STATE TERRORISTS

On the 15th of October 2007, a gang of masked, gun-wielding, booted, black-clad state terrorists drove into Ruatoki and took its people hostage. 

They opened their raid by smashing into houses where people were either just beginning their daily routines, or had yet to even get out of bed.

It was about 5.30 in the morning and basically we thought it was the horses running around our whare, so I got up, went out the sliding door, and all I saw was red dots all over me and police yelling at me telling me to stand still and put my hands up.  [Awhitia Te Whakaturou-Tohu, Ruatoki resident, victim of state terrorism.]

Then a little after dawn, they illegally blockaded the only road, stopped all exiting vehicles (including the local school bus), herded people out of their houses, and held guns to heads to ensure their orders were followed. 

I just started crying and my nan tried to come over to me and asked me if I was OK, and then the policeman behind her said, ‘Shut up, don’t talk to her,’ and walked closer towards me and pointed the gun down at my head.  [Patricia Lambert, 12 years old, victim of state terrorism.]

For the next six hours the state’s terrorists held everyone they’d captured without access to food, water, toilets, communications and (in some cases) their families. 

By midday, although charges had yet to be formally laid and no confessions had been obtained, the state had saturated New Zealand’s media with their spin on what was happening in Ruatoki.  Consequently, instead of being correctly identified as victims of terrorism, the people of Ruatoki were initially cast as its perpetrators. 

 

As we now know, and to their credit, the media dug deeper than the state-sponsored spin about Operation 8 and soon exposed a number of problems with it, including the fact that the warrants on which it was permitted to go ahead, were obtained illegally.

 

Gradually but inexorably the case for terrorism against all those arrested on 15th October 2007 unravelled, and almost four years later all charges of terrorism were quietly dropped by the state.  

 

Although somewhat embarrassing, the failure to convict anyone of terrorism as a result of Operation 8 hasn't fazed those who ordered and masterminded it, because its main purpose was not so much to secure convictions as to send the message that they are ready, willing and able to break the law and to enact terror against the people of this country.  So in that sense, the operation was very successful. 

The state has been and remains a more likely employer of terrorism within the international system than insurgents. [Professor Michael Stohl, researcher and lecturer on organizational and political communication with special focus on terrorism, human rights and global relations.]

Indeed, the audience of the act or threat of terrorist violence is always more important than the immediate victims.  That holds true for all terrorism, including that sponsored by the state.    

PASS THE AMMUNITION

PASS THE AMMUNITION

Over the last weekend in September, there was a slip on Pawarenga road.  Locals immediately put in waratahs and warning tape, then called Far North District Council who came and added some cones and signs.  

Since then elections for the new Council have been held, but nothing has been done to repair the road which is now down to a single narrow lane.  As the slip continues to move, it’ll be interesting to see whether FNDC repairs the road before the next weather event knocks it out completely.

In the meantime we have a new Council.  So far, post-election comments have been polite (at least in public), and largely along the lines of, “Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the losers, praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition.” 

In short, it seems not a lot is expected to change, particularly for youth and Māori.      

Although they were turned off by Wayne Brown’s naked self-interest regards mining, and embarrassing blurts regards most everything else, many Māori aren’t exactly lit up over John Carter either. 

“A pleasant WIMP (white, ignorant, male politician) replaces an unpleasant one – big deal,” posted someone on facebook, where commentary is not polite at all.  She hasn’t forgotten Carter’s 1995 impersonation on talkback radio of a supposedly workshy Māori called Hon-ay, and nor will he have. 

Another fact he won’t be unaware of is that, though half of this council is made up of returning councilors, none of them have strong resonance with or for Māori; Mate Radich included.  And of the five new incoming councilors, only Willow Jean Prime is connected in that sense.  Why this is so is an analysis for another day. 

I hope that the new Mayor and Council will be more amenable than the previous council to recognising and listening to hapū mana whenua regards te ao taiao and te oranga tangata.  I hope they’ll value our views and directions.  And I hope they’ll put as much into communities like Pawarenga as they do into those like Kerikeri. 

Because the fact that there’s a new FNDC about to emerge isn’t as important to Pawarenga as the fact that no iteration of FNDC, (old or new), has fixed their road yet.  So don’t ask them for post-election commentary; it may be unprintable. 

However, just as they did with Brown in 2007, most will give Carter a ‘newbies’ chance; in the first month anyway.  If nothing’s changed after that, it’ll be less “Praise the Lord,” and more “Pass the ammunition.” 

