The spirit of ’81: Key’s hypocrisy!

Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, December 19th, 2013 - 141 comments
Categories: accountability, benefits, child welfare, cost of living, election 2014, hone harawira, john key, mana-party, Maori Issues, Mining, national/act government, poverty, sustainability, uncategorized - Tags:

John Key’s attacks on Hone Harawira for his trip to South Africa were hypocritical given Key’s own (non) stance on the 1981 protests against the South African rugby tour of NZ.  Key’s attacks were an opportunistic attempt to smear a political opponent, and divert from the failings of Key’s government: this done, for instance, by Key referring to Harawira’s trip as a “taxpayer funded junket”.

Hone nails it in his response published in the NZ Herald [h/t Bearded Git]!  Some extracts from the article entitled:

Hone Harawira: I cried, I danced, I said goodbye – how about you, John?

Dear John,

Why are you being so nasty about my going to South Africa to farewell Nelson Mandela?

Were you upset by the world media calling you the “unidentified guest” while I was on national television dancing with Madiba’s people in Soweto? I’m sorry about that John, but was that my fault?

And yeah … I know I said your delegation didn’t truly represent those who loved Mandela but I wasn’t the only one. Heaps of people said so – even the media. I mean look at it. You went (and you didn’t even know what your position was on apartheid!), and you took two members of the National Government that supported the apartheid-backed Springbok Tour of 1981.

I mean really … is that the best you can do to represent us at the memorial services for one of the greatest men of our time?

And I heard your comments about there being “people with a greater claim to going than me”. Yeah – like John Minto and Sue Bradford. But you didn’t take them. You didn’t even ask them, did you John? So why are you being so bitchy about me going when you didn’t take them anyway?

[…]

And as for my using taxpayers’ money on a “jolly”, isn’t that just a little churlish and mean-spirited? I went to memorial services just like you. I went to a private service at Mandela’s family home (not sure whether you got to do that, John). And I went to view his body just like you (except my wife did a karanga, mate, as we Maori do, and I followed that up with a haka).

So if I did what you did, except better, how come I have to pay the money back but you don’t have to?

[…]

You see, as soon as I heard Mandela had died I cried. And then I decided I was going to go to South Africa.

I wanted to farewell a man I have always looked up to, a man who was a hero to people of colour all across the world, who suffered under one of the most deeply racist regimes of our time, and walked out of jail after 27 years with a smile on his face and love in his heart.

I went to farewell a man who cast aside forever the ugliness of apartheid, and gave us the phrase “in my country we go to prison first and then become President”.

I went to farewell the man who said that when we stopped the game in Hamilton during the 1981 tour, “it was like the sun came out”. Yes John, I can remember being there and I was proud of being there.

I went to farewell a wonderful, warm and caring man who I was privileged to meet when he came to thank the protesters in 1995.

You see, John, I went to farewell a man that I loved.

And if you want to condemn me for that then you go right ahead.

Harawira was within his rights to use the speaker approved, leaders’ budget for the trip.   He also explained this in a video from Maori Television News.

John Key is hypocritical on that, because Key also went at taxpayers’ expense.  And, while he was never a supporter of Mandela or the anti-apartheid movement, he used the trip to connect with powerful similarly positioned leaders like Aussie’s Abbott and UK’s Cameron.

Key_Cameron_mandela_1200

It’s likely the attempt to smear Harawira was motivated by Team Key realising that next year’s election may result in small parties like Mana, determining the final make-up of the government: a realisation that Key’s National Party is falling out of favour with a lot of voters.  So Key’s smears amount to a diversion from his own lack of ethics on issues such as apartheid, and on all these things that Hone mentioned:

Or are you just attacking me to try to take people’s attention off the bigger issues of the day, like all those reports highlighting how deep child poverty is in Aotearoa, or how the referendum showed that New Zealanders don’t support your selling our assets, or the public anger about you selling off our sovereignty under the TPPA, or how pissed off people are that you’ve done a deep sea oil deal with a company that’s facing a $16 billion lawsuit over claims and compensation for contaminated sites in the US? Is that what this is all about?

…. and more……

 

141 comments on “The spirit of ’81: Key’s hypocrisy! ”

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  1. adam 1
    19 December 2013 at 3:34 pm

    Hear, hear.

  2. One Anonymous Knucklehead 2
    19 December 2013 at 3:37 pm

    he used the trip to connect with powerful similarly positioned leaders like Aussie’s Abbott and UK’s Cameron.

    Connect with? If Cameron’s body language is anything to go by I think ‘bore’ might be a better word.

    PS: looks like Key’s practising his three-way handshake action.

  3. fender 3
    19 December 2013 at 3:39 pm

    Well said Hone. Maybe when Key sobers up he’ll answer these questions, but Key is a gutless coward so I doubt he will provide answers.

  4. Naturesong 4
    19 December 2013 at 3:40 pm

    It’s called race baiting Look for more of it next year.

    Particularly the part where he accuses Hone of being lazy; pretty sure Key is aware that Hone’s electorate covers East Coast Bays, Helensville, North Shore, Northcote, Northland, Rodney, Te Atatū, Whangarei, the northern part of Waitakere and some of the islands located within Auckland Central.
    Some travelling is involved in order to properly represent his constituants.

    If Key was serious about the money, he would lay a complaint against the speaker who authorised the trip.

    While John Key in his role as Prime Minister was there to show a New Zealand presence, it was Hone Harawira, in the absence of John Minto, who represented me.

  5. Will@Welly 5
    19 December 2013 at 3:59 pm

    Hone represented me, and I’m a flippin’ pakeha. Key tread over the graves of every dead person who died in the struggle against apartheid.

    • idlegus 5.1
      19 December 2013 at 4:16 pm

      yep

    • One Anonymous Knucklehead 5.2
      19 December 2013 at 4:34 pm

      yep²

    • Steve 5.3
      19 December 2013 at 8:44 pm

      Hone didn’t represent you, he represented himself. His comments make that pretty clear. And I think that based on this, Keys comments are on the money.
      Was he entitled to go – yes
      Should he have personally paid for a trip attended for private reasons – yes

      • Colonial Viper 5.3.1
        19 December 2013 at 8:56 pm

        Complain to the Speaker then buddy

        • Steve 5.3.1.1
          19 December 2013 at 10:22 pm

          Yeah, I suppose it’s a bit too much to ask to expect our elected representatives to apply their own moral judgement.
          Pointing the finger at the speaker should not excuse Hone’s poor judgement.

          • karol 5.3.1.1.1
            19 December 2013 at 10:35 pm

            Say what? he submitted his planned trip to the speaker. The speaker said yes. It was not done for private reasons. If you view the view the Maori Television video linked in my post, you will see Harawira says that he represented Maoridonm in Sth Africa. He says NZ taxpayers got more value for their money than with Key’s trip to the funeral.

