This morally and politically derelict government shames us – Amy Brooke

When Meriam Ibrahim, her little son in prison with her, was recently shackled to a prison floor in Sudan, condemned to death in two years’ time for being a Christian, she was kept fastened in leg chains while giving birth to her new daughter.

Her crime – while being Christian all her life – being convicted of apostasy because her father, whom she has not seen since childhood, was Muslim. Her husband is an American citizen.

Ibrahim’s case raised international outrage, with Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron branding it barbaric, and the Times campaigning for her release. Contrast this with the way we New Zealanders have been simply fobbed off by Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully when asking what steps our government intended to take to effectively protest against the Sudan government condemning a Christian woman to death for honouring her religious beliefs. This is the same Murray McCully whose handling of the Malaysian diplomat’s alleged sex offence has been regarded as inept and incompetent.

The crux of McCully’s eventual reply to me, arriving two months later, is padded with the usual waffle about New Zealand being a strong supporter of freedom of religion or belief, etc. It states that while we “…monitor the human rights situation globally” (all talk and no action, as we know) “it would be unusual and inappropriate for New Zealand to directly involve itself in African states‘ judicial processes…{we do} not have diplomatic representation in Sudan. However, the New Zealand government continues to press for the recognition of human rights, and in this particular case, urge {sic} Sudan, via multilateral representation, to uphold their international human rights obligations.”

What does he mean by “multilateral representation”? – essentially weasel words, a cover-up for the fact that, shamefully, we have made no public protest at all. In other words, this is not only a typical politician’s letter, but dodges the fact the New Zealand government did manage after all to directly involve itself “in African states’ judicial processes” when it squeezed out a protest recently about the imprisonment of three Al Jazeera journalists. Governments know it’s a good idea to show solidarity with journalists…but a woman giving birth chained to the floor? – Our government apparently couldn’t care less.

There are so many instances now of our political masters well and truly keeping their heads down in the face of the bullying, worldwide, of those brave enough to oppose State and cultural oppression. What about murderous Islamic practices such as the recent stoning to death in Pakistan of the married and pregnant Farzana Parveen, in front of the High Court in Lahore, by her own father and family? Watched by the police themselves (in this instance not participating) along with lawyers and others passing by, it was because she had married a man other than the one her father had chosen.

Every year, because of such barbarous traditions – conveniently ignored by those drumming up the virtues of “diversity” and braying for open immigration – several hundred utterly revolting and similar killings take place in Pakistan, now being copycatted in the UK, where police have too long preferred not to know. Over-late in the day, British Prime Minister David Cameron admits that Britain has been too tolerant of Islamic radicalism, allowing violent rhetoric to flourish. Questions about British identity have at last shot up the political agenda, with over-liberal theorizing about immigration topping voters’ concerns. Australia also now has a problem policing correspondingly oppressive practices by Muslim men against their wives, daughters and sisters.

Prime Minster Key is fulsome in his praise of New Zealand and Communist China’s much-vaunted close relationship. But an Asian reminder of the Three Monkeys invokes those who turn a blind eye to evil. For all the supposed, behind-the-scenes, hard questioning of China about its appalling human rights record, many New Zealanders doubt that our government does anything of the sort. If so, why not openly?

Chinese political activist Hu Jia points out that by striking deals with China, “Western leaders…are helping a tyranny victimise its subjects.” One of China’s leading dissidents, he has accused Britain and other Western countries of “doing business with the Nazis” as the Communist Party crushed commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. According to those who witnessed the butchery of 25 years ago, little has changed in China. Under house arrest in Beijing, Hu Jia has urged Western leaders to take a longer-term view in dealings with the government of President Xi, pointing out that in the lead up to this year’s anniversary, there has been an even greater roundup of dissidents, activists, liberal academics, and human rights lawyers. And every time this happens, our New Zealand government keeps its head well down.

This is not the country for which our parents and grandparents fought. And in too many aspects of our national life to enumerate here, the sell-out not only of their principles, but of our land, our housing, our farmland and scenic treasures continues apace. Incredibly enough, why does a toothless OIO have no mandate whatsoever to consider the detrimental effects to New Zealanders of any bid for foreign ownership?

We now have the reality of more than one non-New Zealander regarded as picking the eyes out of this country, as with James Cameron, 59, a Canadian, who applied for residency in 2012 under Immigration New Zealand’s Investment Plus category, restricted to people investing more than $10 million. It is reasonable to ask why our legislation has been framed so that our best assets can be snapped up by overseas owners, disadvantaging New Zealanders themselves. Cameron, whose film Avatar apparently emphasised strong resistance to private ownership, is buying up the Wairarapa, having acquired dairy farms, a walnut orchard, a lake, a heritage building and a number of other land deals all automatically rubberstamped. He is on the hunt for more.

New Zealanders, now basically disenfranchised, have virtually no say in the directions in which we are going. However, rightly mistrustful of all political parties, we can take heart from the soft revolution in Britain which has UKIP reaching out to all, right across the political spectrum – as does our own 100 Days – Claiming Back New Zealand imitative. Not surprisingly, our support is not coming from politicians, nor the conspicuously wealthy, but from New Zealanders themselves, countrywide.

I am proud that our mailouts are subscribed to by UKIP leader Nigel Farage – and that our prior initiative in spreading this achievable way of claiming back this country has now been enthusiastically taken up in Australia, acknowledged in Professor David Flint’s co-authored book – Give Us Back Our Country.

To take on board the reality of what has happened, so that New Zealanders now find unattainable even basic produce, goods and services our parents’ generation took for granted – and how privatisation is a failed mantra, free enterprise having morphed into government domination and corporate capture – access our latest Post at www.100days.co.nz – What have they done to our country?

If you care about tactical voting to win back our country from political domination – join us, to see how it can be done. Since when has it been enough to simply complain?

© Copyright Amy Brooke

www.amybrooke.co.nz

www.100days.co.nz

www.summersounds..co.nz

http://www.livejournal.com/users/brookeonline/