“Move On” Orders
Barack Obama and I are on the same page when it comes to aliens.
In a relaxed moment during a recent podcast interview, the former US President responded to a question about whether aliens were real by saying, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in Area 51”.
He later clarified he’d seen no evidence during his presidency that extraterrestrials have actually made contact with us, but the statistical odds of life beyond Earth were high because the universe is so vast.
Bang on, I reckon. We can’t be the only planet in an immeasurable universe with living beings tootling about. Perhaps there’s even a place that looks a bit like this somewhere?
In fact, a thought experiment I enjoy is to imagine an alternate planet in a parallel universe where things look similar, but things are done differently.
I especially like to picture this when various governments respond to a problem in a way I think is the opposite of the right thing to do. This isn’t just pointless daydreaming, but a practical exercise – to think through what another approach might look like, and what the consequences would be. It’s a way of modelling alternatives, and one of the steps towards creating social change.
And so I have been thinking about my city’s Queen Street and Karangahape Road, and the government giving police new powers to crack down on “beggars and rough sleepers” to make them “move-on” to … somewhere else, out of sight.
I don’t think anyone’s denying there’s a problem on some of our streets, but me and my government are definitely reading it differently.
On one of several recent visits to K’Road, I messaged my husband: “There are a bunch of people here who seem unwell and unhappy”. There was a man having a very loud argument with himself, another man shouting at a woman down the street who was giving it right back with extra sauce, a woman with a cardboard sign asking for cash, and generally quite a few people who didn’t look like they were having their favourite day.
Now, I’m no saint and no one has ever mistaken me for Mother Theresa, but my first thoughts were not, “This makes me feel uncomfortable and/or unsafe, someone should take these people away”.
My primary thought was, “What do these people need? What’s missing for them?” I could guess mental health support, addiction treatment and social housing but I don’t have to guess – City Mission workers are clear that this is exactly what’s required.
And yes, this would come at a cost, but we should compare that with the cost of police resources and prison accommodation – breaching an order risks a fine of up to $2000 or three months in prison. It will apply to people as young as 14 years old. More than half of the homeless in New Zealand are women, and they often have dependent children.
I like to imagine an alternate planet where the government’s first impulse is not to ban, hide or shift the problem, but to solve it. Where their first and seemingly only thought is not to protect business and wait for that to trickle down to people, but to protect its most vulnerable citizens.
I picture a different reality where people see our streets not just as a row of shops where money is made, but a neighbourhood where people live and socialise. Where the solution isn’t to tell homeless people to leave, but to give them somewhere to go.
Where caring for our most vulnerable isn’t an alien concept.