I loath to agree with David Farrar, but he’s right about Golriz Ghahraman

By
Martyn Bradbury
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43
53

Golriz Ghahraman posing with a war criminal 

I think we all know my deep dislike of Farrar. He is the evil Hobbit who plays to the worst angels of our nature to spin and manipulate for the National Party.

I gag every time I am forced to think about him.

Which is why I loath having to agree with him over Golriz Ghahraman’s deception.

She and the Greens have tried to sell her back story as a human rights defender when she was actually defending war criminals.

To me this is just another example of how there doesn’t seem to be anyone inside the Greens with any ability to think 2 steps ahead.

Here’s how Golriz and the Greens SHOULD have dealt with this in her first ever speech to announce her candidacy…

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“I am so passionate about human rights and the rights of refugees, that as a human rights lawyer, I have actually defended war criminals in Rwanda. I defended those war criminals, because human rights are not transferable, no matter who is being accused. I champion human rights because they must be available to everyone and because I have seen first hand what intolerance, ostracisation and hate can create. We cannot stop the next Rwanda if we don’t know what created the first Rwanda and the erosion of civil rights was at the centre of that”. 

…this would have immediately inoculated her from the very criticism of deception she and the Greens are now being accused of.

Does this matter?

Well yes it does.

Let me show you.

Golriz: We should take more refugees

National: Didn’t you defend a war criminal who created refugees?

Golriz: We should fight the Nazis

National: Didn’t you defend a war criminal whose murder rate was higher than the Nazis?

Golriz: We should threaten the Government over the Waka Jumping Legislation to get Parihaka Day

National: What the Fuck?

…okay the last one drifted a bit, but you get the idea.

Every time she tries to speak up, she will get the ‘but didn’t you defend war criminals and try and gloss over that part while building your reputation as being a human rights defender’ as a response.

This could have been dealt with right at the beginning, the fact the Greens once again have been tripped up by their own incompetence is soul destroying.

They’re just not very good at politics are they?

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43 COMMENTS

  1. You can sell your story as a refugee child coming to New Zealand, to grow up here, embrace the people and culture, and to become a human rights activist, having studies law, thus contributing to the values of our society.

    Trouble is, this starts looking a bit like a self starting legal professional careerist, who has become member of the upper middle class living in somewhat privileged urban surroundings, who sticks herself a label as ‘human rights activist’ on her chest, while she may actually first and foremost follow a high level career path.

    Well qualified lawyer working for the UN and New Zealand Human Rights Commission, earning good salary, now MP, joining the club of the establishment, with a humane heart and hobby. One day perhaps top legal rep for a corporate, down the line?

    This is what so many modern day politicians are made of, I note, for good or for worse, never forget your roots and where you come from, may be good advice. Also do not shy from mixing and mingling with the worse off, perhaps.

  3. I don’t like rolling on the greens because I think some of there policies are essential. It’s not terribly surprising that the Greens wanted to side with non violence and peace. You might also notice in the above that the Greens had a very low Moral threshold, and it was very easy to read the Rwandan Genocide as a proxy battle between the majority Hutu Government who slaughtered 500,000 Tutsi. And don’t forget this work was done as part of the UN ass covering after they did fuck all citing rulz of engagement they quickly had to go back on years later. I mean there were so many ways to front foot this. And none of this information was hard to come by, she was working for the UN. I just shack my head sometimes. I don’t want to leave it on a sour note, but it’s difficult note to. I mean welcome to the world of spin and counter spin. Bullshit and more bullshit. What I was more disappointed was the first week of question time and the Greens where like well what did nation do, then reply well national did this, and national did that like little kids. Winston was right. Rise above.

  4. You and Farrar are right on the money (I actually think the two of you share a lot of political views in common). As good as their intentions are, the Greens demonstrate immense naivety in the political arena. Despite framing herself as a human rights lawyer, Golriz has shown that she is too earnest for politics. Just watch her get eaten by the Sharks now! Although I like the Greens, they have no backbone and have no ability to stand up to criticism. I predict that this will ring true with Golriz. She will get picked apart and will quickly lose her poise and confidence. She won’t last long.

      • I don’t think she will last. The opposition has quite rightly identified the flakiness of the Greens as the major weak point if this Government. As Meteria Turei showed, the Greens crumble easily under criticism. Shine the spotlight their way and their flaws become exposed. National will not ease their pressure on the Greens. Golriz is their focus now but once they have fully undermined her they will move onto the next weakling in the Greens line up – and there are so many to choose.

