*sigh* After a week of all manner of opinions being voiced, I have found my personal opinion towards modern day activists hardening. Less and less people who claim to fight for the cause of freedom really seem to understand why they should fight for it, nor what it is that they are actually fighting for.
It, of course, doesn't help when both sides of a debate seem to be heading fast into silly hats territory. Consider today's Labour Conference. A "staggering" crowd of 150 protesters stood outside expressing their rights to freedom of expression. That is a good thing. While I don't agree with these people who are knee-jerk protesting against a mythic police state, they do have the right to protest if they feel a wrong has been committed.
But there are limits to freedoms - and this is something that these protesters don't understand. Furthermore, they seem to miss the irony that most of the people they are protesting against are supporting their calls to repeal certain laws that are on the table.
However, it doesn't help that a Labour Delegate assaulted one of the protesters. That is plain stupid. I don't care how infuriated they are making you, it only serves their purposes to assault them.
Conversely, freedom of expression does not allow you to jump on people's vehicles or spit in the faces of police. Nor does freedom of expression give you the right to push past police lines and verbally assault delegates.
So shame on all those protesters who have failed to learn the lesson that peaceful protest is and always has been a far more effective method of protest. Look at the support and coverage the Buddhist Monks of Myanmar created by simply walking. They live in a true police state - where Junta military open fired on peaceful protestors. These were not people jumping on cars or spitting at military. They were simply staying in a place and sternly refusing to be aggressive.
The police in New Zealand do not, to my knowledge, open fire on protesters. The other stage of peaceful protest is to peacefully go to jail if arrested. You can sit and refuse to move - your freedom of expression allows that. If you genuinely believe in your cause, then you will allow yourself to be arrested to make your point.
Kicking and screaming, threatening and harassing police for doing their jobs will not help. In this country, if you peacefully go with the police you are more likely to learn that some of them support your cause.
That is effective activism.
As Service Workers' Union representative, Jill Ovens, said -
It, of course, doesn't help when both sides of a debate seem to be heading fast into silly hats territory. Consider today's Labour Conference. A "staggering" crowd of 150 protesters stood outside expressing their rights to freedom of expression. That is a good thing. While I don't agree with these people who are knee-jerk protesting against a mythic police state, they do have the right to protest if they feel a wrong has been committed.
But there are limits to freedoms - and this is something that these protesters don't understand. Furthermore, they seem to miss the irony that most of the people they are protesting against are supporting their calls to repeal certain laws that are on the table.
However, it doesn't help that a Labour Delegate assaulted one of the protesters. That is plain stupid. I don't care how infuriated they are making you, it only serves their purposes to assault them.
Conversely, freedom of expression does not allow you to jump on people's vehicles or spit in the faces of police. Nor does freedom of expression give you the right to push past police lines and verbally assault delegates.
So shame on all those protesters who have failed to learn the lesson that peaceful protest is and always has been a far more effective method of protest. Look at the support and coverage the Buddhist Monks of Myanmar created by simply walking. They live in a true police state - where Junta military open fired on peaceful protestors. These were not people jumping on cars or spitting at military. They were simply staying in a place and sternly refusing to be aggressive.
The police in New Zealand do not, to my knowledge, open fire on protesters. The other stage of peaceful protest is to peacefully go to jail if arrested. You can sit and refuse to move - your freedom of expression allows that. If you genuinely believe in your cause, then you will allow yourself to be arrested to make your point.
Kicking and screaming, threatening and harassing police for doing their jobs will not help. In this country, if you peacefully go with the police you are more likely to learn that some of them support your cause.
That is effective activism.
As Service Workers' Union representative, Jill Ovens, said -
"But I don't support advocating the use of violence because it just turns people against our cause."
There is a lot of truth in that statement. All the pollings show that an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders feel either that the police did not over-react, or that it is still too early to tell. If activists genuinely want support for their view they need to make sure that they have convincing evidence and the sympathy of the local New Zealander.
Because protests only succeed if the average person gains sympathy. The public does not respond well to acts of violence and show-boating. People like Ghandi became so influential because they used reason and peaceful methods. There is power in being calm and understanding.
That is why a large number of New Zealanders are simply writing activist protests off as hippy foolishness or irrational over-reaction.
Images of protesters being dragged off kicking and screaming simply builds sympathy for the police, not the protester.
Most New Zealanders also know that the Urewera 17 are not political prisoners. The fact of the matter is that many of them have been caught red-handed with illegal weaponry. Nobody has successfully disputed that yet. Joe Average New Zealander doesn't care about race or politics or even the terrorism laws. What average NZer is asking is the pertinant question that activists are ignoring - why do they need those weapons? It's not for pig hunting - there are plenty of legal weapons you can use for that. How does training with semi-automatics and military grade weapons exactly count as a legitimate retreat?
