Good call Hone

Hone has come out in support of Pete Bethune and anti whaling. Calling bethune a hero is a bit too far for me but I agree that he has taken a brave stand - even braver if the cameras weren't there, but I spose that's the point - maximum media coverage - that is what spooked the japanese IMO.

I want to focus on these paragraphs

From Stuff

"He said Maori had a special relationship with whales; guarded their right to harvest stranded whales and supported rights of indigenous people internationally to exercise their traditional whaling.

"But Maori have never, we do not, and we never will support the right of Japanese whaling companies to swoop down into our southern oceans to slaughter these gentle children of Tangaroa.

"If the Japanese want to kill whales, do it in their own territory. And when they run out because they've killed them all, then stop. We don't want them to come down into our seas to chase, terrorise, harpoon, maim, and slaughter our cousins of the deep. Those iwi leaders who say they support them, speak for themselves and their own private financial arrangements. They do not speak for the great majority of Maori people."

I agree with all that. Hone doesn't speak for all maori but he speaks for me and most people I know, when he forcefully expresses these excellent views.