Archives for July 2008
Reviewed by Keith Wignall.
Note: This article was published in the Christchurch Press in May 1999
To explain the title of his latest book, Jesson refers to Herman Melville's Moby Dick. In that story, Captain Ahab directs the resources at his disposal (his ship and its crew) in pursuit of the object of his obsession, the eponymous whale. His methods are rational and efficient - only his purpose is mad, and inexorably leads to disaster. Jesson argues that today's managers use their resources (the markets for financial instruments such as shares, bonds and foreign currency) in pursuit of profit. Their methods are rational and efficient, but their purpose results in the destruction of the productive economy and the people who work in it.
Jesson's depth of knowledge of political and economic history is evident in this book. He examines New Zealand's colonial past in order to understand how and why our current institutions evolved. His explanations of complex financial processes are lucid, but not always accurate. For example, he defines monetarism as the belief that inflation is the greatest economic evil and therefore the most important target for monetary policy, whereas monetarism is actually the belief that inflation is the only economic outcome that monetary policy can affect in the long run.
An irritating feature of the book - one which does its author no credit - is its tendency to dismiss, rather than address, opposing arguments. To those who suggest that the undesirable features of our current situation are due not to what was done but to what was left undone, Jesson replies "excuses, excuses". He describes economists' distinction between public and private goods, which is central to the user-pays debate, as "relatively arcane economic theory"; in fact, it is simple enough that it is taught in high schools.
Jesson also takes many of his arguments only half way: he asserts that X is bad because it causes Z, but just assumes that we will agree that Z is bad. For example, he cites increased inequality of wealth distribution as an outcome of the financial transformation, but it is not at all obvious to me that it is better to be equally poor than unequally rich. He accuses money of destroying any sense of intrinsic worth, causing pornography to be worth more than Shakespeare; a great many people would prefer to watch pornography rather than Shakespeare, and to say that they are wrong is a kind of intellectual fascism.
The fundamental thesis of the book is that, since 1984, New Zealand firms have been pursuing the wrong objective, that of maximising profit for their shareholders. Jesson waits until his final chapter to propose alternative objectives, and then does so in extremely vague terms with no indication as to how firms would be required to pursue them. He acknowledges that those opponents of current policy who do produce detailed alternatives are often eccentric, which is a polite word for crazy. One is left with the impression that he made his prescription deliberately nebulous in order to avoid being tarred with the same brush.
Note: This article was published in the Christchurch Press in May 1999
To explain the title of his latest book, Jesson refers to Herman Melville's Moby Dick. In that story, Captain Ahab directs the resources at his disposal (his ship and its crew) in pursuit of the object of his obsession, the eponymous whale. His methods are rational and efficient - only his purpose is mad, and inexorably leads to disaster. Jesson argues that today's managers use their resources (the markets for financial instruments such as shares, bonds and foreign currency) in pursuit of profit. Their methods are rational and efficient, but their purpose results in the destruction of the productive economy and the people who work in it.
Jesson's depth of knowledge of political and economic history is evident in this book. He examines New Zealand's colonial past in order to understand how and why our current institutions evolved. His explanations of complex financial processes are lucid, but not always accurate. For example, he defines monetarism as the belief that inflation is the greatest economic evil and therefore the most important target for monetary policy, whereas monetarism is actually the belief that inflation is the only economic outcome that monetary policy can affect in the long run.
An irritating feature of the book - one which does its author no credit - is its tendency to dismiss, rather than address, opposing arguments. To those who suggest that the undesirable features of our current situation are due not to what was done but to what was left undone, Jesson replies "excuses, excuses". He describes economists' distinction between public and private goods, which is central to the user-pays debate, as "relatively arcane economic theory"; in fact, it is simple enough that it is taught in high schools.
Jesson also takes many of his arguments only half way: he asserts that X is bad because it causes Z, but just assumes that we will agree that Z is bad. For example, he cites increased inequality of wealth distribution as an outcome of the financial transformation, but it is not at all obvious to me that it is better to be equally poor than unequally rich. He accuses money of destroying any sense of intrinsic worth, causing pornography to be worth more than Shakespeare; a great many people would prefer to watch pornography rather than Shakespeare, and to say that they are wrong is a kind of intellectual fascism.
The fundamental thesis of the book is that, since 1984, New Zealand firms have been pursuing the wrong objective, that of maximising profit for their shareholders. Jesson waits until his final chapter to propose alternative objectives, and then does so in extremely vague terms with no indication as to how firms would be required to pursue them. He acknowledges that those opponents of current policy who do produce detailed alternatives are often eccentric, which is a polite word for crazy. One is left with the impression that he made his prescription deliberately nebulous in order to avoid being tarred with the same brush.
A review of Only Their Purpose is Mad by Bruce Jesson
Dunmore Press, $27.95, ISBN 0 86469 343 5.
Note: This article was published in New Zealand Books, Vol. 9(4), September 1999, pp. 19-20.
