key dirties water

John Key says no one owns water yet the corporates and farmers can take it for free and the corporates can bottle it and sell it for a profit. No one owns the water? Wrong. Water is taonga and protected under the Treaty of Waitangi. Water is protected but is not protected because the governments, this and that one, have disregarded the rights of Māori to have taonga protected. The governments have pretended that there was no Treaty. The governments have sold rights to water they didn't own, they have allowed pollution for dairy profit and unspeakable shit dumped into rivers and waterways. They have allowed rivers and streams to be dug up, diverted, dammed and degraded just so they and their mates can earn some profit. They have allowed species within water ecosystems to die and deteriorate. 

These governments have taken water, and the land near it, off Māori and they have polluted this water and when Māori have gotten some of their rights back to protect these waterways and rivers and streams they get blamed for not looking after it in the first place. They get no money to help, they get no support unless a boating club or something is on the waterway. NZ Society - you don't deserve to look after water, you have shown a dismal inclination to protect waterways unless it is in some personal interest. NO!!!!!

It is time to manifest water as taonga and Māori as kaitiaki. It is time to give voice to the Treaty and the protection of taonga, all taonga but especially water - water is life, access to water is a human right, a right for everyone not just a right for the moneybag corporates or farmers or politicians like the disgraceful dirtkey or collins.

ht Micky @ The Standard

mad, bad and sad

Evidence can be a terrible thing. We know that Māori and pasifika peoples are more likely to come to the attention of the police and now we also know that they get tazered by the police a lot more than others - how much more?

NZH

ETHNICITIES
During the 11 months to August 9, police tasered 88 people including:
* Maori: 35
* Pacific Islanders: 16
* Europeans: 35
* Asians: 1

The introduction of Tasers was bitterly opposed by the Maori Party and the Greens with the Maori Party's Hone Harawira and the Greens' Mr Locke both raising concerns their use would reflect police "racism". Mr Locke yesterday said the latest statistics raised a number of issues about the weapons. "Certainly they're being fired disproportionately at Maori. The reasons for that are something we should look into."Mr Locke was also concerned that police were too quick to use Tasers on people with mental health issues - 58 during the 11-month period.

Mana Party spokeswoman Annette Sykes said that despite Mr Harawira's warning "there has been this disproportionate outcome for Maori and Polynesian individuals which is a sad indictment on us".

But police and their minister, Judith Collins, say the figures merely reflect the "sad fact" that Maori are over-represented in crime statistics.

Yes it is a 'sad fact' but what does that fact mean and where does it come from. For collins it means add more police, more weapons, more jails and more arrests but those responses do not address the issue. There is fundamental institutional racism at play here - and if you know that there is an issue and you choose to ignore it then you are actually supporting it. Governments know about this issue, highlighted by these tazer statistics, and have not addressed it because it does not suit their agenda to. They prefer this situation and you may wonder why - blame is one reason, it is always good to have a group to blame for things and the distorted history of this country offers the indigenous people as an established blameworthy group, as happens in many colonised countries. It is not us, it is them - it is those 'others'. To fix this situation requires more than a band aid.

I am sick to death of our people getting tazered and arrested, fingerprinted even though they have no conviction, and put in prison. I am sick to death of this institutional racism and the compounding effects of the Crowns continuted ignorance of their role as a true partner to Māori. We need to change some things and change them fast. Politically I am putting my faith in Mana - they will put a stick in the spokes to stop this and create opportunities to work on solutions. And I see constituitonal change as being essential.

thresholding

I support the Maori party and opposition parties call for firearms not to be kept in all police cars. Who will get shot by them disproportionatley - Maori that's who - guns in all cars means more shootings and more maimings. 50% of males in jail are maori and 60% of females are maori and they got there after their inital contact with the police. We have seen the horrible shooting of a young man - and with more firearms in police cars, the chance of it happening more often is dramatically increased.

From Voxy

"The Maori Party said Ms Collins had acted hastily by indicating support for guns to be routinely carried in police cars."

"The police have not even completed their report on the idea and already the minister has jumped the gun," said MP Te Ururoa Flavell.

He said his party saw the introduction of a mass rollout of guns in police cars as an extreme action which rapidly elevated New Zealand's position along the "continuum of indicators of violence".

"This year, New Zealand was ranked for the second year in a row as top of the 2010 Global Peace Index -- 1st out of 149 nations. This is a ranking we should be proud to protect. It represents a culture of peace which we should be looking to preserve," Mr Flavell said.

He feared normalising the use of guns would lower the bar about what was an appropriate threshold for responding to problems.

Good arguments there - well done. Unfortunately i seem to have been taken off the maori party press release email list - can I go back on please?

The report is still to come in and I hope that it recommends other options than putting firearms in police cars. I have left the almost last word to minister collins

"I'm the minister who goes to see police officers when they're shot and in hospital and goes to see their families when they're killed. I'm not prepared to sit around and say 'well lets worry about offenders'. Actually I'm more worried about our police officers."

Thank you for your honesty, on your head be it.

bombing collins

Bomber at Tumeke blog provides a great little service - he reviews 'The Nation' and 'Q&A'. His analysis is often very funny and sometimes he uncovers deep insights. Previously I have gone to the source and watched the video plus read the transcript but alas I have tried to find this transcript but so far (might be too quick) I have been unable to. You may have broadband and can watch it for yourself. Police, Corrections and Veterans' Affairs minister judith collins offers her insight on why our imprisonment rates are so high and there is one group to blame - maori. Maori have made the stats look bad!

From Tumeke

"Prison population rising, she argues that Corrections isn't influencing the crime rate, so it isn't Corrections fault. Guyon makes the point however that we lock people up more than almost anyone else, Crusher the astoundingly says the reason why we have such a high lock up rate is because of MAORI???????????? WTF IS SHE SAYING? She says the Maori population is the reason why we have such a high incarceration level when compared to the rest of the world?????? She is claiming it's not the raw law and order meat policy she is implementing that is locking more and more NZers up, she is saying our high incarceration levels are because of Maori???

TVNZ video

When you get up off the floor from laughing or crying just have a real think about the attitudes and worldview that pour forth from this minister. It is astounding to consider the low grade thinking going on, from a minister making decisions that affect us all, that is coloured by racism. It would be good for collins to consider why maori are in the position they are in. Perhaps she could have a look here. And for some reason it reminded me of rick ellis and this.

prison growth is a disgrace not a profit opportunity

This announcement is a shocker. Consider that 50% of male prisoners in our jails are maori and 60% of female prisoners are maori - so when corrections minister judith collins says, from NZH

"A new prison to be built in South Auckland will bring $1.2 billion in economic benefits over 30 years."

what is she actually trying to get at?

"Ms Collins said she would like nothing more than to see lower crime levels and fewer prisoners."

I don't believe ms collins, because she then says

"But in the meantime we have a record number of prisoners behind bars in this country and that number is forecast to keep growing."

Yes a growth industry - with lots of profit potential - don't worry about the worry of prisons being a growth industry and the disturbing influence that will have on maori communities and therefore all communities in this country. Disgrace is a very modest word to use when our people are being thrown on the garbage heap by a government that makes the right noises but doesn't care even slightly about maori. Well here's some news for you collins - your plan is broken, you have underestimated maori, as your type is wont to do. Maori cannot and will not leave their people to rot in jail, could you cut your arm off and leave it on the ground? The maori in jail are our people.

Good story on some solutions here.