Guest and sponsored opinion pieces published on The Daily Blog, offering diverse perspectives within clear editorial guidelines.
In 2011 as a NZ Catholic nun, a Mission Sister, I had volunteered with the International Women’s Peace Service group in Palestine on the West Bank, a group that supports the Palestinians in any non violent resistance to the occupation of their land by Israel, and reports on human rights abuses.
In New Zealand, the morals of the young were first attacked in the 1950s, when a milk bar in Lower Hutt was identified as a hangout for youth involved in questionable (i.e. sex) practices and two middle class girls murdered the mother of one in the notorious Parker-Hulme killing.
New Zealand superstar Lorde has attracted a lot of attention by canceling her show in Tel Aviv, the (current) capital of Israel. This predictably created an uproar – political decisions made by celebrities on the Israel/Palestine conflict always does.
This is your prison system now and the violence and abuse used against me is an affront to basic decency.
What would you do if armed soldiers of an occupying force shot your 14-year old cousin in the face at close range and then tried to force their way into your property?
Are you pondering the best New Year’s resolution that can help animals, the planet and your health?
At Christmas I play Santa at Christchurch men’s prison. At Easter I am the Easter Bunny. And in children of prisoner’s week I am a pretty handy face painter, this year tackling a horse, a tiger and various cats and dogs.
PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to contact or know the safety of Arthur at this time, Corrections are refusing to answer any questions.
Chris was a 30-year-old serving a life sentence in Unit 5, West Division Paremoremo. At least he was until the Night of Monday 27th of November when he apparently lost all hope that Corrections would ever allow him to complete the programs he needed to convince the Parole Board that he wasn’t an undue risk and could be released back to his loved ones.
All the National Party cares about is money. They are fixated on it and it is the only value they seem to have as individuals and as a political party.