by frog
Russel got under the collars of a few Labour Party stalwarts when he walked into Parliament and suggested that he and the Greens were from the political lineage of Mickey Joseph Savage.
Savage, a fellow immigrant from Australia, knew that having a right means having a chance, it means having a roof to shelter under and a meal on the table, a school and a doctor. That a nation that truly values the rights of her citizens promises a fair go to each and every one. Savage helped create a society where there was hope of a better life, and there was fulfilment of that hope.
I think what hurts Labour people about speeches like that, more than anything, is it reminds them how far they they have come from the sort of social justice ideals and policies that Savage was working for in the 1930s. Suddenly their present incrementalism seems a bit less satisfactory.
It left me thinking that the last Labour leader who was neither an incrementalist nor a rogernome was Big Norm, Norman Kirk.
So perhaps, with campaign season upon us and a new Big Norm, six-foot Russel, now in the house, it is time to listen once more to that 1974 song from Wellington band Ebony which made it to No. 4 on the national charts that year.
Published in Society & Culture by frog on Tue, October 21st, 2008
Tags: big norm, ebony, labour party, Michael Joseph Savage, Norman kirk, Russel Norman
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
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Goodness me!
And I bet many thought that Russ was going to go into the house and talk about Green issues.
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Ahhhmmmm the labour party also came from the coal minners on the West Coast, don’t think there’s to much common ground there for the greens. Unless of course you are finally admitting that socialism and the labour movement is the true foundation of the “green” party, about time fellas, you really are beginning to live up to that honest label you stuck on yourselves. Will you be changing the colour of your bill boards then?
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>>which made it to No. 4 on the national charts that year.
Seems to be a rip-off of “I Fought The Law And The Law Won”….(try singing those lyrics over the top and you’ll see what I mean)
Kinda appropriate for Labour in 2008, mind….
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I cannot believe you found that!
ROFL ….
& no, it wasn’t a rip-off, BP, it scans entirely differently …
I remember this clearly, I was fond of singing tunes from the radio, and we were encouraged at school by a musical teacher, who made us all perform in a school operetta every year. (This track, however, never made it into the school performances …)
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