Free speech for racists, Nurses strike, WC 29 15th July 2018

Wheeler's Corner NZ 29 15th July 2018

Bringing caring citizens together 

You can listen to W/C at Manawatu Peoples Radio

at AM999 each Monday at 4pm.

1. This from the Standard:
“The free speech coalition has appeared, with one purpose and one purpose only, to make sure that the voices of extreme right wing bigots are heard.
Their fundraising prowess is admirable. They were able to raise $50,000 towards legal fees for a possible court case in only one day.
Their sense of economics is not so admirable, they could hire any number of private facilities for extended periods of time for a lot less than this. Why not spend the money on expensive lawyers instead, especially if they can possibly cause political damage to Auckland’s labour aligned mayor.
Those involved have a certain, ahem, pedigree. But not the sort that would make me think they are logical guardians of our rights to free speech.

Don Brash.

There is Don Brash, whose commitment to the freedom of the publication of ideas is such that he once took out a pre-emptive injunction trying to stop the publication of Nicky Hager’s book Hollow Men.
And he is also totally opposed to the use of Maori. Freedom of speech as long as it is not about him and is in English.
There is Michael Bassett who is an unreformed Rogernome and who still chips at Labour ever chance that he gets
There is also Ashley Church who thinks that white male privilege is not a real thing.
Also Dr. David Cumin who thought that the New Zealand supported UN resolution on Palestine at the end of last year unfairly demonised Israel and who opposes “hateful” graffiti that attacks Israel. Anti Israeli graffiti clearly for him is not the exercise of free speech.
There is Melissa Derby who opposed changing the law so that hate speech against Muslim immigrants could be targeted on the grounds that it was discriminating against Maori. No I can’t work this out either.
There is Stephen Franks, a former ACT MP and Lawyer whose political campaign team was once implicated in the tearing down of posters containing messages they did not like.
There is AUT professor Paul Moon who thinks that opposing hate speech is damaging to free speech. At least he is being consistent.
And there is Lindsay Perigo who does not like people exercising their right to free speech on radio stations if they have a kiwi accent.
There is Rachel Poulain who I have never heard of.
Chris Trotter is there. His commitment to principle is admirable but freedom of speech is only one of a number of important rights and the extreme right use it to attack other rights”.

Jordan Williams.

And there is Jordan Williams. He has some history. He did not like it when Eleanor Catton criticised National and is not happy about Colin Craig exercising his right to free speech and say not very nice things about Williams.
And where were all these people when Bob Jones was firing legal letters at others who were exercising their rights to free speech?

https://thestandard.org.nz/the-free-speech-coalition-that-is-actually-quite-expensive/

You can click on the above reference to read the whole Standard item...it really is most revealing. Don Brash seems to have endless amounts of money available to spend, he has stated that his group has raised 50.000 to spend on court costs. It would seem that he should go live in Australia because his policy direction matches Australia more than it does NZ. When one looks at the Brash supporters closely they have one thing in common they are all right-wing ex-mates of Roger Douglas and his failed Act Party hacks.

2.

Comparing Australian and US policy regarding immigration matters and the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples:

This weeks Aljazeera lead item on the subject doves tails neatly into the reasons why White Racists value the freedom of Free speech.

“Separating families, deporting parents, caging children: from opposite sides of the globe, the United States and Australia have been trading ideas for punishing people who cross their borders for some years now.

In August last year, President Donald Trump praised Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the Australian policy of refusing entry to asylum seekers who arrive by boat. It is official Australian policy to detain future arrivals through systematically cruel treatment in offshore detention centres.
According to the leaked transcripts of a phone call between the two leaders, Turnbull told his American counterpart that Australia has a policy to not let in anyone, even a "Nobel Prize winning genius", who arrives in the country by boat.
"That is a good idea. We should do that too," Trump reportedly responded. "You are worse than I am."
Indeed, when it comes to immigration policies it is difficult to say which country is worse - the US or Australia.
And perhaps it's not surprising that the two countries are currently swapping refugees to dodge pressure at home and abroad by human rights organisations. The US is sending Central American refugees it has been holding in Costa Rica and accepting Middle Eastern refugees Australia has been holding in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.


The swap, along with the rest of their racist immigration policies, is a continuation of a settler-colonial pattern of engagement in the international community that both countries employ.
Both the US and Australia are settler societies which were founded on white supremacy and colonial expansionism. Hence, they are intrinsically concerned with maintaining dominance over Indigenous people and asserting state sovereignty against the incursion of people deemed "other". To read the full item go to:

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/colonialism-shapes-immigration-policy-australia-180625095413988.html?utm_source=Al+Jazeera+English+Newsletter+%7C+Weekly&utm_campaign=68d7a91e98-

The important question for us here in New Zealand is, are we following the same pattern as the US / Australian powers that be.

Do we too see our white settlers as God like figures who treat indigenous peoples like second class citizens, here is the view of a well known US Fox news star: Ann Coulter.

When is a settler not an immigrant? When you work for Fox News it would seem.
Others think differently; American and Australian indigenous peoples have their own view of what a settler was and is:

And they have the clear proof of just what was dished out to them over the many hundred of years of world history. But of course we don’t teach history from their perspective. That is the real reason why Bob Jones and his idiotic remarks caused such offence amongst thinking New Zealanders.
3. 
The Nurses strike, what can one say, the media has played it for all its worth. It would seem that everyone loves nurses, everyone believes they are hard working wonderful and caring people who work their guts out looking after those in need.
But the problem is that we don’t show that we value them really...oh we say the right words...we talk the talk...but yet we are unwilling to pay them the money they need simply to survive in this world. And this was never more obvious when our acting PM put the purchasing of four aircraft at a cost of billions of dollars ahead of paying nurses a realistic salary. That for me says it all. No money for nurses, but money for fighting other peoples wars.

Ever since Roger Douglas decided that only those at the top were worthy of massive increases and increased CEO type salaries by in some cases millions while at the same-time bit by bit lowering the bulk of the health workers wages, like nurses and care givers etc. For ten plus years under various Health Ministers using so called budget restrictions nurses salaries slowly but steadily declined.

For well over two decades out capitalist neo-liberalist style leadership has dreamed of the day when our health service could be privatised and sold off to the highest bidder, some of you may remember when Ruth Richardson attempted to privatise individual wards in an attempt to achieve this pipe dream.

Well our nurses and our care givers and the bulk of our population has said ‘enough is enough’. We don’t want our hospitals turned into profit making machines, we want a universal health service that is publicly owned and operated. Stuff the corporate model American style health dream that has destroyed healthcare for millions in the US.

NZ Nurses take to the streets.

The need for real change to the treatment the government dishes out to those who cater to the health needs of our communities needs to change. I thank the nurses and all their supporters who are taking to the streets to demand real and progressive change. You are today's heroes. Lets increase the top tax rates to cover the costs, those earning millions can afford to pay...they have had decades of reduced taxes,

Well that’s it for this weeks issue...please look after each other and stay warm.
Lastly: Cartoon of the week...