            Key says they didn’t need Sharples because they already had a Maori in the official party, and one who had been in the 81 protests, so why would they need another one? Tokenism, much!

            • Steve 5.3.1.1.1.1
              19 December 2013 at 10:45 pm

              So you are comfortable for any politician to spend tax payer money on a trip taken for personal reasons and justify it by claiming they are representing some part of society? Generous.
              I would be interested to hear what discretion the speaker has in making these decisions.

              • Colonial Viper …
                20 December 2013 at 1:12 am

                So you are comfortable for any politician to spend tax payer money on a trip taken for personal reasons and justify it by claiming they are representing some part of society?

                Not just any part of society. The part of society that fought against apartheid in 1981.

                The part of society that John Key has amnesia about.

              • One Anonymous Knucklehead …
                20 December 2013 at 7:21 am

                What personal reasons are these that can be so easily separated from affairs of state? Do you honestly believe that Hone Harawira’s high level of access in South Africa is of no benefit or interest to New Zealand/Aotearoa?

                Or are you just helping throw John Key’s toys out of the cot? He’s the clown that giggles when you pull a string. Don’t mistake him for one of them.

              • TeKupu …
                4 January 2014 at 2:08 pm

                Hope you were this vociferous in your commentary when McCully took a tax-payer funded plane ride to Vanuatu for $70-80K because he didn’t want to fly commercial!? Clown – the rules are clear & were adhered to – HH applied for leave and the appropriate budget (as a Leader of a Party) and it was approved. HH went on behalf of Maori and those that protested (something Key can’t even remember). Hilda paid privately. Simple really!

              • Frank Macskasy …
                4 January 2014 at 4:55 pm

                So Steve, are you presenting your own views, or are you simply another National Party hack trying to patch up one of Key’s most disastrous PR-stunts-gone-wrong?

                Because really, if anyone had a right to attend the funeral, it was Hone.

          • Carol 5.3.1.1.2
            3 January 2014 at 11:06 pm

            Hone’s trip cost just under $8,000, while the tight 5’s trip expenses totaled $95,000. Hone stayed almost twice as long. Shouldn’t the real complaint be to the PM for spending taxpayers money extravagantly. Where’s the thought to this. Also Hone has been asked to repay his, has John Key & Party been asked. Hone’s office received donations to enable him and Hilda to attend after he had left. The Mana Movement is a political party for all of New Zealand whether you are Maori, Pakeha or Avatar ~ why do we think it is just for Maori. As someone commented ‘Hone represented me, and I’m white’ Good on you matey! Because you are exactly who he represented and I could feel no prouder in having him do that for me.

      • Richard Christie 5.3.2
        19 December 2013 at 11:13 pm

        @Steve

        Hone didn’t represent you, he represented himself.

        I can sure as hell assure you that John Key didn’t represent me.

        • Steve 5.3.2.1
          19 December 2013 at 11:30 pm

          Perhaps not, but as the elected head of our country it was right for him to attend on behalf of all of us.

          • Will@Welly 5.3.2.1.1
            20 December 2013 at 12:03 am

            Okay Mr Stevie. Where were you in ’81? Standing on the side-lines, barracking for or against the tour, or is it that you, like John Key, can’t remember? Hone can, so can I, and so can thousands of other New Zealanders. It was a watershed moment in our history, in many ways it was not only about the fight to end apartheid in South Africa, but it also highlighted the racial divide that existed, and still exists in our country.
            New Zealand was a deeply divided country because of that tour. It pitted family members against each other, and it wasn’t just generational. Even workplaces and social gatherings were divided. Perhaps Mr. Stevie, you’d prefer it if Maori and Polynesians were forbidden to play in our national sports teams, like they once were? Maybe you’d like them to live in “special places” where they could be “monitored”, Mr. Stevie, would that suit you?
            So maybe Hone didn’t represent you, but then that’s your opinion. He never went to South Africa to trample over the graves of those killed by the protagonists of apartheid. Hone went with respect, and dignity. Two words missing from some peoples’ vocabulary.

            • Steve 5.3.2.1.1.1
              20 December 2013 at 10:53 am

              I will assume your off topic rant was due to the time of night you wrote this. I hope you feel a little more balanced this morning after a good nights sleep.

              • Anna …
                20 December 2013 at 11:02 am

                Why was it an off topic rant? It seemed on point to me. I’d like to know too. Where did you stand on the Tour? Or were you too young to have an opinion? If so, what’s your opinion now on it?

                Do you support the anti-apartheid protestors’ stance and if so, why would you query Hone going to South Africa to pay his respects? He certainly earned his dues there. He was one of the leaders of Patu squad. Are you familiar with Patu squad? If not, Merata Mita did a documentary called ‘Patu’ that you maybe interested in watching. It would be educational. You can source it from New Zealand On Screen.

                In my opinion, the only people that are really churlish over Hone going are Key/National supporters who have never stood for anything (other than tax cuts for the rich and the requisite “me, me, me” stuff).

                • Anne …
                  20 December 2013 at 11:07 am

                  Well said Anna.

                • Steve …
                  20 December 2013 at 9:20 pm

                  I thought it was off topic because I felt I made it clear that Hone was entitled to go. The only problem I have with it is that he has asked tax payers to pay for it despite his reasons for attending being personal.

                  I was too young to have an opinion on the tour. And although my stance now is that politics should be kept out of sport, I realise that it is very difficult to make that statement without the context of that particular situation.

                  Do I support the anti-apartheid protesters stance? Absolutely. Do I agree with how they went about their protests – no.

                  • phillip ure …
                    21 December 2013 at 7:01 pm

                    @ steve..

                    “..I was too young to have an opinion on the tour. ..

                    ..Do I agree with how they went about their protests – no…”

                    ..going on yr age-perspective @ the time..there..steve..

                    ..wd you have recomended tantrums as the preferred means of protest..?

                    ..perhaps all lying on ground drumming heels and yelling ‘no!’..?

                    ..the mass spitting of food from the mouth..?

                    ..all protestors just standing there and saying:.’mine!’..?

                    ..have you seen ‘patu’..?

                    ..phillip ure..

                    • Anna …
                      4 January 2014 at 11:58 am

                      Yeah. This perspective always cracks me up. I guess it’s the difference in having protested and stood for something, and not.

                      It’s like living in a fantasy land where all social changes came from asking really nicely for something. It’s a position where someone takes their privilege for granted, not realising it’s contingent on never taking a stand for ‘anything’ that challenges the status quo.

              • phillip ure …
                21 December 2013 at 6:56 pm

                no steve..will@welly pretty much nailed it how it was..

                ..and how it is..

                ..phillip ure..

          • Akldnut 5.3.2.1.2
            20 December 2013 at 12:13 am

            Key didn’t represent me either.

            Unlike him I have morality, a social conscience and would never try to make the rich wealthier at the expense of low income people. Especially Kiwis.

