The Freedom Shop Aotearoa

By Peppertree If the fight against the virus was a football game, we would find ourselves in the typical first 15 to 20 minutes. There are two typical strategies for that phase. One is to throw everything forward to score an early goal in order to demoralise the opposition and provide a buffer to take a breather. The other is to not do anything spectacular, but to focus on a solid defence, check out the opposition’s weaknesses and to build up the game. NZ has chosen the first strategy and it seems that the early goal has been scored. New infection numbers have dropped to mostly single digits and the number of fatalities is very low, although still increasing. But now the big question is what to do next. Just like the full-on attack mode in football can’t be kept up beyond 20 minutes, the level of lockdown we have can’t be sustained much longer. The government knows that and that is why Jacinda Ardern is at pains to explain what level 3 will look like. It is becoming clear that there ar...

By Peppertree If the fight against the virus was a football game, we would find ourselves in the typical first 15 to 20 minutes. There are two typical strategies for that phase. One is to throw everything forward to score an early goal in order to demoralise the opposition and provide a buffer to take a breather. The other is to not do anything spectacular, but to focus on a solid defence, check out the opposition’s weaknesses and to build up the game. NZ has chosen the first strategy and it seems that the early goal has been scored. New infection numbers have dropped to mostly single digits and the number of fatalities is very low, although still increasing. But now the big question is what to do next. Just like the full-on attack mode in football can’t be kept up beyond 20 minutes, the level of lockdown we have can’t be sustained much longer. The government knows that and that is why Jacinda Ardern is at pains to explain what level 3 will look like. It is becoming clear that there ar...

"I stopped by Commonsense Organics on the way home and a woman in the queue - desperate for a conversation with someone other than her husband - started chatting from 2 metres away. At one point she leaned in and said 'You know, I'm not even wearing a bra. Because no one cares anymore.' Small revolutions happening every day."

"I stopped by Commonsense Organics on the way home and a woman in the queue - desperate for a conversation with someone other than her husband - started chatting from 2 metres away. At one point she leaned in and said 'You know, I'm not even wearing a bra. Because no one cares anymore.' Small revolutions happening every day."

By Peppertree There is plenty of writing out there that stresses how the COVID19 pandemic is different from other disasters because “it affects everyone”. Even on the left, people are writing about how the compliance with lockdown is an example of what we can achieve if we all pull together and put human life before profit. They then build a picture of how this crisis can lead to a revolution of sorts that results in a different economic system that doesn’t leave people in poverty and the planet in ruins. That is a nice thought but unfortunately it’s based on a lie, just like any other time when the privileged claim that “we’re all in this together”. Because we’re not. For some, mainly middle class white people like myself, the virus threat and the lockdown has been an inconvenience. I still have my job, I have a home that I can work from, I have access to communications technology that allows me to stay in touch with friends and family. I am reasonably healthy and am not reliant on he...