Hone Harawira walks the talk, Huffington Post on Key’s memory loss & over 3000 sign Minto Petition

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Image by and courtesy of John M Miller.
Image by and courtesy of John M Miller.
Image by and courtesy of John M Miller.

Hone is paying for his own partners fares to South Africa (after checking with the Speaker on if he can use the leaders budget for it) for Mandela’s funeral to represent the activists who fought the National Party’s racist Springbok Tour…

Hone Harawira heading to Mandela funeral
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira says he will go to South Africa this week to represent the anti-apartheid movement at the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela.

…as a staunch activist active on the front lines of the Tour protests, Hone is in a perfect position to critique the official delegation…

“Honestly I’m just going to pay my respects on behalf of the anti-tour movement of 1981 in particular, and all those others who marched against apartheid over the years and have supported Nelson Mandela in his drive for freedom,” he said.

Sharples, who was heavily involved in the tour protests and the wider anti-apartheid movement said yesterday he would represent those people there but Harawira said Sharples was not the right man.

“No way in hell does Pita Sharples represent the anti-apartheid movement,” he said.

“He’s been chosen by John Key to attend as a member of the government delegation and that’s what he will be.

“The answer to that question is would have have gone if he hadn’t been picked by John Key? The answer is no so at the end of the day I make my choice, not because John Key says I can or can’t but because somebody needs to go to carry the love and the respect of the anti-apartheid movement.”

…meanwhile the Huffington Post has picked up on Key’s memory loss…

New Zealand’s Leader Questioned Over Apartheid Amnesia
In an entirely different category, however, is the apparent indifference demonstrated by the New Zealand prime minister, who refuses to even discuss with the media his stance on apartheid at the time of Mandela’s imprisonment.

Prime Minister John Key of the conservative National Party will be attending the funeral as the leader of the NZ delegation. Yet Key is irritated by the fact that media continues to ask him about the issue.

“I’m not going to bother going into it,” he told TVNZ’s Breakfast, a morning news show, after being pressed on Monday once again about his attitude towards apartheid in the early 1980s.

“I was about 20 years of age, I had a whole lot of other things to do at the time.”

When he took over the National Party in 2006, Key was asked for the first time about whether he had been for or against the notorious 1981 Springbok rugby tour of NZ. He replied simply that he couldn’t remember.

He maintained this same amnesic position during the 2008 election debate.

This indifference is inconceivable to many New Zealanders, who recall the 1981 Springbok tour as one of the most divisive periods in the nation’s contemporary history.

…and finally over 3000 people have signed a petition calling on Key to take antiapartheid protestor John Minto.

The rumor is that it was a senior MP who told Key not to invite Minto, so when the right in NZ scream that the left are politicizing Mandela’s funeral (as they desperately try to ignore their own history), point out that the Government deciding to deny Minto representation was when this became political.

25 COMMENTS

  1. So if each of those 3000 petition signers had chipped in $3 each we’d have had plane tickets for Minto to go to SA. While it is disappointing that Minto is not on an official delegation why not take a positive and active step to remedy the situation.
    I’m so tired of the left and it’s hand wringing passivity. In fact it is starting to become infuriating and the above article is another infuriating example.
    Why don’t we start doing something. Lets put some of our middle class resources together and start taking action.
    Continuously whining and moaning about government behaviour is getting us no where and is making me very grumpy.

    • If you are still middle class and haven’t been crunched down into the non-working class poor how about chipping in the $3 for me.
      Thanks Peter, mighty generous of you to spread around some of those middle class resources.
      I sent $10 to help Greenpeace fight Anadarko. One family meal is all I can afford to forfeit this week.

      • Good for you. Green peace are another bunch of ineffectual lefties but at least they get out and do stuff. My point is this – if we really want change in NZ then we have to do a lot more then complain about the government and make personal attacks on John Key – who non of us know at a personal level in any way.
        We – the left – are failing to make any significant political impact and the National government may well stroll their way back into power next year.
        Perhaps most concerning of all is that the only serious chance the left has of regaining political power is in the hands of the economically righty wing Labour Party who – if they do get into power will make as many unsavoury comprises as National. We all know that is how it’s going to play out but no-one wants to say it.
        To be honest I don’t know what it is we can do exactly but unrelenting whining and savage personal attacks on democratically elected politicians is not getting us anywhere.