          • Molly 5.3.2.1.3
            20 December 2013 at 8:46 am

            It was also “right” for John Key to attend the funeral of Hugo Chávez, given that he was in Latin America at the time on supposed trade talks AND Venezuela is NZ’s second largest dairy export market…. and yet…

          • Frank Macskasy 5.3.2.1.4
            4 January 2014 at 5:01 pm

            Perhaps not, but as the elected head of our country it was right for him to attend on behalf of all of us.

            Three things, Steve.

            1.Do you not think that, in all fairness, he should have invited Hone, Sue Bradford, or John Minto to attend?! Considering that they were instrumental in opposing the ’81 Tour and thereby supporting Mandela’s struggle?

            2. That Hone, Sue Bradford, or John Minto had a greater right to attend than Bolger or McKiinnon, who were part of a government that supported the racist Tour?

            3. That perhaps it was ironic the Key led the delegation considering his own admission that he can’t recall his own position on the Tour?!

            Because from where I sit, you don’t really give a damn about Mandela, racism, etc. You’re simply a rah-rah! cheerleader for National.

            Despite your self-righteous BS, it’s fairly clear the Hone had a right to attend the funeral. A greater right than Key, Bolger, or McKinnon. And your grasping at straws won’t change that one iota.

            By the way – looking forward to the election and turfing your hopeless Party out of power. They’ve over-stayed their welcome by, oh, say five years, eleven months.

      • Tracey 5.3.3
        20 December 2013 at 11:08 am

        sorry who did the pro tour bolger and mcKinnon go for? It wasn’t for those who opposed apartheid.

        • Anna 5.3.3.1
          20 December 2013 at 11:12 am

          Exactly! And why did they go? What was the point in taking them?

          Do any of you remember when Nelson Mandela called Jim Bolger his “Australian friend”? Given Nelson Mandela didn’t forget much and people always commented on Mandela’s ability to recall a name, face, moment of someone he’d only ever met briefly years later, I like to think of that little ‘slip up’ as deliberate 🙂

          • Tracey 5.3.3.1.1
            20 December 2013 at 11:30 am

            unidentified guest and australian friend. Gosh how national stands up for us on he world stage.

        • Steve 5.3.3.2
          20 December 2013 at 9:29 pm

          I accept this argument. I think there should have been more thought go in to the delegation.

  6. Chooky 6
    19 December 2013 at 4:12 pm

    +1 Hone Harawira represented me also….unlike Key ….and Harawira is a true soul New Zealander and an adopted spiritual son of Mandela…..unlike Key….. who is a hollow money man

    • North 6.1
      19 December 2013 at 10:52 pm

      Our Prime Mournister aye ?

      Straight off the plane and into Hone Harawira.

      This might be serious………Ansell’s back on board.

      Or Key’s hoha because he ended up the “unidentified guest” while (in Key’s own terms) Hone got to the Oval Office so to speak. Tending to prove the representation point.

      Back at work. Give the Old Hone-Monster a run.

      Emperor with no clothes.

    • Martin 6.2
      20 December 2013 at 10:25 pm

      and me too! kia ora hone,

      ’81 veteran

  7. Delia 7
    19 December 2013 at 4:27 pm

    Key playing the ‘Hone card’ when the going gets rough.

    • Colonial Viper 7.1
      20 December 2013 at 8:08 am

      The fact is that Key needs to play the ‘Hone card’ in order to distract the heat off himself.

      There’s nothing worse than a Prime Minister going through the motions of caring when in fact he cannot even remember where he stood in 1981 on the issue of apartheid. Which of course reveals the truth. And it is why Hone makes Key look like shit.

      The PM can’t remember because apartheid didn’t mean anything important to a busy John Key.

      Which tells us everything we need to know Key and where he stood on the ’81 Tour .

      • you_fool 7.1.1
        20 December 2013 at 8:26 am

        I think you will find that Key can remember his stance, he is just smart enough to know that his stance then would ruin him now

        • Tracey 7.1.1.1
          20 December 2013 at 11:10 am

          I think everyone in NZ now knows exactly what his stance was… but they think they are gonna make money from his trickle down one day so they still like him. It used to be called “golden rain”.

  8. SHG (not Colonial Viper) 8
    19 December 2013 at 4:50 pm

    Acknowledgement: Key’s equivocation over whether or not he supported the 81 tour or the protests is pathetic and I find it offensive.

    But this is standard Harawira bludging. He just cannot pass up an opportunity to have a taxpayer-funded overseas trip.

    This is the method: claim a right to attend some overseas event or events on taxpayer tab in virtue of brownness. Then once overseas forget, or be late, or change mind and do something else other than attend the event(s) that were the reason for the trip. When asked to explain, claim that the other thing he decided to do (of which there exists no documentary evidence whatsoever) was more important or culturally significant, and that him being asked to explain is racism.

    Lather, rinse, repeat. Every time.

    Questions started getting asked midway through this year when the Herald noted

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10879636

    Mana Party leader has been absent for 49 of the 120 sitting days since the 2011 election.

    Mana leader Hone Harawira described himself as going “to battle for those without a voice in Parliament” at his party’s conference this month but he has been a rare sight in Parliament this year.

    Mr Harawira’s travel expenses for the first three months of the year were higher than any other non-ministerial MP, including Mr Shearer.

    A spokesman for Mr Harawira said he was in Hawaii for a United Nations event this week. When contacted, Mr Harawira hung up.

    Remember when he was a Maori Party MP?

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10607653

    Maori MP Hone Harawira has reacted to an email criticising him for bunking off a work trip to visit Paris, by lashing out at white people.

    In an email exchange released to Radio New Zealand, Mr Harawira accused “white motherfuckers” of “puritanical bullshit” for expecting him to follow the rules.

    Prime Minister John Key has labelled the remarks “deeply offensive” but he says it is up to Maori Party leadership to deal with it.

    Mr Harawira skipped a meeting in Brussels so he and his wife Hilda could spend a day in Paris.

    Mr Mikaere, who runs a consulting company, emailed Mr Harawira a two sentence message: “Gotta ask the question eh? who’s paying for Hilda?”

    Mr Harawira wrote back starting his email; “Gee Buddy, do you believe that white man bullsh** too do you?

    “White motherfuckers have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries and all of a sudden you want me to play along with their puritanical bullsh**.”

    In 2007 Mr Harawira was told to pay back some flights after he left mid-way through a four-day select committee trip to Melbourne, so he could visit Aboriginal groups in Alice Springs.

    But as we all know he left the Maori Party to fight the Marine and Coastal Area Bill because he had a duty to FIGHT THE EVIL WHITE MOTHERFUCKERS and their oppressive legislation. Of course, when it came time to actually do something about it…

    The second reading of the bill to replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act has passed through Parliament and former Maori Party MP Hone Harawira wasn’t there to vote against it – despite the bill being the reason for him leaving his party.

