Club Politique by Che Tibby

We've had a bit of a blog-hiatus here in Wellington on account of general exhaustion and busyness. Life continues apace in a blur of barbeque duck and unrequited cravings for beer.

But this evening we have a little free time, and I thought I'd add to tomorrows normally numerous Public Address posts. So I've put 'Mali Music' on the stereo and thought I'd share some good news with you all.

Back when I was in Melbourne I had this routine worked out where I'd haul my carcass out of bed at 6.30 or 7am every day, often also on weekends, shower, then make a strong, strong black coffee, put together some muesli, and read the newspapers online in my tiny little office. Normally by the time I'd scanned a few blogs, read The Age, the NZ Herald, The Sydney Morning Herald, and sometimes the Guardian I'd started to come awake, and was in the right frame of mind.

It was then that 'Mali Music' would get put on. The other favourite was 'Finally we are one'. Finally I'd be set.

So why the routine? Because after a few years of a more haphazard, some would say existential approach to trying to write the thesis I heard somewhere that Einstein had 10 versions of exactly the same suit. He'd save his brain space for the really important job of science. Now, I'm no Einstein, but if it worked for him, it would work for me.

The key to the music is that if you need to do the same job every day for over three years, you're going to need something going in the background that keeps your mind turning over, but doesn't intrude too much. Listening to 'Teaches of Peaches' wasn't going to help, for example.

Jesus I listened to these CDs a lot.

But tonight I listen to Mali Music for maybe the last time. And why? Because I'm in the unenviable position of being in possession of a three hard-bound copies of my PhD. A day I thought would never come.

This means of course that the degree is in the bag. A sceptic might say that the degree isn't real until it's conferred, but it would take an act of god to stop it happening now. And I think the big fulla has more pressing things to interfere in, like the Tasmanian state election for example (for those conspiracy theorists out there, note how much money is alleged to have been spent in Tasmanian, and how much is thought to have been spent here. American 'small-nation slush fund'? Who knows).

So Dr. Che it is.

As far as results go, I'm pretty pleased. The process at Melbourne Uni is that a couple of external examiners are approached to read and review the thesis, and then get to mark the thesis on a scale from 1 to 5 (five being a clear fail). Obviously I would have liked two '1's, but two '2's is something I'm more than happy with. In a nutshell the only changes recommended were a few typos corrected (examiner one), and a couple of thousand words of clarifications (examiner two). Neither mark required me to return to the examiners with the changes, and after a week's discussion with the supervisor and the University, one thesis is bound and sent to Melbourne!

You might note of course that when I departed Melbourne in March of last year I said all my thank yous and that. But when I departed I had submitted the final copy. The last year has been a cycle of minor changes, copy editors and at least six months of just plain sitting on my hands.

Thank christ it's all over. There's been plenty of times when I wished I had taken the cushy job way back in '99, instead of six years of self-imposed misery. Christ, everybody told me it was a bad idea, but I did the thesis anyhow...

Even though I've already thanked you all endlessly, and also pooh-poohed those who said I just wasn't good enough to complete, once again thanks to all the people who chipped in to help out in little and big ways.

I'll try not to leave my byline the way it is for toooo long. Maybe just long enough to really rub some salt in some old wounds. Heh heh.

I've heard a few people comment over the last week that they're a little tuckered out by all the festival atmosphere around town, and while I can understand how you can have just a little too much fun and good times, it has to be said that the last few weeks have well lifted my opinion of good old Wellington.

Much of the festival itself was outside of my budget, but I tried to take in as many of the free or just plain interesting events going on around town, mix it up with the people, all that kind of stuff. I thought then that I'd put on a dusty old copy of 'Amnesiac' to get the cerebrum moving and tell you all about it.

For starters the Patricia Piccinini exhibition at the City Gallery is a must-see, being both compelling and repulsive. The way in which she has contrasted banal interaction with animals with her exotic creatures is fascinating, and evokes dread in people I've spoken to, while also instilling a need to discuss their reaction to her work.

By way of example, one sketch depicts a baby with this creature kind of lying on it. It's awful, and immediately causes the viewer to assume the creature is predatory or 'evil'. But the position it's lying in is essentially the same as a well-known and vicious predator like a cat would indeed lie on a baby. Amazing stuff.

The next thing is the Earth from Above exhibit that's been showing in the new and very flash Waitangi Park. I'll return to the park, but for now lets say that the crowds who've turned out to see this captivating series of pictures has been well and truly good for the city. There's something about heaps of people bringing friends and family out to see some art that just makes me think good of the world.

Putting the one-world undertones to one side, I saw almost every kind of person out looking at the exhibit over a number of visits to the park during the past few weeks. It's something of a pity it can't stay, they've drawn what seems like a huge number of people down to the waterfront, Wellingtons newest great place to be.

