22-11-2021, 02:23 PM
As a non-farmer, I read their position statement on their website and there are a few things I can sympathise with as well as some stuff I could support if I understood it better.
I saw that some supporters of the movement have had to step away, either briefly or permanently, over concerns about it being hijacked by anti-vaxx and anti-govt protesters and I can definitely understand that - I would be reluctant to voice support for the valid and reasonable points of protest Groundswell has if it continued to both harbour and encourage fringe protesters that are less interested in farmers and more interested in pushing COVID conspiracy, pro Trump, and anti-govt (like Ardern being a communist bitch, for example) views.
It was good to see the organisers distance themselves and condemn certain protest slogans and placards displayed at the rally a couple of months ago but I also can't help but think that just because some of those farmers agreed to put such views to one side, it doesn't necessarily mean they don't believe them.
If anything, I think these protests have been really interesting both from seeing how the organisers manage the PR alongside an already tense NZ political climate, and how their own supporters have tried to control, reclaim and/or reject things that don't seem aligned with the original intent.
I'm still glad they got to have their say though, and that the protests were pretty peaceful. They conducted themselves far better than those Destiny Church "Freedom" fuckwits, that's for sure.
I saw that some supporters of the movement have had to step away, either briefly or permanently, over concerns about it being hijacked by anti-vaxx and anti-govt protesters and I can definitely understand that - I would be reluctant to voice support for the valid and reasonable points of protest Groundswell has if it continued to both harbour and encourage fringe protesters that are less interested in farmers and more interested in pushing COVID conspiracy, pro Trump, and anti-govt (like Ardern being a communist bitch, for example) views.
It was good to see the organisers distance themselves and condemn certain protest slogans and placards displayed at the rally a couple of months ago but I also can't help but think that just because some of those farmers agreed to put such views to one side, it doesn't necessarily mean they don't believe them.
If anything, I think these protests have been really interesting both from seeing how the organisers manage the PR alongside an already tense NZ political climate, and how their own supporters have tried to control, reclaim and/or reject things that don't seem aligned with the original intent.
I'm still glad they got to have their say though, and that the protests were pretty peaceful. They conducted themselves far better than those Destiny Church "Freedom" fuckwits, that's for sure.