    Stuff put it more succinctly:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4744835/MP-Hone-Harawira-misses-foreshore-and-seabed-vote

    The opposition votes did not include Harawira who forgot to cast his vote.

    So exactly what has he done in Parliament this year? Held the government to account? Highlighted the plight of Northland Maori?

    Hone has asked a total of three written questions in 2013. yes, just three. A disgrace. Three out of almost 17,000 asked by opposition MPs.

    His contributions in the debating chamber have been almost non-existent. In the last year his contributions have been:

    Six oral questions (these are allocated so no issue there)

    Spoke on the Budget debate, the financial review debate, the PM’s statement, two general debates, one urgent debate, one obituary, one local bill and one Treaty settlement. On average that is one speech ever six weeks!

    So Hone Harawira has spoken on two bills in 2013. In the past year 145 bills passed into law, 57 had a first reading and 67 a second reading meaning 269 bills that he could have spoken on.

    http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/12/hone_and_parliament.html

    But he totally did a haka. Somewhere. Unfortunately there’s no record or acknowledgement of this awesome haka anywhere or from anyone other than Harawira himself, so we’ll just have to take his word for it eh?

    Mana Party leader Hone Harawira is being made to explain himself, after apparently missing official events on his taxpayer-funded trip to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral.

    Mr Harawira arrived too late for the national memorial service, but says he saw Mandela’s body lying in state and attended a small, private service at the Mandela family home.

    http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbpol/1065508255-harawira-s-taxpayer-funded-trip-under-scrutiny

    Every time.

    • Naturesong 8.1
      19 December 2013 at 5:17 pm

      If you think Hone’s trip was him bludging, you need to direct your complaint toward the speaker who authorised the trip.

    • Tiger Mountain 8.2
      19 December 2013 at 6:19 pm

      Seeing as how vinyl is back I can perhaps use the “stuck record” metaphor for your repetitive bs SHG.

      “Key has so much ammunition to fire at Hone this was only a warning shot”. Says Ian at 10.1
      Thats the attitude old boy. Pity he did not use his slug gun when Hone was in the Māori Party and riding with the Key Gang eh.

      You Hone critics really are disgusting, the tour protestors saved NZs bacon internationally and Hone is well regarded around the world in indigenous peoples forums. The pre emptive strike theory re ShonKey may have some weight as it is going to be the most vicious election campaign for decades. 2014 is the last roll of the dice for NZ, if the Key Gang don’t sod off we will become a nation version of a $2 shop.

    • QoT 8.3
      19 December 2013 at 10:21 pm

      His electorate is in the Far North. Of course he has higher travel costs than scumbags like Bill English who merely lie about living in Southland.

      • SHG (not Colonial Viper) 8.3.1
        20 December 2013 at 4:22 am

        His electorate is in the Far North.

        And yet even when he’s in Wellington – on the grounds of Parliament Buildings – he still can’t be bothered turning up to vote on the Foreshore and Seabed bill.

        • Anna 8.3.1.1
          20 December 2013 at 4:25 am

          Yet, as already stated, in Hone’s absence, his vote is cast by the Greens.

          As, once again, written earlier: Hone’s constituency has nothing to do with you. Actually, Hone has nothing to do with you.

          • SHG (not Colonial Viper) 8.3.1.1.1
            20 December 2013 at 4:44 am

            Point the first: Hone made that deal with the Greens in April 2011. He forgot to vote on the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill in March 2011, before there was a proxy-vote agreement. Thus no vote was recorded from the Mana Party on the second reading. Hansard, read it.

            Point the second: even after the proxy-vote agreement with the Greens took effect it only applied when Harawira was not in Wellington. Even if it had been retroactively in place before it was made, he was in Wellington, at Parliament, on the day of the vote. He just didn’t turn up in the chamber.

            • Anna 8.3.1.1.1.1
              20 December 2013 at 4:50 am

              Once again: what does Hone’s actions have to do with you? You’re not part of his constituency, so why are you so obsessed with him?

              Are you functioning from the good Maori/bad Maori dichotomy? (Apologies: ‘Maoris’). Do you want to be a good Maori? Like Te Ururoa Flavell (he’d be your whanaunga wouldn’t he?) by playing rugby against the Springboks in 1981, hiding at Bastion Point and only becoming ‘radicalised’ when all the hard work was done? (i.e when promotions were being handed out from the gains of the protest movements – something he took no part in).

              • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                20 December 2013 at 5:38 am

                Ooh, again with the dichotomy references. You’ve really got this masculine Pythagorean opposition thing down. Are we going to start in on standpoint theory now? I hear that’s hot again.

                • Anna …
                  20 December 2013 at 5:44 am

                  Posts the person who writes in “dick swinging” terms …

                  What’s the matter? Did the credential thing hurt your ego? Your outdated and/or Christian influenced sources? Or is it the fact that I think you’re an inversion?

                  I know what the real problem is: you want to be Hone Harawira, but you can’t be. So you’re trying for Hone-lite i.e. Te Ururoa Flavell (pro tour/pro apartheid/pro Government lackey). That’s your constituency, but they probably don’t know you or wouldn’t vote for you either.

                  Envy is such a sad, sad thing.

                  • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                    20 December 2013 at 5:48 am

                    Wow, did Flavell kick your dog or something? You seem unhealthily fixated upon him.

                    • Anna …
                      20 December 2013 at 5:50 am

                      Do Hone’s achievements make you feel insignificant? (Actually, they should).

                    • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                      20 December 2013 at 5:54 am

                      “Does Hone’s achievements?” Do I need to start mansplaining about singular and plural grammar again?

                      PS: was the cabin boy a person with mana?

                    • Anna …
                      20 December 2013 at 5:55 am

                      What do you mean?

                      But go ahead: it’s about all ‘you’ got.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      20 December 2013 at 8:09 am

                      Wow, Key must be getting sensitive about his apartheid insensitivity.

    • Anna 8.4
      20 December 2013 at 1:43 am

      In Hone’s absence, his vote is cast by the Greens. Tell me, what is better for a lone MP to do: sit in parliament or be with his constituents? And as you aren’t one of Hone’s constituents, what concern is it of yours? Hone is voted in by people that you would only ever encounter in passing and have no influence on. If you think you’re ‘defending’ them in some way, you’re not.

      Yes, Hone made the “white MF” comments and has apologised for them. I believe Tuhoe are still awaiting an apology from the Crown for the terrorist accusations and actions. Actions that only Tuhoe were subject to in the ‘terrorist raids’ and eventually, reduced to firearms charges. Money well spent eh? But I guess privileged paranoia justifies anything.

      Also, Key can apologise any time for his trivialisation of Tuhoe’s historical grievances with his ‘cannibal’ comments. As an aside, Key had nothing to worry about. Maori only ate people with mana. Key is quite safe. If, however, Key had undertaken any Maori Studies papers (even a basic one) or read some literature on traditional Maori society he would have known this.

