The Daily Blog Open Mic – 3rd February 2024

1. We should be proud of NZ/AO achievers – if we know about them. We don’t tend to, and so are vulnerable to the ranting of self-inflated , narrow achievers deep in their own acquired or university-discipline knowledge, not wishing to know more. Learn I say, and strengthen our pride and our efforts to the goal of being a modern, humane, principled, enjoyable, capable and resilient society. At present we are incapable of so much it is eye-watering.

   Found the OUSA on google – Otago University Students Association (nothing to do with US.)
   What do a famous anthropologist, a Gambian political secretary, a renowned statistician, a University vice-chancellor, an English monarch, a commonwealth games head and a little old lady from Brockville have in common? Yep. They’ve all been awarded Life Membership of OUSA.

   That’s related to that university alone, and add all the other learning institutions – many good people.. Then what about achievers of other sorts of greatness of ability from the ranks of us ordinaries, as in ‘vin ordinaire’. We should be encouraging those potentially great in their own abilities who just need support, perhaps mentoring, from some committed, informed person to talk to, for finding good solutions, methods, strengths and an achievable goal to aim for.

   I hear so much disdain about others, who deserve better consideration. Here are some synonyms for that word. (I put up some the other day about ACT followers. I think we must ensure we don’t habituate negative attitudes about fellow citizens.) We need to breathe life into NZ/AO to rebuild the country to a resilient and good place with practical, experienced, affable approach if we are to survive. Make lemonade out of lemons!
   Avoid the following:
   contempt
   scorn
   scornfulness
   contemptuousness
   derision
   disrespect
   disparagement
   condescension
   superciliousness
   hauteur
   haughtiness
   arrogance
   lordliness
   snobbishness
   aloofness
   indifference
   dismissiveness
   distaste
   dislike
   disgust
   despite
   contumely
   Thanks google

2. War in Yemen, genocide in Gaza, duplicity in Wellington

   The Realm of New Zealand has now gone to war against Yemen, which country is fulfilling its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by barring the passage of ships which are assisting in the Gaza genocide. As a consequence New Zealand is now an active participant in the Gaza genocide alongside the State of Israel, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.

   King Charles’ Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, says “It’s about values.” However Luxon’s values are the values of a fake Christian at the head of a colonialist narco state. The values of colonialism, racial supremacy, wars of extermination and abject submission to the dictates of the United States of America. They are not our values.

   In 184 years the Realm of New Zealand has rarely deviated from the white supremacist principles of British colonialism. Whenever it has done so it has only been as a result of immense public pressure. The first atrocities were those committed against our people by Britain’s appointed Governors. Raupekapeka, the invasions of Taranaki, Waikato, Tauranga Moana and Te Urewera. In 1873 Premier Sir Julius Vogel openly canvassed the prospect of a war of extermination against Maori, before deciding that mass immigration would be a more effective way to repress the indigenous people. Then in 1881 we had the invasion of the pacifist kainga of Parihaka and the internment of its people. In 1916 the arrest of Rua Kenana and the destruction of the community of Maungapohatu.

   After dealing to its own people, the Realm of New Zealand sought to extend its reign of blood to foreign shores. It joined in the British wars in South Africa, closely followed by the invasion of Turkiye. In 1918 New Zealand troops from the Anzac forces murdered forty men from the Palestinian village of Surafend, earning themselves an undying reputation as cowards and murderers. Then there was the 1929 Mau massacre in Samoa, in which New Zealand troops shot dead 11 unarmed Samoan political leaders. In 1939 New Zealand again went to war, not to fight fascism as they now try to tell us, but for the reasons given at the time – to protect the British Empire from the encroachment of rival powers. Once that war was over New Zealand continued to do its utmost to protect European colonial rule in all corners of the earth, from the French dominions in Indo-China to the British possessions in Malaya. In 1956 New Zealand supported the Israeli, British and French invasion of Egypt. A decade later it was participating in the US invasion of Vietnam, characterized by “carpet bombing” of large swathes of the country with the aim of “bombing Vietnam back into the stone age” and a spate of on the ground atrocities culminating in the My Lai massacre. Then New Zealand returned to the war against Islam, with the invasion of Afghanistan in which Anzac forces once again committed atrocities against civilians, involving torture and serial murders.

   It should have come as no surprise that the perpetrator of the Christchurch massacre, Brenton Tarrant declared that he would not fire on the New Zealand Police because he believed that one day, sooner or later, the New Zealand government would join him in his murderous war on Muslims. Tarrant was right. That day has now come. Luxon is telling the truth when he says that “it is about values” but he is lying when he says that the action in the Red Sea is to protect freedom of commerce. New Zealand has joined in peace time trade sanctions and blockades against many countries which have done no harm to the world. Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, Yemen, Mali, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. But when the US and Israel are committing genocide in Gaza, New Zealand steps in to support the genocide citing “freedom of navigation” as its justification. That is a blatant lie of the sort that has characterized the Realm of New Zealand since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

   What is to be done?

