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New Zealand rallies for imprisoned Chilean activist – Auckland Peace Action
Machi Francisca Linconao, a traditional spiritual leader of the Mapuche people in Chile, is currently under house arrest. She is a well-known activist on behalf of her forest and people and has recently been on hunger strike to end her incarceration. Linconao’s treatment has been criticised by many international human rights organisations including Amnesty International.
International craft artisan and activist Camila Larsen will be chairing a public meeting in solidarity with Francisca Linconao this Thursday in Auckland’s Albert Park. During the meeting participants will be crocheting a guñelve flag, and comparing the indigenous struggles of Chile and Aotearoa.
Auckland Peace Action (APA) and Racial Equity Aotearoa (REA) call on the Chilean government to drop the charges against Francisca Linconao, release all Mapuche political prisoners, cease all human rights violations against the Mapuche people, and repeal the draconian Anti-Terrorist legislation used against Mapuche activists.
Racial Equity Aotearoa spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said “We support and stand in solidarity with the Mapuche people and their fight for sovereignty. The struggle against militarisation of indigenous land is one that is shared across the world, including here in Aotearoa.”
Francisca Linconao has been accused of murder on flimsy evidence and is being held on a long pre-trial detention under the Pinochet-era anti-terror law, which makes due process impossible. The militarisation of the Mapuche land in the Araucanía Region has led to many cases of disappearances and torture.
Artisan Camila Larsen said “Many people in Chile have been using textile crafts to show their solidarity with machi Francisca Linconao. Crafting alone won’t take her or any other of the political prisioners out of their confinement, that’s for sure. But it brings us together and allow us to exercise thinking in a different way. While the hand is moving, focused in the textures and forms, following the rythmic pattern, the mind can go to places where it is not allowed during our day by day activies. We cannot separate body from thought. To do is to think: manual work is not less important than intellectual work; we can practice them at the same time.”
Details for the solidarity event are here :
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Greenpeace calls on the Dairy Industry to come clean about its plans for expansion
Despite widespread public concern over New Zealand’s polluted rivers and lakes, the dairy industry plans to push the national dairy herd to record numbers.
Greenpeace claims lobby group, Dairy NZ is making a cynical attempt to distract New Zealanders from this uncomfortable truth.
Greenpeace Campaigner, Genevieve Toop said, “What industrial dairy lobbyists don’t want the public to focus on is that they are planning a big increase in the number of dairy cows, already at 6 and a half million, which will cause more pollution in our lakes and rivers.”
In the last 48 hours a war of words has broken out over a TV ad which links industrial dairying with rivers and lakes that have been declared unswimmable.
Dairy NZ tried to stop the ad by taking Greenpeace to the Advertising Standards Authority. The advertising watchdog ruled in Greenpeace’s favour and rejected a total of 12 complaints, saying the ad was truthful, and not misleading. Dairy NZ is now planning to appeal the decision.
Toop says “Dairy NZ is continuing to deny the obvious – more industrial dairying means more ruined rivers”
“Instead of dealing with the problem of too many cows the industry is planning to build think-big irrigation schemes to expand the dairy herd in Canterbury, Otago, Wairarapa, Northland and Hawkes Bay. If these irrigation schemes go ahead there will be tens of thousands more dairy cows which will spell disaster for our lakes and rivers.”
Dairy NZ released a statement on the ASA ruling yesterday pointing to its mitigation programmes of fencing rivers and planting trees.
But, Greenpeace says this misses the point. “It’s not rocket science, more cows means more pollution.”
“While fencing and planting work is applaudable, too many cows on overstocked farms creates nitrate pollution from cow urine which seeps through the soil into groundwater and then into waterways where it can cause algal growth.”
“If we are going to save our rivers and lakes we need to ditch plans for irrigation schemes, decrease cow numbers and transition to ecological farming, without delay.”
Ecological farming is a model of farming that boosts productivity without the need for destructive chemical fertilisers, big irrigation and other industrial methods.