Written during the horror of the early 1940s, Karl Polanyi's famous book The Great Transformation sought to explain why nearly one hundred years of relative liberalism and peace had collapsed into an era of totalitarianism and global warfare on an unprecedented scale. Polanyi argued that the origins of the cataclysm was to be found in a fundamental contradiction, between the utopian vision of a self-regulating system of free markets and the reality of the devastating effects such a system has on social relationships.
In particular, Polanyi claimed that imposing a market economy on a society reduces human beings and their natural habitat to the status of exploitable market commodities (Labour and Land). But it also gives rise to counter-movements-trade unions and protective laws, for example-as people organise to defend themselves against the ensuing personal and social degradation. The interference in the market mechanism caused by such interventions is in turn opposed by those with market power.
Polanyi concluded that this conflict would be resolved in one of two ways. Either countries became fascist, so that the free market system might be maintained by force, or countries would discover socialism, under which citizens might voluntarily resign some individual freedoms in order to produce social justice for all.
Bruce Jesson's book Only Their Purpose is Mad, published shortly before his death earlier this year, explicitly draws on Polanyi's theory to analyse the economic transformation in New Zealand after 1984, but in a way that is impressively Jesson's own. This can be illustrated with two examples where Jesson goes beyond Polanyi's analysis to address important features of the New Zealand experience.
Dunmore Press, $27.95, ISBN 0 86469 343 5.
Note: This article was published in New Zealand Books, Vol. 9(4), September 1999, pp. 19-20.
Written during the horror of the early 1940s, Karl Polanyi's famous book The Great Transformation sought to explain why nearly one hundred years of relative liberalism and peace had collapsed into an era of totalitarianism and global warfare on an unprecedented scale. Polanyi argued that the origins of the cataclysm was to be found in a fundamental contradiction, between the utopian vision of a self-regulating system of free markets and the reality of the devastating effects such a system has on social relationships.
In particular, Polanyi claimed that imposing a market economy on a society reduces human beings and their natural habitat to the status of exploitable market commodities (Labour and Land). But it also gives rise to counter-movements-trade unions and protective laws, for example-as people organise to defend themselves against the ensuing personal and social degradation. The interference in the market mechanism caused by such interventions is in turn opposed by those with market power.
Polanyi concluded that this conflict would be resolved in one of two ways. Either countries became fascist, so that the free market system might be maintained by force, or countries would discover socialism, under which citizens might voluntarily resign some individual freedoms in order to produce social justice for all.
Bruce Jesson's book Only Their Purpose is Mad, published shortly before his death earlier this year, explicitly draws on Polanyi's theory to analyse the economic transformation in New Zealand after 1984, but in a way that is impressively Jesson's own. This can be illustrated with two examples where Jesson goes beyond Polanyi's analysis to address important features of the New Zealand experience.
Inventory of Bruce Jesson Papers In New Zealand and Pacific Collection of the University of Auckland Library
The Jesson Archive in the New Zealand and Pacific Collection of the University of Auckland Library contains the papers from Bruce Jesson's study, left in 1999. The Trustees of the Bruce Jesson Foundation are eager to hear of further materials relevant to Jesson's life and times. It may be possible to add these to the Archive, or to undertake some other method of preservation. Information and suggestions can be sent to:
Andrew Sharp
Professor of Political Studies
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
Compiled by Simon Hope, summer 2002-03
The Jesson Archive in the New Zealand and Pacific Collection of the University of Auckland Library contains the papers from Bruce Jesson's study, left in 1999. The Trustees of the Bruce Jesson Foundation are eager to hear of further materials relevant to Jesson's life and times. It may be possible to add these to the Archive, or to undertake some other method of preservation. Information and suggestions can be sent to:
Andrew Sharp
Professor of Political Studies
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
Compiled by Simon Hope, summer 2002-03
This is a preliminary bibliography of Bruce Jesson's writings. A number of items are certainly missing, and some may be recorded incorrectly. The compilers would welcome further information or corrections. These could be sent to the Foundation at brucejesson@hotmail.com or to Professor Andrew Sharp, Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92010 Auckland.
A Bruce Jesson bibliography of published pieces in rough chronological order
Compiled by Simon Hope and Andrew Sharp: 26 March 2004.
A Bruce Jesson bibliography of published pieces in rough chronological order
Compiled by Simon Hope and Andrew Sharp: 26 March 2004.
Penguin Books has just published the first collection of Bruce Jesson’s works. This project, funded by the Foundation, has been compiled and edited by Foundation Chair Professor Andrew Sharp and has received strong reviews in all of the major media.
It is an essential work for those interested not only in Bruce’s work but also in the social, economic and political development of New Zealand from an author with an exceptional and idiosyncratic viewpoint.
It is an essential work for those interested not only in Bruce’s work but also in the social, economic and political development of New Zealand from an author with an exceptional and idiosyncratic viewpoint.
Press Release: Bruce Jesson Foundation
A New Zealand journalist who reported on the US invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq is this year's winner of the Bruce Jesson Foundation's Critical Writing Award.
Hamilton-born Jon Stephenson, 42, has won the $3000 award to return to Iraq this month to report for Auckland's 'Metro' magazine on the political, social and economic position of the country two years after US forces chased Saddam Hussein out of Baghdad in April 2003.