   First, we need to see that colonialist atrocities will continue so long as the colonialist system remains in place. That means we need to have a clear understanding of what constitutes colonialism. Most immediately, if you have a foreign head of state who is not of your own choosing then you are a colony. If your flag is an adaptation of the flag of the imperial power, you are a colony. If all your institutions of state are modeled on those of the imperial power, you are a colony. And if you are a colony you will find nationals of the imperial power occupying senior positions in your military, security services and civil administration. Your foreign and domestic policies will be in “lock step”, as Christopher Luxon puts it, with the imperial power. Your economy will be undeveloped, heavily reliant on the export of primary produce which will sell at higher prices in domestic markets than it does in overseas markets. Your banks, industries, farms and even homes will be owned by foreigners. You will be caught in a continuous but unsustainable cycle of mass immigration, because for a while at least immigration is the cheapest and most effective way for the colonialist state to keep control over its native population.

   So New Zealand is a colony, the most junior member of an imperialist hierarchy also comprising Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia. Until that changes New Zealand will continue on the disgraceful path of the past 184 years.

   Jacinda Ardern said of Brenton Tarrant and the Christchurch massacre “This is not us” by which she meant that the people of New Zealand would in any way condone Tarrant’s murders. The same is true of the Gaza genocide. It is “not us”. But it is the New Zealand government and the New Zealand government happens to be averse to considerations of humanity and immune to moral suasion or reasoned argument.

   The New Zealand government eventually pulled its troops out of Vietnam not because the war there was genocidal (which it was) but because the US and New Zealand governments were staring defeat in the face and at the same time the government had provoked mass public anger at home which sparked off demonstrations so large that they could no longer be controlled by the New Zealand Police, as well as acts of civil disobedience and eventually attacks against colonialist military bases.

   Similarly, the campaign against French nuclear testing and the follow up campaign for a nuclear free New Zealand were forced on the New Zealand government by the weight of public opinion manifested through campaigns of civil disobedience on the water and on the land.

   Opposition must go beyond rhethoric, blogging, slogan shouting, flag-waving and marching in the street if it is to have any effect. The current round of protests against the Gaza genocide are being led by people from Te Kuaka, Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, Palestinian Youth Aotearoa and the Green Party whose heart is in the right place but who appear to have no experience of those earlier struggles, and little understanding of just how brutally amoral the New Zealand government can be. They should move as swiftly as necessary to acts of civil disobedience and explicitly dissociate themselves from the colonialist regime if they are to have any hope of forcing the New Zealand government away from the global policy of genocide which it has followed on and off for the past 184 years. It would be ridiculous to wait for the next electoral cycle, because even if anti-war members form a majority in the House of Representatives by the end of 2026, the war in Gaza will have already been won and lost by that time and the morehu of Gaza will either be refugees in Egypt, or will no longer be in need of our help.

   Most importantly, the struggle must follow the principles of rangatiratanga, mana motuhake and kotahitanga. All groups, interests and voices must be represented and acknowledged.

   • Wow long-form informed thought here – I should thinjk. We need a place to show joined-up thinking and its great to get a place here. But I am supposing Geoff’s is so, it’s likely, so will find out for sure when I’ve time after doing my chores. Thanks Martyn for giving the space for the thinking behind the assertions.

3. Do MBAs and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics.) graduates get to do even one paper in this about the basics of how to be human:
   What are the core concepts of philosophy?
   This book provides an introduction to six key concepts within philosophy:philosophy itself, language, knowledge, truth, being and the good. At the same time, it aims to initiate its readers into the processes of philosophical thinking.
   Key concepts in philosophy, 2nd, revised and enlarged edition
   philarchive.org https://philarchive.org › rec › FERKCI-3

4. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/508296/officials-suggest-hubs-of-consultants-inside-agencies-to-cut-costs-in-public-sector
   That’s their suggestion. I think it is very suggestive. As if we haven’t enough of them – put them in closer contact and they’ll start breeding. Isn’t there some form of eradication for these troublesome problems.

   Give the racing industry a boost and keep horses instead in the offices. At least there would be a likelihood of some bets paying out in our favour. Lovely animals though they do kick, just don’t stand right behind them. Speak gently, firmly, they understand well. Better than these admins who are being imported often. If you are going to be rorted perhaps better if the money stays to some extent in this country.

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