”Ecological farming provides models of dairying which require fewer cows and fewer chemicals to produce high value environmentally sound products.”
A paper released by AgResearch that compared different dairy farming models confirmed that the low input, low intensity model which didn’t use any chemical nitrogen fertiliser and kept lower numbers of cows per hectare produced the most milk per cow per year, was the best environmental performer, the least financially risky and was more profitable when milk-price payouts were low. (1)
“Instead of producing more commodity milk powder, New Zealand could be producing a variety of clean, green and high-value food products that the world is increasingly demanding. And we can do it through ecological farming that looks after our land, our rivers and our international reputation.”
(1) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800907005757
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Rise of the Conscious Consumer: More Kiwis Willing to Pay for Ethical Products than Ever Before – Fair Trade Association
Rise of the Conscious Consumer: More Kiwis Willing to Pay for Ethical Products than Ever Before
• 71% of Kiwis say they are willing to pay more to get the best organic, sustainable & ethically produced products available
• Fairtrade and Eco Store are top of mind as leading sustainable brands
• 83% of Kiwis say they would stop buying a company’s products if they heard about them being irresponsible or unethical
Three out of every four Kiwis are likely to pay more for organic, sustainable and ethically produced products than they were in 2015, with Fairtrade and the Eco Store recognised as leading sustainable brands in New Zealand.
According to Colmar Brunton’s Better Futures Report 2016, which surveyed more than 13,000 people throughout New Zealand, 71% of consumers said they were prepared to pay more for sustainable and ethically produced products, a 6% year-on-year increase from 2014.
Highlighting the Kiwi passion for sustainability and ethics, 83% of respondents stated they would stop buying a company’s products if they heard about them being irresponsible or unethical, and 72% said it is important for them to work for a company that is socially and environmentally responsible.
The upward trend in sustainable consumerism is reflective of rising concerns about the origin of food and other products as well as a desire for easier access to information about the working conditions of farmers and workers in developing countries.
These developing consumer preferences at a local level also mirror global trends, with similar findings being published by Euromonitor International in their Global Changemakers Survey 2016.
Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand CEO Molly Harriss Olson said the survey reflects how far the Fairtrade movement has come over the past decade, as campaigners and businesses have worked together to transform the way that the nation shops.
“In the past year retail sales value of Fairtrade products across New Zealand and Australia have grown by more than 17% to $379 Million (NZD).”
The purchases were made from 52 licensees and traders in New Zealand, and 192 in Australia.
While environmental concerns continue to grow in 2016, the report also highlights that social issues are occupying the minds of Kiwis.
Over 60% of Kiwis rate industry and innovation as being very important to creating a better future for our planet, followed by 65% rating gender equality as being very important.
“These findings reflect the experience of Fairtrade and the importance of our work throughout the Pacific region,” Ms Harriss Olson said.
“Continued retail sales growth has enabled Fairtrade to provide more support and services to farmers and workers throughout the Pacific, including the successful movement and expansion of gender equality and technology innovation programs.”
“It is wonderful to see the thoughtful shopping of New Zealanders translate into profound impacts on the lives of thousands of people in the neighbouring Pacific,” Ms Harriss Olson added.
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Motorcyclists deserve safety they’ve paid for – Labour Party
Motorcyclists deserve an explanation from the Government about why just one fifth of the money they have been charged has been spent on safety while the carnage continues on the roads, says Labour’s ACC and Transport Spokesperson Sue Moroney.
Labour today revealed information showing $15.1m had been collected in an additional motorcycle safety levy introduced in 2010, but just $2.9m had been spent on initiatives by July 2016.
“When I see that motorcyclists were 26% of the deaths from the horrific official holiday road toll this summer, I can understand the anger they feel over the lack of progress while they continue to pay the price in both money and lives.
“It can take a few years to get new projects up and running, but this Government has already had six years to make better use of this fund.
