Counterpoint.

[drcuriosity]

Back in 2004, Dr. Don Brash, leader of the NZ National Party, made a speech at the Orewa Rotary Club [speech text][Wikipedia summary], which sparked a whole bunch of argument about race relations and nationhood in New Zealand politics. It attracted a lot of media coverage, and was referred to for years afterwards.

On Wednesday, Dr. Pita Sharples, co-leader of the NZ Maori Party, made a speech at the Orewa Rotary Club [speech text][mainstream press article referencing some parts of it], which is unfortunately likely to be ignored and sink without a trace from the public consciousness. He's well-spoken, and has some very salient points about both Maori and Pakeha (non-Maori) cultural identities in this country - and how you don't need to deny one "part" of what you are/where you come from in order to embrace any other "part".

I think the latter speech is well worth a read, and I'd have liked to see it getting more attention - but it seems to have been largely ignored in favour of National and Labour's current leadership/personal integrity spat. That's journalism in New Zealand for you.

(Thanks to mal3ficent for the link to Sharples' speech.)

Comments

[mal3ficent.livejournal.com]

thanks for the link to Brashs speech, I'd half-heartedly been looking for it. I think it's effect on NZ race relations has been wide-ranging. I'm glad that someone finally countered it properly.

[drcuriosity]

Not a problem. I figured if I was going to link to Sharples' speech, it was probably a good idea to provide some context for those who wouldn't know much about the issues involved.