On Angst and Politics

This is hopefully going to be a very short post. I have a thesis to write, after all.

Two things this week have made me rather annoyed and frustrated. The first is Winston Peter's pamphlet which has all the scaremongering of the old White New Zealand policy and the Yellow Peril fears of early-mid 20th century New Zealand. When you look at the racism in New Zealand in the 1970s and '80s with the Dawn Raids, you have to acknowledge a disturbingly racist strand of the New Zealand identity. Granted, perceptions have changed. Garth George in a recent article (well critiqued in HARD news) stated that Polynesians were a welcome addition to New Zealand society. That view wasn't necessarily prevalent twenty years ago. Perhaps Asian and so called third world immigrants will be welcome in twenty years time, but we will, of course, need someone else to discriminate against then.

My second whinge is on Ahmed Zaoui. The contradictions in the case are illustrated in Gordon Campbell's Listener article. My main gripe is that the government seems to be happy to deny the basic human rights of Zaoui while trying to maintain the moral high ground in foreign affairs. There is yet to be any major protest movement against his treatment, which makes most New Zealanders complicit through inactivity. How can we as a nation take any pride in some of the more feel-good issues (nuclear free, anti-GE, anti-illegitimate wars) when we refuse to allow someone basic access to the prosecutor's evidence because of 'security fears' and instead lock him up in solitary for TEN months. I'm not trying to downgrade the importance of the no-nukes or anti-GE campaigns (being a supporter and all). I'm just trying to make the point that this hypocrisy will downgrade our standing within the world community in regards to human rights.

And that, surely, will be a blow to Helen's ambitions for the UN. Maybe therein lies our hope.

Right. Drink time.