The Residents Action Movement (or RAM) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. RAM described itself as "a mass membership,

broad left The Broad Left was a political faction within the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS) during the 1970s. It consisted of a working relationship between the Labour Party, the Liberal Party, Plaid Cymru, the Communist Party of ...

, grassroots movement of social change". Its national chair was Grant Morgan and its co-leaders were Oliver Woods and Grant Brookes.

History

Foundation

RAM was formed in 2003 out of dissatisfaction by Auckland community activists with the control of local body politics by centre-left Labour-supported City Vision and centre-right

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

-supported

Citizens and Ratepayers Communities and Residents (C&R) is a Right-wing politics, right-leaning Local government, local body Ticket (election), ticket in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formed in 1938 as Citizens & Ratepayers, with a view to controlling the Auckland Cit ...

. RAM ran eight candidates for

Auckland Regional Council The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The ARC ...

in the 2004 local body elections and polled over 87,000 votes. One candidate, Robyn Hughes, was elected to the regional council.

2007 Auckland local elections

RAM expanded its activities in the 2007 Auckland local body elections, running seven candidates for the Auckland Regional Council and six for Auckland City Council, as well as candidates for Auckland's three District Health Boards and Auckland City community boards. Despite receiving more than 117,016 votes Auckland wide, no RAM candidates were elected. In the Auckland Regional Council elections, its vote decreased, from 87,000 to 76,000. Across the board, the right made gains in Greater Auckland's 2007 council elections at the expense of both the centre-left (Labour-aligned tickets) and the left (RAM).

2008 parliamentary election

In early 2008, RAM began to actively recruit to meet the 500 party member threshold required by the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

for party registration. Later in the year, it achieved more than 2,000 registered members, to contest the 2008 general election. It applied for a broadcasting allocation. The party was registered by the Electoral Commission on 29 July 2008. RAM received 465 party votes in the 2008 Parliamentary elections, coming second-to-last.

Policies

RAM advocated a policy of free and frequent public transport, with the aims of alleviating

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

, allowing improved transport means for Auckland residents and fighting against

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. The other core messages of RAM were reducing rates on homeowners, shifting local taxation onto big business, and removing goods and services tax from food. The organisation had a very strong policy of

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

and particularly of supporting Muslim migrants to integrate into New Zealand society. It also called for an "Auckland Parliament" to co-ordinate local democracy in Auckland's five local cities, as an alternative to what it sees as an undemocratic "Super-City" body. In 2007, RAM also organised against

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

and

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

in the city and sponsored a peace march in Auckland with Global Peace and Justice Auckland.

Demise

In May 2010, the party was deregistered by the Electoral Commission at its own request. According to RAM member Curwen Rolinson, members went to different parties such as Labour or the Greens. Rolinson himself became a key figure in the early years of Young New Zealand First.

References

External links

RAM's Official website
* Socialist Worker New Zealandbr>Electoral Analysis of RAM's performance in the 2007 local elections
Unity Aotearoa blog {{Historic New Zealand political parties Political parties established in 2003 Political parties disestablished in 2010 Defunct political parties in New Zealand Politics of the Auckland Region