Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, September 19th, 2008 - 160 comments
Categories: activism, election 2008, national -
Tags: capitalism vs democracy
From Newzblog:
“Local activist James Sleep was today exercising his democratic right to protest when he was approached by an entourage of 4WDs carrying Wairapara MP John Hayes and John Key. Sleep attempted to get out of the way however he soon found himself being propelled backwards by the force of Hayes’ car. The car continued to accelerate for 20 metres until bystanders forced him to stop. Sleep described the incident as frightening and thought he was going to be run over. When the car stopped Sleep was aggressively tackled onto the ground by a male escorting Hayes.
Sleep has since laid complaints of assault and careless driving with the New Zealand Police.”
James Sleep is just a keen 17 year old participating in the democratic process and John Hayes put his life in danger. So what if he was in the way? It’s not OK to drive your vehicle into a human being. I don’t care how desperate for power you are or how heated an exchange gets, in our country resorting to violence over political differences is never acceptable.
John Key smiles and promises National will run a clean campaign yet National activist Cameron Slater launches disgusting attacks on every leftwinger whose name he can get hold of with National research unit help, the Nats launch vexatious EFA complaints against every leftwinger who dares voice opposition to them, gangs of young Nats have gone around Auckland destroying Labour Party hoardings, Tony Ryall has promised repercussions to DHBs that publicise good news, and threats have been made against a number of leftwing activists including myself by National’s bully-boys. All of this has now culminated in Hayes’ assault on Sleep.
I have just spoken to James and he is shaken but undaunted; the forces of established power have attempted to intimidate the Left into submission for generations but we will never be cowed by bullies, there is no question of that. No, the question is: will Key now show some leadership and punish those people who are making his promise of a clean campaign a lie? Will he force Hayes to resign for this unconscionable attack? This has gone too far.
[James's account here]
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Sorry – Have just been to an election debate in the school hall in which John Hayes told the audience that the National Party will not promise to raise the minimum wage when they are in office, he said “we believe in tax cuts, not the minimum wage”
Anyway, to answer your questions about what I was protesting. Mr. Key was opening a retirement home. At this particular event I was attempting to make attendees aware of the irony behind his attendance. It was the National Party who cut superannuation in the 90s, and it was National’s deputy leader, Bill English, who was quoted in the media last year saying that the Labour-led Government is being too generous in its support for retired New Zealanders.
The sign I was using had on one side, “We would love to see wages drop” – So I was also calling on Mr. Key to reveal his hidden agenda.
I hope they arrest john keys for inanity!
“I find it interesting that the blogger wrote, he tried to get out of the way, yet judging by the photo, he seems to be doing his best to stand in front of the moving car.”
I find it interesting you read it and yet failed to comprehend that this photo was taken after the truck had pushed him back. If you read it again, do you think you’d be able to identify the passages you subconsciously blanked out earier, and maybe start to understand the process by which your selective comprehension occurs?
Scribe – are you now the arbitrary judge of what denotes a protest in New Zealand? That sucks.
If someone was holding a ‘right to life’ sign I’d consider them a nuisance, given that debate has hopefully been consigned to the dark ages from whence it belongs. However I accept that to some people, it’s something to legitimately ‘protest’ about. I wouldn’t want to make an arbitrary call on it though, unlike yourself.
You remind me of the official protest zone they had in Beijing. “Sorry, you can’t protest – it will be a nuisance”.
How about if the sign said “Untrustworthy”? Would that be ok with you? “Liar”? “Scoundrel” (in the spirit of International Talk Like A Pirate Day)? “Wet Blanket”?
Cheers James, guess the photo doesn’t do your message justice.
I’m not sure what John Key has to do with the decisions of Bill English and the mid-nineties National, but that’s just me. The police will make the call here, I guess. ar
“I find it interesting that the blogger wrote, he tried to get out of the way, yet judging by the photo, he seems to be doing his best to stand in front of the moving car.”
Read my previous response before making such a comment. I said “The picture is after Mr. Hayes had stopped.”
I was moving over to the side (yes, with my sign up – so what?) and planned to leave the private land that Mr. Hayes had forced me onto. The man in the NewZblog picture stopped me in my bid to do this as he tackled me to the ground a couple of seconds later.
