ACT show their true racist colours

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Volume 38 Issue 43 Scene and Herd

ACT Party conference in Epsom last week

At some point ACTs low poll ratings were going to have to force ACT to stop pretending to be some free market under grad fantasy and get them back to their true purpose as a political vehicle for racist suburbanites whose selfishness directs all decisions.

And so it has come to pass

Act Leader Jamie Whyte called for a taskforce to root out and repeal laws giving special treatment to Maori

That’s right NZ, forget that Maori are overtly represented in prison by our racist Justice system that punishes them more for drug offences than the nice white kids, forget the systemic poverty generated by having 95% of their land taken within 1 century, forget the illegal taking of that land, forget the intrinsic racism built within a system that is there to confiscate that land, forget the fact the Treaty has been walked over whenever white settlers wanted to abuse it, forget the recent illegal treatments by the State against Maori with the Urewera raids which summed up the true contempt the Police have towards Maori, forget the failure rates within education, welfare and life expectancy –

FORGET ALL THAT!

Cause those bloody sneaky Maaaaaaaaaaaaoris have got privilege somehow and ACT are here to root it all out!

What a load of ill educated bullshit. NZ likes its fascism the way we like our racism, casual and nothing is as casually facist as ACTs attempt to re-write history so that the poor wee white volk are the victims.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

If you are honestly that much of a stinking racist to believe that Maori have somehow gotten the better part of the Treaty deal then you are a fucktard who has no right to speak in adult company on adult issues.

End of story racists.

Talk about Whyte supremacist.

32 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t believe Whyte’s comments were racist at all, in fact I think he was highlighting another form of racism – reverse discrimination.

    Special treatment….whether negative or positive is racism as it is singling you out, it is discriminating you because of your skin colour.

    Remember, the ICCPR and the ICESCR (along with the subsequent human rights treaties) “explicitly affirm the right to freedom from racial discrimination. A specific Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was adopted by the United Nations in 1965. It defines racial discrimination as:

    Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or PREFERENCE based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.”

    Whyte is arguing that assistance & recognition based on race to meet so-called quotas – such as scholarships to get into university and even skip the normal process to get straight into year 2 at law school – has been having a negative impact on Maori.

    The real problem for me of course is that his comments open the door for the racists, the kind of people who assume, generalise & pass judgment on those because of their skin colour, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexuality.

    The kind we will no doubt see on the right wing blogs before the day is out!

    And we don’t need any more of that.

    While I feel Whyte may have a point and it would be a worthwhile discussion, I don’t feel New Zealanders as a whole have the intellectual capacity or maturity to discuss such issues as we love to keep everything & everyone in their box.

    The problem of course is that in the meantime Maori continue to struggle which I find heartbreaking.

    Progress seems to be minuscule regardless of what policies get put in place – from the left or right goats – so I would like to see all people from academics to hands on experts & the politicians (we know they are not experts in much other than having the gift of the gab!) go into discussions with genuinely open minds & a heartfelt, sincere & determined wish to find real, long term solutions……rather than the sound bites & so-called silverbullets.

    The issues we have in this country are decades long resultant from poor government policy over many decades.

    The left vs right blame game achieves nothing other than to ensure that we continue to spin on our head.

    So my suggestion would be to ignore what you consider to be the offensive part/s of Whyte’s remarks and focus instead on continuing to give a voice to the problems & finding real solutions that will generate real change.

    • Unsol – what scholarships are you referring to?

      Because the ones I’m aware of are bought and paid for by Iwi, to further educate their young folk.

      As to the rest of your post; in 14 paragraphs you provided no examples or clear evidence of any “PREFERENCE” [sic] for Maori.

      The reason for this should be fairly obvious; there are no race-based laws in this country that benefit Maori.

      If there were – and think about it for a moment – Maori’s position in our society would not be as apalling as it is now; higher rates of imprisonment; higher rates of poverty; higher rates of disease; higher rates of unemployment and under-employment; etc, etc.

      ACT’s red-neck, dog-whistle policies is just that; red-neck, dog-whistle policies.

      I’m surprised you’ve fallen for it?

      • Frank the voice of reason, I like how you play the ball & not the person. It’s always so refreshing!

        I’m referring predominantly to the Maori quota for limited entry courses like medicine & law school.

        It was around when I was at uni in the early 90s & still existed as late as 2010. I am assuming it still exits.

        Isn’t this by definition reverse discrimination? Or should I say affirmative action? Both sides of the same coin don’t you think?

        Re Whyte’s views…as for the merits or lack thereof, we both know there is valid scholarly arguments on both sides so we could argue our different viewpoints til the cows come home.

        My issue – unsurprisingly lost by those who disagreed with me below – is that we are far too quick to put labels on people when they dare to express a dissenting view.

        Yet shouldn’t all the emphasis be on solutions?

        We know the past & current policies don’t work yet few are prepared to engage intelligently & be open to all points of view because most prefer to reject opposing views; most seem to favour the gratification of grandstanding/pointing the finger more than finding a solution.

        In the meantime, whilst everyone continues to argue & keep the finger of blame directed at anyone but themselves, Maori continue to be overrepresented in all the wrong statistics.