“The argument that they will now increase spending on motorcycle safety initiatives is cold comfort for those who have lost loved ones or had their lives shattered through motorcycle accidents over that time.
“I have recently been approached by injured motorcyclists frustrated at the lack of an awareness campaign on motorcycles aimed at other road users – this important measure is long-overdue.
“Motorcyclists rightly expect this dedicated levy to be spent on their safety and not siphoned off into other projects,” says Sue Moroney.
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Dear New Zealand – we need to have a chat about Waitangi Day
I’ve never had the honour of actually going to Waitangi on Waitangi Day, it’s something I believe all NZers need to do once in their lifetime and now I have a wonderful wee daughter, I certainly want to take her one year.
What I do try to do each Waitangi Day is take a walk up One Tree Hill to look at the obelisk that Logan Campbell paid for. At the turn of the 19th Century, the social, technological and political interaction with Pakeha had almost killed the entire Maori race off.
The obelisk was built as a commemoration to the Maori people.
Pause, and just consider that.
Interaction with white people almost wiped out the entire Maori race. That’s a sobering reminder of what our real relationship with Maori has been.
Pretty racist.
We don’t as Pakeha like to commemorate Waitangi Day because it forces us to confront these unflattering truths about race relations in NZ.
We can barely acknowledge the racism right now that locks up so many Maori, that sees them fail in almost every social statistic, that sees them damaged most by violence, poverty and crime so attempting to reflect on 177 years of broken promises is too much for many who just want a beer and BBQ.
This is why many NZers have quietly ignored Bill English’s decision to not turn up at Waitangi, English avoiding it means we can all avoid it.
Avoidance however won’t get us the public holiday we all want because if one thing has been constant in that 177, it’s been Maori angrily pointing out to the rest of us that the Crown hasn’t lived up to its obligations under the Treaty. Maori will be there for another 177 years making the exact same points if we as a nation refuse to engage.
This is real life, not social media. You can’t just block someone or mute them, you have an obligation to interact civilly and if we as Pakeha want a day where we can celebrate being NZers, then that requires Maori to be with us enjoying the same fruits of the societal harvest.
We can only do that if the Crown has lived up to its Treaty obligations.
To use a Thanksgiving comparison, Bill English wants to have a Thanks Giving dinner but he doesn’t want to invite any Native Americans to it.
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Formal racism vs Casual racism – things the Progressive left still don’t get
So much for casual racism eh? Bill English’s ability to manipulate the backlash over the supposed casual racism of Peter Leitch by dumping Waitangi Day Celebrations has shown us what formal racism looks like.
NZ is way more formally racist than we liberals in social media bubbles acknowledge, which is why focussing on micro aggression casual racism comes across as pointless alienating self-aggrandisement.
The 60% Maori prison population, the huge percentage of 300 000 kids in poverty who are Maori and the 41 000 homeless don’t care about what two people said to each other in a winery but elite liberals on social media did and they managed to keep the story going for a week longer than Bill English gutlessly dumping on Waitangi Day.
The irony here is that English has only managed to do what he did because of the backlash to calling Leitch a racist – that is something liberals on social media refuse point blank to accept.
Watching the Left rip itself to pieces over identity politics is the best advert for National that Bill English could hope for.
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Meryl Streep and the horror of post truth politics – Trump DID mock a disabled journalist
It’s remarkable the power of post truth politics.
Meryl Streep’s powerful speech at the Golden Globes where she was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award hinged on an event during last years election that shocked many.
It was the mocking by Trump of Serge Kovaleski, a Pulitzer Award winning journalist who suffers from the very obvious disability of arthrogryposis that Streep highlighted as a moment she was disgusted by Trump and America’s dark flirtation with fascism.
But not the post-truthers.
According to the Alt Right, Trump never mocked Serge Kovaleski and it’s another beat up by the Hillary Clinton media.
What a load of bullshit.
