Our Dispatch today was first published on 28 February 2011. The racist Intervention continues with white Australia’s complicity.
Kia Ora,
Ko te Whakapuakitanga Here i te Ao ki ngā Mana Tangata
Kupu Whakamahuki
I runga i te mūhio he mea ātaahua te rangatiratanga o te tangata, he ūrite hoki ngā mana tangata o ngā uri o Papatuānuku e kore e taea te wewete, ā koia nei te pōtake o te noho herekore i roto i te ture me te maungarongo i te ao,
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
In previous dispatches I have had cause to contrast the status of Aotearoa’s first inhabitants with that of the first inhabitants of Australia.
Australia the lucky country, Australia the clever country, Australia the land of the fair go.
It should be noted that Australia is one of the few countries in the Western world where there is no constitutional protection of human rights. New Zealand’s first inhabitants are protected not only by the Treaty of Waitangi , but also the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993 applicable to all New Zealanders and presumably also visitors and refugees (including “boat people” and “queue jumpers”).
Well may we take the puss out of their exent and make jokes about unnatural acts with sheep, but a bit of humility and respect towards them wouldn’t go astray. In some respects they are light years ahead of us.
New Zealand has just suffered a natural disaster, an “Act of God”. Several dispatchees are New Zealanders, and undoubtedly some will have been touched by the disaster.
It was a previous disaster in New Zealand that prompted the New Zealand parliament to express their sorrow and empathy in song and a minute’s silence.
Let’s pause and watch it again:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Home/News/Display/tabid/209/articleID/187954/Default.aspx?src=email
A revealing experiment in psychology consists of flashing pictures of a dog that slowly changes into a cat. The point at which subjects change their opinion and declare the picture to be that of a cat varies from person to person. Some people keep asserting the picture is that of a dog even when obviously they are looking at the picture of a cat. Such people could be called dogmatic.
Climate change sceptics are such people. Such people have no problem with a sentence such as: “we have had three one hundred year floods in two years”
Such people will respond to a statement such as: “there were no weapons of mass destruction” with “does that mean you’re in favour of Saddam Hussein?”
Such people will respond to a statement such as: “the most effective way of teaching is by using the mother tongue of the student” with “but they must learn English!”
Such people will declare that Aboriginal Australians should change their behaviour. They should send their kids to school, take a job when it’s offered to them and stop drinking, and “the Gap” will miraculously disappear. Such people refuse to contemplate the possibility that perhaps it is them that need to change their behaviour. To them it is still a dog in the picture.
She don’t like that kind of behaviour….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szmusqqnkj8
Disasters are classified into “natural” and “man made”.
Floods, droughts, earthquakes, storms and bushfires are natural disasters.
Wars, riots, genocides, chemical spills, dam bursts, acts of terrorism and economic depressions are man-made disasters.
To what extent human activity is responsible for climate change and hence the “100 year floods” can be argued.
Similarly for example to what extent famine resulting from drought is a cause of civil disturbances can be vigorously debated.
How you classify a deliberately lit bushfire is a moot point to its victims.
A home destroyed by a bomb is no different to a home destroyed by an earthquake.
None the less, a distinction between “natural” and “man-made” can be made.
In the face of natural disasters people are powerless. Our leaders can do nothing but offer words of solidarity and solace and to make resources available immediately the water retreats or the dust settles.
Helicopters pluck people off roof tops, and nations rally to donate food, clothes, accommodation and money. Teams from all over the world descend to help to rescue the too few survivors or assist the wounded and traumatised. Parliaments pause to offer bi-partisan support and minutes of silence, before they resume their silly bickering and electioneering.
Magnificent acts of heroism are carried out by some, and peoples are united in their grief and compassion and determination to overcome their darkest hour.
We shall overcome…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnMMHepfYVc
It is their finest hour.
Like the wisest of the three little pigs, we can build stronger houses, to diminish the chances of the big bad wolf succeeding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlpPgSoSB00,
but when it comes down to it, as a cyclone approaches or an earthquake hits without warning, people can do little more than cross their fingers or pray.
On the other hand for “man-made” disasters, just as “man” can create such disasters, it is within “man’s” capability to prevent them.
I consider the destruction of societies, of ways of being, of languages, of world views to be man-made disasters.
Humanity is not powerless to prevent such, nor would it take the resources that it will take to rebuild flood ravaged Queensland and the city of Christchurch.
Unfortunately Australia doesn’t seem to have what it takes…….people in authority who see the cat in the picture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqgEgmYN0FI
Kia piki te ora- Aotearoa
Kia waimarie
Frank