Invitation to celebrate Rod Donald’s life
Celebration of the life of Rod Donald
The Melbourne-based Aotearoa Greens would like to invite all Victoria Greens, ex-pat kiwis and other environmentalists to celebrate the life of Rod Donald MP.
Rod Donald was Co-Leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and passed away suddenly on the 6th of November.
Rod was well-known to many Australians as a result of his many campaigning visits to drum up support amongst ex-pat kiwi voters and to help support the work of the Australian Green Party for their many campaigns.
Rod was a key player in bringing about proportional representation at the MMP referendum in 1993. Over the years his work has included community development in the Avon Loop in Christchurch, coordinating recycling for the city and leading Trade Aid nationally.
He was a passionate supporter of New Zealand manufacturing and self-reliance and of keeping jobs in New Zealand.
In Parliament he has fought for justice, for exploited Asian workers in sweatshops through the Greens’ fair trade campaign and for the people of Zimbabwe in his efforts to highlight human right abuses in that country.
Rod was supposed to be attending the Melbourne Social Forum this weekend.
All are welcome to come remember and celebrate Rod’s life over a few beers this Sunday (20th November) night in the Garden Bar at The Standard Hotel, Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne from 6.30pm.
On the media
I wrote this a few days ago but didn’t manage to quite finish/proof it. Perceptions have changed a wee bit since coming to Melbourne, but a lot of it’s still pretty valid.
I really don’t know what to make of this place.
Actually I do. For the first time in my ‘grown-up’ life I get to see how great the effect of media is on the construction of understanding of reality. While I knew this and saw this back home, I knew a lot more about the context of any given situation so I would always subconsciously fill in the gaps of any story I saw. And back home I was always able to rely on ‘other’ news sources for more information. Sources like Scoop and Indymedia have been invaluable for me to find news stories that actually reflect what’s going on, and give decent analysis as to what’s going on. Not just the reality as decided by corporate advertising executives.
But here the media seems just so much more biased and the people that I’ve met (admittedly, very few) seem very affected by it. I would be very interested to find some journalism students to talk to to find out what they are toaght here. I have seen two press conferences since I’ve been here and found them to be very interesting learning experiences. The first was an on the spot presser given by Kerry Nettle (Green Senator) at the freedom rally in the weekend. The questions asked reminded me of the interrogation Rod Donald got from the Indonesian journalists after Rod and Nandor held their silent protest on the steps of Parliament during the visit of the Indonesian President to New Zealand a few months ago. The questions the journalists asked Kerry were all very much along Government policy lines and were exceptionally loaded with rhetoric. And what little coverage I saw of that demo and Kerry’s comments gave no attempt to communicate what people were demonstrating against and portrayed the participants to be unpatriotic and supporters of terrorism. Even though some of the people that were there were connected in various ways to terrorism, particularly the first Bali bombing.
The second presser I saw was a live broadcast of John Howard’s comments after the first round of terrorism raids in Sydney and Melbourne. It was a very typical politician press conference but I was heartened to hear Howard reinforce the importance of not allowing the trial of these men to become a trial by media and cautioning both other politicians and members of the media to be careful when discussing the arrests to not pass judgement so they could get a fair trial. Fair enough I thought. So I was astonished to see the news that evening completely ignoring that advice and practically hanging the men charged before they’d even faced a judge.
Not surprisingly, the lawyers for all men involved have already begun to say that these men will not be able to face a fair trial.
But what I’ve found interesting about all of the media discussions about terrorism etc is the blatant racism inherent within all of the reports and how much people here seem to pick it up.
To slightly change the subject I want to finish this post by sharing a conversation I had the other night. I was talking to a couple of ‘good keen ocker blokes’ about the media attitude towards people of the Muslim faith and we started talking about immigrants in general. These men were arguing to me that while ‘they’re not racist’ (ahem) they have a problem with the people who come here and refuse to assimilate. They were bemoaning the amount of foreign language signs around and how it’s hard to like immigrants if they don’t try and be a part of the community. I tried to point out to them that it might be hard for new immigrants if the only people that will talk to them is other immigrants. And perhaps if Australians tried to be more welcoming to new members of their communities they might be more likely to engage with the existing communities. They responded by arguing that the Government gives them heaps in terms of settlement assistance, benefits etc. I chose not to point out to them that they’re talking about what the government does, not what actual people do – big difference. Instead I said that to be the devils advocate for a minute, wasn’t the behaviour of recent immigrants (wearing traditional clothes, speaking their own languages etc) still a lot nicer than what the colonising people of Australia did to the Aborigine people? (Should’ve seen the looks on their faces!) They replied that the past was the past and the Government gives heaps to Aborigine people now. They told me the problem wasn’t the Aborigine people in the bush, but the ones in the city.
I replied by pointing out to them that it’s about access to culture. If you get your culture taken away from you, you lose your identity. And if you lose your identity you will lose pride in your behaviour.
This world is in some radical need of some recognition of the power and value to all of us of diversity and difference. Politics of difference allow us all to hold an identity and be proud of it. If we get our heads around the idea that the identity of one group of people shouldn’t come at the cost of the identity of another group of people, we will make some seriously significant progress towards ending racism. It’s not just about telling ourselves that we’re not racist (as long as other people would just be more like us), but going out of our way to understand more about the world views of other people. The more we understand each other, the less we have to prove that ‘our way is the right way’.
Open letter to TVNZ
Dear TVNZ
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the live feed of Rod’s funeral. Watching a funeral from an internet cafe in Bondi is a rather surreal experience, but it meant I could be there and for that I will always be greatful.
Arohanui
Cheeky bugger!
Oh that cheeky grin!
Rod and Jeanette
Rod Donald, friend, colleague, leader, great man
I think one of the hardest things about moving to another country is when you’re not long gone and you hear the news of a friend or family members death. I was woken this morning by a phone call to inform me that Rod passed away last night.
