Posts by Rob Stowell
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Hard News: Key Questions, in reply to Matthew Poole,
the outcome would be that NZSIS and the Police will seek funding to establish the capability to which they’ve just lost access. Anyone who thinks that won’t happen is, I suggest, as naive as Russell Norman with his assertion that we don’t need any intelligence services whatsoever.
‘Just lost access’ implies this has been a regular- and necessary occurrence. I don’t agree. It’s not necessary or justified.
And I’m with Russel Norman on the SIS.
Can anyone come up with a situation where the SIS has done marvellous, nation-enhancing work? Not me.
On the other hand, I’m sure they had a pretty big file on my dad, because he was involved in setting up the CND here. Terrible man. Even got involved in protesting!
But that’d be nothing to the files they had on Elsie Locke, Keith Locke’s mum. She was a terrible communist, historian and central in setting up the CND. And when she wasn’t busy writing children’s books, she was a fearless campaigner for peace.
I’m afraid that’s my measure of the SIS- an organisation that saw Elsie Locke as the nation’s great enemy, and spied on her and her friends and associates.
You bet we can get by without them. -
Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to Euan Mason,
What a great pity her unbelievably nasty policies didn’t die with her.
My feelings too. Not sorry she's dead, no joy either. Just sad that so much of what she embodied lives on. #lotofworktodo
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'Nother thumbs up for Flat3. Will share!
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Hard News: Key Questions, in reply to Matthew Poole,
if there’s a proper oversight regime.
If. There sure as sh*t ain’t much evidence of this to date. Why should we assume there will be in future?
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Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Of the 200 civilians who died in its terror, 140 were black.
Reading up wiki.... he WAS in prison a decade or two before the bombings which killed civilians.
Here's wiki/Mandela on the decision for the ANC's turning to violent means:According to Nelson Mandela, all of the founding members of the MK, including himself, were also members of the ANC. In his famous "I am prepared to die" speech, Mandela outlined the motivations which led to the formation of the MK:[3]
"At the beginning of June 1961, after a long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I, and some colleagues, came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be unrealistic and wrong for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force.This conclusion was not easily arrived at. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto we Sizwe. We did so not because we desired such a course, but solely because the government had left us with no other choice. In the Manifesto of Umkhonto published on 16 December 1961, which is exhibit AD, we said:
'The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices - submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means in our power in defence of our people, our future, and our freedom.'
Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalize and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war. Secondly, we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or take over the Government. We chose to defy the law. We first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against, and then the Government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies, only then did we decide to answer with violence."
In 1961, MK published a manifesto entitled "Umkhonto we Sizwe (Military wing of the African National Congress): We are at War!"[4]
"Our men are armed and trained freedom fighters not terrorists.We are fighting for democracy—majority rule—the right of the Africans to rule Africa.
We are fighting for a South Africa in which there will be peace and harmony and equal rights for all people.
We are not racialists, as the white oppressors are. The African National Congress has a message of freedom for all who live in our country."
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Hard News: Key Questions, in reply to Matthew Poole,
it was only the 2003 Act’s ambiguous wording
But isn't the wording seems clear enough for (almost?) everyone to agree there was ILLegal surveilance?
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Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to BenWilson,
mostly a product of their times. Monetarism was (and still is) a massive team effort,
It’s easy to forget now how corrosive- and out-of-control- inflation was in the 70s. It was the biggest economic concern in developed/western economies. It was a major factor in triggering industrial action to make sure wages kept up, which also fueled inflation, etc.
Monetarism doesn’t have many nice features. Horrible effects, by and large, and it came with an evil set of justifications around private wealth, taxation, and markets that’s led to obscene concentrations of wealth, here and everywhere.
But it did contain inflation better than anything else that was tried. And that in great part explains the way it swept around the globe to become economic “orthodoxy”.
(Ok, what produces and/or controls inflation is contentious. But that's what the monetarists say, anyway :)) -
Reckon they should go with Ken Loach’s suggestion to privatise her funeral: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/lets_privatize_her_funeral_film_director_ken_loach_on_plans_for_thatchers
How should we honor her? Let’s privatize her funeral. Put it out to competitive tender and accept the cheapest bid. It’s what she would have wanted.
It’s not even disrespectful.
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It's a great fireplace. But the couch is better :) Best thing at Te Papa. YMMV.
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Probably a bad place to comment on this- sorry.
But crikey. Appointing Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner is giving the big finger to anyone who's concerned about race relations in Aotearoa.