The award is given once a year to fund "critical, informed, analytical and creative journalism or writing which will contribute to public debate in New Zealand on an important issue or issues". The inaugural winners last year were Wellington writers Nicky Hager and Tina McIvor.
Bruce Jesson Foundation chair Professor Andrew Sharp said Jon Stephenson had already made an impressive contribution towards raising New Zealanders' awareness and understanding of both Afghanistan and Iraq from the perspective of the people of those countries.
"Without his reports, we would have been almost totally dependent on news organisations based in the United States and Britain, which were direct participants in the wars," Dr Sharp said.
"Jon Stephenson has risked his life to report in depth from Iraq at a heavy personal and financial cost. We hope his work will inspire others to do similar in-depth work on important issues for New Zealanders, with our support."
Jon Stephenson reported for the Sunday Star-Times from Afghanistan in December 2001 and has made five trips to Iraq since April 2003, most recently in January when he covered the Iraqi elections with TV3's Mike McRoberts. He leaves for Iraq later this month.
He had a varied career as a labourer, freezing worker, public servant, and in the arts before training as a journalist at the Auckland University of Technology in 2000. Since then he has worked for The Independent business weekly and for the past three years as a freelancer.
He has received three fellowships from the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism in the United States in 2003-04 to attend seminars in Washington and at Berkeley, California, on the "War on Terror", "Covering Conflict" and US foreign policy.
Applications for next year's Bruce Jesson Critical Writing Awards close on 20 January 2006.
A New Zealand journalist who reported on the US invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq is this year's winner of the Bruce Jesson Foundation's Critical Writing Award.
Hamilton-born Jon Stephenson, 42, has won the $3000 award to return to Iraq this month to report for Auckland's 'Metro' magazine on the political, social and economic position of the country two years after US forces chased Saddam Hussein out of Baghdad in April 2003.
The award is given once a year to fund "critical, informed, analytical and creative journalism or writing which will contribute to public debate in New Zealand on an important issue or issues". The inaugural winners last year were Wellington writers Nicky Hager and Tina McIvor.
Bruce Jesson Foundation chair Professor Andrew Sharp said Jon Stephenson had already made an impressive contribution towards raising New Zealanders' awareness and understanding of both Afghanistan and Iraq from the perspective of the people of those countries.
"Without his reports, we would have been almost totally dependent on news organisations based in the United States and Britain, which were direct participants in the wars," Dr Sharp said.
"Jon Stephenson has risked his life to report in depth from Iraq at a heavy personal and financial cost. We hope his work will inspire others to do similar in-depth work on important issues for New Zealanders, with our support."
Jon Stephenson reported for the Sunday Star-Times from Afghanistan in December 2001 and has made five trips to Iraq since April 2003, most recently in January when he covered the Iraqi elections with TV3's Mike McRoberts. He leaves for Iraq later this month.
He had a varied career as a labourer, freezing worker, public servant, and in the arts before training as a journalist at the Auckland University of Technology in 2000. Since then he has worked for The Independent business weekly and for the past three years as a freelancer.
He has received three fellowships from the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism in the United States in 2003-04 to attend seminars in Washington and at Berkeley, California, on the "War on Terror", "Covering Conflict" and US foreign policy.
Applications for next year's Bruce Jesson Critical Writing Awards close on 20 January 2006.
Wellington researchers Nicky Hager and Tina McIvor have won the first awards from the new Bruce Jesson Critical Writing Fund.
The fund has been set up by the Bruce Jesson Foundation to encourage the kind of critical, analytical journalism that the late Bruce Jesson produced in Metro, The Republican and in books until his death in 1999.
It will initially allocate $3000 a year, and has split the first award equally with $1500 each to Hager and McIvor.
Hager has written many articles and books. He was inspired by Bruce Jesson to write his first major piece of research, a history of Tasman Pulp and Paper looking at the interaction between the company, the government and the local people. Two of his most recent books were "Secret Power" (1996), about New Zealand's role in the Western spy network, and "Seeds of Distrust" (2002), the book that revealed a cover-up of genetically engineered sweet corn that was planted in New Zealand in 2000.
He will use the Jesson Foundation award to work on a new book about New Zealand's alliance links with the US, Britain, Canada and Australia.
Tina McIvor coordinated the Benefit Rights Service at the Wellington People's Centre from March 2001 until last October, when she stopped fulltime paid work to become a mother. She still produces the People's Centre's Welfare Scene bulletin, and last November wrote a report on Female Financial Hardship and Debt Due to Marital Status.
She will use the Jesson award to research and write a report on the culture of the Ministry of Social Development's Benefit Control Unit.
Former Prime Minister David Lange, who was a personal friend of Bruce Jesson and has chaired the Jesson Foundation since it was established in 1999, said the Critical Writing Fund was designed to help people with limited financial resources to put the time and money required into producing critical, informed, analytical and creative writing that would contribute to public debate in New Zealand.