      Spare me the inverse victim stuff. History shows you that people like Harawira have more to fear from smiling assassins than the other way around.

      • SHG (not Colonial Viper) 8.4.1
        20 December 2013 at 2:52 am

        Maori only ate people with mana. Key is quite safe. If, however, Key had undertaken any Maori Studies papers (even a basic one) or read some literature on traditional Maori society he would have known this.

        You are completely utterly cultural-relativismapaloozally wrong.

        • Anna 8.4.1.1
          20 December 2013 at 2:54 am

          Please – tell me how I’m culturally and relativistically wrong? This should be good. Please outlay your credentials and sources to support your statement.

          • SHG (not Colonial Viper) 8.4.1.1.1
            20 December 2013 at 3:56 am

            I’m Maori and my sources are my family’s oral history of who we ate and by whom we were eaten and why. If you seek Western documentary reassurance, I recommend “This Horrid Practice” by Paul Moon; “Te Arawa: A History of the Arawa People” by D. M. Stafford, particularly the chapters on the conflicts and post-battle feasting involving Ngaiterangi and Ngati Whakaue around Maketu; there are colourful oral accounts of the same battles in “Historic Maketu” by Enid Tapsell. The descriptions of the ovens are delightful reading.

            Incidentally the last documented instance of cannibalism in the South Island was committed by a family member of mine, who killed and ate a cabin boy associated with Hempleman’s whaling station at Akaroa. I could be wrong, but I doubt that the cabin boy was “a person of mana”.

            I find your commentary on what Maori people do and don’t do amusing. Please continue. And do throw your own credentials in the ring, this is fun.

            • Anna 8.4.1.1.1.1
              20 December 2013 at 4:06 am

              I’m Maori too. I have a PhD in Indigenous Studies and Sociology. I actually lectured on components of traditional Maori society.

              Paul Moon is a nice enough bloke, but not many of us indigenous scholars put much stock in a Christian account of Maori practices.

              Kore rawa e rawaka te reo kotahi

              DM Stafford released his work in 1967 – at the height of cultural nationalism.

              You may want to read some of Ranginui Walker’s accounts (he’d be one of your whanaunga wouldn’t he?) and also, there’s work by Te Maire Tau (who did his MA and PhD on Ngai Tahu and ritual practices). Maybe you could contact them and ask for a copy? Or source it from a library?

              I could give you a list of sources, but I think it would be a waste of my time.

              • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                20 December 2013 at 4:15 am

                Gee, I guess I lose the dick-swinging game, I only did an MA in History. I did deliver the occasional lecture in indigenous cultural practices though.

                Chances are most of the sources you’d quote are sitting on the bookshelf in my living room right now, I just CBF going and looking for them. I just referenced three from the living room that I could remember off the top of my head without going and looking.

                Question: was the cabin boy eaten at Akaroa a person of mana?

                Answer: no.

                Ergo your generalisation “Maori only ate people with mana” is false.

                Hey look I used a Latin word there, you’re right!

                • Anna …
                  20 December 2013 at 4:22 am

                  A dick swinging contest? I guess you share John Key’s vision of New Zealand as excluding women.

                  And why would you deliver an occasional lecture in indigenous cultural practices?

                  I don’t think you understand them very well and you don’t have a wide variety of sources. (Paul Moon and 1967’s DM Stafford?)

                  If you did understand the cultural practices, you wouldn’t have made such an authoritative statement and you would have qualified it.

                  I’m sure the institution could do better.

                  • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                    20 December 2013 at 4:24 am

                    Now you’re complaining about unqualified authoritative statements? Like “Maori only ate people with mana”?

                    • Anna …
                      20 December 2013 at 4:26 am

                      They did. There was always a reason. There’s little worse than an inversion.

                      Read wider than Paul Moon and 1967 DM Stafford. I’ve given you a couple of sources. Go forth and read.

                    • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                      20 December 2013 at 4:31 am

                      That cabin boy must’ve been one hell of an important cabin boy. To get eaten I mean. What with Maoris only eating people of mana and all. And if he got eaten by a Maori, he must’ve been a person of mana because Socrates is a man!

                    • Anna …
                      20 December 2013 at 4:35 am

                      Careful: your John Key pettiness is showing.

                      Symbol – reason, but you stick to your Christian/1967 versions and your oral traditions (even though you wrote Maori as “Maoris”. I bet you pronounce it Marrrrrrries as well or do you do the TV One version of “Murrays”?).

                    • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                      20 December 2013 at 4:55 am

                      I write “Maoris” because we’re writing English here, a language in which plural is represented orthographically by -s.

                      In Te Reo Maori, as you know, singular or plural are denoted by “te” or “nga”, so to use the word “Maori” to refer to “more than one Maori person” is to ignore and negate the actual Maori language and force the word into a foreign grammatical structure. It’s tantamount to saying “that’s not a Maori word any more, it’s an English word, and your silly brown grammar doesn’t get to come with it”.

                      Interestingly enough the words that historically are most often assimilated by the English language and assigned identical singular and plural forms – like “Maori” – are indigenous words for game animals. Bison. Deer. Moose. Duck. Things to be hunted.

                      So, fuck right off. I consciously choose to say “Maoris” when I’m speaking English and I consciously choose to say “nga Maori” when I’m speaking Maori as a political act because to do otherwise is to be complicit in an imposition of fucking linguistic colonialism that categorises our people as game animals.

                    • Anna …
                      20 December 2013 at 5:02 am

                      Thank you. My work here is done. You’ve pretty much revealed yourself as the irrational human being you are, trying to pose as ‘normal’. (Ironically, the loose interpretation of Maori).

                      I don’t know who ‘your’ people are because they certainly don’t include me. Speak for yourself because I don’t remember anyone voting you as a spokesperson for Maori. In fact, it would be the opposite.

                      Your posts confirm that ‘ethnicity’ doesn’t equate to representation.

                    • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                      20 December 2013 at 5:15 am

                      Your descent to an ad hominem attack of “irrationality” is strangely patriarchal, don’t you think? It has a nice Hegelian master/slave ring to it. “You shouldn’t pay attention to the words that person is saying, because I just defined that person as the irrational Other.”

                      Congratulations, you’ve obviously learned the game well.

                    • Anna …
                      20 December 2013 at 5:21 am

                      Wow. So the right-wing poster, who prefers Christian accounts of traditional Maori society re: cannibalism, teaches into indigenous courses with a cultural nationalist perspective, functions from a good Maori/bad Maori (sorry Maoris), makes a claim to represent ‘people’ (whoever they are because no one has voted for you), cannot admit that Maori is both singular and plural, has some obsession with Hone Harawira, now attempts to be a ‘victim’?

                      Hahahahaa.

                      What’s that I smell? I think it’s cognitive dissonance.

                      Seriously, I’d put my credentials: academic or protest up against yours any day of the week.

                      Carry on with your dissembling though. It’s amusing.