First, let’s remember that Trump knew Kovaleski well. Trump had used Kovaleski’s report as ‘evidence’ that Muslims cheered when the planes hit the World Trade Centre and he had met and had been interviewed by Kovaleski numerous times between 1987 and 1993 when Kovaleski worked at the Daily News.
Trump had turned on Kovaleski during the election because Kovaleski had stated that the news report he had written and which Trump was trying to use to justify his claim that Muslims in New York celebrated the 9/11 attacks, didn’t in fact prove what Trump was trying to claim it proved.
Trump in turn then attacked Kovaleski and used the disability he knew Serge had to mock him, take a look for yourself…
…attacking Meryl Streep’s stirring speech by claiming Trump never mocked a disabled journalist when he clearly did is comparable to Orwell’s infamous 4 fingers test from 1984 where the tortured Winston claims freedom is to say 2 plus 2 = 4.
…in the far right post truth world of the Alt Right 2 plus 2 equals whatever Donald Trump says they equal.
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Māori Party pays tribute to Joseph Harawira
Hinepukohurangi, uhia te tara o Taiarahia! E hora ki te riu o Whakatāne, kia tamate ai ngā tangi o o tamariki o Ngāti Awa, e auē ana ii te mamae! Moe mai e te rangatira, okioki mai.
The Māori Party pays tribute to a remarkable New Zealander, a son of Ngāti Awa and Ngāi Te Rangi, Hohepa Joseph Harawira, QSM.
“Joe was relentless in his pursuit for justice for ex-sawmill workers who were exposed to pentachlorophenol (PCP), a deadly chemical used in New Zealand timber processing for years,” said Te Ururoa Flavell, MP for Waiariki and co-leader of the Māori Party.
In 1988 Mr Harawira, with other former sawmill workers formed Sawmill Workers Against Poisons to explore the impact of the contamination leading to adverse health. Their survey was used to bring together the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment and Te Puni Kokiri; leading eventually to the establishment of special health services and a clinic. SWAP then campaigned with Greenpeace to have all remaining contaminated sites cleaned up, including, 25 dumps in the Whakatane area.
“What I admire most about Joe’s campaign was his steadfast determination to take on the corporate warriors, to conduct extensive research into the debilitating effects of PCP and to stand by and for the families affected by chemical poisoning,” said Mr Flavell.
“His ground-breaking campaign resulted in significant transformative outcomes for the people and land of Ngāti Awa. The research was pivotal in creating a remedial project to clean the whenua and waterways.
“Joe lived the life of a ringa raupa (hard worker). He was dedicated to mātauranga Māori and the protection of the whenua. He was also committed to a path of healing and spiritual commitment.
“He was a devoted trustee for the Riritahi Hona Trust for over 20 years. He earned the respect of tohunga and technical advisors alike. He took on MPs, Cabinet Ministers, the research fraternity, scientists and officials. Through all of these avenues and relationships, Joe taught us all about sacrifice, courage, perseverance, endurance, and faith.
“Our love and sympathies are extended to his beloved wife Pare and their tamariki, mokopuna, whānau katoa.”
Mr Harawira worked for 29 years in the timber industry before his health declined in 1982, amongst many of his colleagues who were suffering similar symptoms: fatigue, depression, respiratory problems, heart and liver disease and high levels of cancer.
At this time, contaminated sawdust, bark, scrap timber and chemicals were dumped in and around Whakatāne including different marae in Ngāti Awa, especially Taiwhakaea.
His efforts were recorded in a documentary called The Green Chain, and research published in the MAI review (‘Joe Harawira: the emergence of a mātauranga Māori environmentalist’, 2009). That review concluded with a sage comment by Joe: ‘To be unsuccessful is not failure, failure is not fatal but it is having the courage to continue.’
Joe will be lying in the whare tipuna o Toroa at Pūpūāruhe Marae in Whakatāne from Tuesday 10 January.
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Cross-party approach needed as homeownership hits new low – Labour Party
New data showing homeownership has hit a record low shows the need for political parties to come together to enact Labour’s KiwiBuild and Healthy Home Bills, which are currently before Parliament, says Leader of the Opposition Andrew Little.
