Wellington - 3rd April 2019

Today, at around 5 pm, the results of the Vote of No Confidence in the government came in, which passed with a slim majority of 13 to 10 votes.

The Opportunities Party voted in favour of the Motion as the neoliberals disagreed on an earlier motion. They took their opportunity and stabbed the Green Party in the back. Perhaps the Opportunist Party would be a better name for them?

The more shocking part is the blatant betrayal of the Labour Party. Just like the Opportunities Party they disagreed on the same motion, and decided to leave the government over it.

What exactly is this motion that they disliked enough to collapse the entire government over it? The Motion regarding the 16th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq. A motion recognising that the Iraq Invasion was an illegal action with no justification, and that Helen Clark was right in keeping New Zealand out of the war. The Labour Party voted against a motion praising their own former leader, a motion that aimed to prevent such tragedies from happening again. Long gone are the days of Helen Clark. The Labour Party, together with the Opportunities Party are nothing more than imperialists, caring more about the resources they can get by exploiting poor countries than about keeping people safe. At least 400,000 people died in the war or as a result of the war, and the war lead to the rise of ISIS, which took part in the Syrian Civil War which is still ongoing and in which another 500,000 people have died so far, of which 100,000 civilians. This civil war has led to over 7,5 million people getting internally displaced, and over 5 million refugees, which in turn has led to the hate of the right-wing populists, blaming the refugees of things they do not have control over, calling them terrorists when they were just forced out of their homes by the violence directly and indirectly caused by the reckless United States and its NATO allies.

There was never a care about the people of Iraq, there were no WMDs, there was never proof of anything of the sort. The United States just wanted the country's resources and that's what they got. Helen Clark was right in keeping our country out of this imperialist war, and it is very sad to see Labour does no longer consider this decision wise.

As a result of the Vote of No Confidence passing a new government will be formed, and it is currently looking like this will be a coalition between the National Party, the Opportunities Party and the Labour Party. The Labour Party has abandoned all of its principles and is choosing a purple coalition with neoliberals over a coalition with the Green Party, which while not perfect is the only party which seems to care about our environment and the poor and weak nowadays. These new imperialist views from the Labour Party are more important to them than keeping our people safe, helping them out of poverty and caring for our environment. Just months ago a coalition with National would have been far from likely.

Readers who plan to vote for the Labour Party in the next General Election, think twice before voting. Is this neoliberal, imperialist party which has thrown away its principles and is forming a coalition with their long time rivals really the party you want to vote for?

Do you really want a party that would rather exploit the resources of third world countries to put it in the pockets of the rich elites than a party that truly cares about the poor, within and outside of our borders?

Whoever you plan to vote for this next General Election, remember this, and think twice before you decide to vote for the imperialist Labour Party or the neoliberal snakes in the Opportunities Party.

The politicians who left the beehive only to return a week later are not your friends, they are simply trying to win over your vote by making others seem like the culprits.

I applaud Helen Clark for her decision at the time, I applaud /u/gavingrotegut for submitting the Iraq Motion, and I applaud the MPs who voted in favour of the Iraq Motion for their brave decision. What we need in this age of terror is solidarity, not betrayal and war!