"Many people - journalists, academics, students, workers and people in all walks of life - have ideas for this kind of work, but can't afford to take the time off paid work, or need help with the cost of phone calls, books or travel," Lange said.
The foundation has put $15,000 from private donors into the Critical Writing Fund to fund awards of $3000 a year for the next five years, and is seeking co-sponsors to make the fund permanent. Applications for the 2005 awards will be called in November.
The Bruce Jesson Foundation is a charitable trust funded by public donations and registered by the Inland Revenue Department as a donee organisation, making donations eligible for a tax rebate. Further information is at www.brucejesson.com.
Contact:
Nicky Hager, 04 384 5074.
Tina McIvor, 04 905 6814.
Critical Writing Fund Committee:
Simon Collins, 021 612 423.
Rebecca Jesson, 09 521 8118.
Finlay Macdonald, 09 415 4700.
or email: Bruce Jesson Foundation
The fund has been set up by the Bruce Jesson Foundation to encourage the kind of critical, analytical journalism that the late Bruce Jesson produced in Metro, The Republican and in books until his death in 1999.
It will initially allocate $3000 a year, and has split the first award equally with $1500 each to Hager and McIvor.
Hager has written many articles and books. He was inspired by Bruce Jesson to write his first major piece of research, a history of Tasman Pulp and Paper looking at the interaction between the company, the government and the local people. Two of his most recent books were "Secret Power" (1996), about New Zealand's role in the Western spy network, and "Seeds of Distrust" (2002), the book that revealed a cover-up of genetically engineered sweet corn that was planted in New Zealand in 2000.
He will use the Jesson Foundation award to work on a new book about New Zealand's alliance links with the US, Britain, Canada and Australia.
Tina McIvor coordinated the Benefit Rights Service at the Wellington People's Centre from March 2001 until last October, when she stopped fulltime paid work to become a mother. She still produces the People's Centre's Welfare Scene bulletin, and last November wrote a report on Female Financial Hardship and Debt Due to Marital Status.
She will use the Jesson award to research and write a report on the culture of the Ministry of Social Development's Benefit Control Unit.
Former Prime Minister David Lange, who was a personal friend of Bruce Jesson and has chaired the Jesson Foundation since it was established in 1999, said the Critical Writing Fund was designed to help people with limited financial resources to put the time and money required into producing critical, informed, analytical and creative writing that would contribute to public debate in New Zealand.
"Many people - journalists, academics, students, workers and people in all walks of life - have ideas for this kind of work, but can't afford to take the time off paid work, or need help with the cost of phone calls, books or travel," Lange said.
The foundation has put $15,000 from private donors into the Critical Writing Fund to fund awards of $3000 a year for the next five years, and is seeking co-sponsors to make the fund permanent. Applications for the 2005 awards will be called in November.
The Bruce Jesson Foundation is a charitable trust funded by public donations and registered by the Inland Revenue Department as a donee organisation, making donations eligible for a tax rebate. Further information is at www.brucejesson.com.
Contact:
Nicky Hager, 04 384 5074.
Tina McIvor, 04 905 6814.
Critical Writing Fund Committee:
Simon Collins, 021 612 423.
Rebecca Jesson, 09 521 8118.
Finlay Macdonald, 09 415 4700.
or email: Bruce Jesson Foundation
The Bruce Jesson Foundation promotes vigorous political, social and economic investigation, debate, analysis and reporting. This activity is organised by the Foundation’s Trustees, and is supported by a wide membership.
All are welcome to become members. Although Bruce Jesson was prominent in left-wing circles he had friends across the political spectrum - including the trustees.
The right hand sidebar lists categories of material on the site (The Jesson lectures, reviews etc...). Click on each item to explore. Categories of material are at the foot of the sidebar.
The Trust records with great regret the death on 13 August 2005 of its founding Chair, Rt. Hon David Lange., ONZ.He will be greatly missed by us, as by all New Zealanders.
All are welcome to become members. Although Bruce Jesson was prominent in left-wing circles he had friends across the political spectrum - including the trustees.
The right hand sidebar lists categories of material on the site (The Jesson lectures, reviews etc...). Click on each item to explore. Categories of material are at the foot of the sidebar.
The Trust records with great regret the death on 13 August 2005 of its founding Chair, Rt. Hon David Lange., ONZ.He will be greatly missed by us, as by all New Zealanders.
Due to popular demand we offer here all the lectures in one big zip file
Bruce Jesson Lectures - Zip File
Bruce Jesson Lectures - Zip File
Union Relevance in Aotearoa in the 21st Century
Laila Harré
National Secretary National Distribution Union
9 November 2007Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture
Download as PDF
Whanau, friends, comrades and fellow inquirers.
My aim this evening is to re-state the case for trade unionism in Aotearoa in the 21st Century, to review the struggle for union relevance in the 20 years since labour market deregulation took hold in New Zealand and to present some challenges, and dispense some advice, to a few key players – unions, employers and policy makers.
I want to demonstrate why union efforts to give workers a voice and to build workers’ collective power matters. And why all of us should care greatly about how well unions do.