I was living in Auckland when the viaduct started to kick off as a place to socialise and it's only on the most recent trips to Auckland (specifically last month) that I've thought it had any real feeling of cohesion. I should add that my status as a visitor meant I was only gaining glimpses of what it is 'really like'. But it did always seem like it was a little too angled at people with cash to spend, and not so much like a public space? As opposed to say Mission bay, which while also angled at cash was more of a place to hang out.

When this impression of Auckland was being formed, I'd not long left Wellington, where the waterfront was nothing short of appalling. I was having lunch with a mate from 'back in the day' on Sunday and neither of us could remember actually ever heading down to the waterfront for anything. I did however recall a New Years Eve party being thrown in some place called 'Shed 5' and remembered thinking, "why in the hell would you head down all the way over there for a party?" So many both the Wellington and Auckland waterfronts are coming along nicely at around the same time.

And coming along the waterfront is. The walk along from near the government end of the city to Te Papa and Waitangi Park has become pretty much the standard trip for a lot of people, and it's a great public space. There is sculpture galore, for instance the fantastic new Len Lye 'Water Whirler', which I've thus far only seen in the daytime, space for cyclists, roller bladders, skaters, joggers, walkers and jogger-pushers alike, the harbour in all its glory, and a lot of surprisingly good weather.

I seem to remember Wellington being freaking miserable, but if anything the past year has nothing but surprised me. The last winter was comparable to Melbourne, just a little windy. Unsurprisingly. The main difference is the way in which the city has brightened up. Again, having spoken to a couple of people who remember what the place was like in the late 80s and 90s, the sparkle and glitz around the place really does make a substantial difference to the place's liveability.

Finally, in the 'surprising amount of knowledge' category, I joined Tom from Well Urban, Hayden from Grabthars Hammer, and couple of the attendees at the BlogHui in a tour of Wellington architecture this past Sunday. Tom should run that event again, because it was fascinating. More detail about what's going on and the reasons for things than you could shake a stick at.

What else is there to say? With all this and my underwater jungle gym breaking into three distinct pieces despite being in great condition just before Christmas, things here aren't too bad.

Still hankering for the gelato at Gelobar on Lygon Street though.

Ah well.

I had a request for an email address to send messages of support to the Aboriginal people trying to draw attention to Australian injustice. If you are one of these rabid, commie, pinko types, but can't actually make it to Melbourne in person, then try emailing blackgstcrew at gmail dot com.

I'd hazard a guess that knowing their fight is reaching an international stage would be well received by the locals.

PS oops... forgot to munge the address. you can take it from here.

Does anyone else feel like the Commonwealth Games are kind of like a paralympics for white people? Not to disparage our athletes any, but a games held that always tend to focus on the relative sporting merits of a bunch of countries linked through their former domination by a legion of stuffed shirts just kind of seems strange.

That said, I was proud to hear a report that the New Zealand team was the only one to request a welcome to country from the Wurundjeri people. Bloody good on you to whomever arrived at that bit of publicity. And speaking of Aboriginal people, there is a couple of interesting mixed messages coming out of the Australian media on the question of the 'treatment of the natives'. On the one hand we have the Sydney Morning Herald reporting the Queen to have said,

the need to ensure that ...prosperity touches the lives of all Australians is as powerful as ever... For many indigenous Australians there remains much to be done"

while the Australian reports her saying,

the need to ensure ... prosperity touched the lives of all Australians is as powerful as ever... At the same time, this country has welcomed people from many nations and thrived on the diversity that has produced... Even so, across this vast land there exists an undiminished recognition that communities must be built on values that transcend race, religion and culture

Goes to show, selective editing is not the sole preserve of bloggers.

And read the helpful suggestion from Prince Philip at the bottom of the Australian article. The poor old bastard hasn't got a clue.

In a way I'm kind of mildy regretting not being in Melbourne for the games. The city was a great place to be during the Rugby World Cup, with people heading out of the house to take in sport at the drop of a hat. You could pretty much go into a pub anywhere and see coverage of your favourite game, and all this in Aussie Rules heaven. The Soccer World Cup was the same, we spent a number of evenings in the local supporting our favourite teams. A mate told me one time that you charged a decent price you could half-fill the MCG to see a game of mini-golf, the Aussies love their sport that much.

Ah well, split milk and all that. It's always after I've been in a new city for about a year I get the most homesick for the last place.

On a less positive note, if you are in Melbourne for the Games be sure to get out to the Kings Domain and show a little solidarity with Victorian Aboriginal people. Jesus that lot have had a hard time of it. Stopped this writing for a bit to get over to the TV and see Campbell Live do a piece of the Stolenwealth Games, and saw them interview Robert Thorpe.

Back in 2000 I was doing fieldwork for the PhD and interviewed Robert and others about the history of the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Reserve, a place way out in the East of Victoria. Christ Robert made me laugh, the man's as mad as a cut snake. He had this way of talking about events in the 1840s like they were happening today, and stories about whitefellas unloading sheep off boats that can't really be repeated in polite company.

