The lessons of Les Mis
30th May 2009

For the past week my life has been dominated by Les Miserables, so allow me to start this story with a reference to that show. In Les Mis the students of Paris fight for the rights of the poor and the dispossessed. Their iconic barricade symbolises both their struggle for a voice in government and their attachment to Paris itself, the city they “claim as their own.”

It occurred to me earlier this week that the hikoi opposing the ‘super city’ in Auckland touched the same ideas, in a less bloody fashion. Opposition to the super city is about representation and identity. It seems many people living within the template of a super Auckland, prefer their local allegiances. They mistrust the politicians and technocrats who preach the efficiencies of a super city.

We are told that Auckland needs to become a super city to fix its intractable infrastructure problems: transport, electricity, water, housing. What the reformers fail to appreciate is that while infrastructure may be, justifiably, the fixation of local government, it is not the cement that binds a community. It is cultural capital that brings people together and in communities cultural capital is created not with infrastructure but through community assets and services.

This is as true in Ashburton as it is in Mangere. I do not rejoice in being Ashburtonian by virtue of kerbing and drains. I am grateful the District Council has invested $20million to upgrade the sewerage system but flushing the toilet does not make me swell with civic pride. My attachment to this place is discovered through the opportunities it gives me to exercise my talents and live a life I value.

It’s an important point to make as the Council hears submissions to its District Plan, where discussion boils around the timeline for the sports stadium and art gallery/museum. One speaker, a retired accountant, is reported in the local press urging the Council to delay these projects until all the funding is assured. He argues it will be financial folly to give in to pressure from ‘vested interests’ to bring these projects forward, citing the shortfall in funding to build the Event Centre as an example of what can happen when community fundraisers don’t have all their ducks in a line.

Unsurprisingly, what the accountant fails to take into account is the cultural value of assets like the Event Centre and the sports stadium. No doubt my appearance on the stage of the Event Centre every night this week condemns me to a vested interest but it gives me a close up view of just how good this place is for us.

When the final curtain falls on Les Mis this evening 4000 people will have seen the show. For locals the entertainment of Victor Hugo’s great story will be enhanced by the display of young (and less young) local talent in which we all take pride, and in the quality of the venue.

For people from outside the district the show has blown away many of their conceptions about Ashburton as a place of no consequence; like the woman from North Canterbury who, on the strength of Les Mis, persuaded her incredulous friends to have a girls’ weekend in Ashburton. They watched our show, dined in our restaurants, saw our sights. They were amazed – and they spent money.

As the Council weighs the delicate balance of financial prudence and community pride, let me add Adam’s voice to the argument. Adam was the hitchhiker I picked up in Rakaia on Thursday. As we drove through Ashburton he remarked that nothing much ever changes here.

How often have you and I heard this, or similar? Adam’s is the voice of the wide world. I wanted to veer off the road and show him the Event Centre and Lake Hood. I wanted him to meet the talented cast of Les Mis. I wanted to celebrate my Ashburton in some action that would impress the young man.

The students in Les Mis would have thrown a barricade across West Street and fired a few guns to get the world’s attention. We can do the same by creating community assets that bring out the best in us.