    • Be grumpy … ANGER Spurs Creativity … like your donation IDEA … see its working .. Now I hope I can get a refund from John Key it will cost thousands more for his TRIP …. a wasted seat

    • Hi Peter,

      I agree that it would be great to financially support John Minto to attend the funeral. He has in fact had this opportunity presented to him already, and his sensible response has been:

      “I have decided that I will not attend the funeral in a personal capacity despite several offers to pay for it. This is an issue for New Zealand rather than me personally.” – John Minto

      His full statement is available here on TDB
      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/12/09/mintos-official-statement-on-being-excluded-from-delegation/

      • Now that’s what I’m talking about. That is some serious integrity.
        Just read his Herald article as well. He’s spot on and understandably unenthusiastic about the PR super fest that Mandela’s funeral will become for all involved.

    • i agree. the left could be recalling the efforts of 1981, talking about how we were the mouse that roared. aotearoa has a proud legacy in the fight against apartheid. the left has a critical role right now in recalling that struggle, talking about what world leaders we were (well, it’s important to note how the whites here fighting against racism here shamed the whites in SA and encouraged blacks), and by comparison, the reaction of right wing MPs, and their duplicity, will be exposed. so turn it all around and celebrate 81 and the role it played in freeing mandela.

    • I could pay for John’s ticket. John Minto could probably pay for his own ticket. That would not make him part of the party officially representing our country. He should be part of this party far more than Bolger, Sharples, or McKinnon deserve to be.

      Really, the whole point of being on the left is to change the way the government does things and build a better society. If it was only about spending our “middle class resources”, we could just set up charities. It’s not.

  2. This indifference is inconceivable to many New Zealanders, who recall the 1981 Springbok tour as one of the most divisive periods in the nation’s contemporary history.

    … and now he makes a fool of himself on the international stage. Nice one, Dear Leader.

    Twat.

  3. Love what Hone is doing … Nice to see a politician putting his money where his mouth is . John Key is Shonkey … lets face it .. HE DOSE NOT REPRESENT NEW ZEALANDERS who fought and still fight for Human Rights … He Makes Laws to Systematically Take Our Human Rights Away…… I prefer JOHN KEY didn’t go … it is a waste of tax payer money … he dose not represent the people. AND EMPTY FIGURE HEAD ….. A TITAL is all he has … those things don’t deserve respect …..
    only ACTIONS DO !!!

  4. Good one Hone Harawira. I’m proud to have you represent NZ at Madiba’s funeral.

    Key wouldn’t have wanted John Minto to go to SA with him and the other Gnatsy gargoyles supposedly representing this nation, because Mr Minto would outshine him through his anti apartheid activities over the years.

    I think Key would find out exactly how many friends Mr Minto might have in SA, particularly those closely connected to Nelson Mandela and how highly he is respected for sticking to his principles in fighting apartheid.

  5. This time I think I might actually believe John Key. At age twenty he was probably focused on how he was going to get rich and move up the ladder. I mean it’s entirely believable that he didn’t care about the rugby or the people of South Africa – after all neither of them had anything to do with John Key.

  6. While enjoying the hospitality of the people of South Africa, back home in New Zealand John Key’s senior National Party colleague Judith Collins has launched an uncalled for attack on Opposition leader David Cunliffe and anti-apartheid leader John Minto expressing her party’s real views on anti-apartheid campaigners. It can be distilled in two words “furious hatred”.

    …..Justice Minister Judith Collins tweeted Cunliffe and Springbok tour protest leader John Minto were “numpties with bells on”.

    Collins launches twitter war

    Unfortunately for John Key and Judith Collins they have found themselves on the wrong side of history and rather than admit their error and show contriteness they have both arrogantly chosen to compound their mistake. Key by deliberately snubbing the anti-apartheid leaders, Collins by abusing them.