God he and the people at Tyers lived in a difficult place. The towns that surround the reserve are stocked with some of the most in-bred, bigoted assholes I've ever met, and it made Tyers something like a prison for the people who saw the reserve as the last tiny bit of their country not confiscated or stolen by the English. They were subject to routine verbal and physical abuse from police and public alike, unemployment was near one hundred percent, conditions mediocre at very best, and I could go on.

Meanwhile mainstream Australia wallows in a sea of apathy or complacency towards Aboriginal futures, seeing them as nothing greater than cultural tourism or 'ethnic' rubber-stamping for festivals.

It's sickening, victim-blaming behaviour that has no rightful place in a country that likes to think of itself as 'gods own'.

Ah well, at least there might be some medals handed out to the Kiwi's. If you're reading this, and are in the media scrum for the Kiwi team, how about having some of our winning athletes say, "I recognise this, the traditional land of the Wurundjeri people".

If you are an athlete, how about a photo op of you giving that medal to Thorpe, he's fought his whole life for something like a space on a podium. His people have been pushed down and beaten for generations, spat on, ostracized for speaking out against white injustice, rounded up and incarcerated for the crime of being black.

Think about that while you're preparing for the race of your life. Think about your entire life being nothing more than a race you'll never win, because you're marked 'trash' from the day you're born.

Or just go hang out with the people down at the Kings Domain, share a joke or two, talk about who they are and what they do. You know, folksy like.

Despite last writing on this topic an eon ago, I thought I'd better live up to the promise of continuing to get out blogs on metics. So here we go.

The last time I wrote I briefly discussed the concept of social capital. It's a great little idea because it allows us to better understand how and why some people get to be in charge while others are pushed to the outer. It's also useful because it means you can distinguish between groups within a national society on a more abstract level that just race.

Let's look at Māori society for example. Since at least the 90s we've had an ongoing tussle between 'urban' and 'traditional' iwi. From here on the sidelines it's a great development for Māori because not only does it demonstrate that Māori society is vibrant, modern and evolving, but shows urban Māori making strong demands about their governmental belonging [governmental belonging is the idea that you have the right to a say in governance. Just because you're a citizen there's nothing to say you're going to get to contribute].

In the case of urban Māori while they may well fully belong to Māori society, traditional iwi resist their claims to belonging and their right to represent Māori as a whole. The interesting thing is that this type of behaviour is exceedingly common in political systems. When Pauline Hanson was purporting to speak for 'one Australian nation' there were numerous claims that she did not have such a right. Detractors were commonly trying to point out that Hanson was little more than an interloper on the national stage.

You could just write this type of behaviour off as a competition for 'authority', but the term just doesn't really encompass the political behaviour we see in these examples. You can get authority lots of ways, with a big gun for example, but it's most influential when you have it granted to you by your constituents. The Americans do not have governmental belonging in Iraq, for example.

As I stated in Metics Ten, social capital is a good way to understand how a group of individuals aggregate enough governmental belonging to maintain power. In New Zealand we have an idea called 'the majority' that determines what is and is not acceptable in a governmental sense, and the specific content of this group shifts every election time.

But what determines the content of that group? It's not simple electoral politics. You can have any number of votes based on party platforms, but what really determines the shape and nature of the governing body is the personality of the individuals in governance roles. Now first of all the governance roles in New Zealand are broader than just the Member of Parliament, much broader. And secondly they all have variable power, from the secretary of the local Rotarians club up to the PM. What they all have in common though is an amount of social capital they've accumulated over the course of their lifetimes.

Social capital is pivotal to the exercise of political power, and not just any social capital, but just the right kind. John Howard or George W. Bush may well have high levels of social capital in their own nation-states, but in New Zealand these do not amount to much. Not to disparage their social capital mind you, but in New Zealand it is quite simply inappropriate.

What's important to gaining political power is the accumulation of a social capital your constituency can identify with. And it's that idea that brings us full circle to the nature of nationality. Nationality is defined by individuals mutually accepting each others identity, and social capital works much the same way. Both ideas work in self-referential cycles, with one generation of individuals validating the next, and vice-versa, in perpetuity.

So how does this relate to the metics theme?

Sometimes you have entire groups of people who belong to a place but have their social capital, and their social identity, invalidated by the majority. Aboriginal people in Australia are a good example. There is very little about Aboriginality that mainstream Australian actually wants to keep.

And it's also what makes New Zealand a great place to study these concepts, because over the last 30 years Māori have gained increasing levels of governmental belonging, and have had their identity recognised by the majority as valid. You can't really underestimate the worth of that particular piece of rubber-stamping.

The situation has become one in which two types of social capital have been working in tandem, with both contributing to the overall 'vibe' of New Zealand nationality. But a problem seems to be developing, the issue of competition between these two components. And it's something we'll discuss another day.