PROUD TO BE A KIWI

Proud to be a Kiwi?.... It's a good question and the answer is something I have delved in an out of... I was ashamed of NZ throughout the Springbok tour, ashamed  to have to choose between Sport (innocent enough subject) and Politics (always full of shit)... and I went with the former! Go equality! Proud of the protests though! 

But then we became the FIRST COUNTRY to become Anti-Nuclear and man, was that a moment to be proud of... I remember seeing Joe Bloggs on a flutter-board, paddling like shit in front of an American Nuclear Ship and others on boats, arm floaties, freestyle... whatever it took to stop that ship heading off to rape and pillage the Antarctic.... ah, yes, a proud Kiwi moment....Did we win? Damn straight we did!

So yeah, that was then... National economics took over and sure, we fucked up a few times trying to fit into mainstream (secret backhanded anti-anti nuclear policies) and then came the Millennium... all these wonderful Kiwi orientated advertisements promoting our wonderful diverse cultural diversity and growth as a Nation... I actually bought into that shit.

Now?

Now I see TIME AND TIME AGAIN... the shame of New Zealand being tarnished by the hideous crimes against those same kids the represented the new Millennium. In truth, we don't give a shit for our kids. Our Laws are designed to protect those that rape and molest our upcoming Generation, our future Leaders, and as as result of our complacency - our new, incoming prison population...  

You see, in New Zealand.. we like to promote niceties. We like the world to regard us as greener than green. We like all of you (out there) to view us as culturally intertwined, like we've done something uniquely different that you could ever have imagined... (we're super clever like that)... we will even win the Rugby World Cup in the vain hope that you will look past who we, as a Nation, really are...

We're you fooled?

Oh I'm sorry... did you think winning the World Cup (a hideously expense blow to the average Kiwi) wouldn't affect the likes of kids who are abused, beaten, murdered, or raped.. yes, here in the land of the long white cloud?

Did you not know we have thee most highest rate of child abuse in the world or the most lenient penalties known to mankind? Did I distract you from your ever wonderful tinted rose glasses of what New Zealand is like in REALITY?

I loved New Zealand before she was raped by the mainstream of bullshit - when Land meant standing on history overflowing with sincerity, and honour was something that oozed through your toes like mud - a given. A time when life was sacred and children were like seeds - planted into a fertile soil full of self esteem and courage and watered daily by the wisdom of those in a time gone by. We trusted our history, our people that had gone before... 

Now our history is a legacy of those who took advantage... those who blamed anything else other than themselves for what THEY have done. A history of neglect, shame, abuse, and no accountability.

I feel utterly fucking ashamed.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6179499/Girl-5-attacked-in-holiday-park

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6173084/Mum-jailed-for-horrific-abuse

let the kid dance....

Someone posted this on my Facebook page the other day with real unhappy faces, depicting what I can only imagine is sorrowfulness over the little girl who, like in the video, was once wild free and skipping along in life, and now... frozen in time, snapped up in a moment when everything went so horribly wrong.....

I look at this picture and I see a reminder... a reminder that the child within we all thought was so lost is still there and waiting... just waiting... for that time when her older self will come back and reclaim her - reclaim as in let her continue to dance. 

In my mind's eye, this is a beautiful moment. The music is wonderful. The moment is captured. Listen now for the footsteps back into who we once were. 

Then..... let the kid within dance!

For Emma

Emma is 18 years old. She is as thin as a rake. She's "in da face". She also has thin razor-blade marks on her arms and God knows where else. Her "take no bullshit" façade is something she applies as readily as those who wear make-up but there is something that makes Emma stand out.... she is a fighter - a strong determined young woman that went against all the advice of everyone she asked.

Emma texted me this afternoon to announce her abuser (who pleaded not guilty and, as a result, forced Emma into testifying in Court) was sentenced to 9.5 years.

On behalf of myself and all the other survivors of child sex abuse, I salute you Emma. Well done babe. More power to you!

Abuse of Name Suppression Law

Name suppression for a former All Black who pleaded guilty to child assault in Court yesterday flies in the face of Parliament's aims.

The former rugby star is the latest in a long line of top sportsmen (and comedians) who have appears in criminal courts and been allowed to keep their indenties secret. A poll on the NZ Herald's website asks: "Do suppression laws in NZ need to be reviewed?" 

• 97% say YES
• 7% say NO

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/child-abuse/news/article.cfm?c_id=146&objectid=10769780

The Shame within NZ

"Each night Ngatikaura Ngati would climb into bed and tell his adoptive mum Kura and dad Finau that he loved them before clasping his little hands in prayer." 

This is the life that this little boy knew and grew to love in his short three years. His birth mother, fearing some benefit fraud by claiming for children not in her care, returned to collect the little man and within nine short weeks, he was dead.

The link below gives graphic details of the systematic abuse he suffered whilst in his birth mother's care - most of which would have been visual to anyone who saw him and yet, no one said a thing. Ngatikaura was brought up speaking Tongan so to be dragged from the only home he knew and plonked into an over-crowded house where he didn't even have a bed and they spoke only vile English, would have been such a cultural shock. No wonder the little man wet himself and for which he received brutal beatings with a softball bat.

The parents (for want of a better word) claim they "didn't mean to do it," but I fail to understand how someone could consistently beat a child with a bat and not think it would cause any harm. Their defence team are highlighting the fact that, whilst he may have been beaten him with a "stick," no one touched his head. Maybe that's because the head is the most visual part of a small body - bruises and swollen limbs can be hidden amongst floppy clothing. 

We in New Zealand were incredulous to the new Bill that made it illegal for parents to physically discipline their children and we were aghast when a father was hauled before the Courts cause he clipped his kid's ear after running out onto the road, but here is a clear example of why such a Law was ever passed - some parents just don't get it.

My next question is why on earth these parents weren't charged with murder and instead, copped a lesser charge of manslaughter. What does it take to murder someone these days? I can bet my bottom dollar that if I went out into the street and clobbered someone with a softball bat (not around the head- mind) and that person later died, I would be definitely face a murder charge!  

The mind boggles at our judicial system.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10439204