These are the questions going to be raised in court. In normal circumstances the police would be pushing for simple illegal weapons charges. What has effected these people is that Jamie Lockett and friends seem to have stupidly said that they are going to declare war on New Zealand. Now that may have been said in jest or as a joke on the police in the event that Lockett figured out his phone had been tapped. (A theory I find hard to believe after seeing his interview prior to his bail being revoked. In that interview he did not mention anything of the sort and was protesting that he had no idea that the police had been so involved, and he all but admitted to having said those comments in the heat of the moment.)
The problem is that because of those kind of threats being made, the police are bound by law to then seek a terrorism conviction. This is not a political issue - it seems to me to be a case of simple out and out stupidity. And maybe it is some overcomplex ruse to expose a fault in the current laws - but if so, that is a naive and utterly idiotic way to go about it.
Successful protest is about fighting corruption and faulty laws with reasoning and open honesty. Not show tricks and denial. And most certainly not through violent aggressive behaviour.
The more I see the activist reaction to this, the more I despair at the utter clumsiness and showboat stupidity of these protests. They are doing activist causes more harm than good. Those people hoping for another springbok flare-up are living in a perverse dream. New Zealand culture has moved away from that. We are more aware of the growing violence in our country - and we want to stop it. Violent actions - both from delegates and protesters alike are making the rest of us want to not have a bar to do with any of them.
I feel that's a shame. Because New Zealanders need to get into politics. They need to be passionate about this country - but they also need to be able to be reasonable about it too. I find most New Zealanders are reasonable people. They aren't all rednecked conservatives, nor are they tree-loving hippies.
We live in a mostly egalitarian society that is struggling to live up to its perceived dream of a beautiful and friendly nation that looks out for everyone in it. Unfortunately, a lot of conservatives and activists are not sharing that dream - being more interested in forwarding agendas for the good of a core interest group while trying to claim it is for the good of the country.
These people who are resorting to violent and aggressive actions are not doing themselves any favours.
Conan
Currently Reading: Sidereals
Currently Playing: Soon... sooon....
Mood: Not impressed.
Because protests only succeed if the average person gains sympathy. The public does not respond well to acts of violence and show-boating. People like Ghandi became so influential because they used reason and peaceful methods. There is power in being calm and understanding.
That is why a large number of New Zealanders are simply writing activist protests off as hippy foolishness or irrational over-reaction.
Images of protesters being dragged off kicking and screaming simply builds sympathy for the police, not the protester.
Most New Zealanders also know that the Urewera 17 are not political prisoners. The fact of the matter is that many of them have been caught red-handed with illegal weaponry. Nobody has successfully disputed that yet. Joe Average New Zealander doesn't care about race or politics or even the terrorism laws. What average NZer is asking is the pertinant question that activists are ignoring - why do they need those weapons? It's not for pig hunting - there are plenty of legal weapons you can use for that. How does training with semi-automatics and military grade weapons exactly count as a legitimate retreat?
These are the questions going to be raised in court. In normal circumstances the police would be pushing for simple illegal weapons charges. What has effected these people is that Jamie Lockett and friends seem to have stupidly said that they are going to declare war on New Zealand. Now that may have been said in jest or as a joke on the police in the event that Lockett figured out his phone had been tapped. (A theory I find hard to believe after seeing his interview prior to his bail being revoked. In that interview he did not mention anything of the sort and was protesting that he had no idea that the police had been so involved, and he all but admitted to having said those comments in the heat of the moment.)
The problem is that because of those kind of threats being made, the police are bound by law to then seek a terrorism conviction. This is not a political issue - it seems to me to be a case of simple out and out stupidity. And maybe it is some overcomplex ruse to expose a fault in the current laws - but if so, that is a naive and utterly idiotic way to go about it.
Successful protest is about fighting corruption and faulty laws with reasoning and open honesty. Not show tricks and denial. And most certainly not through violent aggressive behaviour.
The more I see the activist reaction to this, the more I despair at the utter clumsiness and showboat stupidity of these protests. They are doing activist causes more harm than good. Those people hoping for another springbok flare-up are living in a perverse dream. New Zealand culture has moved away from that. We are more aware of the growing violence in our country - and we want to stop it. Violent actions - both from delegates and protesters alike are making the rest of us want to not have a bar to do with any of them.
I feel that's a shame. Because New Zealanders need to get into politics. They need to be passionate about this country - but they also need to be able to be reasonable about it too. I find most New Zealanders are reasonable people. They aren't all rednecked conservatives, nor are they tree-loving hippies.
We live in a mostly egalitarian society that is struggling to live up to its perceived dream of a beautiful and friendly nation that looks out for everyone in it. Unfortunately, a lot of conservatives and activists are not sharing that dream - being more interested in forwarding agendas for the good of a core interest group while trying to claim it is for the good of the country.
These people who are resorting to violent and aggressive actions are not doing themselves any favours.
Conan
Currently Reading: Sidereals
Currently Playing: Soon... sooon....
Mood: Not impressed.
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