    Though he is forced by his office to deliver condolences on the death of Nelson Mandela. In his homeland John Key still refuses to acknowledge his past or to reconcile with New Zealand anti-apartheid activists. Words are cheap and no doubt John Key will mouth a lot of cheap words and spout a lot of insincere platitudes at Mandela’s funeral. But John Key’s actions and the unprovoked abuse delivered by one of his most senior Ministers to those who opposed apartheid, shows what John Key and his government’s real feelings are towards Nelson Mandela and his historic victory against racism. At their deepest level they don’t accept it.

    The South African Government need to be informed as to the real nature of the insincere hypocrites who make up most of New Zealand’s delegation and purport to be wholly representative of New Zealand.

    They aren’t and they never will be.

  7. Good on Hone for going and spending his own money to do so. But I’m a little peeved at him completely undermining Sharples’ role in the 1980s over apartheid and the 1981 tour.

    This whole thing has become a sideshow of both left and right attacking each other, calling them liars or idiots and so on. I get the point. Some people were idiots and liars. Some people were noble, honest and absolutely on the right side of history.

    But I don’t really give a damn.

    What I care about is that Mandela, a man who brought down a corrupt system and showed huge forgiveness, has died and it is a sad day. What I care about is that instead of talking about Mandela’s achievements and his flaws, instead of ensuring that we talk about both his forgiveness and his aggression (rightly or wrongly), instead of ensuring that history isn’t white-washed… we’re talking about who gets to go to his damn funeral. Who gets to pat themselves on the back.

    Sigh.

  8. So John Key doesn’t represent New Zealanders?

    That’s funny, at the last election I recall his party setting a record for the party vote under MMP.

    Given that National is comfortably ahead of Labour in the polls I’ll suggest that Key does represent New Zealanders.

    • And that ‘record’ would be less than 50% of the New Zealand population eh? Key might represent the people that voted for him, but he doesn’t represent me.

  9. Forgiveness is what made Mandela a man for all nations to admire (remember he was a terrorist/freedom fighter). Those that admire him should set their differences aside and go to the funeral and talk to the people who were/are not as lucky as us in NZ. This is not about New Zealand. The violence in NZ in 81 was a sideshow to Soweto. Maturity and perspective should be shown by all our leaders.

    “One should never stoop to the level of ones detractors” Mandela

    • One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. Mandela chose many forms necessary to stand against apartheid. Did he forgive? Yes. Did he forget? No. There were people that even Mandela refused to meet.

      • From my observation of the time of the protests is that is that the majority of them were having the time of their lives and really enjoying it and it had as much to do with their hatred of Muldoon and having a go at the police. After it was all over they all slapped themselves on the back and have been doing so ever since whils’t ignoring all the other apartide that is still going on around the world still paticularry religious. e.g. Whats going on in the Congo now. But hay in this instance the have the same colour skin.

        • Peter, Nice to know you can see peoples intention from a TV images.
          Can you tell me how to do that so I can sit back in my comfy chair and make judgmental comments from afar.

          And yeah the Congo and other african localities are in deep strife
          but thats because of conflict minerals like copper, gold, Columbite-tantalite, Cassiterite(tin) etc all used exclusively in electronics like TVs and computers that first tier countries crave. Are you sure its being ignored? Why was it the second major group that went to Afganistan after the army was geologists?

        • I was there, mate, and I’m here to tell you, I did not want to be. Every goddam Saturday, and every other Wednesday, in the depths of a Wellington winter, and it was not fun, it took up a good deal of my time I would have preferred putting to other uses, and – considering the government sniggers about Rentamob – I seemed to be parting with quite a few ten and twenty buck notes to help finance the thing. At least, with a professional job, I could afford it.

          To make matters worse, for me the whole gig was a judgement call. To this day I don’t know for sure if I was doing the right thing. It cost the country a great deal, and more than just money, but I tell you what: we trained up the Police good and properly. I was quite concerned about that at the time.

          But one thing spoke to me loud and clear. The vote does not give the governing party a mandate to do anything it pleases simply because it can, as this present government chooses to believe. It is a mandate to govern, no more. It is not a blank cheque to assume dictatorial autocratic powers.

