulling effect on our energy and ability to contribute to progressive social change. The mass global movements from 2018 - 2022 took a definite hit as we stayed home to look after ourselves and each other. We are still affected by the constant bugs going around at school, the difficulty in making and keeping plans, grieving loved ones who have passed on, the isolation, or just surviving day-to-day. Many of us have had to focus on what is in front of us, instead of taking political action out in the world.
Despite our global turn inwards, we have had moments that have reminded us of who we are, and who we want to be in the world.
As a country, we celebrated the first Matariki public holiday, with inspiring events led by Māori everywhere.
As a country, we also got behind the Black Ferns’ momentous win - which even got this former teen punk cheering at the local RSA.
It was a quieter year for community-led campaigns at OurActionStation, but even so, people were pushing for progressive change behind the scenes. We were particularly inspired by the energy and determination of the Make it 16 crew. They won their landmark case at the Supreme Court which declared that preventing 16 and 17 year-olds from voting is a breach of the Bill of Rights. This result pushed Jacinda Ardern to commit the government to draft legislation to lower the voting age. With young people leading the way on progressive issues from climate change to anti-racism, it’s exciting to imagine a near future where 16 year olds have a greater say in decisions made about their lives, and the wider country.
At ActionStation, we took the inwards turn as an opportunity to reflect on our own role in social change. We started to think about not just short-term, band-aid fixes, but long-term, upstream change that will look after us all in the decades to come. We talked about systems, as well as issues, and how inequality is interconnected.
We listened to young people share their dreams about what a better Aotearoa could look like. We considered what campaigning from a Te Tiriti-based perspective looks like. That led us to hire our first rangatahi Māori climate justice campaigner and organiser who have been working on climate issues at a local level in Porirua.
We continued to be the backbone organisation for the Fairer Future collaboration and released the Seven Steps for a Fairer Future campaign that calls for an increase to income support, raising the minimum wage to the living wage and much more.
We’ve started to reimagine how we house the people through ambitious public housing plans.
We’ve worked to bring refugees from Afghanistan to safety, and fund independent research into what needs to happen next. Before we clocked off at Christmas, we showed our support (alongside 50+ organisations) for honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi by encouraging the Government to continue with their plan on the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Again, even when pandemics shake up our day-to-day life, we (and I mean you!) are among the millions of people around the world who keep pushing for fairness, justness, equity and collective liberation.
But we cannot stay forever looking inwards.
The results of this year’s election will determine our true response to three years of global upheaval. It is a time to put our reflections into practice. To steer away from old, reactive policies that we know won’t work (I’m looking at you, tax cuts and youth boot camps). To decide on what really matters to us as a country, and make sure our decision-makers are listening. To move into a fairer, flourishing future that is better than before we entered unknowingly into a pandemic alternate universe.
This year will require our attention, and our action.
Since 2014, nearly 1 million people have taken an action through ActionStation alone. We are a formidable lot, and we certainly have the power to make a difference this year, and beyond.
For now, thank you for all you do to make Aotearoa a better place. Thank you for staying connected with ActionStation - whether it’s reading the odd email, supporting a community-led petition, or donating to keep our lights on. We appreciate you.
With aroha, solidarity and an unshakeable belief in a better world.
Kassie Hartendorp
Director, ActionStation
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