There being a paucity of public discussion on these matters I do this with some trepidation. It is a mixed blessing to be given the privilege of this platform on this subject and I take it seriously.
Given the approach our friend, mentor and comrade, Bruce Jesson, in whose memory this annual lecture is delivered, took to his intellectual duty I suspect I am more likely to be accused of being too careful than too cruel.
Perhaps that is a product of the times in which we find ourselves renewing unionism.
As the late Moss Evans, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union in Britain is reported as once having said, "When I look in the mirror when I am shaving I don't see the face of a man who will bring down capitalism".
Of course like your typical union member today, I don’t get to first base on this one. I’m female.
Laila Harré
National Secretary National Distribution Union
9 November 2007Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture
Download as PDF
Whanau, friends, comrades and fellow inquirers.
My aim this evening is to re-state the case for trade unionism in Aotearoa in the 21st Century, to review the struggle for union relevance in the 20 years since labour market deregulation took hold in New Zealand and to present some challenges, and dispense some advice, to a few key players – unions, employers and policy makers.
I want to demonstrate why union efforts to give workers a voice and to build workers’ collective power matters. And why all of us should care greatly about how well unions do.
There being a paucity of public discussion on these matters I do this with some trepidation. It is a mixed blessing to be given the privilege of this platform on this subject and I take it seriously.
Given the approach our friend, mentor and comrade, Bruce Jesson, in whose memory this annual lecture is delivered, took to his intellectual duty I suspect I am more likely to be accused of being too careful than too cruel.
Perhaps that is a product of the times in which we find ourselves renewing unionism.
As the late Moss Evans, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union in Britain is reported as once having said, "When I look in the mirror when I am shaving I don't see the face of a man who will bring down capitalism".
Of course like your typical union member today, I don’t get to first base on this one. I’m female.
Gordon Campbell
21 November 2006
Download as PDF
Good evening, thanks for coming. My name is Gordon Campbell, and it is my privilege tonight to present this annual lecture which, as you know, is intended to honour the life and works of Bruce Jesson. As much as anything, it was the deeds of politicians - and the media’s failure to hold them properly to account - that impelled Bruce into his life of commentary and political action. And I think he’d have enjoyed being here tonight, to argue the toss afterwards about this topic.
I do apologise for reading this lecture. Listening to someone read a lecture must be a deadly experience. If its any consolation…for someone who writes, reading this out loud is….well, its like karaoke. The music is all in the head. Believe me, I know.
One disclaimer I should make. The kind invitation to do this lecture came before I started work with the Greens. The views I express do not reflect in any way, shape or form the views of the Green Party or caucus. I’m here tonight strictly as a former journalist, and part time music promoter.
Oddly enough, the last time I was in the Maidment Theatre just over a year ago, was to hear a musician, called Joanna Newsom. One of her songs captures in a few phrases something of what I’ve got to say tonight. So please, bear with me if I quote :
21 November 2006
Download as PDF
Good evening, thanks for coming. My name is Gordon Campbell, and it is my privilege tonight to present this annual lecture which, as you know, is intended to honour the life and works of Bruce Jesson. As much as anything, it was the deeds of politicians - and the media’s failure to hold them properly to account - that impelled Bruce into his life of commentary and political action. And I think he’d have enjoyed being here tonight, to argue the toss afterwards about this topic.
I do apologise for reading this lecture. Listening to someone read a lecture must be a deadly experience. If its any consolation…for someone who writes, reading this out loud is….well, its like karaoke. The music is all in the head. Believe me, I know.
One disclaimer I should make. The kind invitation to do this lecture came before I started work with the Greens. The views I express do not reflect in any way, shape or form the views of the Green Party or caucus. I’m here tonight strictly as a former journalist, and part time music promoter.
Oddly enough, the last time I was in the Maidment Theatre just over a year ago, was to hear a musician, called Joanna Newsom. One of her songs captures in a few phrases something of what I’ve got to say tonight. So please, bear with me if I quote :
And all the books our fathers wrote
are in the middle of the road
Little by little, we implode
We can’t remember what was spoke
But we stare in wonder at the smoke
What it begets is born alone
We know not now what we have known…
After the Treaty: a new fiction
Colin James
14 November 2005
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This is an honour and an astonishment: an astonishment because this occasion is grandly titled a "lecture" and I am a journalist — journalists write stories; and an honour because I think Bruce Jesson was worthy of having a lecture named for him.
I don't claim familiarity with Bruce. But on a couple of occasions I went fishing (well, sitting on a boat) with Bruce and his generous friend Peter Lee. Once we became marooned when the motor in Peter's venerable vessel would not start. As Peter communed with his engine and we gently rocked far out of swimming distance from Peter's little bay on Waiheke, Bruce suddenly grinned at me. Imagine the story, he said, if the news media were to report our loss at sea, each in the incongruous company of the other, he of the "left" and I supposedly of the "right".
