Polity: Refugees and aid - we’re laggards
139 Responses
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Yes, the refugee quota could and should be doubled, right now, and the Prime Minister, himself a son of a refugee from NAZI persecution and discrimination, is an utter hypocrite for dragging his feet.
But as others have already commented, the majority, mostly "silent", who have now voted in National three times into government, they simply do not care, except for their own self and perhaps direct family and friends.
They have also not cared about the misery many living off benefits face day in and out, as prejudice has been spread and fed for so many years. Beneficiaries were at least a few years back the most discriminated lot in this country, that was even before "Asians". I suspect now it is Muslims, as people have seen so much horror news about IS and other terror in Syria and Iraq.
We only need to look at the polls to get an idea for which political lines are favoured by that "silent majority". New Zealand has nothing much to be proud of, but they will in large numbers be again, for their All Blacks, and little else will matter over coming weeks. The government was swift with extending opening hours for bars and clubs for the Rugby World Cup, that shows their priority.
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BenWilson, in reply to
People are just making the assumption that he is a University student, for all we know he could be at high school.
That's what I'm feeling. 15 maybe? Thinking about my own writing style at that age, my own grasp of what evidence meant.
Can you guys even run a mile?
I would bet that I can outrun you, outfight you, and out philosophize you! If you can recognize that quote, you're probably old enough for here...Otherwise...give it up.
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BenWilson, in reply to
btw, If you can Google it to work out that it's a misquote, that's just confirmation :-).
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
The government was swift with extending opening hours for bars and clubs for the Rugby World Cup, that shows their priority.
Beer and circuses Marc, beer & circuses.
Shallow, meaningless entertainment for shallow meaningless people. -
no?
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And in terms of this discussion, hardly anyone here is discussing Syrian refugees, and how we can help, all the attention has been put on me, might as well name the thread after me. I'm here to stay. Buckle up.
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Despite the keyboard war,
interesting article -
chris, in reply to
I’m deadly serious.
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chris, in reply to
I just wish I hadn't used a 1965 calender.
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BenWilson, in reply to
Come for the refugee discussion, stay for the dick-waving contest!
Word!
You can try. Lets meet?
Crikey! This isn't Grindr!
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David Hood, in reply to
You have a calendar from 1965?
That said the 1965 one was also the 2010 one, but 1970 would have worked.
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David Hood, in reply to
Come for the refugee discussion, stay for the dick-waving contest!
It could be sponsored, for charity.
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chris, in reply to
You have a calendar from 1965?
No I don’t, it was a lame attempt to make light of a royal fuck up.
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Russell
...this one is ticking
might be time to tag and release this particular little science project and do pass on the particulars for a watching brief... -
Sorry folks. Troll dispatched.
Don't forget you can always report a post if I seem to be missing something.
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So the internal conflict in Syria is so utterly hopeless and awful that families are leaving homes that they have lived in for decades, abandoning their homes to die crossing the Mediterranean.
And in response someone feels it reasonable to troll a discussion about New Zealand's response.
It's times like these that I feel very good about my friends who all seem to have a moral code.
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It's clunky and annoying deleting numbers of comments (and I am grumpy with a rotten cold) but I've cleaned up the troll-derail and would be grateful if we could get back on topic.
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Neil Finn's new charity single. The introduction by Benedict Cumberbatch is very relevant.
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Chris and I were having a discussion in a previous refugee thread, about the state of what NZ had to offer (e.g. our poor quality social housing), and whether it would really be a kindness to offer it.
I think we ended up agreeing that the important thing was to be very honest about what we are offering.
The importance of this honesty is currently being demonstrated in Uruguay, where a small group of Syrian refugees are demonstrating for longer/greater government support, or to be assisted to relocate elsewhere, depending on which account one reads. (English-language coverage here and here). It’s a sad result given the original optimism about the resettlement programme. The Syrians complain – and the Uruguayans recognise – that they weren’t adequately advised [Spanish] about what they were coming to.