Statistics New Zealand Dwelling and Household Estimates data released today puts the homeownership rate at 63.2% – the lowest level since the 61.2% recorded in the 1951 census.
Andrew Little’s Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill, which requires all rentals to be warm, dry, and healthy to live in, passed its first reading and is due back before the House soon. Kelvin Davis’ Housing Corporation (Affordable Housing Development) Amendment Bill, requires the government to implement Labour’s KiwiBuild policy to build 100,000 affordable homes and is due for its first reading.
“With more and more Kiwis locked out of owning their own home and stuck renting, it’s time for Parliament to come together and solve the crisis.
“The Kiwi dream of owning your own place is slipping away. The public is sick of the political game-playing and lack of progress on the housing crisis.
“National’s new leader has the chance to put partisanship to one side and back Labour’s plan to fix the housing crisis.
“Our policies are ready and about to be voted on by Parliament. All parties should back them. If we work together, we can fix the housing crisis.
“If National obstructs our policies for political reasons, they will be condemning more and more Kiwi families to never owning their own home and living in unhealthy rentals,” says Andrew Little
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More fake news from the corporate mainstream media Summer news teams
The Summer newsrooms over run by Journalism grad students hired because they have 500 followers on Twitter have made another mistake by claiming this photo was taken by an astronaut over NZ…
…it never happened yet the NZ Herald and Newshub told everyone it was true.
This fake news and the bullshit that the mainstream corporate media hold up as the nonsense issues we should focus on have had their day.
If we leave the 2017 election to be reported on by the corporate mainstream media, we will get the same result we did in 2014.
The Daily Blog is launching this month a crowd funding project to boost our bloggers, boost our platform and live stream a 7pm week night current affairs show.
We need NZers to join in this project if they want a critical media and not a corporate clickbait lie farm.
More details this month.
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Ian Mune stands with Pike families
Renowned actor and director Ian Mune OBE joined the picket line at Pike River this morning to show his support for families who are protesting attempts to seal the mine forever.
Mr Mune says the Government needs to act to stop the seal and explore the drift for remains and evidence. “I’ve come to Pike River today to show that like many many other New Zealanders I support these families. They deserve justice. It is shameful that they are having to fight so hard to get it.
“The Government can’t just treat these grieving families as an irritant to be pushed aside. They have a right to be listened to.
“Permanently sealing an unexamined crime scene is a travesty. There’s expert advice that it’s safe to enter the drift, and there may be evidence down there that could save lives in other mines.”
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Auckland renters threatened with more rent increases – 2017 will snap many NZers
After promising us that house prices were ‘slowing’ (not reducing, not stopping, not deflating. but ‘slowing’) Auckland landlords are now threatening many tenants with huge rent increases.
Many renters in Auckland are barely able to make ends meet right now and rent hikes when wages are flat are the last thing Auckland’s over heated housing market needs.
Many Aucklander’s are going to be in trouble this year while landlords reap the reward of an unregulated property bubble pushed by National to keep the GDP prices inflated.
The entire city of Auckland has now been gentrified and the poorest amongst us are being forced out of the city they were born in.
Meanwhile the flight of cash out of China will fuel another surge in prices as Chinese investors rush to get their capital out of China and into global property.
Our neoliberal property market is the problem, the National Government and landlords reaping untaxed capital gains are the only winners.
Renters need rights and they need them now.
We require new law cementing in long term tenancies with rent controls and the promotion of ‘ethical landlords’, people who refuse to squeeze every last drop of money out of their tenants for needless greed.
Our social inequality demands solutions, renters rights and affordable housing is part of that solution. Privileged arseholes like the National Party and their land owning voters represent all that is wrong with the current free market failures.
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Waitangi Day needs a weeping millennial and when will Fairfax do to their own Journalist what they did to Leitch?