        National’s strategy is clear – they will keep on attacking until this Government crumbles with the aim of being reelected after three years. Where National have to be careful is that the public might get sick of their mallicous actions.

        • National are actually being surprisingly quiet about this. Golriz is being torn to shreds mostly by people like Phil Quin who have serious cred when it comes to Rwanda and who nobody could accuse of being a right wing troll.

          National probably realise that the Greens and the Golriz defenders would love to make the story about a National party attack; and if they stay silent she will self-destruct quite nicely without them having to say a word.

        • The problem is that she will last, because she lacks the sort of moral fibre that makes a person actually care about anything other than their own self and aspirations. That she can so glibly rationalise her behaviour and actually hold herself up as a model for others is a true obscenity. But what can we do?

  5. Martyn;

    That was spot on, as this has ben a very delicate subject as you are surely well maware right now.
    Pity the greens didn’t use your special gift with words as they surely should have, then we would aviod hours of nail biting over what fucking next@@@@@ as I have always found the modern Greens a little unpredictable to say the least.

    I do like the greens (I was one 16yrs ago) but words mean everything and while the two heading greens today have my solid support james Shaw & Julie Anne Genter are very admirable people the young ones are needing some caching sadly.

    I love your statment about david farrar it had me gigling, it was blilliantly said.

    “I think we all know my deep dislike of Farrar. He is the evil Hobbit who plays to the worst angels of our nature to spin and manipulate for the National Party. I gag every time I am forced to think about him”

  8. BS Martyn it a nothing that what lawyers do defend crims just political scoring unless David is a shill for Israel then I would be a bit concerned

  9. Bullshit Martyn. A Lawyer doing their job is simply that. Trying to portray that as being a negative for any MP regardless of there Party is straight out ignorance. Your article on purputates such ignorance. I expect better of you than this trash writing. It’s bloody disappointing.

    • Indeed, she’s getting a smear job done on her by the old tag team of Farrar and Slater with Hooton throwing in sly insinuations from the side. I imagine Nicky Hager is shaking his head.

  10. She actually said* human rights are inalienable because we are human. The clue is in the title.

    FFS Martyn, don’t use Farrar-agreement as bait. She’s on the right path and its up to her supporters to promote that.

    *paraphrased, as you’ve done. Maiden speech or entry to Parliament presso or somewhere.

  11. I see over at The Standard, it’s whoop whoop, you go Girl and have a months ban should you disagree.

    Problem is for Gharaman is defending such people accused of such evil is one thing, volunteering for it, weird, very weird, but hey that’s what lawyers do. Failing to put that in your Facebook profile, well, is quite understandable because who wants to advertise that you associated with pure evil because you asked to do so.

    But run for parliament and fail to front that you were a legal mercenary and yet tell the world you prosecuted such scum, but in reality you represented them and things change, substantially.

    Her profile mislead and it hid dark reality. As you said fronting up would have saved all the heartache.

    By all means go about the profession you chose, lawyers represent evil all the time, someone has to but its not a winner in the popularity stakes, but politics is different.

  12. Yeah Farrar, and even Phil Quin are not people I typically find myself agreeing with. And I do tend to resent people for making it happen to me! Not a forever thing, it’ll pass, but this is definitely temporary shitlist material.

  13. The Greens started losing it a long time ago, not long after Rod Donald was assassinated by agents of the Chinese dictatorship. Abandonding their very sensible immigration policy because it didn’t sit well with colonists in No Zealand.

  14. “I am so passionate about human rights and the rights of refugees, that as a human rights lawyer, I have actually defended war criminals in Rwanda. I defended those war criminals, because human rights are not transferable, no matter who is being accused. I champion human rights because they must be available to everyone and because I have seen first hand what intolerance, ostracisation and hate can create. We cannot stop the next Rwanda if we don’t know what created the first Rwanda and the erosion of civil rights was at the centre of that”.

    Yup. Indeed., What should have been said…

    If we were all prescient.

    And here’s the thing; there’s no way of knowing – in advance – what little mistake/oversight/omission/exaggeration we’ve all made in our lives that, once uncovered, can’t be blown up into a major transgression later in political life.

    Especially with a feral National opposition that has declared all-out war on this “illegimate” government.

