Kia ora koutou,
The Queen has died… long live the King.
The realisation of the great cycle of time becomes more apparent at these moments. Vague memories wash back like breaking waves on a shore, they recede, more memories wash up.
I went to Mclean Park in Napier, my second baby in my arms, to see the Queen. She was just a blue smudge in the distance surrounded by black suits and soldiers. I tried but failed to feel excited and never made the attempt again. Like everyone else I loved Diana and watched and watched the televised moments of her death and funeral. I think the marriage was doomed to fail and for that I blame the Royal Minders not the Royals. I regard the Royals as puppets who move this way or that way, go there or here, do this or that, all dictated by their faceless Minders. Occasionally some humanity or personal preference or mistake will happen but all is eventually subjected and shushed by the Minders. And if anyone pays, its the Royal public figure not their faceless Minders.
There are times when I think the pomp and ceremony of Royal tours are too expensive and take money from more deserving projects and that the Royals could easily pay for them out of their loose change but there are parts of the population who would totally disagree with me and that’s democracy.
So, as far as systems go I think, given the example of USA, its leaders, its racism, disunity, lack of social security, Aotearoa is possibly better off as part of a commonwealth than as a separate republic. I say this as one who is not a royalist and as one who knows this country has pockets, even areas, of racism too and I can only be thankful that its starting to be called out.
I know we have large pockets of poverty and lack of housing and we can’t kid ourselves that that will change very fast either under a commonwealth system or a republican system but at least in Aotearoa we know that huge changes in social security can happen, that they happened once, and although the system has faltered and sometimes failed because of bureaucratic barriers or particular government’s indifference in the past, we can, given the will, see it happen again.
Renée