Scribe – are you now the arbitrary judge of what denotes a protest in New Zealand?
No, thank goodness. If James was holding a “Raise the minimum wage” sign or a “Don’t sell state assets” sign, I personally (not on behalf of New Zealand) would consider that a protest.
“Slippery” and “We would love to see wages drop” don’t seem like protests to me (not on behalf of New Zealand).
This is hillarious.
They could of course have just knocked him down then forced through some retrospective legislation allowing the running over of irritating teens when they got into power.
Not sure how unpopular that would be.
lprent said “James laid complaints to the police – that is a big step.”
So did John Minto’s wife when Len Richards assaulted her with a megaphone at last year’s Labour Party conference, in front of half a dozen police officers and captured on film by both One News and 3News. Her complaint didn’t make a hell of a lot of difference did it?
James Sleep – are you OK? SP said you were shaken, and shock can be quite delayed, so make sure you take it easy for the rest of the day.
Tackled to the ground? Was there full use of the arms? If not this is definately a penalty offence.
Pat – you’re a creep. As in you creep me out. And I’ve got an exceptionally high tolerance for creepiness which only goes to show how big a creep you are…
What is interesting about this situation is you have a guy who the law says isn’t competent enough to vote trying to publicly influence the voting of those that are.
So James Sleep is like the Brethren then, Crank?
I don’t think the law says the Bretheren are not competent enough to vote Billy.
Also not sure James has a prediliction for vast quantities of scotch either…Oh my god I like scotch, I don’t much care for Labour and the Greens and my wife is quite ugly. Maybe I am a Bretheren.
Yeah right James, Your a real hero!, but guess what buddy, your story doesn’t add up. Read what you just wrote, and I suggest if you want credibility, you better change your story quick.
Protest is usually legitimate, but there is a point when idiocy becomes too much, like standing in a driveway where cars come through (as it seems James Sleep was from what I’ve gathered).
Lets put this in another way, say you’re driving along & you come up to a set of lights, its green for you & then some idiot decides to walk against the red man & walk in front of you, you hit him. Should you be charged with vehicular assault? I think not, most of us would be annoyed at the idiot for walking out in front of us, and yes I think 99.9% of the population would check he was okay too. But personally, i’d be having the idiot who walked out in front of me charged, with obstructing a road, criminal nuisance, and wilful damage.
This situation with James Sleep is similar, he was in the wrong! He could of easily stood to the side of the entrance, or on the footpath, but no, he choose to stand in the way. He’s an idiot pure & simple.
Yes the driver should of slowed down, but at the end of the day everyone including James Sleep needs to take responsibility for their own actions, and as the instigator James needs to take the most responsibility & man up & admit he was in the wrong.
He could of easily stood to the side of the entrance, or on the footpath, but no, he choose to stand in the way. He’s an idiot pure & simple.
Yes, getting in the way makes you an idiot every single time doesn’t it. Like this idiot here:
http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/tiananmen-square-1989.html
It doesn’t matter one iota what James Sleeps motives or intetions were. It is still unlawful to drive over someone in a motor vehicle. If you thickos cant understand that then there is something wrong with you. If Bully Hayes and Slippery John are so impatient and so lacking in COOL that they couldnt wait then they have no credence whatsoever as rational human beings.
So far we have one side of a ever changing story, and the story doesnt add up, read his version of events again, word for word, I hope this goes to court, because James is about to be caught out.
Randal there is no evidence of anyone running over anyone, the only thing I see is some idiot standing in front of a car, nothing else.
[Hoolian got a ban some time back because his behaviour was too hateful but I thought I would let this through just to remind us about the nasty strain of toryism that used in infect our threads. SP]
Oh this is the great load of bollocks I have ever read.
I can hear the crowing at Princes St Labour now: ‘Oh James Sleep, what a martyr. Good on him for standing up against the big bad wolf!’
And James would reply to his groupies (which is a limited group of people at the best of times): ‘Oh yes, I was really “shaken”. That bad ol’ John Key: he huffed and he puffed and made me wet myself, but hey I got a good photo op. I’ll use this new-found fame to start up another Facebook group.”
