A Gentle Radical: The Life of Jeanette Fitzsimons
A Gentle Radical: The Life of Jeanette Fitzsimons by Gareth Hughes. Allen & Unwin (2022). RRP: $39.99. Pb, 376 pp. Reviewed by Rebecca Styles
The biography of Jeanette Fitzsimons sets out to show the personal story of a woman who was a visionary, pioneer and a radical. Jeanette Fitzsimons was the co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa from 1995 to 2009, and a member of Parliament for 14 years, and she is the only Green MP to win an electorate seat.
Gareth Hughes is a former Green MP. He left politics and Wellington at the last election to live on Quarantine Island, in the Otago Peninsula, with his wife Meghan, and their two kids. In May 2022, he was appointed as the New Zealand lead for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, a global group looking to change the economic system to value the wellbeing of people and the planet.
I imagine Hughes wrote screeds during his career in parliament, and he has also written articles for the likes of The Spin Off, but this is his first long form publication for a general audience. A Gentle Radical is a chronological account of Jeanette’s life. From a childhood in Mosgiel with teacher parents, to attending Epsom Girls’ Grammar, to her growing love of music, in particular the violin, and of course, politics.
It was in 1972, when Jeanette was living in Switzerland, married to Bevin, with one child and another on the way, when her political consciousness was awakened. Having to keep her feet up during her second pregnancy, she began to read literature that showed how continued economic growth would destroy the planet. This started her on the path of ecological training, as well as the impulse to act on her environmental concerns. While these concerns percolated in her mind, her father sent her clippings about a new political party, called the Values Party. Hughes says it was the world’s first nationally focused environmental party. “A ‘green’ party before the name had been coined” (61). In the Values Party, Jeanette found a group of like-minded people, and became a member.
Jeanette and her family returned to New Zealand in 1974 and settled in Auckland. She starts her environmental work: editing ecology papers, launching recycling initiatives, and begins her interest in energy policy. Hughes shows us how Fitzsimons’s intelligence and unflappable manner made her a highly regarded environmental campaigner and politician. While these characteristics would have undoubtedly made her a great colleague and advocate, the problem with narrative is that it requires characters with more conflict. While we see her resolve and dedication to the cause, we don’t see much internal conflict. Even her separation from her first husband Bevin is handled with the utmost dignity. Not that I was after salacious details, but I wanted to know the whole person, I wanted to see the personal alongside the political. It’s not until we get to the Corngate saga and Fitzsimons’ stoush with the then Prime Minister Helen Clark that we see some sparks fly.
After the 2005 election, the Greens are out of the coalition government with Labour; United Future and New Zealand First are in. Fitzsimons meets with Winston Peters, after which, the Green’s Chief of Staff notes it’s the angriest she’s ever seen Fitzsimons (319). I wanted to see this too. What does a calm and respectful person look like when they get angry? What do they say, if anything? Do they throw things, do they slam doors? Let us see this scene, we want to know what tipped her over.
Yet there is humour, particularly when describing clothes. Political commentator Colin James notes the differences in fashion at an Alliance conference which reflected the different political parties of those assembled:
“In one area sat NewLabour members, both sexes dressed in jeans and floppy jerseys and boots; nearby were Greens, in floppier jerseys or floaty skirts (some with sandals); the Democrats were in suits or dresses” (165).
When Jim Anderton speaks at the Green Party conference, when they vote on whether to join the Alliance, Anderton pulls out all the stops by wearing:
“a shirt with the words UNIVERSAL WILDERNESS emblazoned across his chest. Polar bears were pictured guarding the globe with the text ‘The cyclic alliance of soil and all living things keeps on unfolding’” (156).
It’s the only time Anderton dresses to the Green Party’s dress code.
There are a few scenes where we’re told things that were either best left unsaid or expanded on. As the Greens are about to walk out of the House in protest to a bill, Hughes says, “The next step is dramatic” (289). This cue isn’t needed – Hughes goes on to show the drama that unfolds. Earlier in the book, Fitzsimons is missing at a few vital stages. She was an advisor and supporter to Margaret Crozier but is missing during her debates (105). While Hughes says political colleagues can’t remember why not, I think it could’ve been delved into a bit more. Fitzsimons was not a founding member of the Greens, either, and wasn’t involved in the 1990 election campaign, which given her work at the time, seems a bit odd (148). I think these are gaps that could’ve been explored a bit more.
In other passages we’re left hanging. In her early university years, Fitzsimons is seeing James Merryweather who drowns at Bethells Beach. Her brother remembers that his sister, “was very affected by the tragedy” (41). This seems somewhat of an understatement. Again, I wanted more. How did Fitzsimons act? Sure, we can imagine, but as a reader I wanted to get inside the young woman’s head. How did this affect her in the years to come? Did she ever talk about it?
Of course, the very person who could answer these questions is Jeanette herself who died suddenly in 2020. Hughes was left with notes and pages of debates from the House and interviews to pull together Fitzsimons’ life. If grief wasn’t so fresh there may have been more inclination to delve into more personal details, with interviews with her nearest and dearest, so we could get a glimpse of the whole person. I finished the book thinking that Fitzsimons had all the characteristics I admire in a leader – a calm resolve to pursue the issues she believes in, the integrity to steer clear of the argy-bargy of politics – it’s not often those sort of people that get the column inches, or even the top jobs. It also made me think about narrative and its need for conflict, in order to show the arc of character change, whether it be fiction or biography. Jeanette is portrayed as steadfast throughout the book, but we needed more conflict (aside from the conflict of politics) to really show the personal side of Jeanette. However, the book does show us what leadership could be, or even should be, with a woman completely focused on environmentalism and equality.