In fact, we shared, I think, two interests: in policy, where it originates, how it works and what it does to people; and in the ingredients of this place, this country, which we who perch here sometimes fancy we can call a nation. But Bruce was an activist as well as an observer; as much a politician as an analyst of politics; he shaped as well as described. I just watch. The price I pay for the incalculable privilege of watching up close is to have to write down some of what I see. Moreover, Bruce was, Andrew Sharp wrote, a "patriot". My roots are too shallow and my ambitions too small to be a patriot. I am ephemeral; Bruce has a legacy.
Bruce had a framework, marxism, into which to fit the world he studied and wanted to change. I have no such framework.
Colin James
14 November 2005
Download as PDF
This is an honour and an astonishment: an astonishment because this occasion is grandly titled a "lecture" and I am a journalist — journalists write stories; and an honour because I think Bruce Jesson was worthy of having a lecture named for him.
I don't claim familiarity with Bruce. But on a couple of occasions I went fishing (well, sitting on a boat) with Bruce and his generous friend Peter Lee. Once we became marooned when the motor in Peter's venerable vessel would not start. As Peter communed with his engine and we gently rocked far out of swimming distance from Peter's little bay on Waiheke, Bruce suddenly grinned at me. Imagine the story, he said, if the news media were to report our loss at sea, each in the incongruous company of the other, he of the "left" and I supposedly of the "right".
In fact, we shared, I think, two interests: in policy, where it originates, how it works and what it does to people; and in the ingredients of this place, this country, which we who perch here sometimes fancy we can call a nation. But Bruce was an activist as well as an observer; as much a politician as an analyst of politics; he shaped as well as described. I just watch. The price I pay for the incalculable privilege of watching up close is to have to write down some of what I see. Moreover, Bruce was, Andrew Sharp wrote, a "patriot". My roots are too shallow and my ambitions too small to be a patriot. I am ephemeral; Bruce has a legacy.
Bruce had a framework, marxism, into which to fit the world he studied and wanted to change. I have no such framework.
Are we all New Zealanders now? A Mäori response to the Päkehä quest for indigeneity.
Ani Mikaere
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Racial conflict was one of the formative experiences of New Zealand society. Pakeha New Zealanders are the products of an invading culture. As individuals we can be magnanimous or guilt-stricken, according to our inclination. But as a society we have this amazing capacity for self-deception. For more than a century we smugly believed that this country was a model of racial harmony, that we were one people. Maori radicalism has put an end to that particular delusion, and we are now in the process of putting down new layers of hypocrisy.
Those among you who knew Bruce Jesson well or who are familiar with his writing will doubtless recognise his voice in the extract I have just read: he wrote it in 1986, in the wake of Michael King’s book Being Pakeha.
Unlike those who have gone before me in presenting this address, I never met Bruce Jesson. From what I have been able to find out about him, however, I wish I had. I am well aware that he commanded enormous respect and I am honoured to celebrate his memory by participating in this event. And I was particularly pleased, while working on this lecture, to come across material written by him that was so relevant to the topic that I have chosen to talk about tonight.
My attention was drawn the notion of Päkehä indigeneity by a speech that Trevor Mallard made shortly after his appointment as Co-ordinating Minister, Race Relations. Entitled "We are all New Zealanders now", his speech emphasized the need to put the difficulties of the past behind us in order to forge a collective sense of nationhood. Mallard expressed the hope that this new century would be about "perfecting our nationhood", "banishing the demons from our past" and "cheering each other on as New Zealand citizens". Of particular interest to me was his claim that:
New Zealand has to get its British imperial past behind it. Mäori and Päkehä are both indigenous people to New Zealand now. I regard myself as an indigenous New Zealander . . .
Of course, Mallard is not the first Päkehä to speak of his feelings of indigeneity: in 1999 Michael King insisted that "[p]eople who live in New Zealand by choice as distinct from an accident of birth, and who are committed to this land and its people and steeped in their knowledge of both, are no less ‘indigenous’ than Mäori".
Ani Mikaere
Download as PDF
Racial conflict was one of the formative experiences of New Zealand society. Pakeha New Zealanders are the products of an invading culture. As individuals we can be magnanimous or guilt-stricken, according to our inclination. But as a society we have this amazing capacity for self-deception. For more than a century we smugly believed that this country was a model of racial harmony, that we were one people. Maori radicalism has put an end to that particular delusion, and we are now in the process of putting down new layers of hypocrisy.
Those among you who knew Bruce Jesson well or who are familiar with his writing will doubtless recognise his voice in the extract I have just read: he wrote it in 1986, in the wake of Michael King’s book Being Pakeha.
Unlike those who have gone before me in presenting this address, I never met Bruce Jesson. From what I have been able to find out about him, however, I wish I had. I am well aware that he commanded enormous respect and I am honoured to celebrate his memory by participating in this event. And I was particularly pleased, while working on this lecture, to come across material written by him that was so relevant to the topic that I have chosen to talk about tonight.
My attention was drawn the notion of Päkehä indigeneity by a speech that Trevor Mallard made shortly after his appointment as Co-ordinating Minister, Race Relations. Entitled "We are all New Zealanders now", his speech emphasized the need to put the difficulties of the past behind us in order to forge a collective sense of nationhood. Mallard expressed the hope that this new century would be about "perfecting our nationhood", "banishing the demons from our past" and "cheering each other on as New Zealand citizens". Of particular interest to me was his claim that:
New Zealand has to get its British imperial past behind it. Mäori and Päkehä are both indigenous people to New Zealand now. I regard myself as an indigenous New Zealander . . .
