Alex Penk wrote an article in The Common Room called Beware of the Blob. He describes the origin of the expression "the Blob" as follows:
The Blob takes its name from a 1958 sci-fi movie about a flesh-eating, amoeba-like alien that descends on a small town and absorbs everything in its path.
In the UK, “the Blob” refers to the mutual embrace of civil servants, quangos, NGOs, and vested interests.
In the US, “the Blob” means a foreign policy elite that advocates for intervening in other countries’ affairs.
In both cases, the Blob pushes a very particular view of the world, one that’s often against public opinion and even contrary to political leaders.
The article concerns an open letter from non-government organisations such as Climate Karanga, Podiatry NZ, Citizens Advice Bureau and the Free Store Wellington and dozens of similar organisations, along with individuals, urging the government to implement the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights.
These are some of the statements from the open letter to the New Zealand government:
But the laws, policies and rules of Aotearoa do not value all of us equitably. Established in the image of British colonial power, people in our successive governments have ignored our social need for honourable and just relationships with tangata whenua. We acknowledge the severe and ongoing injustices of colonisation through actions by the Crown and its governors — suppression of language, culture, institutions, and laws, and alienation of land — have created intergenerational harms in need of restoration.
We stand in solidarity and support with Maori who are leading the UNDRIP process. We commit to working with our own communities to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. And we ask that you keep working toward the plan in the coming year.
The open letter appears to have been initiated by Action Station Aotearoa an activist group. Its first vision statement of its Peoples Agenda for Aotearoa states:
1. HONOURING TE TIRITI O WAITANGI
Our constitution and structures reflect our Treaty commitments, and rangatiratanga is guaranteed to Māori. Every person in Aotearoa New Zealand under-stands and respects Te Tiriti as our founding document, understands the harm done by colonisation in our country, and works to heal injustices and to see Te Tiriti honoured.
However, there are other groups which one would think are public services and far removed from politics. Take for example the Citizens Advice Bureau. Its role according to its website is:
We provide free, confidential, independent information and advice to anyone. We help people know what their rights are and how to access services they need. https://www.cab.org.nz/
Somewhat surprisingly, there is another side to its work. Under the heading Our Kaupapa-Mauri Manaia it states:
Citizens Advice Bureau New Zealand - Ngā Pou Whakawhirinaki o Aotearoa supports the principle of partnership reflected in the Treaty of Waitangi.
Not only did the Bureau subscribe to the open letter to the government, it also made a submission to the Law Society's Independent Review of the Regulation of Lawyers in September 2022 It referred to the Canadian situation where lawyers have obligations in respect of indigenous people and suggested:
16.We believe that including something similar in the Aotearoa New Zealand context would be an excellent addition. This brings life to the commitment to recognise, honour and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi by acknowledging the historic and enduring systemic harm to Māori within the legal system and the need to actively work to redress this.
The wording of the submission and the open letter is very similar to the wording in the Rationale that the media is obliged to follow in the Public Interest Journalism Fund's Te Tiriti Framework for News Media:
Despite te Tiriti, colonial constitutional practices have entrenched Pākehā systems of governance that continue today. This means our society has a foundation of institutional racism, where organisations, agencies and institutions continue to benefit Pākehā, and routinely produce policies and practices that result in avoidable inequalities between Pākehā and Māori.
Who would have thought that organisations such as Podiatry NZ , Barbarian Productions, a Wellington theatre company, the NZ Society of Authors, which represents writers and promotes literary culture, Free Store Wellington, which distributes retail food waste, and Climate Karanga, which is focused on climate education in Marlborough, would be involved in such political activities.
It appears more and more that private organisations are adopting the Treaty narrative as part of their constitution even though they have no understanding of the issues relating to the Treaty. Ask any of them to define "the principles of the Treaty", and how they were created. Ask them to define what "co-governance" really means.
However, these organisations are prepared to form part of the Blob and use their influence to pressure the people of New Zealand into accepting a fundamental change to the country's democracy.
Alex Penk rejects the idea that this is just a group of public-spirited organisations exercising their democratic rights. He maintains:
The Blob isn’t democratic and it isn’t deliberative. It creates a false consensus that sucks the oxygen out of different opinions, overpowering them by making it look as though everyone important agrees.
He also points out that none of the organisations have any expertise in the matter and that they are simply using their status in society to push and enforce left wing principles, such as co-governance for Maori in this instance.
If we look at New Zealand today we can see the effect of the Blob all around us. We are perpetually bombarded with slogans such as “honour the Treaty”, “co-governance”, “the Treaty partnership”, “the Principles of the Treaty”, or the “mana of tangata whenua”.
As part of this attack our country’s name is, little by little, being changed to Aotearoa New Zealand, or simply Aotearoa. The names of our institutions are being changed, as well as the names of our towns. Te reo is being compulsory forced down our throats.
Our basic human rights in respect of water are transferred into Maori control, with the expectation that this is only the beginning of the end of our democratic and basic rights.
This is the “Blob New Zealand style”. The incremental take-over of our country by a Blob of misinformation that spreads it tentacles into every aspect of our lives, and labels all opposition as racist. Little by little it sucks the wind out of all resistance and makes any reasonable response impossible. Any response is labelled loudly as "racist".
The Blob is aided by what is in effect a totalitarian government with an almost totally submissive media that is bound by financial bribes from the government to support the Blob.
So, if we want to save our country and the fundamental principles of our democracy, how do we go about it? How do we fight the Blob?
Alex Penk believes that the first thing is to ignore the Blob and recognise what it is. The second step is to bring as much diversity and opinions to the issues as is possible. In other words deflate the Blob with the truth and expert views.
There are plenty of websites about that offer alternative views in respect of the issues advanced buy the Blog. The reality is that all of the slogans of the Blog are mere puffery with no factual basis and a complete misrepresentation of what its proponents intend to achieve.
This website, the Treaty Facts, was set up to present the facts about the Treaty. It is meant to be a source of the truth about the Treaty. It also presents a critique of the various slogans that are aimed at undermining our democracy and which form the mass of the Blob.
The problem is that the majority of New Zealanders are not political animals. They tend to derive their understanding of the world from the government and from the media. They are prime victims for the Blob. The constant repletion of the slogans from reputable sources will gradually wear away any resistance, and the indoctrination will be completed.
The other problem is that the the truth is hard to identify, being overwhelmed by the incessant slogans and the pressure from the Blob.
If we are to fight the Blob, we need to go further. We need to identify those people, organisations and institutions within our country that are driving the Blob. They are bent on undermining the values and principles of our country and bringing about changes without going though the democratic process.
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