Reimagining Social Work in AotearoaI have been wondering (as my time in a University teaching job meanders to an end) about the function of dissent – questioning and challenging the status quo, power, vested interests – in organisations and in wider politics. I once wrote ‘‘One day I’ll find a place where there are no games of power / One day I’ll get struck by a meteor shower”. What are the implications of the current – and inescapable – power shifts in our social and political world?
Thinking is always important – particularly at times when we are encouraged to believe it is unnecessary. AI can do that for us, right?
The relative calm of the slow days between Christmas and New Year afford an opportuntity for reflection. 2024 has been a challenging year. We have endured a complex hard-right political blitzkrieg from the coalition government. Their focus is on legislative and policy frameworks which promote ‘business freedom’ by facilitating optimum conditions for private profit. This flowering of capitalist fundamentalism (neo-liberalism on steroids) is supported by a range of deceptive ideological tropes – shallow and false representations of equality, such as the idea that the interests of capital and labour are the same or the notion that we can all be capitalists. A raft of contradictions lies below the surface layer of political deceit:
David Seymour talks about seeking equality and universal human rights. This is deceptive and fraudulent. On the surface equality is a persuasive catch phrase, much like the notion of freedom (see previous post). But if you dig beneath the surface it is clear that the ACT Party’s concept of equality in Aotearoa is that we can all be (behave) like Pākēha. It is taking us back to the 1950s – we can all be equal provided you live as we say you must live. This isn’t equality, it is coloniality: assimilation. And more than this we can and must all be (behave) like rich capitalist Pākēhā. This isn’t true either – Aotearoa is a radically unequal society. This is a simple function of capitalist economics. Look around you, tell me what you see.
This post links to the most recent presentation in a series of on-line Seminars that have been organised by the Social Justice and Child Protection Research Network Aotearoa. This is a small group of academic researchers concerned with the question of social justice and the theory and practice of child protection social work, now and into the future. Current co-directors of this initiative are Emily Keddell, Kerri Cleaver, Shayne Walker and myself, Ian Hyslop. This Seminar begins to wrestle with some of the implications of abolitionist ideas for social work generally and child protection in particular. A video recording of this session is linked here and an outline of the material covered is described below.