Of course, Mallard is not the first Päkehä to speak of his feelings of indigeneity: in 1999 Michael King insisted that "[p]eople who live in New Zealand by choice as distinct from an accident of birth, and who are committed to this land and its people and steeped in their knowledge of both, are no less ‘indigenous’ than Mäori".
RECOLONISATION OR DECOLONISATION – WHERE DOES OUR FUTURE LIE?
Fourth Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, 17 November 2003 delivered by Professor Jane Kelsey, Auckland University. Thanks to Bill Rosenberg, Joce Jesson, and Andrew Sharp for comments during its preparation.
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I vividly remember the last conversation I had with Bruce. He wanted to talk about the failure of the left to address the theoretical and political challenges posed by global capitalism. I was in one of my populist phases, high on activist politics and fresh from the victory against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the MAI. Bruce was visibly impatient with the theoretical shallowness of what I was saying. It’s the kind of conversation you wish you could rerun, but you can’t.
Tonight’s lecture is my belated attempt to address the problem in a way that Bruce would have appreciated. His approach was always to look beyond the immediate and identify underlying trends and prospects for the longer term. He also didn’t believe there was much place in the politics of the left for idealists who were driven simply by revulsion for suffering and hopes for a better future. The point is, if you are to change the world, you need to understand it empirically and theoretically.
Fourth Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, 17 November 2003 delivered by Professor Jane Kelsey, Auckland University. Thanks to Bill Rosenberg, Joce Jesson, and Andrew Sharp for comments during its preparation.
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I vividly remember the last conversation I had with Bruce. He wanted to talk about the failure of the left to address the theoretical and political challenges posed by global capitalism. I was in one of my populist phases, high on activist politics and fresh from the victory against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the MAI. Bruce was visibly impatient with the theoretical shallowness of what I was saying. It’s the kind of conversation you wish you could rerun, but you can’t.
Tonight’s lecture is my belated attempt to address the problem in a way that Bruce would have appreciated. His approach was always to look beyond the immediate and identify underlying trends and prospects for the longer term. He also didn’t believe there was much place in the politics of the left for idealists who were driven simply by revulsion for suffering and hopes for a better future. The point is, if you are to change the world, you need to understand it empirically and theoretically.
What’s Left?
Third Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, November 2002 delivered by Chris Trotter.
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THANK YOU ANDREW for that stimulating introduction, and thank you ladies and gentlemen (if I may use such a disreputably bourgeois mode of address at a gathering such as this) for coming along this evening to hear the third Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture.
As Andrew Sharp has told you, my first encounter with Bruce Jesson was at a seminar organised by the Robert Stout Research Centre in Wellington. The paper which he delivered that day reflected all the qualities that I later came to admire most about Bruce Jesson, both as a writer and as a friend. It was clearly argued in the plain, unvarnished, but immensely strong vocabulary of everyday English – that wonderfully democratic style which George Orwell recommended to the Left – but which so few of us have ever mastered. It was also unsparing in its analysis – owing nothing to partisan loyalties or employer prejudices. And, most importantly, it delivered its conclusions fearlessly and without flinching.
Bruce Jesson was that rare intellectual who insisted upon gathering and analysing the evidence before forming an opinion – and who had the courage to back his own judgement. In doing so Bruce demonstrated the truly radical character of rational thought. I remember him telling me once that this was the quality he most admired in the writings of Karl Marx – not the revolutionary fervour, but the analytical rigour.
Third Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, November 2002 delivered by Chris Trotter.
Download as PDF
THANK YOU ANDREW for that stimulating introduction, and thank you ladies and gentlemen (if I may use such a disreputably bourgeois mode of address at a gathering such as this) for coming along this evening to hear the third Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture.
As Andrew Sharp has told you, my first encounter with Bruce Jesson was at a seminar organised by the Robert Stout Research Centre in Wellington. The paper which he delivered that day reflected all the qualities that I later came to admire most about Bruce Jesson, both as a writer and as a friend. It was clearly argued in the plain, unvarnished, but immensely strong vocabulary of everyday English – that wonderfully democratic style which George Orwell recommended to the Left – but which so few of us have ever mastered. It was also unsparing in its analysis – owing nothing to partisan loyalties or employer prejudices. And, most importantly, it delivered its conclusions fearlessly and without flinching.
Bruce Jesson was that rare intellectual who insisted upon gathering and analysing the evidence before forming an opinion – and who had the courage to back his own judgement. In doing so Bruce demonstrated the truly radical character of rational thought. I remember him telling me once that this was the quality he most admired in the writings of Karl Marx – not the revolutionary fervour, but the analytical rigour.
NATION BUILDING AND THE TEXTURED SOCIETY
Second Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, 23 October 2001 delivered by Brian Easton. This is a revised version of the paper presented on Tuesday 23 October. It remains a draft, and should only be quoted after specific permission.