                    • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                      20 December 2013 at 5:26 am

                      Claim to represent? What on Papatūānuku are you going on about? I’m a self-actualised operating thetan, I represent only myself. Don’t let me interrupt your textbook marginalisation through pigeonholing extravaganza though.

                      By the way: was the cabin boy a person with mana?

    • Molly 8.5
      20 December 2013 at 8:57 am

      Given that the email exchange seemed to me to be a setup by Flavell in order to release something to the media to get Hone out of the Maori Party, I don’t really consider a this example to be indicative of his behaviour.

      Living in a particular part of Auckland, where brown faces are few and financial wealth is comfortable, I hear many similar tirades publicly expressed – and accepted – by people in positions of power. Hone’s email was supposedly private – I have never heard him talk in this way in public. Have you? I admit to swearing in private about a lot of things – politicians and journalists in particular.

      Trip to visit the Aboriginals in Alice Springs? Someone had to do something to get their plight and infringement of human rights into our media. The actual infringement didn’t manage it.

      Hone spends much of his time visiting his electorate, and helping them. He could pointlessly warm the benches so we can watch him on that children’s programme – Parliament TV – but I personally think his electorate benefits from his choice much more.

  9. Ennui 9
    19 December 2013 at 4:56 pm

    I said what I thought about Hone representing me last week: his reason for going I fully support even if I did not want him to represent me as a fellow 1981 activist for other reasons.

    One thing Hone had on his side for me versus the attendance of John Key is that at-least Hone knew where he stood. No fuzzy memories, or conveniently being otherwise engaged. No shonkey excuses, fence sitting or faux historic revisionism. What ever I think about Hone he had the commitment and the track record. He was one of us in 1981, not “one of them”. He was on “our side”, Key never was and never could be.

    At the official funeral Key stood up and acted in character, as the photo op / sound byte fraud he has always been. Hone stood as honest and real.

    • SHG (not Colonial Viper) 9.1
      19 December 2013 at 5:00 pm

      At the official funeral Key stood up and acted in character, as the photo op / sound byte fraud he has always been. Hone stood as honest and real.

      Hone wasn’t even there.

      • Ennui 9.1.1
        19 December 2013 at 5:33 pm

        Think I did not know that? Hone, unlike Key went to what he could get into in South Africa with integrity.

        PS I find your acceptance of Keys equivocation over whether or not he supported the 1981 tour very offensive. Foul scorn, fool!

      • karol 9.1.2
        19 December 2013 at 5:33 pm

        Did Hone have an invite to the funeral? or was that reserved for Key’s choice?

        Hone visited Mandela’s body and other memorial events.

        • Colonial Viper 9.1.2.1
          19 December 2013 at 6:52 pm

          Hone was invited to Mandela’s home to meet family members. NZ’s official party was not.

          • Anne 9.1.2.1.1
            19 December 2013 at 7:00 pm

            And therein lies the answer to Key’s vitriol. He was, in essence, upstaged by Hone Harawira. Do you think the ANC and the Mandela clan don’t know the difference between a charlatan (John Key) and someone who was a genuine supporter of the struggle against Apartheid?

            • SHG (not Colonial Viper) 9.1.2.1.1.1
              19 December 2013 at 7:24 pm

              He was, in essence, upstaged by Hone Harawira.

              I wouldn’t call it “upstaged” as nobody even knows it happened. I know there was a memorial service, I saw Obama and Cameron and Key and a crazy sign-language interpreter on the TV news and the Internet and in the paper.

              But some something at a house somewhere, an event at which Hone Harawira seems to have been the only guest? Not sure Key has missed out on much.

              • Colonial Viper …
                19 December 2013 at 7:35 pm

                But some something at a house somewhere, an event at which Hone Harawira seems to have been the only guest? Not sure Key has missed out on much.

                Why do you think that meeting the family members of the deceased Nelson Mandela is beside the point?

                And what the fuck do Cameron and Obama and the rest of the hangers-on have to do with Nelson Mandela?

                Except if you are treating the event from the standpoint of a photo-op, which of course Key was doing.

                • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                  19 December 2013 at 8:00 pm

                  Anne referred to Key being “upstaged”, thus making the publicity value of the event the subject. If it was a private affair without coverage the it doesn’t matter who attended or not. A few minutes of Googling suggests that the only person in the entire world claiming to have attended a private gathering at “the Mandela family home” (whatever that means) is Hone Harawira.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  19 December 2013 at 8:57 pm

                  lol yeah dude no worries then. Ask the NZ Herald they reported it.

                  • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                    19 December 2013 at 9:09 pm

                    No, the Herald reported what “a spokeswoman for Mr Harawira said”. The Herald said nothing about the existence of an event.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      19 December 2013 at 11:34 pm

                      So you have evidence that Harawira is lying then? Or are you just trying on the smears?

                      Given that Harawira had a personal connection with Bishop Desmond Tutu I think that yes, he would certainly be invited to the Mandela family home.

                      Seems like Key is just sore for being properly identified and put in his place.

              • Anna …
                20 December 2013 at 1:33 am

                That isn’t true. The Washington Post seemed to know who Hone was: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-zealand-lawmaker-going-solo-to-mandela-service/2013/12/09/bbd09972-6135-11e3-a7b4-4a75ebc432ab_story.html

                The rest of the US media did not.

                In comparison to Hone, Key was described as thus:

                http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/12/new-zealand-john-key-unidentified-guest

                And also, his apartheid amnesia questioned:

                http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/yasmine-ryan/apartheid-new-zealand_b_4411734.html

                The real problem for Key is that he had the opportunity to follow Mandela’s example (be inclusive) and heal rifts from the Tour, but he just doesn’t have it in. He could easily have swapped the two pro tour/pro apartheid former MPs for Hone or John Minto or Sue Bradford. He could have taken Kevin Hague as well, but Key isn’t a statesman. Not even close.

                As an aside, let’s not forget that Key’s vision of the ‘right mix of New Zealanders’ didn’t include a single woman. Instead, we were officially ‘represented’ by the Old boys club and a token.

                • SHG (not Colonial Viper) …
                  20 December 2013 at 2:57 am

                  The real problem for Key is that he had the opportunity to follow Mandela’s example (be inclusive) and heal rifts from the Tour, but he just doesn’t have it in. He could easily have swapped the two pro tour/pro apartheid former MPs for Hone or John Minto or Sue Bradford.

                  On this we are in agreement.

                • karol …
                  20 December 2013 at 9:05 am

                  Anna: we were officially ‘represented’ by the Old boys club and a token.

                  Well said.

        • SHG (not Colonial Viper) 9.1.2.2
          19 December 2013 at 6:54 pm

          IIRC the SA Govt’s invite to the actual memorial was “Leader plus guest” and Key nominated David Cunliffe as his guest. I think Cunliffe then deferred to Pita Sharples.

