pn924. Neglected features of colonial Australia: Blackbirding, Convict Labour, Aboriginees — and the racism it produced

An incredible story by author Jeff Sparrow of blackbirding in colonial Australia, together with passing coments on aboriginees and convicts,  and the legacy of racism it created for Australians today  Click here to read the whole article.  

pn792 Māori Party call for name changes the wrong way to go

Official, media and I think public support for the use of the Māori language has increased in recent years and a significant number of Māori and Pakēhā are now enrolled in language classes.  

If this mood continues, and is taken up by young people, the target of having a million Māori speakers in 20 years time could well become a reality, and New Zealand will be a more understanding, tolerant and better place to live as a result.  

But at this point in time the outcome is by no means certain. Alongside the move to make things Māori part of the New Zealand mainstream, there is a counter-current to ignore, belittle or name it irrelevant. 

pn778. Canada Is Waging an All-Front Legal War Against Indigenous People

Canada 1.68 million indigenous Indians,
4.9% population

Canada is developing a new image: one of burning churches, toppling statues, and mass graves. There are thousands more unmarked graves, thousands more Indigenous children killed at residential schools, remaining to be unearthed. 

There can be no denying that this is Canada, and it has to change. But can Canada transform itself for the better? 

If the revelation of the mass killing of Indigenous children is to lead to any actual soul-searching and any meaningful change, the first order of business is for Canada to stop its all-front war against First Nations. Much of that war is taking place through the legal system. 

By Justin Podur in Counterpunch. Click on the link to read all the Counterpunch article.

Click here for an article on the unmarked graves at residential schools. 

pn754. "Is the Coviid-19 'honeymoon' over for PM Jacinda Ardern?" -- Exaggeration and Racist Misinformation

Part of the misinformation

The latest Roy Morgan poll published on 5 July seems to have mainly missed media attention. 

 Headed "Is the Covid-19 'honeymoon' over for PM Jacinda Ardern?"  Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s long COVID-19 ‘honeymoon’ appears to be ending as Government Confidence is down and support for the Labour-led Government is at its lowest since October 2017." Note this is long before Jacinda, when Andrew Little led the party.  Disaster strikes the government ranks!  

pn747. Proposed new law on hate speech

The government is considering six changes to laws on hate speech with the intention of strengthening protection against speech that incites hatred or discrimination.    The present law concerns colour, race, ethnic or national origins.  The intention is to also include hate or discrimination against people because of their religion, gender, sexualities or disabilities.  

If you live in Greater Wellington,
use the tracer!!!

The present penalty for breaching the law is a fine of up to $7,000 or a maximum of three months in prison.  The proposed new law will increase the penalty with a fine of up to $50,000 or 3 years imprisonment.  To read more detail about the proposals, click here.

Related. Government seeking feedback on the proposals.

He Puapua Report "ruckus": Racism resurfaces (pn721). See also pn719.

Probably the most balanced, and certainly the most informative, article on the He Puapua Report is written by Ātea editor Leonie Hayden. Click to read before reading the rest of this posting.

An indication of the extent of the "ruckus" she describes can be seen in the number of articles on the topic listed in today's NZ Politics Daily (see below).

Appealing to our latent racism (pn719)

Latent racism:biding its time under the bed

Bryce Edwards’ NZ Politics  Daily page sponsored by the Democracy Now project at Victoria University serves a useful purpose in providing daily links to major news items published by the   mainstream media, and every now and again Democracy Now publishes an article by one of its own.

Such is Graham Adams’ article “Ardern in the gun over He Puapua” which comments on Judith Collins’ “separatism” speech delivered to a National Party meeting over the weekend. It opens with this sentence: "A covert 20-year plan to establish Māori sovereignty..." 

Wow! Another conspiracy theorist!

I won’t for the moment comment on Collins’ retake of Brash’s (in)famous Orewa speech which saw the party’s popularity among Pākehā soar after what many Māori  saw as an attack on their Treaty stance —or anything further onwhat Adams’ wrote about her speech— but I do  think Bryce and his team need to be more careful/forthright/transparent about who writes under their banner. 

Both Collins’s speech and Adams’ article appeal to the latent racism that for the moment lies relatively undisturbed (“there but not there”) for many New Zealanders. 

Stone Age Māori Culture: John Banks says he's not a racist. And why no media mention of International Holocaust Day?(pn677)

If former National and ACT MP John Banks really believes Māori  are "stone age people with a stone age culture" and "genetically predisposed" to crime, alcohol addiction and educational underperformance" as he concurred with a questioner on the Magic Talk Morning programme  on Tuesday, how can he claim he is not a racist, and if he does not believe what he said,  as he now says, why did he say it in the first place?

Others certainly took offence at the remark. MediaWorks' chief executive, Cam Wallace, said there is no place for John Banks at the media company as long as he is boss.

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day (pn675)

On the way to Auschwitz:
Herded on cattle wagons

International Holocaust Remembrance Day  on 27 January commemorates the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and 11 million others, including Romani, homosexuals and communists, by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

The entrance, "Work makes you free"

On 27 January 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp, was liberated by the Red Army.

III. Maxwell, South Taranaki: What history will be taught here? (pn662)

I went to Teachers' College and shared a flat with Val Maxwell, and I visited Maxwell with him before his marriage.  I can only assume he was the great (or possibly the great-great) grandson of George Maxwell, after whom the small township is named.   

Ironically, Val, a pale, skinny Pākehā was a keen member of the Maori Club and had many Māori friends. I  doubt he knew his ancestor's history. I know I didn't at the time.  Pākehā  families and schools did not teach that sort of history to their children. 

