‘Howl’ was politicking more than a protest
THEY weren’t like the MasseyFerguson tractor Civis drove as a schoolboy, working on a relative’s farm during a holiday.
These were monstrous, enclosed citadels of selfsatisfaction and entitlement, dominating mere mortals as they ground through towns and cities around New Zealand, demanding freedom for farmers from government regulation. They reminded Civis of those city residents who, delivering their offspring to school, or negotiating city streets while shopping, look down from the height of their ‘‘Remuera tractors’’ on the (literally) lower classes.
It also brought to mind schoolyard bullying — stronger, taller, heavier individuals exploiting size and strength to dominate smaller children. That thought was crystalised, on TVNZ’s and Channel 39’s news reports on July 16, by the tall male on foot, who assaulted a smaller woman, wrenching from her hands the sign she was holding up in an attempt to remind the farmers driving their behemoths through Dunedin of the reality of global warming, and destroying it (will he be arrested for male on female assault, and theft?).
Many farmers already farm sustainably, and protect the environment. But those who don’t need regulation. The Waikato farmer who discussed the protests with RNZ National’s Panel that afternoon was enlightening.
He said many farmers were relaxed about the regulations, recognising their necessity, but there was a political motive at work. He quoted a farmer friend, who admitted that changes were needed “but it sticks in my craw that it’s a Labour government — I’d rather be doing it under National”, and commented “a lot of farmers don’t like anything a Labour government does”.
He felt Significant Natural Area rules were needed, noting that a former neighbour had, a few years ago, felled a hundred 500yearold totara.
“There’s a hardcore group who feel they can do anything they like with their land.”
A dairy farmer neighbour of his finally fenced her drains, not because of government regulation, but because her milk company demanded it, for overseas marketing reasons. He claimed many farmers had no problems with the changes asked of them, concluding “farmers are being misrepresented by a reactionary group”.
Those farming unsustainably have had a free pass until recently, with the whole country and the world carrying the costs of polluted waterways (algal blooms, disease, poisoned oceans); excessive drawdown for irrigation (river ecology collapse); nitrification of drinking water (more bowel cancer, and a recent study has shown a 47% increase in premature human births, between 9 and 20 weeks early, causing death or lifelong disability for some, at 5mg/litre nitrate levels, well below the officially “safe” 11.3mg/litre); soil degradation from overstocking (encouraged by recent Nationalled governments); and no greenhouse gas emission levy until 2025 (floods and fires already show the effects of global warming).
Farmers aren’t likely to be bankrupted by regulations, and unable to feed the country, as some placards suggested. Increasing returns are predicted for dairy (near record levels), beef, sheepmeat, and horticultural exports (and, therefore, local sales), and farmer confidence is rising: 83% of them expect consistent or higher levels of future returns.
Groundswell’s “Howl of a Protest” might better be described as a childish tantrum.
Grandchildren visiting led to a couple of outings, starting with a session in the museum planetarium, about moons of the Solar System. It was fascinating (although Civis missed part of it from the soporific effect of comfortably reclined seating, warmth, and low lighting).
Then a locally grown version of Sleeping Beauty staged at the Playhouse by the Dunedin Repertory Society Children’s Theatre. The full house, children, parents, and grandparents, delighted in the kaleidoscopic performance, with 35 individual parts named in the programme, many played by children or young adults with names familiar, as with many of the crew, to Dunedin residents. It was a pantomime sans crossdressing, with endearing tweaks, such as the Broccoli Fairy. An invitation, at the end, allowed the excited audience onstage, to meet the cast.
Brilliant!