Posts Tagged ‘Green Party’
Exporting censorship
From New Zealand Herald:
Dr Norman is outraged that members of a Chinese delegation were able to push him, hit him with an umbrella and rip a Tibetan flag from his grasp.He was protesting as Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived at Parliament greeted by a few dozen pro-China supporters.
Some of the group, believed to be Chinese security, took exception to Dr Norman waving a Tibetan flag and calling for democracy.The MP brushed away attempts to have an umbrella placed in front of him, then clashed with security guards as they pulled the flag from his grasp and threw it on the ground.
He yelled they could suppress freedom of speech in China, but not in New Zealand.
The treatment Russel Norman has received today on the parliament ground is absolutely appalling. It is no more than a shameless attempt of silencing a dissentient on the land where it suppose to have a freedom of speech. I acknowledge that entourage members do have a duty of protecting VIPs, however, after seeing the unedited footage of the incident, it is clear that the response from Chinese entourage is disproportionate. Norman had neither had any physical contact with anyone nor vocally provoked such response - well unless "free Tibet" counts as a provocation.
However, I'm not really surprised on how Chinese entourage responded. The novel yet extremely childish way of using umbrella to cover things that Chinese officials do not want to see is not new. The first time that such practice brought to the attention of international media is on the 20th anniversary of Tian'anmen Massacre, where plain cloth officers used umbrella to block foreign journalists from filming on Tian’anmen Square. Since then plain cloth with umbrella has become somewhat a standard practice in any occasion where there is a potential of protests.
What shocked me is how Chinese government is exporting such censorship practice to a foreign country with little or no hesitation. I’m not a fan of green party, but I applaud the fact that they never abused their parliamentary privileges – they protested peacefully on every occasion where a Chinese official is visiting. I also have to say that a lone protestor, sometimes also need to confront with a large pro-Chinese crowd, is stirring but also looked a bit stupid. But don’t get me wrong, they have the right to be stupid, New Zealand didn’t take their right to be stupid away from them, so why should Chinese have such right?
Seeing that Chinese entourage used same way of covering up people as they did back in their own country, is a solid reminder that we simply cannot ignore the pain of others in a country on another hemisphere, just like we cannot let a criminal run loose til the date that he is actually hurting YOU.
Sue Bradford resigns
After 10 years of being a Green MP, Sue Bradford has announced her intention to retire at the end of october.
I have to say that Bradford has been a highly successful parliamentarian. During her service she has managed get three of her private member's bill passed, including raise youth minimum wage in line with adult wage and the highly controversial Anti-smacking bill.
She has been a champion of representing people who usually don't have their voice in the parliament - the young and the unemployed.
And no, I don't regard her as an "extremist" in anyway. She is just simply a woman who has the principle and the guts to stand firm of what she believes. However, her fate was sealed since the anti-smacking bill, only 7 MPs voted against the bill, however, when the tide is turned, it suddenly becomes "Sue's own idea". In my opinion this is directly responsible for her failed bid of the party leadership - the society is turning right, and her very extreme left image would damage the Green Party.
"Let's go shopping!"
An excellent video clip from the Green Party which tells you a lot of interesting stuffs about the food in your local supermarket.
There are some political messages at end of the clip, ignore them if you want.
