[This statement is the view of one individual who does not necessarily represent the group. Official statments at http://occupychristchurch.org/]

What is the Occupy Movement?
It is a movement to express dissatisfaction with government and corporate interests increasingly undermining the rights of most citizens(99%).

It began in USA where a dozen people chose to occupy a park in Wall st financial district, to express and discuss their growing sense of alienation and disenfranchisement from the political and economic processes they are confronted with.

Many aspects of modern life in western societies (especially those such as the US and NZ which have embraced the ideology of Monetarism) are now dominated by corporate interests. Citizens rights have been marginalised and growing frustration and anger at this loss of individual rights is now being expressed.

In the US, the collapse of a bloated and corrupt financial system has impacted on the lives of millions of citizens. The net worth citizens has declined by 40% with the property bubble collapse, and unemployment has reached nearly 10%.

It is the degree to which profit driven corporations now control so many aspects of life including, food production and distribution, the media, essential services like roading, utilities, power generation, environmental protection etc. The influence corporations now have over governments could be seen as the root cause of the unease that has sparked the Occupy movement. Mainstream media being a largely corporate owned, attempts to define the movement as ‘anti capitalist’, or ‘without clear demands’, but the essence of the Occupy movement is to protest the corruption of democratic processes and their subjugation to corporate control.

What about here in NZ ? The alliance of a Monetarist government with corporate interests can be seen clearly here in NZ, especially in Christchurch city.

After the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, the government has colluded with Insurance companies and banks, to remove the insurance contractual rights of citizens worst hit by the quakes. The government EQC insurer, normally covers peoples buildings(up to $100000) and their land for market value. Private insurers are liable only for building damage above $100000. The government has confiscated the insurance policies of 6000 worst affected homeowners, in order to save itself and foreign insurers from the cost of honouring these policies. It is unclear how many more policies will be effectively confiscated after the general election, but what is fact is that the peoples government is not protecting the peoples contractual rights. Neither EQC or private insurers can confiscate peoples homes as the government has done since the quakes. The government has ripped of citizens on behalf of their corporate sponsors.

Insurance is a fundamental to the western model of capitalism that was first developed by the British Empire. Banks need insurance to underwrite the credit they extend to citizens and businesses. The finance banks provide, inflates asset values. Until Monetarism was introduced in the 1980s, nearly all insurance companies were mutually owned (non profit) as the importance of their role was recognised in both a moral and economic sense. Since the demutualisation of insurers across the western world, the reserves they once held as mutual cooperatives, were depleted to reward their new shareholders and controllers. Consequently their dependence upon foreign re insurers increased.

In the relentless drive to increase profits banks (who are mutually dependant upon insurers) insisted insurers offer full replacement policies to homeowners, thus artificially inflating the security of mortgages above the actual worth of the assets covered. This largely drove property bubble seen in New Zealand and most of the western world. The Monetarist governments which deregulated Banks and Insurers are now beholden to Insurers to maintain insurance and therefore mortgagability over these assets, without which there will be a collapse in the value of homes and businesses and almost certain electoral defeat for any government ‘holding the baby’. Insurers have have forced our government to collude in the effective cancellation of insurance contractual rights here in Christchurch...this is an example of the disenfranchisement the Occupy movement is struggling to confront. The National government is unashamedly in favour of the Monetarist model of government...one that is has now been shown to result in ever increasing indebtedness and loss of economic sovereignty everywhere it has been adopted. As corporations gain control of an ever greater proportion of an economy their sole objective of profit generation increases the cost of living and business especially in the areas of natural monopoly which they favour.

Only Crisis will Awaken Us?

While much of the rest of the world is waking up to the loss of democracy due to Monetarist policies, New Zealand is still largely asleep to the reality we are confronted with in the coming years. The seeds are already sown , and the current government intends to sell the last remnants of our economic sovereignty, because it lacks the vision to do much else.

I studied Economics alongside John Key in the early 1980s when Monetarism was the new way(it is actually a rehash though of classical economics). It is an amoral philosophy that has replaced the Keynesian model of a balance between government and business,which in turn evolved from the failure and collapse of the classical policies of the early twentieth century. To oppose Monetarism is often spun to equate opposition to capitalism, but this is a falsehood. In essence Keynesian economics recognises the potential dangers of allowing key infrastructure (insurance, banking, power, communications, roads schools etc) to fall into purely profit driven ownership.

The most successful and growing economies today, are those where the government takes an active interest in the provision of these key elements to productivity and services for citizens and businesses. I am not personally opposed to Capitalism, but rather to the Corporate serving Government which Monetarism has resulted in.

The first objective of the Occupy movement is to stand aside from the corporate control which permeates our lives and actualise the reality in a demonstrative way, that we ARE the government, and that we only allow our disenfranchisement by our apathy. If we chose to debate and consider the alternatives to our present reality, we can.

To meet and discuss our situation we immediately take control of the dialogue.

Here in Christchurch we could be calling attention to the government orchestrated removal of citizens Insurance Contracts. We could call attention to the sacking of ECAN, and the plans as yet unannounced but rumoured, to sack the CCC and sell off the Christchurch Airport, Lyttleton Ports, Orion, Watercare and Council Housing assets divisions of the Christchurch City Council.

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