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I did not know Bruce Jesson as well as many of you in the audience, although I may have known him longer, for we went to the same high school. Bruce was in my younger brother’s class, so I only just knew him then. While I have a memory of him gawky in the dreary gray school uniform, it may be this is re-created because we all looked awkward in the uniform, so it is easy to imagine with hindsight. We did not overlap at university, but I recall being stunned by the occasion in 1966 when Bruce and some friends burnt a Union Jack in front of the governor-general, asking why we were upset about damaging a foreign flag, We were already refusing to stand up in the cinema for "God Save the Queen", but that protest lifted the level of analysis, challenging us to think more deeply about what being a New Zealander really meant. However, it was not really until the 1970s I began to link with Bruce, first by reading his wonderful journal, The Republican, and later visiting him in Auckland.
Second Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, 23 October 2001 delivered by Brian Easton. This is a revised version of the paper presented on Tuesday 23 October. It remains a draft, and should only be quoted after specific permission.
Download as PDF
I did not know Bruce Jesson as well as many of you in the audience, although I may have known him longer, for we went to the same high school. Bruce was in my younger brother’s class, so I only just knew him then. While I have a memory of him gawky in the dreary gray school uniform, it may be this is re-created because we all looked awkward in the uniform, so it is easy to imagine with hindsight. We did not overlap at university, but I recall being stunned by the occasion in 1966 when Bruce and some friends burnt a Union Jack in front of the governor-general, asking why we were upset about damaging a foreign flag, We were already refusing to stand up in the cinema for "God Save the Queen", but that protest lifted the level of analysis, challenging us to think more deeply about what being a New Zealander really meant. However, it was not really until the 1970s I began to link with Bruce, first by reading his wonderful journal, The Republican, and later visiting him in Auckland.
Currently the Bruce Jesson Foundation offers memberships through email conversations only
Join The Bruce Jesson Foundation
Join The Bruce Jesson Foundation
The work of the Foundation is entirely voluntary and depends upon donations and bequests. Consequently, there is a need to obtain funds from these sources whenever possible.
The foundation is a charitable organisation and accordingly donations made by an individual in excess of $5 are eligible for an income tax rebate.
Donations can be made by cheque payable to:
"The Bruce Jesson Foundation"
and sent to
PO Box 99401. Newmarket 1149, Auckland.
The foundation is a charitable organisation and accordingly donations made by an individual in excess of $5 are eligible for an income tax rebate.
Donations can be made by cheque payable to:
"The Bruce Jesson Foundation"
and sent to
PO Box 99401. Newmarket 1149, Auckland.
Dr Jane Kelsey (Chair) - Professor of Law, Auckland University
Dr Andrew Sharp (past Chair) - Professor of Political Studies, Auckland University
Simon Collins - Social Affairs reporter, New Zealand Herald; former editor of City Voice
Dr Joe Atkinson - columnist for Metro and North & South magazines, Senior Lecturer Department of Political Studies, Auckland University
Jon Stephenson - foreign affairs producer and correspondent, TV 3
Hugh Fletcher - Company director and former Chief Executive, Fletcher Challenge Ltd
Mark Ford - Chief Executive, Watercare Services Ltd
Dr Joce Jesson (Secretary) - Principal Lecturer, Auckland College of Education; widow of Bruce Jesson
Mike Lee – Chairman, Auckland Regional Council
Gary Swift (Treasurer) - General Manager Finance, Watercare Services Ltd
Dr Brent Wheeler - Economist, Financial Advisor, Dunedin
The Bruce Jesson Foundation has its headquarters here in Aotearoa:
"The Bruce Jesson Foundation"
PO Box 99401,
Newmarket 1149,
Auckland.
Your best bet though is reaching us through email:
Contact Us Via Email
"The Bruce Jesson Foundation"
PO Box 99401,
Newmarket 1149,
Auckland.
Your best bet though is reaching us through email:
Contact Us Via Email
INAUGURAL LECTURE
The first Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, November 2000 delivered by the Right Honourable David Lange.
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Bruce believed that people had lost the power of decision which should belong to them in a democracy. In his memory, I'd like to carry on the conversation we had about this.
I should say something about my relationship with Bruce. I first met him in court. I was working, and he was charged with breaking windows in a development in Freeman's Bay in a protest against the Auckland City Council's building houses for the rich. We were political opponents for a good few years and didn't get to know each other until I was winding down my time in parliament. He wrote what I still believe was a lot of nonsense about me when I was in office.
The first Bruce Jesson Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland, November 2000 delivered by the Right Honourable David Lange.
Download as PDF
Bruce believed that people had lost the power of decision which should belong to them in a democracy. In his memory, I'd like to carry on the conversation we had about this.
I should say something about my relationship with Bruce. I first met him in court. I was working, and he was charged with breaking windows in a development in Freeman's Bay in a protest against the Auckland City Council's building houses for the rich. We were political opponents for a good few years and didn't get to know each other until I was winding down my time in parliament. He wrote what I still believe was a lot of nonsense about me when I was in office.
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