  10. Tigger 10
    19 December 2013 at 5:26 pm

    Key’s attack truly is bizarre. Why, on the day when you want the Avatar deal to dominate the news, and when finally all the negative hoopla about Key’s own attendance at the funeral was dying down, did he choose to raise this topic? It’s clear he knows the question is coming when it’s asked of him, it was obviously planted in the press by his people. So why?

    It makes no political sense. If he wanted to bash Harawira (for example, over the lack of Beehive time) then why do it now, before the Xmas rush? Why not next year when it matters during election time? And why do it over the funeral, when all it does for many of us is remind that Key himself had no moral authority to be there. PM authority sure, but moral authority? No.

    Key is smarter than this so what is the end game? Because this is a huge own goal.

    • Ian 10.1
      19 December 2013 at 5:57 pm

      Key has so much ammunition to fire at Hone this was only a warning shot.

      • Te Reo Putake 10.1.1
        19 December 2013 at 6:00 pm

        🙄

      • Tiger Mountain 10.1.2
        19 December 2013 at 6:26 pm

        “Key has so much ammunition to fire at Hone this was only a warning shot”. Says Ian at 10.1
        Thats the attitude old boy. Pity he did not use his slug gun when Hone was in the Māori Party and riding with the Key Gang eh.

        Gunlover perhaps?

      • amirite 10.1.3
        19 December 2013 at 6:34 pm

        Didn’t Key have a vasectomy?

      • the pigman 10.1.4
        19 December 2013 at 7:04 pm

        Key has so much ammunition to fire at Hone this was only a warning shot.

        Hello again, Ian. Yesterday you were hinting (darkly) about all of Len Brown’s dirty laundry that would finally be revealed today. How’s that coming along?

        Keep visiting.

    • emergency mike 10.2
      19 December 2013 at 6:57 pm

      Myself I think it’s a weakness in Key’s pathology that he cannot resist attacking a political opponent who is getting positive public perception even when doing so makes him look bad. All he sees is “opponent getting approval from the public on some issue – cut him down.” He lacks the moral intuition to understand situations where he’d be better off just keeping his mouth shut.

      The whole picking the wrong delegation to SA thing is a challenge to his character and image too. Everytime that happens he kneejerks reflexively and often looks weird doing so. He’s a ‘perceptions are reality’ kind of guy, so he will fight very hard to defend perceptions of him, attacking the other guy instead of explaining yourself is a classic mechanism for doing so. This is a weakness I’ve long thought could be more actively probed by the opposition.

  11. Tracey 11
    19 December 2013 at 6:04 pm

    Hes playing to those who dislike maori. I assume he assumes they are swing votrrs.

  12. red blooded 12
    19 December 2013 at 6:28 pm

    Home Hawawira does not represent me in all matters, but he isn’t elected to represent me. He has a huge electorate and is establishing a new party – presumably this keeps him pretty busy. He definitely had the right to go to the Mandela memorial events and in this at least he was representing many who took to the streets and stood up for what we believed in in ’81 and ’85. As for his general parliamentary record – I’d be interested to know how it compares with other MPs (although it would be difficult to find another one in a comparable situation).

    • srylands 12.1
      19 December 2013 at 6:49 pm

      [deleted]

      [lprent: currently banned. ]

    • Ian 12.2
      19 December 2013 at 7:06 pm

      I marched in 1981 against racism and Muldoons cynical play to keep in power.Got a very close look at a blue squad baton charge,among many other lower key scenarios. But Hone Harawira has turned into the evil stereotype he was so against in 81.His white motherfucker rant made that quite clear to all and sundry .The guy is a rascist moron ,with a taste for spending other peoples money ,and despite all his best intentions,he will allways be mummys boy.

      • karol 12.2.1
        19 December 2013 at 7:10 pm

        That’s wide of the mark. Hone was the one to stand up to the Maori Party selling out to the Nats. He has been ont he streets with the Tamaki state housing protesters, campaigning on feeding the kids.

        • Tiger Mountain 12.2.1.1
          19 December 2013 at 7:53 pm

          A different standard of outrage seems to apply to Hone that ignores the fact that we are living in a post colonial country and society. Until most Māori are not doing it worse in statistics that count they get political support from me. And actually many Māori people are a lot better company than you constipated white folk, but then I’m Irish (4th gen in NZ).

          Hone has courage in spades compared to the whimpy whities that complain about him from a distance. He has more dignity than might be expected with this countries history. I was at the 1995 meeting with Mandela too and Hone had every right imaginable to go to SA. It was a real heavy situation for peace time NZ to those there at the time and that is why I gave grudging respect to Ross Meurant for turning up at Hamilton. If Mandela could forgive… why not the NZ anti apartheid leaders, the poor dead buggers in SA did not get a second chance of course.

          So if you precious ones can get Key to come clean on what he thought much less did in ’81 I might give you the time of day.

  13. newsense 13
    19 December 2013 at 6:40 pm

    Heard Key got a complementary drink on the plane he didn’t declare as a gift…must be time to impeach him…

  14. dan1 14
    19 December 2013 at 7:35 pm

    Key’s “Can’t remember what he thought about the Springboks tour in ’81” completely destroyed any credibility or integrity re South Africa and Mandela. However, as PM he received his invite, and proceeded to milk it Don Brash style, refusing to add Minto or similar to the delegation. That he then returned to turn on Hone is mind-blowing for its hypocrisy unless you add the Muldoon and Brash real-politik to garner the rednecks.
    Well done Hone. I am pleased my tax dollars were used to represent me.

  15. Plan B 15
    19 December 2013 at 7:47 pm

    On National Radio in the afternoon the other day, Linda Clark was on and made some off hand nasty little remarks about Hone – was not asked to explain or defend them, It is easy on National Radio these days to do this sort of thing if you are a member of the elite. I just wonder if anyone else heard this and wondered why she did it?

    • Saarbo 15.1
      19 December 2013 at 8:43 pm

      I have heard similar things on The Panel, have written to Radio New Zealand but never received a reply.

      What a brilliant reply from Hone to the dick head . What an incredibly sad country we have when 46 % of voters feel proud of voting for such a fuckwit as John Key…

  16. newsense 16
    19 December 2013 at 7:53 pm

    racist? What do you mean we’re ra…..Look over there a lazy, bludging Maori!

  17. philj 17
    19 December 2013 at 10:29 pm

    Jim Moray on Afternoons is sliding to triviality and nonsense. Pity that RNZ, with some exceptions is slipping as well. Dick Griffin and frozen funding is starting is to show. Death to Democratic public broadcasting by a thousand cuts.

  18. RedBaronCV 18
    19 December 2013 at 11:08 pm

    Imagine Key is also smarting at the Maori electorate vote against asset sales. 95% has to be well – magic. That can be levered off come the general election. And we do know one thing about the Maori electorates although I don ‘t know how significant it is – been in NZ for umpteen generations.