GO VOTING

Anyone driving north of Kaeo on Sunday 22nd September might have seen that the NO MINING sign on the hill opposite Kaeo bridge briefly read GO MINING. 

I am reliably informed that later that same day a certain Far North District mayoral candidate was spotted in the Whangaroa pub with paint on his hands. 

Asked, “What about the whenua?” he replied airily, “Oh, people don't even know the issues when they say, 'what about the whenua?'"

So what are the issues?  Well, according to the paint-stained candidate, the first issue is that we are faced with a stark choice between jobs or the whenua. 

He is partly right in that any mining activity will create some jobs.  But, unless very large and multiple mineral lodes are found, those jobs won’t be long-term and they won’t be for locals.   

The second issue according to candidate paint-stain is that Whangaroa harbour contains four times the amount of mercury than it should, which means there’s also likely to be gold in ‘them thar hills.’  Again he is partly right.  But he also told my informant that the area involved is unlikely to be larger than two football fields.  Maybe he was just trying to get her mind off images of Waihi-sized holes in the ground.  But if his estimation of size is accurate, then that’s more bad news for job-seekers. 

The third issue he put to my informant is that Whangaroa already has mining in the shape of the china clay deposits at Matauri Bay.  Therefore, he inferred, there should be no objection to more mining for other minerals in the area. 

That’s like telling recreational fishers, look you’ve already got commercial fishers catching fish, so you shouldn’t object to more of them arriving to take more fish.  As an argument it doesn’t really hold water, does it? 

When my informant first told me about her encounter with the painting mayoral candidate, I laughed.  I mean, seriously?  He painted GO MINING on the whenua?  What a clown.  But today I’m looking at the voting returns for the current round of elections, and it’s not funny at all. 

We’re on our way to another record low voter turnout; barely 30% this time.  That means, even if we did get a wonderful mayor and council out of the process, the huge majority of voters are totally uninterested, turned off and disengaged anyway. 

When I look at what we’ve had leading us for some time, I can understand why people might not feel like bothering.  But given that local government will still influence what, where and how we do a lot of our living in the foreseeable future, it’s a shame.  Especially when there are some fine people standing for mayor this time; the painter excluded. 

Unsurprisingly his handiwork was undone within 24 hours.

Rather than GO MINING, he should have painted signs that simply read GO VOTING.

 

 

 

 

FACING OUR FATHER

Many, many years ago I got caught smoking ciggies at school and was made to phone my parents to tell them I was being suspended.  I feared having to go home later and face my father, but first I had to deal with hearing the sorrow and disappointment in my mother’s voice.   

Sorrow and disappointment are what I feel regards the latest sex abuser, Daniel Taylor, who plead guilty last week to nine representative charges of sexual abuse against five boys, one under the age of twelve. 

Sorrow for those boys and their families who came forward as early as 2007 and reported what he was doing to them.  But instead of being encouraged and supported to go to the police, they weren’t believed and were fobbed off.  Sorrow for those whom he subsequently went on to abuse, and for their families who weren’t warned earlier by those who knew he was struggling with sexual deviancy towards male children.

Sorrow for those who could have helped stop him offending against more children, but who instead either didn’t discern his lies or who, even after they had been clearly warned, still chose to allow him more access to children.  Sorrow for the whistleblowers who also weren’t believed but were instead either marginalised and vilified, or pressured and threatened into backing down.

Sorrow for his supporters who were duped by his lies into either directly or indirectly pressuring his victims to recant their truths.  Sorrow for his family who must have struggled to differentiate between their love for him and their fears over him.

Can anything good come of this latest case of abuse?  Yes, if we make sure the following things happen. 

When abuse is reported to us we must treat it as a crime and report it to the police.  All suspected or known abusers must not be permitted unsupervised access to children.  All alleged abusers must be kept in jail until their case has been heard.  All known victims must be reassured that they did nothing wrong.  All suspected victims must be given sanction and support to come forth so they too can begin healing.  All institutions like schools, churches, CYFS and whānau must be made accountable for how they deal with abusers in their midst.

In putting their sexual wants before the needs of children in their care and power, abusers like Taylor and Parker are monsters who broke the laws of man.  However, in my book they are also sons of deity who have sinned.
 

Inasmuch as they are able to repent of that sin, they must do so fully.  Because one day, just like I had to over my youthful breaking of school rules, they will have to face their Father.  We all will.