International Socialists

Cory A

As the effects of the economic crisis start to be felt around the world, governments have universally responded by handing over billions of taxpayer dollars to banks and big business in the form of “stimulus packages”.

In almost all cases this has been against the collective wish of the people these governments claim to represent. The proposed Awatea Street stadium is the first in what will undoubtedly be a wave of bailout packages for the already wealthy.

The misinformation that have made up the stadium proponents' campaign is well-documented. This stadium will never be completed for the $188 million figure often given as the ‘definite maximum cost’.  Millions of ratepayer dollars have been poured into the Carisbrook Stadium Trust for “consultancy” and “research”. Millions more have been frittered away for the purchase of land with no real accountability or transparency.
This is the exact same method that has played out in the United States within the last year. Phenomenal sums of money have been dropped directly into a few rich people’s pockets, as ‘golden parachutes’, and ‘bonuses’.
Dunedin is already massively in debt. We have a chronic sewage problem on our beaches. Heavy rainfall can force sewage back onto our streets due to dilapidated stormwater systems. The city’s library system is underfunded.
These are just a few of the countless projects which would actually benefit the working people of Dunedin.
Instead Mayor Peter Chin and the majority of his fellow councillors are signing us up for hundreds of millions debt for a project which is highly unlikely to provide real economic benefits, let alone social benefits.
Malcolm Farry and his cronies have seen the future, and it is bleak. The closing of Fisher & Paykel and Wickliffe Press, not to mention the downsizing of Cadbury is but a taste of what is to come. Across the United States, Britain, Australia and innumerable other nations, businesses are forced to close. They leave hundreds of thousands, without jobs. The people who own these companies are scared. Scared that they might have to live through the same troubled times the rest of us will have to endure.
Malcolm Farry has found what he thinks will be a cash cow. For the ratepayers who have to pay for it, it looks more like a white elephant.
This economic crisis didn’t just happen. It is not just the result of plain old greed by a handful of irresponsible speculators in the large multinational banks - although they are part of the problem. It is the result of a social and economic system – capitalism – where the only god is the almighty dollar. No matter how bad this crisis gets, if unchallenged, capitalism will bounce back only to crash harder next time. The attacks on workers will be brutal. Healthcare, education and welfare will be pushed back as far as possible. Workers will be made to pay to bail out those who firmly support the system that caused this crisis.
This stadium needs to be opposed for the scam that it is, but stopping at one small victory is not enough. Only by opposing capitalism in its entirety can we hope to achieve a society where we actually have a say in how our communities are run.