This post is really just a quick warm up to get this blog going.
It seems there is no time to turn your back in NZ politics
without things coming to bite you in the behind.
A while back over on KP in my post about the Maori Party I
noted there were areas I did not want to go into because once you do it gets
real deep real fast.
But in the wake of recent events with Winston thwarting Iwi
over treaty settlements, The Kermadec Sanctuary becoming a political hot potato
(and the related MPI fish dumping scandal) and a few more recent articles
showing the Maori Party are gearing up for election 2017 (here and here) I
think NZ politics is about to head out into deep waters AND I think that’s a
good thing.
Because if the political narrative of the past 50 years has
been anything to go by this discussion is long overdue and it’s well worth
having.
And it’s not about race, or racial politics (although that
is a component to be sure) but the future of New Zealand which is being
discussed. What way do we want our nation to go and what do we want our nation
to be and the oft neglected component in these discussions is something which
many people (including myself previously) have always avoided discussing: our
colonial past.
It’s a touchy subject and I am just starting to warm up to
it but I think the only way forward is by having these little chats about who
we are and where we came from because we won’t know where we are going until we
do.
So for today I am simply saying I agree with this topic and
I will be exploring a lot more in future as it’s a hard area to avoid if we
want to be honest about what we are as a nation.
More to come.
Hi E.A.
ReplyDeleteSo what happened between you and Pablo?
Hi DPF:
ReplyDeleteNothing happened per se, Pablo and I just realized that we were wanting to blog in different directions and since we had some differing viewpoints it was easier to set up my own blog (also I figured out how) rather than keep on at KP. I may still make comments on KP but my blogging will be here from now on.
Also congrats on being the first person to post on my Blog. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your own blog, I hope it continues to command an audience and doesn't just sink into obscurity the way most political blogs do.
ReplyDeleteWhat did the other Kiwipolitico writers have to say about your clash with Pablo?
DPF: Thanks for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteThere was no comment from Lew (the other contributor at KP).
I am also hoping that this blog doesn't sink into obscurity but since I am currently in obscurity I will have to get out of it first before I sink back into it.
I was disappointed but not altogether surprised by the conflict on Kiwipolitico. The left in New Zealand, while upholding virtually every other kind of diversity, is often intolerant of intellectual difference. Perhaps the practical solution to this problem does lie in every man or woman having their own blog - until such time as we start to realize that political differences matter less than other more fundamental human qualities. Anyway I look forward to seeing the line of thought that was interrupted on kiwipolitico being continued on kiwifirewalker.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad because Kiwipolitico is theoretically a shared blog, but it has become over the years Pablo's personal blog.
ReplyDeleteIf it's now got to the point that authors get ejected from the blog because Pablo disagrees with them, Pablo should probably just admit Kiwipolitico is all him now and stop pretending he wants to attract other writers.
Geoff:
ReplyDeleteI was probably as guilty of irreverence as anyone in deciding to leave KP.
Thanks for the support, I will be keeping things going as I did on KP once I get the blog fully in shape and up and running.
The only correction is that while I hold some left wing opinions I am not really on the Left.
Anon: I chose to leave KP. I was not kicked out by Pablo. Yes we did have a divergence of opinion but that was not why I choose to leave (it did incentivize things a bit but was not the reason)the reality was that having figured out how to get my own blog I decided to not antagonize Pablo any further by knocking him on his political views vis a vis the US. We all have our push buttons and that was his.
Apart from that one strand of thought I respect his views in the areas he comments in. He is clearly a man who has his passions and that's a good thing.
" We all have our push buttons and that was his. "
ReplyDeletePablo's push button is anybody disagreeing with him
Anon: Pablo's passion was US politics, that was very clear, I have sparred with him many years previous when I was just commenting on his blog and he was able to see my side of things then (of course it was not US politics). But politics of ones home can inflame passions and yes we could not agree on that. I would be the same about NZ politics if NZ was operating like the US.
ReplyDelete