Posts by Michael Fitzgerald
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Saw Anderson on the Telly saying I know it can kill therefore I must stop it.
Has he met Hone Harawira and his antismoking campaign.Having resisted the need for speed before party pills came out. I'm yet to see the upside of smoking.
But if smoking was ever banned - I'll take 6 months overseas as quiters turn nasty.
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InternationalObserver
Good point on the Maori Warden.
If Howie was serious (and we all know he's not) a community based structure with resources to take on the community as a whole is a great start. -
No one's ever to far gone for a bit of courage to spark their hearts and start taking back their lives.
If only that were held true.
The movie "The Grey Zone" has a wee scene that addresses a portion of a community not wanting to go on. Those who survived the camps in Europe had a high rate of suicide afterwards.
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Ben
I don't mean to compare holocausts (or the Shoah for that matter). But please let us not forget Maori were considered a dying people. A question of genocide/eugenics was actively discussed by such luminaries as Plunket.There was no need to overtly kill Maori due to disease and deprivation of land and resources was expected to take up this cause by itself.
My family history (a little earlier in the blog) does point to Indigenous Australians fighting and massed organised warfare. That the gun won over the spear is surely no surprise and that the crime of genocide and evidence of resistance was covered up should be no surprise either.
Ben and anyone else interested - pop along to a marae near you and have a chat. The stories are known and will be shared.
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Mikaere
Apologies for quibbling but Dingos were domesticated and it's not hard to do the same to a Magpie either.Aboriginal people across the continent adopted the dingo as a companion animal, using it to assist with hunting and for warmth on cold nights. (The terms "two-dog night" and "three-dog night" are believed to come from Aboriginal idiom, describing the overnight temperature.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DingoI draw no conclusions regarding colonisation but there is a major difference in society of Clans in the West Island vs Iwi over this side of the ditch.
On topic here's a wee wikiword
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_kinship -
Ben you are sooo wrong on this point:
"Such wholesale oppression didn't happen here, at least not nearly to the same scale."
Can I recommend popping along to your local marea and having a wee chat on the issue.
The Parihaka Peace Festival is worth the visit - get tired of the speakers (& we all do from time to time) then listen to the sounds.
The stories that are told are chilling. Have a wee look through our history - it wasn't a crime to kill maori - no-one was ever charged.
We have just rewritten history with a bit more gusto. -
Ewan & Joe
I agree the colonial settler Govts of Aust & NZ are equally evil in their dealings with indigenous peoples then as they are today.FitzGerald 1862 "He castigated the land confiscation policy as an 'enormous crime', opposed colonisation by military settlers and called for the withdrawal of British troops."
http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1F9
Mea culpa
A G/G/Dad of mine was a Welsh Mining Engineer who got in a spot of bother in Nth QLD getting speared to death (along with several other gentlemen). The News Paper accounts were quite outraged, but I wonder.ANU normally sets the gold standard.
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Russell
There is an economic development plan. It's just not been stated. Oh and it's not for the locals peoples but it will be for 'Australia'. Like the foreshore - Nationalising Indigenous property for the benefit of 'all' or to keep those brown brothers down.At least with Iraq the yanks knew they had weapons of mass destruction - They sold them to Iraq and not that many had died - so there must still be some left surely.
This is the invasion of the Sudetenland - a bold faced lie. Another land grab. For the economic wealth held by Australias Indigenous peoples. I can't find a political map of Indigenous Australia but it's massive.
Nothing like a bit of Hygine and the authority of medics to put one at ease when it comes to racial stereotyping from a military perspective (as this surely will be done).
Coming er hailing from a City possessed hysteria is easy and doesn't need facts - hell it's a lot easier with out it.
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Dr Who -
Middle aged running around the cosmos with some chick in hot pants and fm boots.
Confession -
I was scared of rubbish bins around Riccarton Mall for far too long due to a broken umbrella poking out of one & looking like a Darlek when I was very young. Special effects as they were made this look real. -
The old watch TV & listen to the Radio of old but with more choice via the internet.
For the Rumania vs Ivory Coast etc listening to some semi sober students could be a laugh too