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With the final day of voting less than a week away and emotions running high it’s important to put what’s about to happen into clear perspective.
Irrespective of the result of who gets in and who doesn’t, the fact remains that no one is coming to save us.
No one, aside from the person staring back at your from the mirror.
Here at VFF we have spent the past three years helping you to connect, to inform, to inspire others, and to be empowered to be the change you want to see in the world (as cliché as that sounds).
We’ve encouraged you to stand up and exercise your right to speak freely.
To push back against people in power behaving like tyrants.
To challenge unjust laws.
To publicly raise your concerns and back them up with evidence so that others may be educated on the issues that affect us all.
To gain positions of influence at the local level and engage with the system where we can make a difference right now.
To set up alternative systems that result in individuals, families, and communities becoming better prepared, more self-reliant and resilient, no matter what comes our way.
And, most of all, we’ve encouraged you to believe in yourself and one another to know you can stand strong, in the face of adversity.
Radical Responsibility.
There are no shortcuts out of the current mess we all find ourselves embroiled in.
However, there is something liberating about taking radical responsibility for one’s own life and the lives of those we love. Radical responsibility is what we have encouraged you to strive for from the outset.
How can we continue to do this?
- Connect, organise, plan, roll up our sleeves and get to work.
- Educate ourselves on things that count and make informed decisions.
- Seek truth and evidence in the face of lies and manipulation.
- Listen to multiple perspectives and prioritise time to consider our positions.
- Take the opportunity to help other Kiwis understand what is going on and what is at stake.
Gratitude.
In these past three years, we have felt gratitude like never before.
We have hugged.
We have cried.
We have laughed together.
Our lives have been changed and enriched through VFF’s networks of incredible people and thousands upon thousands of you have told us you feel the same.
Politics.
We have a system that is largely broken.
A system where those in power have become influenced and corrupted by unelected, globalist organisations and industries with stated agendas and financial incentives.
A system that ping-pongs between varying shades of globalism under a triennial illusion of choice.
We must be realistic about what can be achieved in politics at this point in time beyond yet another ceremonial switching of the political t-shirt.
For real, transformative change to occur, we need something completely different.
What we need is radical cultural change: Trying to achieve radical political change without first achieving sufficient cultural change is like trying to cook an amazing meal with only 10% of the required ingredients.
Together with you, we are achieving radical cultural change through advocacy, media, educational campaigns, community building and everything else that we do at VFF.
And come Sunday, no matter who “wins” the election, we will still be here, supporting you, our members and communities, with connection and resources, mucking in, doing the work that needs to be done.
We remain steady and resolute, fighting for our children’s futures and the country we love.
STAND UP, SPEAK OUT. KEEP HUGGING
Alia, Libby and Claire x0
