Republished for the special edition of The Commonweal in March 2025. Dr. Emmy Rākete is press spokesperson for People Against Prisons Aotearoa and lecturer in Criminology at the University of Auckland
Dr Rakete writes "Our access to power is mediated, both by the structure of representative electoral democracy and by the processes and institutions of that state".
I would argue that this structure obstructs rather than mediates "our access to power". "Representative electoral democracy" which is not representative and not democratic, yet so fearful of elections that they are allowed only at intervals of three to five years, is designed to exclusively serve the interests of colonialist capitalism and does not provide "access to power" for tangata motu.
What are the institutions that give agency to tangata motu, and in what kind of organizations do our people participate in order to gain some degree of control over their lives?
In my experience the answer would be "the marae, churches and gangs".
The marae, churches and gangs give people identity and belonging. They offer a comprehensive tikanga. They provide material support and protection. They play a part in every aspect of life outside of the capitalist system, and in some cases within the system as well.
I am not an advocate for the gangs, but I cannot escape the fact that despite the drugs and gratuitous violence they play an important part in the lives of thousands of young men. In doing so, while they present serious problems of their own, they expose the shortcomings of other forms of working class organisation.
Omitted from my short list are trade unions, parliamentary political parties and revolutionary socialist parties. That is because while they play a role in the life of the working class, they do not satisfy the inherent need for identity, belonging and fellowship. Trade union membership these days is pretty well limited to the field of a worker's involvement with the capitalist system. It goes with one's employment and terminates with one's employment. Therefore it is an expression of alienation rather than belonging.
Among the parliamentary parties, Labour is unashamedly capitalist and has spent the past half century successfully assimilating the working class into the capitalist system through schemes such as KiwiSaver and ACC. The Green Party lacks any serious base in the working class, and Te Pati Maori is kept honest and on track only through its connections to the hapu and iwi based system of the marae.
Membership of revolutionary socialist parties is limited to a tiny intellectual elite, and even for them it does not provide the basis for a whole life. Being posited purely and simply on opposition to capitalism such parties are incapable of providing the sense of belonging, tikanga, and material support that traditionally comes with social organisation.
I personally believe that marae, along with the churches, are and will continue to be the key institutions for the expression of the will of tangata motu with the gangs unfortunately having an interim role until such time as alternative more socially positive institutions take up the slack.
Dr Rakete writes "Our access to power is mediated, both by the structure of representative electoral democracy and by the processes and institutions of that state".
I would argue that this structure obstructs rather than mediates "our access to power". "Representative electoral democracy" which is not representative and not democratic, yet so fearful of elections that they are allowed only at intervals of three to five years, is designed to exclusively serve the interests of colonialist capitalism and does not provide "access to power" for tangata motu.
What are the institutions that give agency to tangata motu, and in what kind of organizations do our people participate in order to gain some degree of control over their lives?
In my experience the answer would be "the marae, churches and gangs".
The marae, churches and gangs give people identity and belonging. They offer a comprehensive tikanga. They provide material support and protection. They play a part in every aspect of life outside of the capitalist system, and in some cases within the system as well.
I am not an advocate for the gangs, but I cannot escape the fact that despite the drugs and gratuitous violence they play an important part in the lives of thousands of young men. In doing so, while they present serious problems of their own, they expose the shortcomings of other forms of working class organisation.
Omitted from my short list are trade unions, parliamentary political parties and revolutionary socialist parties. That is because while they play a role in the life of the working class, they do not satisfy the inherent need for identity, belonging and fellowship. Trade union membership these days is pretty well limited to the field of a worker's involvement with the capitalist system. It goes with one's employment and terminates with one's employment. Therefore it is an expression of alienation rather than belonging.
Among the parliamentary parties, Labour is unashamedly capitalist and has spent the past half century successfully assimilating the working class into the capitalist system through schemes such as KiwiSaver and ACC. The Green Party lacks any serious base in the working class, and Te Pati Maori is kept honest and on track only through its connections to the hapu and iwi based system of the marae.
Membership of revolutionary socialist parties is limited to a tiny intellectual elite, and even for them it does not provide the basis for a whole life. Being posited purely and simply on opposition to capitalism such parties are incapable of providing the sense of belonging, tikanga, and material support that traditionally comes with social organisation.
I personally believe that marae, along with the churches, are and will continue to be the key institutions for the expression of the will of tangata motu with the gangs unfortunately having an interim role until such time as alternative more socially positive institutions take up the slack.