A day after telling the country that he gutlessly won’t appear at Waitangi Day because it’s a bit of a ‘cringe’ and the story has sunk without much of a whisper in the mainstream media.
Waitangi Day needs a weeping millennial like the Peter Leitch story had so that it could stay in the news cycle for 7 days.
English would have watched the backlash to the Peter Leitch is racist debacle and believed disrespecting Waitangi Day would perfectly compliment the growing anger at defaming Leitch.
English is a far sharper player of the game than Key ever was.
Many claimed that anyone defending Leitch was also racist which was not only counter productive, but it missed the far larger issue.
You can’t destroy someones reputation via an online witch hunt based on the evidence of a weeping millennial because agreeing to that level of evidential threshold is a far more dangerous thing to allow the mainstream media to do than the navel-gazing of micro aggression race politics.
So now we have adopted the evidential threshold is any millennial complaining on social media, when are Fairfax going to dedicate as much time on one of their own journalists as they did defaming Leitch?
This occurred last night on Social Media, a young woman who feels her relationship with a Fairfax Journalist was abusive.
You have to read it to believe it. It’s highly defamatory and crucifying to the Journalist in question. I won’t link directly to it because it’s just so one sided and defamatory and I wouldn’t be much better than the mainstream media were when they used Lara Wharepapa-Bridger’s weeping testimonial for their ratings while pretending it was a race issue.
Trigger warning if you do go searching for it, it’s VERY Wellington.
Remember, if a man has ‘feels’ that’s mansplaining and evidence of how fragile his masculinity is. When a woman has ‘feels’ we all have to pay attention and accept every word while congratulating her bravery and courage.
2017 is the year of the weeping millennial on social media, we don’t need a Judge or Jury when Twitter is the executioner.
I believe the thousands of insults and attacks on each other via social media was a huge contributing factor to Trump’s win and that cultural and social interactions are generating far more hatred and division than solidarity.
Screaming people are racist or sexual predators when that’s an opinion and not a fact does more to generate anti-progressive backlashes than anything else, and it belittles the real racism and sexism that infects our culture. Bill English knows that, and that’s how he’s managed to get away with dumping on Waitangi Day.
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TDB Summer Election Special: United Future – a revulsion of one and will MoU survive Ohariu?
I allowed Helen Kelly to die as a criminal, but my bow tie looks good
I think that it was despicable that Peter Dunne made Helen Kelly a criminal by denying her medicinal cannabis. That is a disgrace he should never be allowed to live down, alongside his vote to allow mass surveillance (after being a victim of it himself) and stopping the feeding the kids Bill.
This bow-tied arsehole is in desperate need of wiping.
His electorate has more civil servants than any other electorate, let’s hope they do the right thing by Helen Kelly and vote this miserable old goat out of Office. I want people in his electorate to walk around with signs reading ‘Remember Helen Kelly when you vote’. She deserved better than he gave her and he deserves the political consequences of such petty spite.
He could have been empathetic to Helen’s condition, and he wasn’t.
Screw him.
Luckily for Peter Dunne however, this is what passes for political journalism in NZ, a pathetic piece on how he ties his bow-ties.
I’m not joking, it really is about how he ties bow-ties.
Well done Fairfax, critical and insightful political commentary there. His bow-tie tying skills deserve a full page front cover in the Dominion Post.
The issue for Ohariu this election will test the parameters of the Memorandum of Understanding that the Greens and Labour signed in a hurry last year because the Green-Blue faction wanted to remain neutral at the 2017 election. Labour intend to push former Police cheerleader Greg O’Connor into the Ohariu electorate as their candidate.
Asking the Greens to stand their candidate aside and vote for a Labour candidate who is a former law and order hardarse like Greg O’Connor seems about as reasonable as appointing Cameron Slater to the Broadcasting Standards Association.
O’Connor has had a road to Damascus over cannabis legalisation and if that Greg O’Connor turns up for the election then Labour selecting his as a candidate could be inspired.
That hope rests on Labour being clever so fingers crossed.
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