Council community development bureaucrats behead Tauranga Moana Safe City

[Disclosure Statement: These are my views, not those of Tauranga Moana Safe City. I have never worked for Tauranga Moana Safe City; however I worked on joint projects with Mike Mills when I was the Manager of the Merivale Community Centre and when I was contracted to run the White Ribbon Campaign events in 2013.… Read More Council community development bureaucrats behead Tauranga Moana Safe City

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Would we take a softly, softly approach if Gloriavale was a Māori community?

Campbell Live’s activist journalism has thrown a spotlight on the West Coast Christian community of Gloriavale. Anchored by the courage of Julia to tell a tragic and painful story and followed by the telling testimony of other ex-members, the claims are disturbing and myriad. The claims to date have included: bullying (particularly of young women);… Read More Would we take a softly, softly approach if Gloriavale was a Māori community?

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Not in our name: remembering our World War I peacemakers this Anzac Day

Often the two World Wars are given as the final winning argument as to why non-violent resistance and pacifism is not a practical solution to conflict and stopping aggressors. The argument is simply that only violence could have stopped the Kaiser in World War I and Hitler and the Third Reich in World War II.… Read More Not in our name: remembering our World War I peacemakers this Anzac Day

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Lest we remember: the jarring jingoism of the Iraq deployment on this Anzac Day

Like many of you, I imagine, the centenary of the invasion of Turkey at Gallipoli by the Anzacs including the New Zealand Expeditionary Force has piqued my interest in my own personal ancestral connection to this distant conflict. None of my ancestors were at Gallipoli itself, but I had three ancestors who joined the armed… Read More Lest we remember: the jarring jingoism of the Iraq deployment on this Anzac Day

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Executing John Campbell & the dying art of being Pākehā #SaveCampbellLive

John Drinnan in the New Zealand Herald revealed Campbell Live is under threat of being scrapped by Mediaworks. The options paper presented to Campbell Live staff apparently included replacing the current format with a Jono and Ben style comedy show (NB as opposed to actually being replaced with Jono and Ben, so don’t hate on… Read More Executing John Campbell & the dying art of being Pākehā #SaveCampbellLive

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Bede would turn in his grave: raising boys to worship money & power – thoughts of an Old Boy of St Bede’s

When I was 12 or 13 years old, on occasion I used to ride the long way home from Casebrook Intermediate to Pāpānui via St Bede’s College. I would stop and gaze through the fences at the pristine school grounds, the grand buildings and the sharp red and black uniforms. I couldn’t have articulated this… Read More Bede would turn in his grave: raising boys to worship money & power – thoughts of an Old Boy of St Bede’s

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Burning down the house: how social housing could break NZ communities

Merivale in Tauranga, New Zealand has 22 streets. There are just under 900 houses in those streets. We have comparatively low levels of home ownership and high levels of absentee landlords. Over 200 of the houses are owned by Housing New Zealand, the government’s state housing organisation. Originally the Housing NZ houses were all built… Read More Burning down the house: how social housing could break NZ communities

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Where the bloody hell are ya!? Evictions of aboriginal communities and the silence of Māori living in Australia

In September 2011, the 10 remaining residents of Oombulgurri were forcibly evicted. They had just two days notice and were allowed only one box of belongings each. They had to leave behind cars, whiteware, tools and other personal possessions. They had protested up to the last. They had protested when  the government closed the shop,… Read More Where the bloody hell are ya!? Evictions of aboriginal communities and the silence of Māori living in Australia

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The Copenhagen shootings & building the case for the inhumanity of Muslims

On Morning Report, the public service radio station here in Aotearoa New Zealand, sandwiched between faux outrage that Andrew Little, the leader of the Labour party, paid a bill late and real outrage from the Greens party that Andrew Little doesn’t care what they think, a report on the Copenhagen shootings included an interview with… Read More The Copenhagen shootings & building the case for the inhumanity of Muslims

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