There is, I think, a space beyond corruption and I think we have moved into it. That space is the convulsive space, where we become so bewildered by extremes that our thinking gets disorientated, uncontrollably contracting and expanding, shaking.
What I’m thinking of here is convulsion as an effect of extreme, overt, relentless corruption. Corruption is the concentration and use of the mechanisms of power in the interests of a small, exclusive group. After a year under the NACT government, it is clear to me we have to start thinking about the cumulative effect of living under what I have seen called the upside down, where daily a new shock blasts us, confounds us, leaves us reeling.
Is it possible to adjust to this new space? What does it take to regain control and tame the bewilderment, so that we are able to move beyond convulsions that leave us … inert? helpless? vulnerable?
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke gave us one example: standing proud in who she is, asserting her right to be, loudly, proudly, and with guts. What a leader.
Toitū Te Tiriti is showing us the power of collective action, and how that gives people a vehicle to do something and be brave in the face of overwhelming power.
These actions of assertion are a direct challenge to the underlying motive of the corruption that is convulsing us: the political drive to reassert the preeminence of a dominant culture. It is, as our former Prime Minister John Key noted after the re-election of Trump, a world-wide movement.
In Aotearoa New Zealand we have had a one-year head start in the quest to re-create that world from the past, where a specific group of white men were free to do and act and get rich without question. We have been bewildered for a year, left on the floor convulsing, as the corruption required to reforge that world has made itself apparent. But now it is time to stand and assert ourselves in the face of those who wish to deny the right of others to be who they are, those who wish to white-wash our world and re-make it in their own image and interests.
If you want to live in a world where you, your kids, your neighbours, are able to live with dignity, which means being seen and acting with purpose beyond your value as an economic unit as determined by the powerful, now is the time to stand and fight. In fighting for the dignity of the others who are under threat by this government, you are also fighting to protect yours. History teaches us that sources of power founded on exclusivity and exclusion never know where to stop, but they always start at the margins, and they are always corrupt.
Democracy Begins In The Classroom 