        Unlike Whyte I’m not suggesting we should get rid of the quota system etc, I think they have a place, but it needs to be in conjunction with other tools that generate the self worth & desire to achieve many of us take for granted. Tools I don’t think exist in current policy.

        But I bet they do in our NGOs – I wish our policies were more community led, driven by those volunteers working in our communities day in and day out.

        Their voices just seem to always get drowned out by the bickering.

        • Unsol, having read your comment to Kelly (on another page), I think you deserve better responses than is given to certain others who shall remain nameless (and please excuse any hint of patronising in this comment – it is not intentional).

          Re; quotas.

          If they exist (and I haven’t researched it), then it would be a sad thing for the likes of Whyte to be complaining about.

          In short, “quotas” (?) and Iwi scholarships are the “hand up – not hand out” that many on the Right espouse.

          Indeed, I could see such policies bridging the gap between Left and Right; a hand up (scholarships, and possible “quotas”) – coupled to encouraging those on the bottom of the socio-economic heap to better themselves.

          In return, we get;

          1. a fairer society,
          2. fewer people at the bottom of the scrapheap,
          3. more at the top,
          4. more productive members of society,
          5. less wasted human potential,
          6. higher-bracket tax-payers.

          Honestly, I can’t see any downside to this.

          What’s the worst that can happen? That everyone is highly educated and contributing to society/economy?

          Sounds like a plan to me.

          Crikey, if it worked, what would I have left to blog about? 😀

        • Actually there are not a multitude of taxpayer funded scholarships. Almost all scholarships are funded directly or indirectly from Maori Trusts and other sources such as unclaimed monies from Maori lands. E.g. in the Health Sector:

          Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board Scholarship
          Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira Education Grant

          Other scholarships such as New Zealand Medical Women’s Association Elective Scholarship are small and exclusive, funding only 1 position and is likely to be given to the top Maori candidate, who would have got into the course anyway. Furthermore, these are not Government Scholarships, they are largely private funds.

          The Kia Ora Hauora is a Māori Health workforce development programme established in 2008 to increase the overall number of Māori working in the health and disability sector. The rationale for this scholarship I presume is that a high proportion of the beneficiaries will end up support health work in Maori communities, which really lack professional workers and where the needs are especially high, relative the general population.

          The programme has been developed in response to the national and international shortage of health sector workers – and the demand for more Māori health professionals in the sector. This seems to me to be a perfectly valid approach and rationale for this program. Frankly why train a lot of young folk with European background, when the large majority of them head off overseas to greener pasture and have no inclination to work within Maori communities – when this are high priority needs.

          There is apparently a quota for Maori and Polynesian students at Auckland University medical school. I understand Otago University also has a quota system. Interestingly Otago also has a quota system for people from rural farming background as well.

          In many cases Maori students will qualify strictly on merit. In other cases, Maori applicants with slightly lower grades can tender for admission to fill the quota. In all cases, only students with grades deemed sufficient to “make the grade” as professionals are accepted into the quota. Quota students must pass all tests and attain qualifying standards required of the degree like all other students.

          Who benefits? A small number of young Maori and farmers kids, with slightly lower (but still adequate) grades with high levels of potential to go on and support their respective communities. Who loses? A small number of non-maori and urban folk with borderline grades, who have marginally higher grades than some of the Maori quota. I can’t see the problem.

        • Not quite right, Steve.

          The scholarships you linked to are called Hauora Māori Scholarships and are simply another version of Commonwealth scholarships which provide publicly funded health and disability services.

          They are two versions of the same thing, with the Hauora Māori Scholarships adapted for the end-user; Maori clientele.

          Links here:

          http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/populations/maori-health

          http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/eligibility-publicly-funded-health-services/guide-eligibility-publicly-funded-health-services-0/commonwealth-scholarship-student

          So your assertion that they ” are explicitly available only to Maoris” is not correct.

    • Dumbass – there is no such thing as “reverse discrimination” . That is a term of political/social misdirection coined by cynical and reactionary types in the USA. Ignorantly parroting such hogwash highlights nothing so much as your own ‘dumbassedness’ (I coined that term just for you).

      Discrimination requires power disparity – with the powerless component of the (it takes two to tango) dyad on the receiving end of discrimination. Discrimination does not flow uphill, numb-nuts.

      If in fact Maori receive special treatment, special rights, special benefits – I reckon you and your bloodline would be willing to trade places with Maori and Maori statistics?

      Ferchissake – turn off talkback radio, pick up a book or take a history class. No one is interested in your flat-earth-like views on race relations in Aotearoa.

      Dumbass.

      • I’m not sure your attempt to insult sells your claim to superior intellectual understanding….it is up there with the person below who seems to struggle with the difference between “your” and “you’re”.

        A common definition of reverse discrimination:

        noun
        1.
        the unfair treatment of members of majority groups resulting from preferential policies, as in college admissions or employment, intended to remedy earlier discrimination against minorities.