Shaping our minds. More racism from the police. (pn658)

(PHOTO: RICHARD TINDILLER/RNZ)

 If you were casually walking down the street and a policeman photographed you or  asked you to take a DNA test, what would you think?  

 I'd have thought: What the hell's going on here? There must be a mistake.  I've done nothing wrong.  

 Now, for another question.  If you were shown an identity kit of a person photographed or stopped, what do you think the chances are they were: Māori? Pākehā? Chinese?

Let's try another.  The incident is reported on TV. How many of your fellow citizens would express any surprise that the person was Māori? I suspect, very few, because we all "know" Māori commit crimes.  But we would be surprised had they been a violinist, a businessman or a school dux.

It could be called conditioning or brainwashing or mind control. The shaping of our minds to draw certain conclusions.  Some might also call it racism. -- ACW

Correcting eleven falsehoods: "People who should know better have been spreading misinformation about Ihumātao" (pn650. )

Finally we have settlement. Government has paid Fletchers $30m to buy Auckland's historic Ihumātao site, a profit for Fletcher of $20m! The purchase ends the decades-long land dispute in which protesters resisted private developer’s plans. The year-long occupation of the land by Māori   protesters once again shows the effectiveness of this form of protest. Think back to Bastion Point and the Raglan Golf course occupations in the 1970s 

But the occupation and government's purchase unfortunately show something deeper: the  tendency by a significant number of  Pākehā —in and out of the media— to misrepresent Māori  situations; to make connections where there are none (supposed implications for  the Treaty of Waitangi), and ignore actual connections (the confiscation of the land in the 1860s); to talk of favoured treatment for Māori  rather than the righting of wrongs.  A rewriting of  history, what can only be called racist interpretations, and just how intolerant some of us are of people of other cultures.

. Aroha Awarau in the Listener: a Maori journalist in the mainstream ("Pakeha") media. (pn646)

from NZ Listener, 12 December 2 020

pn631. Is apologising for racial wrongs really the point? UPDATED NOTE.

 

Media giant Stuff, after a protracted study of its own history, has announced that much that it has published on Maori has been racist.  It has apologised for this and introduced guidelines (a Treaty of Waitangi-based charter) to improve its record.

  Surprisingly, left-leaning journalist Chris Trotter has condemned these initiatives, saying apologising for your history is to admit you don't understand it (with which I disagree) and that the apology is likely to result in a White backlash, with which, unfortunately,  I cannot disagree.

pn591. What is Diwali and who are its celebrants?

Diyas

Diwali is a five-day celebration that falls in either October or November each year, depending on the cycle of the moon. It's observed on the 15th day of Kartik, the holiest month in the Hindu lunar calendar. In 2020, Diwali is this Saturday November 14. The public holiday in Fiji is on Monday.

For Hindus, Diwali or Deepavali, the festival of lights, symbolizes the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance". The festival is widely associated with Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity and wealth, and with other deities in different parts of India.

pn570. Weekend links and snippets

A mix of long and short pieces to make your long weekend. Click on link and then on redirect page link.

1. Why government should not invest in Auckland Light Rail: lessons from overseas.

2. Who decides a teacher is or is not performing well? It's not like picking the best first five, Mike Hosking. A quick read. 

3.This is not a democracy (with comments on Maori action).  A long and  thoughtful piece, ideal weekend reading.

Party based on Race Attracts Some who are Racists: SODELPA should condemn these remarks

pn473

A lawyer and member of parliament who thinks Indo-Fijian women adulterous and Indo-Fijian men stab their women — and Taukei women and men do not, or have copied this behaviour from Indo-Fijians— claims he is not a racist.

SODELPA MP Mosese Bulitavu says he does not see his comments that he made that the stabbing of a partner is a ‘vulagi’ or foreign way of doing things for the iTaukei and have been brought in by the descendants of indentured labourers from British India or that Indo Fijian women having extra-marital affairs is rife, as racist and degrading comments.

Casual Racism, We have a Problem -- NZ Human Rights Commission

About casual racism.  NZ has a Problem 

pn342

Racism is a Kiwi problem. It isn’t new and it’s growing: 1 in 3 complaints to the Human Rights Commission are about racial discrimination; most people who experience racism don’t complain; and we’re seeing an increase in overt racist attacks. People from some ethnic minorities tell us they’re scared and they’re particularly scared for their children.

Systemic Racism Dispossesses, Alienates, and Strips People of their Identity, Values and Belonging

pn341

First a definition.  

Systemic racism affects the very structures of a society. For example, an American study found Blacks were significantly worse off than Whites in Wealth (90% White owned); Employment (Blacks twice as much unemployed);Education (Blacks stood down three times more than Whites for same infractions); Housing (Only 18% Blacks owned their home); Surveillance on roads (Blacks 30% more likely to be pulled over) and  Healthcare (67% White doctors had bias against Black patients).  

pn337.Maori Journalist Aaron Smale Says Our Media is Racist

Media, Māori and me

Aaron Smale | Contributing writer
Opinion

A journalist reflects on a career in which the media has felt like a hostile environment for Māori and other minorities.

Most Pākehā couples that applied to adopt in the 70s didn’t want Māori children. Māori boys were at the bottom of their wish-lists. The couple that did adopt me were one of the rare exceptions. I grew up as a mixed-race kid in a mixed-race community during the 70s and 80s. It was a time when New Zealand was often polarised along racial lines because Māori were no longer willing to sit down and shut up.

Or was it polarised? Was the way Māori were portrayed in the media simply racist scaremongering? At the time I didn’t have the language to articulate these questions. I just knew – instinctively, awkwardly – that I didn’t fit into the story that was being told. I didn’t exist. When I did it was part of a group that was denigrated. This was the climate in which I tried to work out my identity.