By the time that New Zealand's anti-Vietnam war movement began to mobilise, the nation already seemed to be a few years behind the rest of the western world in terms of protest movements. But New Zealand was determined to catch up, and a a surprisingly broad movement emerged that questioned New Zealand's beliefs.
The nation was then run by what is referred to as "a very conservative business elite" ('Rabble Rousers and Merry Pranksters', Toby Boraman) and political stability under a conservative Keith Holyoake had served the country well. The establishment of the 60s had meant well and on the back of New Zealand's prosperity, they produced the rapid growth of suburbia, supermarkets and automobile-fired mobility,, materialism, maternal continuity and a morality that appeared unchangeable. But the youth movement of the mid-60s turned much of the country's certainty on its head. Eventually, the exponential leap in music, fashion, politics, lifestyles and attitudes could not go unrecognised and beyond 1965, a new youth awareness impacted on the post-war establishment.
By now, the baby-boomer generation had become adventurous adolescents and young adults, and amidst the euphoric liberation inspired by the counter culture movement; the Beatles, the pill, a mind-expanding education, and more so, mind-altering experimental substances, the Vietnam War and the general intransigence of a somewhat sober New Zealand establishment in other matters, produced inevitable youth related flare ups throughout the country.
The radical student youth movement that ensued, questioned the lack of democracy and the quality of life in NZ society. Because people's basic material needs were fulfilled, people could question other issues like foreign affairs involving New Zealand, as well as pondering their everyday lives.
The nation was then run by what is referred to as "a very conservative business elite" ('Rabble Rousers and Merry Pranksters', Toby Boraman) and political stability under a conservative Keith Holyoake had served the country well. The establishment of the 60s had meant well and on the back of New Zealand's prosperity, they produced the rapid growth of suburbia, supermarkets and automobile-fired mobility,, materialism, maternal continuity and a morality that appeared unchangeable. But the youth movement of the mid-60s turned much of the country's certainty on its head. Eventually, the exponential leap in music, fashion, politics, lifestyles and attitudes could not go unrecognised and beyond 1965, a new youth awareness impacted on the post-war establishment.
By now, the baby-boomer generation had become adventurous adolescents and young adults, and amidst the euphoric liberation inspired by the counter culture movement; the Beatles, the pill, a mind-expanding education, and more so, mind-altering experimental substances, the Vietnam War and the general intransigence of a somewhat sober New Zealand establishment in other matters, produced inevitable youth related flare ups throughout the country.
The radical student youth movement that ensued, questioned the lack of democracy and the quality of life in NZ society. Because people's basic material needs were fulfilled, people could question other issues like foreign affairs involving New Zealand, as well as pondering their everyday lives.
Grant McDonagh (an important figure in the anarchist/situationist milieu of the mid-1970s) comments on life in NZ at the time. "profound disillusionment with society... There was specifically disillusionment with the Vietnam War, with capitalism and with work. (I) Hated work. Work is forced labour, just another form of slavery really. And there was this general kind of free-floating idea of a better society that was out there. LSD was part of that." |