        Or I can call it affirmative action.? 6 of 1 so makes no difference it me. The point is you might argue special treatment like Maori quota for limited entry courses is positive & much needed because it serves as a remedy for Treaty wrongs, I argue that it keeps Maori in a box & fails to encourage a good work ethic & robs them of true success – what it means to set a goal, work hard & achieve it.

        That is the point I think Whyte was trying to make.

    • Your a racist Unsol – pretty words and glib rhetoric put aside. Your a bigot, there I said it. I’m sick of your type of self denial on being a prejudiced judge of Maori. Your the worst type, an apologist for casual hated.

    • Interesting. Meanwhile Auckland Grammar School has a special unit and has even hired private investigators to weed out the ‘zoning cheats’ who have lied to get their kid into that school and others. You can add several hundred thousands dollars to property values in the area. But hey you must be right, everyone has the same opportunity as anyone else right? If we are gonna get rid of ‘race-based’ laws, lets start with the first one: The English Acts Act 1854. The first act of parliament ever passed. This gave immediate ‘preference’ to English law at the exclusion of Maori common law and lore. Not quite what you thought of as ‘race-based’?

      ” so I would like to see all people from academics to hands on experts & the politicians…go into discussions with genuinely open minds & a heartfelt, sincere & determined wish to find real, long term solutions”

      Actually this is happening all the time. In fact, NZ is a world leader in research and expertise about the effects of racism in a whole range of areas, particularly health. But that often doesn’t make for dramatic enough ‘news’ as dealing with the reality of racism as a structural, institutional and historical determinant of contemporary outcomes is less palatable to ‘the public’ than the colourblind, one law for all, we’re all the same, the past is the past, utopian fantasy that won’t keep people up at night and lets them feel comfortable about blaming victims.

      Honestly if you are waiting for the media, no matter it’s ideology, to deliver up reasonable debate and information about racism (both as discrimination and as actual privilege), you’ll be waiting a long long time. Best to inform yourself as much as possible. University Schools of Public Health websites might be the best place to start?

  2. ACT is basically a white yuppie party, but it hasn’t realized that yuppiedom has moved on a few shades over the last two decades. It is still pouring out the same neo-liberal claptrap that Roger Douglas was espousing in the 1980s, only he was clever enough to wrap it up in a sheepskin under the guise of a Labour government. Even National is smart enough to wrap up its neo-liberalistic tendencies in warm fuzzies to give them an illusion of friendliness. ACT can’t even do that.

  3. If ACT were to form part of the next government this policy could actually be brought into reality too (assuming National don’t need the Maori Party). It would be Key’s third term, so he could be thinking it’s time to ditch the sheep-skin and go all-out Tory. Scary stuff.

    • Reminds me of when I lived in Melbourne for a couple of years… and this show called ‘The Panel,’ completely mocked them with a satire skit b/c they were visiting… and cut the holes for the eyes in awkward places so they couldn’t see, to show their intellect. It was hilarious. lol Numbskulls.

    • Shhhh mate,.. you’ll upset all the other folk round the globe wearing robes! …

      And by the way…damn shame the pic shows em all wearin beards…Act members by contrast usually look like a bunch of alopecia sufferers – or maybe they got a NIT problem…who knows??

      Always did like the free flowing 19th century style – no kidding! ……so , if your’e shaving , ….your’e supporting Gillette and co……which means your’e also supporting rampant neo liberal capitalism !!!

      Bottom line?….harden up and grow a beard …and your hair while your’e at it!

  4. For some proof of this, Google “white privilege”, and have a good read. The Wikipedia page is quite good on this, though it has been undermined somewhat by trolls.

    Or, enrol at Massey University (you can do it over the internet, by distance learning), and do Associate Professor Jeff Sluka’s course on “Endangered Cultures”, which is a real eye-opener about everything to do with this issue.

    Or, get hold of the textbook for that course, “Victims of Progress”, by John H Bodley, and have a read of that, it is SHOCKING.

    http://www.amazon.com/Victims-Progress-John-H-Bodley/dp/0759111480/

  5. That should get the votes out for ACT. They say the things National MPs really believe but just haven’t got the guts to say in public. For that reason, ACT is a useful window into the nasty, racist psyche of middle-to-rich NZ. There are rich Maori, of course, but they are to cowardly and greedy to respond to racist attacks from rich white outfits like NACT.

  6. Whyte is simply ahistorical – lacks a proper understanding of NZ and thinks he can slide by on his intellectual chops. But if his intellectual chops amounted to anything he wouldn’t be a neo-liberal in the first place.

    There probably are some poorly constructed Waitangi fixes – but the man who wants to sweep all away is scarcely the fellow to conduct them – not that that is Whyte’s purpose. He wants to make self-righteous noise to attract votes – his rhetorical excursions should be appended to Te Ururoa Flavell’s election posters – because by embracing Key Flavell implicitly embraces ACT.

  7. Whyte knows he’s damaged goods, otherwise he would have stood in Epsom himself. All that supposed intellect means nothing if it is powered by a racist heart.

  8. Act 2. When all else fails, play the race card, then again, Don Brash couldn’t have said it better , Whyte should add puppet to his credentials.

Comments are closed.