Wheeler’s Corner
“Connecting Citizens Who Care“. Every Monday
at 4 pm on Access Manawatu 999AM” Join Peter’s blog http://wheelerscornernz.blogspot.com/
15 8th April 2018
1. It’s Our Future Manawatu is a small but highly active group of
like-minded but diverse people who believes that converting desire for social
and community change will benefit all regardless of age, ethnicity or gender
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| Non-violent police |
They believe strongly in
non-violent community activism. Their ages cover the full spectrum. They even
practice non-violent behaviour before taking part in protest activities.
Last Thursday they [IOFM] met for
their usual review of past events and future planning. This latest meeting was
particularly important because it covered the protest in Wellington where
Manawatu members along with hundreds of others made public their deep concerns
about New Zealand’s present actions of continuing down the path of mining
fossil fuels via the fracking process etc. so popular in Taranaki and in our
coastal waters.
Each individual who took part in
the actual protest expressed in both positive and negative terms their lessons
learned.
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| Non-violence in action |
The police as can be plainly seen, don’t seem
to practice ‘non-violence’ And act in what would appear to be extremely
assertive practiced drills.
Each of our members gave examples
of how the police actually pushed and shoved them, it was almost as if their
intention was to provoke violence rather than prevent it.
When the police were confronted by
a group of non-violent ‘Super-grans’ all in their sixties or seventies…because
of their brave resolve to maintain their non-violent behaviour was clearly
evident… the police troopers suddenly backed off and quickly moved to a group
of younger protesters where their bully boy attitude could possibly inflame the
behaviour of the protesters so as to justify collective police violence.
The general consensus appeared to
be that the police never understood the concept of non-violent behaviour.
On the positive side of the ledger
was the fact that our members quickly recognised the organised pro-violent
behavior of the police and their media supporters who seemed to have an obvious
desire to provoke protester negative reactions. Even though many of our members
were bruised and frightened by the gloved hands that pushed and shoved them
they stayed calm and followed the lessons learned during and while practicing
non-violent reactions to aggressive police behaviour on the day.
It was agreed that while there is
little hope that any police-person will ever be charged or convicted as is absolutely
evident based on past records of police non-convictions and the length of time
the police spend in even reaching any negative conclusion about their own
behavior, the records show that the public can wait up to two years for the
police to even respond to complaints. And they always seem to find themselves
not guilty.
The positives out-weigh the
negatives in people taking collective actions to protect the environment, in
protesting against behaviour that makes the rich wealthier and it’s ironic when
one considers world history: imagine if we could have stopped Hitler legally
before he murdered millions of Jews, if we had stopped the attack on Iraq by
George Bush Jnr before he declared a false war because of so-called weapons of
mass destruction. One day we may even realise that giving police or the
military the power to break the law whenever they wish is no way to protect the
populations that make up the world in which we live.
To view more on Wellington protest go to:
Peter J Wheeler
