Over the past week New Zealand has undergone a wonderful transition from being simply a copy cat nation, that has over then past 30 / 40 years simply agreed with whatever we were told to agree with. Even when the path that we were heading down was leading in the opposite direction to that which we actually wanted to go:
A miss-direction that our commonsense clearly indicated, and our historical development had already expressed was the correct path. But instead we came under political attack from our so-called friends. The USA, UK and Australia, and our governments of both colours caved in.
Right wing governments of both the red and blue hue had and still were simply saying to the world powers 'Tell us how high to jump!
It took the inbuilt common sense of our youth to put us back on track in regard to the welfare of our planet and therefor the welfare of humanity...
And it took the stupidity of white anti-people male idiots whom loved guns and Donald Trump who then cowardly and gutlessly murdered 50 plus men women and children as they prayed to their god in their church...and as strange as it might sound there are some who consider this strange person a hero...for killing 50 plus people in the name of white racism...and a comic book mentality.
I agree with the PM and that we should never utter his despicable name...so I will not write his name!
Below are simply a few of the many thousands of good Kiwi citizens who are celebrating the Manawatu Festival of Cultures.
Being there and being a part of this growing sense of nationhood was a great privilege and joy. In my respectful view it was like a religious event, not that I am a religious person...but to me religion is most clearly represented by the practise of 'LOVE' and love is what I felt as I moved amongst the huge and massive crowd on this warm Saturday morning.
Of course the Festival offers entertainment and the picture below shows a wonderful group of young Asian people singing in their language the songs of their past and present nations... The words were not important but the emotion of togetherness and the expressed love were very moving indeed...
To all those backward thinkers who believe that unless these culture groups speak English so that we can understand what they are saying then their message is wasted...simply proves how ignorant some people can be...That's what makes this festival so successful...its diversity and its lack of conformity is what demonstrates its strength rather than any weakness. The words 'They are Us, and we are them" are so powerful at this time in our history. We might just be at the beginning of something massive in human terms...We shall see.
This past week has proven that love and understanding is so much more powerful than hate and ignorance
The Fesival of Culture is in so many respects a 'coming of age for New Zealand. For it indicates a movement toward a grown up state of affairs, Here are a few references to some wonderful reports on the past week: Check them out in your own time, and share with your friends and family.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/385414/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-praised-for-humility-and-morality-in-wake-of-mosque-attacks
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/385288/pm-urges-people-to-pay-their-respects-as-nation-mourns
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384907/vigils-planned-around-nz-after-christchurch-mosque-attacks
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/111492256/thousands-turn-out-in-support-of-manawatu-muslim-community-a-week-on-from-christchurch-shootings
Read this to see the massive difference between NZ and US:
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'Outrageous. Unacceptable.': Indiana Teachers Shot 'Execution-Style' With Pellets in School Shooting Drill
"In New Zealand, they respond to a mass shooting by banning semi-automatics five days later. In America, we respond to near-daily mass shootings by...literally shooting teachers."
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An ‘active shooter’ enters a classroom as ‘students’ take cover during ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate) training at the Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown, Pennsylvania, on November 3, 2015. (Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
As state and federal lawmakers fail to take meaningful action to confront America's gun violence epidemic, Indiana elementary school teachers were reportedly shot "execution-style" with plastic pellets in an active shooter drill led by law enforcement.
"Outrageous. Unacceptable. We don't have to live like this."
—Moms Demand Action
—Moms Demand Action
According to the Indianapolis Star, several teachers at a time "were asked by local law enforcement to kneel down against a classroom wall before being sprayed across their backs with plastic pellets without warning."
"They told us, 'This is what happens if you just cower and do nothing,'" a teacher who experienced the January drill told the Indy Star. "They shot all of us across our backs. I was hit four times. It hurt so bad."
Journalist David Klion contrasted Indiana's active shooter drill with New Zealand's rapid and decisive response to the Christchurch massacre:
During testimony before the state's Senate Education Committee this week, officials from the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA)—which is demanding an end to drills in which teachers are shot with projectiles of any kind—said educators were left with bruises and welts from the drill.
In some cases, according to the ISTA, the pellets drew blood.
Reacting with horror to Indiana teachers' testimony, gun control advocates characterized the state's active shooter drill as an "outrageous" example of what America's educators are being forced to accept as one school shooting after another takes place without any action from Congress.
"Active-shooter training has become a macabre ritual for educators in America's public school system," noted Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson.
"We don't have to live like this," Moms Demand Action declared, calling for "sensible solutions to the gun violence crisis."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) listed several concrete legislative step that could be taken to confront mass shootings "instead of training children, teachers, houses of faith, and concertgoers to prep for being shot":
Praising the swift action this week in New Zealand to ban assault rifles, Kris Brown, the president of the gun control advocacy group Brady, said Thursday it is now well past time for U.S. lawmakers to follow suit.
"We have an opportunity to pass common-sense legislation that will expand background checks, enact extreme risk laws, and ban assault weapons at home," Brown said. "We must do so immediately. We must make sure that no community feels the pain that Christchurch, Parkland, Las Vegas, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Sandy Hook, and so many others have been through. We too must take action, not sides."
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