The treatment of freedom protesters by politicians of all stripes has been incomprehensible and unforgivable. It was understood that the PM would not deign to speak with them or listen to their valid concerns, but Chris Luxon? David Seymour? It was a heaven-sent opportunity for them to be the peace-makers, the voices of reason. Instead, they decided to join ranks with the Labour Party and ignore not just the protest but also the voters they would have brought to their parties. They chose to support vaccinations and mandates and completely ignored the will of the people. Their people. The ones who put them there to act for them, to represent them. And they bailed.
How callous, how cowardly of them. And, even more arrogantly, David Seymour stated, “There’s no political benefit in appealing to that group of people outside Parliament.”
“It’s a couple of hundred voters no one wants.”
Political irony: Speaker Trevor Mallard and COVID-19 Minister Chris Hipkins’ historic arrests make it hard to trespass protesters | Newshub
David Seymour’s and Chris Luxon’s comments and lack of support at the time that integrity and a bit of wisdom were desperately needed are unlikely to help them. The mainstream media of course supported their political masters and their arrogance, and have again resorted to the ‘anti-vax’ and ‘far right’ descriptors that for them neatly sum up the diverse crowd with their diverse issues and diverse concerns.
Did they even bother to take a look at the crowd? Ministers of the Crown all felt comfortable ignoring the protest outcome of the miseries inflicted on the population. The grief, the loss and the deprivation that the Prime Minister has so happily and deliberately enacted with a supercilious and callous lack of understanding, devoid of emotional intelligence. Saving lives? No. The collateral damage caused by her high-handed decisions has been more deaths than Covid has caused, and there will be more to come as the result of delayed medical and surgical procedures, late diagnoses and lack of medical staff.
Maureen Pugh did make a post on Facebook; however, she was ‘confused’ and obediently removed the post as soon as she was advised that the protesters were anti-vax.
“In the now-deleted Facebook post, Pugh talked about a struggling businesswoman who had received support from the public. According to reported sightings of the post, Pugh wrote: “Good on her for finding her mojo again thanks to the support of Nelson and Convoy 2022”.
“Pugh confirmed she had written and deleted the post, telling Newshub in a statement on Thursday: “I made the post a few days ago intending to support a local business doing it tough.”
“Pugh said she “hadn’t initially appreciated the anti-vaccination message being spread by Convoy 2022, so I edited and ultimately deleted the post once they arrived and I saw some of their signs and messaging.”
National MP Maureen Pugh deletes social media post thanking ‘Convoy 2022’ anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate convoy | Newshub.
It is unbelievable that an initially peaceful protest made cordial by singers and poets and a doughnut stand was deliberately whipped up by the Government lapdogs, the now hopelessly compromised Police, mopping the sweat from their fevered brows as they arrested a naked woman along with grandparents and tent-dwellers whose shelters were forcibly removed because tents are not allowed on the Beehive lawn. All on the say-so of the prime minister’s assistant, the Speaker of the House, the ‘impartial’ Mr Mallard.
“House Speaker Trevor Mallard on Thursday morning authorised the closure of the Parliamentary precinct because tents are not permitted on the grounds and traffic in the surrounding area had been brought to a standstill.”
‘Certainly not the largest I’ve seen’: PM brushes off Parliament protest stand-off with police (msn.com)
And so the concerns were not heard, the fears were ignored, the wish to have freedoms and rights reinstated was dismissed by the smirking PM, who explained condescendingly that these people were not the majority of New Zealanders and that this was not the biggest protest she had seen, as she brushed off the protest stand-off with police.
“I’ve been in Parliament for over a decade, I’ve seen a number of protests in my time of different sizes. This is certainly not the largest I’ve seen,” Ardern said.
Certainly not the largest I’ve seen’: PM brushes off Parliament protest stand-off with police (msn.com)
Really, Prime Minister? Tell us those that were larger and more geographically encompassing. Please do, Prime Minister. We would like to know, because we don’t remember a larger protest than this in the last ten years. And why were people arrested when other protests have been allowed to persist? It was a year, wasn’t it, for the Ihumatao protest? And then they were paid for their time.
“The protesters eventually vacated the private land and no arrests were made.”
ihumatao protest – (bing.com)
Admittedly the Ihumatoa protest did not block city streets or cause nearby food establishments to close, with owners allegedly in fear and trembling and clutching their café lattés, but surely the principle remains the same? The right to a peaceful and democratic protest? And it does appear that the protest was peaceful, prior, that is, to the involvement of the Police with their batons and belligerence and their deliberate targeting of certain people.
Is it time now to build on the commitment of the protesters and choose integrity-based civil disobedience as the next step? The refusal to comply with certain laws considered unjust as a peaceful form of political protest can be executed simply by refusing to obey the mandates and prescribed behaviours.
“Civil disobedience has played an important role in history thanks to those who believe violence is not an option. The definition of civil disobedience is “breaking laws, usually in a non-violent way, as part of a protest” against laws deemed unfair or that infringe on human rights.”
civil disobedience – (bing.com)
It seems that this might be underway, with testing and tracking numbers falling significantly. This may be claimed as a victory by the Government that they have ‘stamped out’ the tricky virus, but their pet ‘expert’ Michael Baker has beaten them to that triumphant claim as he warns that such anti-social behaviours will “intensify the outbreak.”
He has yet to be correct about anything and it is highly unlikely he will be right about this. The ‘experts’ play a guessing game and attempt to enforce public gullibility and submission to the strident calls to boost and scan and isolate to have us live in perpetual fear.
Well, many of us have gone along with the game but now will choose our own path through the morass of madness the government continues to surround us with. It is time for more protests, for more refusals to carry out orders from on high. It is up to us to have the courage of our convictions and fight for the right to have our freedoms reinstated.
Chris Luxon and David Seymour would be wise to re-consider their Labour-light stance as that will cost both of them votes. There are many of us now looking for a place to put ours and we won’t forget their me-too comments and cowardly behaviours.
The heroes of the hour have been ex-MPs – Rodney Hide, Matt King, and Winston Peters; all willing to speak up for democracy and their support for the democratic rights of the protesters. Why are there no current MPs with such valour?