    Ms Ghahraman could have worded it better. If she’s thought about it in advance. Two years? Five years in advance? Ten years?

    I think we’re at the stage in politics in this country where we expect our political representatives to be whiter than snow; purer than pure; and able to pass through an eye of a needle… Ok, a bit of hyperbole.

    But if you’ve had as much as a speeding ticket, or threw up at a friend’s wedding party – you can bet it’ll be dredged up and used against you in politics.

    Maybe this is why so many people don’t want to get into parliament. Who’d want every mistake ever made in their life scrutinised with the political equivalent of an electron microscope. The shit dished out to Metiria Turei and Golriz Ghahraman probably put off many women from getting into politics as well.

    One thing we can all count on is that Ms Ghahraman won’t be the last whose trivial little mistake will be blown up out of all proportion.

    Before this parliamentary term is over probably every Labour, Green, and NZ First MP and Minister will be raked over the coals.

    Make no mistake, we are at war here. We just haven’t quite realised it.

  15. Golriz helped us in our Court of Appeal challenge against unlawful Police search and racial profiling. The Court of Appeal basically confirmed that Police abuse civil rights by engaging in widespread racial profiling against Maori and Polynesian. A win for us but a significant win for democracy. Everyone, no matter the crime, is entitled to their day in court. Thanks to lawyers like Golriz.

  17. You know of course that she spoke about her role in Rwanda long before the election? It just wasn’t reported. “Lawyer does her job” is not much of a story really.

  18. You’re posting in support of a Whaleoil/Kiwiblog dirty-politics operation. Was there even a twinge of thinking that might not be a good idea?

    Also: you can write “I am loath to agree with” or “I loathe agreeing with” but English doesn’t have “I loath to agree with.”

    • Both sides committed genocide in Rwanda. Why don’t you give her some slack instead of, once again ,unloading on the Greens? Better still, try supporting them and their progressive policies. They are still our only hope for a better future.

  19. So, on the other side, try reading Andrew Geddis’ piece in Stuff this morning. He rebuts Quin and Farrar’s point very neatly.

  20. Non-white, left-ish women getting shat on?! Again. I see the pattern…

    TBD is sometimes interesting; today it is fascinating for this perverse position taken by Mazza. Andrew Geddis is much more insightful.

  21. Please read Andrew Geddis’ (Pundit) carefully reasoned responses to both Farrar and Quin, as well as accurate timelines on what was said to whom before you leap into uninformed and ill-considered print on this one Marytyn.

  22. Ghahraman says “that she acquired the confidence to study human rights law at Oxford University “.So she is obviously an expert in the matter of the basic human right of freedom of speech! So why did she participate and perhaps have been involved in the planning in the disruption of the right wing rally that occured recently? Did it not occur to her that right wingers are also entitled to freedom of speech? I find it fascinating that she manages to justify such an act given her background and claimed qualifications . Perhaps she was absent on the day they covered ” freedom of speech,” at Oxford, getting her corporate suit fitted? Or perhaps she is so convinced with her own brilliance that she is confident that her human rights interpretations do not require her to actually engage her cerebral processes!! .

  23. With friends like these…

    Not very good at politics? Not very good at Dirty politics – and I never want them to be.

  25. Martyn you must be ill to agree with Mr Blobby! Seriously, this is a beat up over Golriz’s work history. We’re talking three months as an intern, in which she was assigned to a post. That’s hardly worth mentioning in ya CV.

    Let’s take five and read Andrew Geddis’ retort to Quinn’s hand-wringing (which the Hobit sites on Red Neck Blog).
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99345190/rwanda-criticisms-against-golriz-ghahraman-dont-stack-up

    C’mon comrades, let’s not play into the hands of the vile red-neck right. On Mr Blobby’s site, they’re even questioning Golriz’s refugee status.

    It’s another case of middle-class, crusty old males being threatened by an intelligent, attractive and ambitious female.

    Meanwhile, the suspected fraud of several hundred thousand dollars at the Waikato DHB under the nose of a National Party wet goes unmentioned on the red-neck sites. Yet they hung Metiria out to dry over her honesty with finances.

    Why has Godzone become so petty about, intolerant of, and cruel towards people who don’t fit the Puritanical, hard-working, Anglo-Saxon mold but are flippant over corporate and bureaucratic greed and rot?

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