          For the sake of electoral advantage, Rob Muldoon was prepared to rend this country asunder. Well, it transpired he wasn’t… quite. What he thought would happen he was ready to risk: what did happen (I believe) left him aghast. Had he known what would happen, he might have given the veto (I’m basing this on an article printed over his name in a London newspaper at a time (during the Tour, be it noted) he was visiting there. There is a definite tone of regret therein).

          But having made the decision he wasn’t going to back down, nosirree Bob. When the ordure hit the rotors, he was there, bucket in hand, to fling it right back.

          In the end, it was the sheer arrogance of the Muldoon led government that had me plodding the streets nearly twice a week for months. If it did any good, then I’m glad. I do believe that it gained back a great deal of the goodwill New Zealand enjoyed internationally that Muldoon and his pals squandered for the game of rugby and an extra 3 years in office. But it might have been better for this country had it had to work harder to earn it back.

          But then I think of Roger Douglas and his follower Ruth Richardson, and imagine how much extra damage they might have wrought in the attempt. God, it’s frightening.

          It was years before I could again stomach to watch a rugby match.

          • It was a grim winter to be sure. It was also an election year and once again, a government abhorred by the majority of electors was returned with an increased minority. I was staggered that the Tour was not an election issue. It wasn’t. Anti-Tour sentiment was not drawn along Party lines. Anyone with a memory of that inexplicable election should recall that, so excuse me for scoffing over rose coloured Labour memories. Excuse me also for finding Cunliffe’s condemnation of neo-liberalism resoundingly hollow in the light of the destruction of New Zealand’s infrastructure by every government since 1984. The Tour showed me how far a government was prepared to go to defend itself. What came later simply confirms you cannot trust any of the bastards.

  10. My attitude is that the National Party government could at least have had the tact to have invited John Minto or maybe Trevor Richards, but that he didn’t could equally have been left for the South Africans to make of it what they will. Many would remember what Party was in office in Kiwiland when the Tour took place.

    They might recall that Don McKinnon was a member of that government. He might personally have been against the tour, but politically he was in favour of it. So far as I know, he took no active role (outside of the closed doors of caucus meetings) in opposing it. Actions speak louder … etc.

    If John Key really does not recall what he was doing in 1981, he is totally unqualified for his prime ministerial post. If his was a neutral stand, or in favour, or he genuinely couldn’t at the time give a damn, he could at least have had the cojones to say so.

    The impression he has given me is that John Key did not give a damn then, John Key regards the matter as trivial now – though not so trivial as to pass up a ‘look good’ moment – and John Key doesn’t give rat’s arse what it might portend for the future. John Key, for mine, is a shallow-pated empty vessel: an utter incompetent beyond his depth. I like abusing that twerp.

    To the Peters of this world: why shouldn’t we complain? We have plenty to complain about. And, in case you haven’t noticed, complaining isn’t quite as barren of effect as perhaps one might be led to believe. Observe how increasingly frequently John Key’s mask slips in the face of it; and when it does, the sight ain’t pretty.

    Complaining won’t get you arrested. It won’t get you tasered, pepper-sprayed, sniped at by Government snipers, or droned into oblivion. It’s safe. But you see, underlying the increasing volume of complaint, is the threat that maybe, just maybe, it will lead if people are pushed too far, to an active withdrawal of the governees’ consent to be governed. If and when that were to happen, the government will be in serious trouble.

    And, incompetent as all governments are in these matters, they will take the typical recourse of the incompetent: violence. At that point, as Mahatma Gandhi would tell you, that government is in its death throes. Knowing this will bring on the Government’s hysteria, and corresponding increased levels of violence (blamed of course upon the people they robbed, oppressed and insulted), all of which will hasten its demise. ‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win’.

    The threat is more powerful than the execution. You don’t need to be explicit about this, and it’s best not to be. After all, the biggest threat to a nation’s security – merely by existing – is the nation’s own government. When Thos Jefferson spoke of the price of freedom, what else did you think he was talking about?

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