The World Cup (W/C, cz it's shit) is starting tomorrow, to most of our collective national horror. I'm not sure how many people give a damn, but the hegemony imposed by the media has forced us to believe that this is the only thing that is actually happening! Far from it, New Zealand and half the countries involved in the W/C are involved in a geo-strategic war that has displaced millions and killed a majority of civilians and a minority of freedom fighters- those are my words, not Hone's. I'll be talking about that in my next post.
We don't have to go that far though to see a reality we should have been more aware of, and more considerate of. New Zealand is brewing a 'brown underclass', mainly in suburbs of South Auckland as well as very rural Maori areas. In Dunedin, while industry flees off-shore, the southern suburbs are left increasingly poor as well. I find it very hypocritical that we invest millions into a game and a couple of stadia while we leave more and more people to fight of desperation, frustration and depression on the dole. As the parents have no money, 200,000 kiwi kids live under the poverty line. In other words around 6% of the country.
Instead of investing in better infrastructure, more opportunities, better social services- such as the South D library that has been on the books for a good decade- we waste it on infrastructure that fosters an unnecessary sense of nationalism. In Auckland we've built the Cloud, in Dunedin Forsyth Barr; thus wasting millions of dollars just to give us a fleeting grasp of happiness!
I guess though, as we slowly starve, belief in a [g]od, nation, culture or all is a mild anasthetic. Mild, but flamable. Why should we forget the duty of the state to its people? While we continue our transition from an example of a functioning welfare state to a business sweatshop, our underclasses will increase and grow more unstable by the day.
In the time being I will not support New Zealand, no matter how much I am forced to do so by the profit-driven media bodies around.
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