However, I like to hope we do better. We’ve had more practice, I think, in resettling refugees. The Uruguayans, for example, note with regret that they “ignored advice from Switzerland[Spanish] … to settle [the Syrians] together in the same location”. To me this is important because I’ve heard some commentary suggesting that a way to bring more refugees would be to distribute them round the country rather than in larger groups, so the work involved in supporting them would be more widely distributed. To me this sounds like people wanting to be able to participate in helping new arrivals, without thinking about what’s in the best interests of those arrivals. The Uruguayan experience underlines the need to be sure that we can in fact adequately support new arrivals, and support them in groups large enough to give them a sense of social and cultural support and to reduce the sense of isolation that they will inevitably have on coming to the other end of the earth.
So yes, we can certainly do better than we’re doing now, but possibly not immediately. We could expand, or replicate elsewhere, the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, in order to be able to take more, but that will take time. That’s in no way a reason not to do anything, nor a reason not to push for a permanently higher quota, just I guess a suggestion that there be a bit of understanding about maybe why we’re not doing more straight away.
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From a personal point of view I would Support the argument. Accepting 600 people over two and half years time is too long for small amount of people. If the country would actually accept more people in short time it will help in raising up the economy. Yes more money will be needed but in the same time there are more hands to help in bringing the country up. All refugees would of course have skills or experiences in various different majors. Such a thing is helpful to have more people. I reckon that Australia and USA are accepting more people is because they are thinking in the right way to develop their country and actually make a use of these people who does not have a place to live.
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Why are you all so uptight about wanting refugees when you won’t help them when they get here?
The recent emergences of New Zealanders in plea of allowing more refugees into New Zealand show most of you are missing the point.
The footage shown by the media has been heart breaking, especially the emphasis on child suffrage.
However the spark in debate, especially on the public address forum, has bought me to question – what do you do to help when they get here?
It is all very good to say you “want” NZ Govt to help more refugees, but once they arrive do you do anything? Do you do anything to assist the government and NGO’s to integrate these strangers into a ‘foreign’ society?
It takes a village to raise a child, right? Well walk the talk you talk! You do know these are human lives, so its not an instant fix. It takes a lifetime to build a life! But do you dedicate any of yours to helping theirs?
Sure the NGO’s and supporting organisations are pressing for more to come here but how can you say that too when you are not doing the work!?!
Not one blog on here explains how much effort you have made towards supporting the refugees that we HAVE accepted.
You rely on the government to do all of the work, but hey… they have done something. Have you?
The government has accepted up to 600 more than we HAVE to.
You all think you are so humanitarian by saying you want more in NZ! But I guarantee even less of you have thoughtfully dropped any aid into the organisations who assist migrant refugees.
Maybe with the 750 refugees arriving over the next two years, people could stop playing keyboard warrior and actually do some work.
Once you get some insight into the hard work it takes to assist these new communities THEN you can argue that NZ needs more.
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linger, in reply to
stop playing keyboard warrior and actually do some work
Oh, not again! This argument wasn’t sound the first time it appeared in this thread. If we accept your criterion of what counts as pointless activity, then your comment – complaining about the existence of an online discussion – is, by your own criterion, one level more pointless and a distraction from meaningful action. But we don’t have to accept your criterion, because the discussion also contains relevant ideas about how to support and settle refugees, e.g., Lucy’s comment just above.
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Gould S, in reply to
You have a valid point – that the purpose of this outlet is to form discussions. My perspective aligns perfectly with Lucy’s above perspective.
Are you able to directly answer my questions linger? That is what I seek by participating in this online discussion.
* the spark in debate, especially on the public address forum, has bought me to question –
*what do you do to help when they get here?
It is all very good to say you “want” NZ Govt to help more refugees,
* but once they arrive do you do anything?
*Do you do anything to assist the government and NGO’s to integrate these strangers into a ‘foreign’ society?It takes a village to raise a child, right? Well walk the talk you talk! You do know these are human lives, so its not an instant fix. It takes a lifetime to build a life!
* But do you dedicate any of yours to helping theirs?
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Do I, for example, spend any of my free time volunteering as a teacher to help migrants develop their English skills and thereby land suitable jobs? Funny you should ask. But it’s not that relevant. You exaggerate the amount of ongoing effort required to help refugees – who, by and large, make a huge amount of effort themselves to integrate, and need, first, our acceptance in order to allow them to succeed in that.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
Maybe with the 750 refugees arriving over the next two years, people could stop playing keyboard warrior and actually do some work.
You keep making these assumptions when you have absolutely nothing to back them up with, you haven't a clue as to what I do and I resent your attitude.
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