21/02/2022
Open Letter from ATTICA
* What is ATTICA's stance on the protests?
ATTICA believes protest is not the place for political groups. Political groups who insert themselves into protest either capitalise or co-opt a movement corrupting it and rendering it ineffective to stand up to those in power. So ATTICA takes no official position on the protests.
That said, we support the right of individuals within ATTICA to support and participate in protests, as individuals.
ATTICA believes every citizen has the right to protest, we consider the protests to be lawful and reasonable. We believe shared spaces belong to the people of NZ, not to any government, we consider occupation of shared spaces legal and have a right to remain, as long as it takes for protesters concerns to be heard and addressed.
We disavow the use of military or police to break up any lawful protests, ever.
* What is ATTICA’s policy on Mandates and Passports
ATTICA believes in personalised medicine, so we do not support mandates. We believe every person and family must do their own personal risk assessment and make the choices they believe to be right and live with the consequences of those choices. We believe that is the common good — the freedoms, rights and responsibilities we all have as part of New Zealand society.
Under no circumstance does ATTICA support vaccine passports, health passes or any similar Digital ID system. ATTICA believes privacy is a key component to freedom.
* Where from here?
In our opinion The present government have aligned themselves too closely with a private business and their product. It is unclear how can the government both push a product, regulate the private business, monitor the safety of said product and withdraw it from the market if its harms are evidenced to be too great.
Hence the government seems to have backed themselves into a corner, with few options available to them to save face. The resolve is NOT to double down and vilify protestors further, but to meet with them and address their concerns.
Once a politician takes office you agree to represent all of New Zealand's people, not just a select few you agree with, or those within your social class. In ATTICA’s opinion ALL democratic Governments are obligated to meet with protesters and take their concerns seriously and adjust their policy. After all, policy is supposed to be science plus values and this governments policy clearly ignores KIWI values.
ATTICA believes this to be a protest of what the late great David Graeber called the ‘caring class’. The people who do things that society needs done, from constructing roads, to building our homes, to delivering our mail and emptying our bed pans, from secretaries to police officers, from cooks, to shopkeepers, to farmers, they provide us food and shelter, care for us, heal us, educate us and keep the infrastructure of Aotearoa going. Sadly those in New Zealand’s leadership have found themselves so far removed from the everyday people who keep New Zealand running, they have assumed protesters to be a small minority - but this is not the case, vast swathes of Aotearoa disagree with your decisions, here leaders of Aotearoa are your people.
Some have complied to get back to normal, some have not complied to get back to normal. What we can see now, is the vaccines are less than what was promised, less than what was hoped. Now many want to get back to normal, come what may.
One peculiar thing studies show, those born to working class families are more sensitive and accurate in understanding the feelings of others, more empathetic. The working class believe it shows great character to admit you were wrong or to change direction when something is not working. For us, it would mean that you trust the people of Aotearoa to muddle through, no matter what happens with covid, you trust the people will look after each other, and you would empower all of us to do so.
love & light
attica