And Princes St Labour will coo and cry, and Clinton (with his cheerleading costume on) will pat Sleep on the back, while writing wicked things about John Key and how apocalyptic his party is. And then come November, no one will care and National will win – because politics is more than just the sad little, narrow-minded focus of the Standard, Sleep and Steve/Clinton Smith.
How pathetic. A small part of me wishes that Hayes had run him down, just so we could have a bit of authenticity here – some bruises might have made Sleep’s story a tad more credible.
Not that I believe it for a second. What a total load of tripe.
No wonder this is huge “unacceptable” news on the Standard (which is all Clinton’s world consists of) but no where else. Sleep is a tiresome attention seeker – it’s a shame we’re such a tolerating society.
The only way this thread could get any more inane would be a diatribe from Eve on 911.
Brett – I’ve told you before that being angry isn’t a substitute for intelligent. You’re doing it again.
(Here’s a clue – the photo isn’t there to convince you, or provide ‘evidence’. That you think so just demonstrates what I’m saying)
Crank:
Haven’t you seen the Greens main ad yet? You’re voting for them as well….
I always remember being on leave from the army at age 18 (licensed to kill on command). I came up home, voted, and got picked up for underage drinking because I was too young to drink in a bar.
Later that year (still 18) as a student, I had to take a leave of absence from my part-time bar job to come up to Takapuna to be convicted of underage drinking.
Don’t tell me you expect the law to make sense……
Well Matthew of course the photo isn’t there to provide evidence, but if James want this to go to court, he needs evidence not just his word, and judging by what he has written here and elsewhere, his word just doesn’t add up.
Not 911, HS. But I think it may be possible that Hayes’ car is made of depleted uranium.
“Not 911, HS. But I think it may be possible that Hayes’ car is made of depleted uranium.”
And dont forget fuelled by dead babies.
Billy and HS,
Threads go bland if stupid people pummel smart people to converse on an inane level in case the stupid people get all upset if someone challenges their limited world view. You should be proud of yourselves or alternatively get over yourselves you sad sacks of shit. Ridicule is the last resort of the intellectually lazy.
Hey Ev,
In that little homily are you the smart person? Am I the stupid person?
And well done on not mentioning 911.
We’v seen four unfortunately very predictable lines of argument from the Right on this thread:
a) It didn’t happen
b) ok, it happened by it was an accident
c) ok it was intentional but it was just a wee bump
d) ok, it was a serious incident but Sleep deserved it
I think Brett Dale has argued all of these mutually exclusive positions.
but remember these are just excuses, reflexive attempts to mitigate the incident because the ones in the wrong are on their side.
Yeah Steve, I’m regretting not sticking with stuck with Len Richards’ “it never happened” line.
FFS, little Jimmy got exactly what he was after. He would have been thoroughly disappointed if he hadn’t been run over. And, by chance, he had spelled his sign right, so everything was working in his favour.
Steve, I’ve thought long and hard about this very serious and very complex issue, which no doubt will be pivotal to the result of this election, and will almost certainly see John Hayes’ 3000 vote majority reversed, despite the opposite trend everywhere else. I agree with IrishBill. The vehicle shouldn’t have proceeded. James Sleep’s evidence has been compelling and convincing. In that vein, he reminds me of a young Winston Peters, in fact.
I agree with James Sleep’s argument that despite John Hayes not being the driver of the vehicle, he should be charged with not just dangerous driving, but also attempted murder. There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about giving Winston Peters a fair trial at the Privileges Committee, but in this case I think the evidence is so overwhelming that putting John Hayes through the court process would be a waste of taxpayers’ money. He should just be sent straight to jail.
Or alternatively John Hayes could have just thrown eggs at James Sleep until he got out of the way.
Yeah Steve, imagine wanting all the facts from all sides, before you make up your mind?
Something the left or mainly the extreme left is incapable of doing.
brett. i know what you mean, you’ve made up your mind at least four different ways on this topic today alone
Billy,
You are the sack of shit in the story. Get used to it.
Good-oh.