It was only a matter of time before an irate tradie threw hands at them.
We don’t get paid to sit in traffic.
- Xcf456 ( @Xcf456@lemmy.nz ) 14•10 months ago
What really stands out with these incidents is that all the handwringing against the protests themselves and how they should be ‘doing it the right way’ is total bullshit.
Turns out direct action (up to and including violence) is justified… If you’re delayed getting somewhere in your car by 15 mins. However, nonviolent direct action about our own government dithering on the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced is too much.
Direct action is typically justifiable against the people who have the power to change things
Everyone hates these people because they’re screwing over commuters, if they blocked a National party conference I wouldn’t be so bothered.
- BalpeenHammer ( @BalpeenHammer@lemmy.nz ) 5•10 months ago
Everyone doesn’t hate them. You shouldn’t presume everyone is as hateful and angry as you. Most people in this country are decent and nice.
- cobra89 ( @cobra89@beehaw.org ) 3•10 months ago
Isn’t the irony here that making cars sit idling instead of getting where they’re going causes more pollution?
Who are these protests convincing? Do they even say what their demands are other than a completely unspecific and unhelpful “combat climate change”?
- Dave ( @Dave@lemmy.nz ) 5•10 months ago
I’m pretty sure they have specific demands, asking for better inter-city passenger trains. It says in the article the protesters are from the “Restore Passenger Rail climate action group”.
I don’t know their strategy, but if their intention is to get publicity for the cause then the term “it doesn’t matter what they are saying about you, as long as they’re talking about you” comes to mind.
It kinda does matter what they’re saying about you when you’re trying to get public support for a cause though.
They actually are quite specific in what they want, they want a restoration of all our intercity rail services, to a level of service that existed back in the nineties. It’s not about commuter rail, as many commenters here seem to think.
In other words, they want the government to spend a few hundred mill on rolling stock, and still more on other subsidies, on a service that would take nearly twice as long to go between Auckland and Wellington as a bus. They’ve completely lost touch with reality.
This is also ignoring the fact that diesel rail isn’t that much better than road transport, and can even be worse.
- sylverstream ( @sylverstream@lemmy.nz ) 2•10 months ago
In other words, they want the government to spend a few hundred mill on rolling stock, and still more on other subsidies, on a service that would take nearly twice as long to go between Auckland and Wellington as a bus.
Driving time WLG <=> AKL is about 7.5 hours. Assuming a 15 minute break every 2 hours, that’s about 8.5 hours. It’s 650km, so that’s about 76km/hour on average. I’m sure a train can go as fast / faster than that; definitely not <40km/hour like you suggest.
The northern explorer is 10h 15min Auckland to Wellington, and travels almost exactly the same distance.
I thought it was slower, but it’s still much slower than road transport.
- sylverstream ( @sylverstream@lemmy.nz ) 3•10 months ago
Yep as right now it’s a scenic route, so no focus on speed. I agree, right now it’s not a very good alternative to driving. That’s the point, that should be improved; it should be faster than driving.
It’s actually faster than a bus somehow, although a bus ticket is forty bucks.
- Dave ( @Dave@lemmy.nz ) 3•10 months ago
It’s a bit late now, but what are people’s thoughts on whether this is the right community for this? It seems pretty political, even if it’s not about a political party.
For future posts, should things like this go in !politics@lemmy.nz or is !newzealand@lemmy.nz ok?
Edit: I think the sense I’m getting is that this would be at home in either community.
- sylverstream ( @sylverstream@lemmy.nz ) 3•10 months ago
Yes, agreed to put it in politics.
- Kiwiguy ( @kiwiguy@mastodon.social ) 2•10 months ago
@Dave @Ilovethebomb blocking the motorway seems like public interest reporting. I guess follow-up reports on trials and mp responses is for politics.
Everything is political to some extent though, where do you draw the line?
- Dave ( @Dave@lemmy.nz ) 4•10 months ago
That’s the question 😆. For this one, because they are directly campaigning the government to do something, it seemed political to me. But that’s what I’m seeking opinions on.
This one seems a lot more politically focused than say the article about the company intentionally damaging archeological sites that was posted earlier today.