  19. bad12 19
    19 December 2013 at 11:23 pm

    Slippery the Prime Ministers attack on Hone Harawira does come across as bizaare and in the first instance i would have to consider that the embarrassment the PM suffered to His reputation from having what can only be described as ‘That’ god-awful photo of Him and British Prime Minister David Cameron having a ‘Jolly’ old time at the official service for Nelson Mandela splashed across the Worlds media has caused a massive surge of body acids to be excreted into His bowels,

    Here in the midst of the gathering of 100’s of leaders from across the world we have the ‘True’ picture of the Prime Minister of New Zealand who obviously not giving a toss where He was and what He was there for, chooses to not view the ceremony with even a minute amount of the decorum, the gravitas if you will, the death of one who in many quarters is said to have been the greatest statesman of our age,

    Instead, we the people are subjected to this embarrassment from the man who represents Us the People of New Zealand, behaving as if the whole funeral service for Mandela was a joke staged simply as a conduit for His mirth,

    Consider this for one moment, if Slippery the Prime Minister turned up at a funeral in this country, ANY funeral, bursting with fits of laughter as the photo of Him taken at the Mandela service implies, all of us, from the mass media on down would be calling for His head on a platter,

    The ‘man’ is unfit to represent this country as Prime Minister and i await with no great expectation the Herald to publish a front page editorial calling for Him to resign for disgracing the reputation of this country in such a tawdry, shoddy manner…

    • bad12 19.1
      19 December 2013 at 11:51 pm

      What tho is stark,bleak in actual fact, Here’s a picture of the Prime Minister of New Zealand cracking up with obvious laughter at the funeral service of Nelson Mandela, having in other words a ‘Jolly’ old time un-befitting of the services gravity,

      And not one, narry a peep,from a New Zealand journalist asking the Prime Minister exactly what was so fucking funny that it couldn’t wait to be expressed until after the official service had ended,

      What i see here goes far beyond ‘bias’ and simply makes the collective Press of New Zealand look to be a pack of utter and total cowards…

      • karol 19.1.1
        19 December 2013 at 11:54 pm

        Exactly, b12.

      • poem 19.1.2
        20 December 2013 at 12:59 am

        Yes, disgraceful, and absolutely agree bad12 and you will find, there are a hell of a lot of people out there who felt exactly the same….. many +1s for that bad12.

      • the pigman 19.1.3
        20 December 2013 at 1:04 am

        Agreed, on the strength of that picture “unidentified guest” may as well have been “unidentified reveller”.

  20. millsy 20
    20 December 2013 at 12:15 am

    I really couldnt give a shit about Hone or 1981, who cares?

    The Apartheid system was doomed anyway. The Afrikaner government knew that — which is why they started holding talks with Mandela in the first place…

    Hone really needs to start focusing on his own people — those who live in ramshakle houses with no power out the back of Moerewa. They dont really care about Mandela either.

    And as for Key — well, he needs to admit he was pro-tour. Saying he “forgot about it” doesnt really wash.

    • bad12 20.1
      20 December 2013 at 12:57 am

      Of all the pathetic comments i have heard or read on the South African regime of racial segregation yours is up there as suffering from a complete lack of intelligence,

      Do you think that the regime in South Africa simply fell apart on it’s own volition, you would have to be particularly dense to think so, had the white regime not capitulated to the majority in South Africa when they did the rising tide of the ANC’s military and militant action would have sooner or later destroyed the country and swept the white minority into the sea,

      After the debacle of 1981 ripped apart my own country, this one, i became an open advocate of arming the disenfranchised majority of South Africa, i cannot say that i helped raise some 1000’s of dollars in an effort to achieve this aim,

      Your comments regarding Hone Harawira are equally as spurious, Mana are not part of the Government and it is obvious from the actions of Slippery and his Ministers that they do not give a fuck about the housing situation of anyone in Moerewa or anywhere else for that matter or this Government would be building State Housing instead of putting bulldozers through whole streets of them or selling them off as ‘unwanted’,

      If you havn’t noticed Harawira has been highly visible and vocal on this very issue even being arrested at a protest which was trying to prevent the removal of the State Housing in parts of Harawira’s electorate that does provide a decent standard of housing for Maori…

  21. poem 21
    20 December 2013 at 12:54 am

    Excellent post Karol many +1’s and to Hone Harawira many many +1’s that was a pleasure to read.

  22. EyesTamihana 22
    22 December 2013 at 1:21 am

    …this is by far the fairest and most uplifting forum I have read regarding Mr Harawira and his beautiful/humble explanation of why he attended the funeral of one of the profoundly great men in the previous and current generation of humanity. I have read his letter(to john key)and there can be no worthy rebuttle to it..(except an heartfelt apology Mr Key?).,FULL STOP. Anyone that understood the potential for Light and Love within the depths of a human heart would have felt and understood the humility and reverence in those words-no matter what”race/ethnicity”they came from. Anyone who somehow rationalised Mr Harawira’s intentions as selfish never truly understood(within themselves)the place from which those words came from, any whosoever did understand with an open heart and mind would be the first to say Mr Harawira”represented”them-no matter what”race/ethnicity”the belong to. We paint the background upon the canvas that our children will then add onto when they learn to hold(and control)the paintbrush and then express their life..if we choose too we can put down the foundations upon which they paint and express for them(and in turn the future)a living motion of true Love-for each other/in the families and for all of their brothers and sisters on the Mother Earth will live on…we can Keep it simple, Love Ourselves/Believe in Ourselves/Know Our Potential/Love One Another/Teach it to Our Children…watch it(True Love)grow! Rangimarie Whanau! Aroha.

  23. Linda Grammer 23
    4 January 2014 at 3:32 pm

    Our farming family (we live outside Whangarei) are rapt that Hone Harawira went to South Africa to help farewell Nelson Mandela…and we reckon John Key is purposefully trying to mislead the NZ public when he criticizes Hone Harawira. What a disgrace- a Prime Minister who claims he “can’t remember” his position on the Tour. I don’t know which is worse- a Prime Minister who lies and fakes amnesia, or a Prime Minister who (when a young man) was so oblivious to important matters of the day that he didn’t have a view on something as important as apartheid. Good on you Hone, and we love Mana’s policy on sustainable farming as well- we are not impressed with John Key and newbie Minister “for” the Environment Amy Adams trying to foist GE crops on us.

  24. MICHAEL KIDD 24
    5 January 2014 at 9:22 am

    We need people like Hone to speak the truth…
    I worked for the Aboriginal Legal Service in NSW and Mandela visited our office in Oct 1990 to thank us. Unfortunately I was visiting the Human Rights Committee in Geneva so I missed meeting him. Mandela was unjustly criticized by Aboriginal activists at the time for not raising their plight with Hawke or visiting Aboriginal communities. But he made up for this later whilst President. Racism is a blight on humanity and there is a lot of hurt on both sides. Mandela’s greatness was in recognising this with the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. We need such a thing in NZ as Maori and PI continue to be marginalised.

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