Hone's letter to John - slapdown!

Dear John,

Why are you being so nasty about my going to South Africa to farewell Nelson Mandela?

Were you upset by the world media calling you the “unidentified guest” while I was on national television dancing with Madiba’s people in Soweto? I’m sorry about that John, but was that my fault?

And yeah … I know I said your delegation didn’t truly represent those who loved Mandela but I wasn’t the only one. Heaps of people said so – even the media. I mean look at it. You went (and you didn’t even know what your position was on apartheid!), and you took two members of the National government that supported the apartheid-backed Springbok Tour of 1981.

I mean really … is that the best you can do to represent us at the memorial services for one of the greatest men of our time?

And I heard your comments about there being “people with a greater claim to going than me”. Yeah – like John Minto and Sue Bradford. But you didn’t take them. You didn’t even ask them did you John? So why are you being so bitchy about me going when you didn’t take them anyway?

And yes, I know you chose Pita Sharples to be the “Maori” on your delegation, but when it came to who got into the stadium you didn’t pick him did you John? You left him standing out in the rain and it was only through the good graces of David Cuniliffe stepping aside that Pita actually got in. Is that why you’re picking on me – because my visibility embarrassed your clumsy treatment of Dr Sharples?

And as for my using taxpayer’s money on a “jolly”, isn’t that just a little churlish and mean-spirited John? I went to memorial services just like you. I went to a private service at Mandela’s family home (not sure whether you got to do that John). And I went to view his body just like you (except my wife did a karanga mate as we Maori do, and I followed that up with a haka). So if I did what you did, except better, how come I have to pay the money back but you don’t have to?

Or are you just attacking me to try to take people’s attention off the bigger issues of the day, like all those reports highlighting how deep child poverty is in Aotearoa, or how the referendum showed that NZers don’t support your selling our assets, or the public anger about you selling off our sovereignty under the TPPA, or how pissed off people are that you’ve done a deep sea oil deal with a company that’s just been hammered with a $16 billion lawsuit over claims and compensation for contaminated sites in the US? Is that what this is all about John?

Your attack on me is just mean John. So maybe if I tell you why I went, you’ll forgive and forget.

You see John, as soon as I heard Mandela had died I cried. And then I decided I was going to go to South Africa.

I wanted to farewell a man I have always looked up to, a man who was a hero to people of colour all across the world, who suffered under one of the most deeply racist regimes of our time, and walked out of jail after 27 years with a smile on his face and love in his heart.

I went to farewell a man who cast aside forever the ugliness of apartheid, and gave us the phrase “in my country we go to prison first and then become President.”

I went to farewell the man who said that when we stopped the game in Hamilton during the 1981 Tour “it was like the sun came out”. Yes John … I can remember being there and I was proud of being there.

I went to farewell a wonderful, warm and caring man that I was privileged to meet when he came to thank the protesters in 1995.

You see John, I went to farewell a man that I loved.

And if you want to condemn me for that then you go right ahead.

Hone Harawira
MP Tai Tokerau

Hone Harawira

Like Hone?

I always have but I know there are those who do not. Bomber At Tumeke! sings Hone's praises here and quotes Brian Edwards as he discusses a man he admires.

Hone Harawira is in my view the most effective political communicator in New Zealand...Have a look at Hone’s interview with Smalley on The Nation. What you will see is a quiet, considered, rational advocate for Maori. Chatting to him before the interview I encounter, as I have on previous occasions, an engaging, funny and, above all, warm personality.

In debate he displays not merely high intelligence, but a rare dialectical subtlety that he uses to effect. Hone is not easy to beat in an argument about race relations in Aotearoa. He has spent too long at the coalface, is too experienced, too sharp, too articulate, too driven by his concern for his people and his intolerance of injustice.

 Brian Edwards sums it up best... 

Hone (not in) the House

Hone Harawira chose a different format for his swearing-in today, as many MPs have done in the past, and was thrown out of the House for his trouble.
This seems draconian and punitive, not to mention unfair and it will be very interesting to see how Speaker Lockwood Smith's actions are viewed. Efforts by Russel Norman and Trevor Mallard to repair the situation were in vain, as were waiata of protest from the public gallery.
There is a great deal for someone like Hone to gain from being victimised, especially where the use of te reo Maori is concerned, as it was here. Adding to the discontent already evident from this event, is the thought that the people of Te Tai Tokerau are being refused their representation in Parliament. This will motivate the young people who haven't to date, voted in a general election and who Hone very much wants to be motivated.

From the Right

Many Right-wingers are having difficulty accepting Hone Harawira's win at the weekend and are expressing themselves on Right-wing blogs in a manner that is revealing of the depth of their inability to see beyond their own narrow world of priveledge.
This comment, from someone who calls himself Tinman, posting at Keeping Stock on a thread the author calling himself Inventory2 has named 'Hone Muldoon' spells out clearly the frustration and anger many Right-wingers feel at Hone's victory in Te Tai Tokerau. It's not comfortable reading, for those of you who regard the world in a reasonable manner, but instructive to read nevertheless. Tinman says that Hone:

"is doing exactly what is expected - just what mummy tells him to.

Mummy, of course, is one of the lowest forms of life to be found in this universe.
The racist scum that elected this pair to parliament should be immediately rounded up and shot (slowly)."

Keeping Stock btw, advertises itself as:

"An eclectic mix of some of the finer things in life - politics, sport, music, humour and God."

- which begs the question, does the author condone comments such as those of Tinman? There's no indication from the bloggers response that he's uncomfortable with the kinds of things said therein.

Quote of the moment

On the weekend's Te Tai Tokerau result, in which Hone Harawira won the by-election, Prime Minister John Key said:

"It's not really that Hone Harawira can claim victory."

It's not?

Rilly?

Nandor on MP

It's not unusual for Nandor Tanczos to be the one expressing the clearest view on issues that otherwise tie political commentators in knots and here he describes his take on where the Maori Party and Hone Hariwira presently sit (or at least sat a week ago).

"One of the factors in the Maori Party's success thus far is the enormous energy and enthusiam of its activists. It is those activists, the election harvesters, that are starting to down tools, pack up and go home. If the party loses their support it will still survive but in my view will go into decline."

The wai in Waitangi

We're drawn to the things that interest us most. Waitangi day is all about cultural and political issues isn't it?
But there's a detail that caught my eye in the various reports on the events at Waitangi Marae.
Swimming and shellfish collecting was off the programme, as the water at Wataingi is polluted and therefore unsafe for those seemingly basic activities.
I wonder how many from the media reported on that aspect of the celebrations.
* Hat-tip Bunji at The Standard