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this yet. I have spent a good part of this morning in tears, mourning the loss of a very good friend and an important mentor.
Rod has got to be one of the most committed, hard-working, inspirational people I’ve ever met. He is a major reason why the Greens are where they are today. His ability to see what needs to be done, how it should be done, and who should do it was incredible. But what was most amazing about Rod was the efficiency in which he got stuff done and the inclusive way in which he went about it.
I have so many wonderful memories of Rod, far too many to list here. But I will say that on a personal level Rod has been a fantastic support for me. His door was always open and I could always talk to him about anything. I will miss him dearly.
I had planned to meet up with Rod in Melbourne in a couple of weeks for a beer and I guess that won’t happen now. But I will have a drink in his honour tonight.
So thank you Rod, from the bottom of my heart for all of your wonderful work. And all my best wishes go out to the Donald whanau and the Green Party as a whole. Especially that wonderful woman behind the man, Rod’s PA. Bron is a complete star and one of the main reasons why Rod has been able to acheive what he has done. I really wish I could be there to give her a hug right now.
Toitu he whenua
Whatungarongaro he tangata
Arohanui
All my bags are packed…
Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be be back again
Gidday mates! This is my writing somewhere halfway between Hamilton and Sydney on board a delightfully smooth Freedom Air flight, drinking a cheeky wee Sauvignon Blanc, listening to Noam Chomsky (Post 911 Terrorism and the US, CBC Interview, 2002) and counting my blessings that I managed to be psychic enough to get the passport/leaving the country timing sussed so I didn’t have to fork out my money and biometrics for an ePassport.
So what have I been up to? I’ve been cruising around the country over the last couple of weeks saying good bye to friends and family. Got to spend Labour Weekend in the Hawkes Bay so that was pretty wet (/understatement). But the sunny Bay of Plenty made up for it. After being in Winstonland for a few days (bought some SEXY new boots – if you’re a tramper, go to new tramping shop Hikoi at the Mount), I headed to the ‘Tron to sort out last of the business I needed to do. Hamilton included Halloween parties, gatecrashing Rocky Horror Picture Show closing night parties and drinking far too much.
I also popped up to Auckland for a night to say goodbye to friends and family and had the most amazing time at the Dogs Bollix. One of my favourite goddesses in the whole entire world, Kim (Green Auckland OOP Office Drill Sergeant) organised drinks there and invited a whole heap of local Greens and I invited some of my friends too. I walked past earlier in the day and saw that it was open mike night which made me pretty excited. But I was not prepared for the most amazing night ever! Firstly, catching up with Auckland Greens was great. Nice to have an opportunity to see how Greens outside of Wellington saw the election and fun to share my opinions on how things are going.
After that the music started. It was obvious once things got going that this was a regular crew of people that came to this regular night at the Bollix. They were mostly older people but it wasn’t open mike as in up on a stage, rather everyone sat in a big circle and jammed. It was so cool! Some amazing talents and an incredible atmosphere. They even sang Waltzing Matilda which I figure I should get used to hearing more often. But a big thank you to all of those people for welcoming us into their wonderful community.
But had my last night in NZ last night. Had dinner at home with the folks and then went out with a friend to drink beer and play pool. Started at Diggers Bar and got thoroughly thrashed at pool, but enjoyed some great live music. Then we decided to go find somewhere neither of us had been before but the only places that fitted that description were pretty awful looking. So we headed to Sohl Bar for a cocktail. After cocktails it occurred to me that I should get rid of the rest of my NZ currency so what better way of doing that than going to the Casino!
I’ve never been to a Casino before. In fact I don’t like them very much at all, but this time thought there could be some mild entertainment value in going to a casino with the explicit purpose of losing money. Now among my things I know about is pokie machines (c/- Bachelor Social Sciences one of my majors was Psychology), in particular the behaviour reinforcement schedules that they use to ensure you a) lose money and b) keep losing money, which is why I stay well clear. But I struck a wee problem in my plan of losing money in that I was not very good at it! My friend next to me was quite good at it, but I seemed to get the machine at the right stage in the cycle. So I’m putting money in the machine and it keeps giving it back! I ended up resorting to giving some of it to my friend to put in for me cause he was much better at it than I was. I came to the conclusion that I just didn’t have the right attitude 
But I did get rid of it all eventually and as we were sick of seeing all these miserable looking people sitting around tables (which did lead to a highly amusing conversation about whether they’d actually kick you out if you acted like they do in the advertisements) we left at about 3am.
So I’ve had one hours sleep and way too much booze and they just announced the next round so I’m going to go and read my book. I’m reading ‘The Explorers’ by Tim Flannery which is a collection of diaries from the colonisation of Australia. Just getting myself armed and ready to play with any racist locals I may encounter.
Love to all my friends and whanau, miss you all dearly.
xox
P.S. It’s fucking hilarious listening Chomsky get interviewed by someone who doesn’t agree with him, he just destroys them intellectually. I think this guy must have gone home and cried after doing that interview! He gets points for trying but doesn’t know shit compared to Chomsky.
IALYSBSYDD – Coming Soon!
I’ve discovered something quite evil about not having a job. Apart from the fact you never know what bloody day it is, it quite seriously messes with your body clock. Take right now for example, I have to be up at 6.30 to drive to Auckland and I can’t bloody sleep! This may have something to do with the fact that I spent the greater proportion of this last weekend drinking Lindauer, therefore most of Sunday asleep, but I think the problem was there before that.
So what am I doing up in the wee hours? Looking at Australian blogs. I figured I should find some new friends. I started with my mate Darp cause he seems to know everyone and he did win some award for his blog. And I found heaps of neat stuff!
For a start John Howard’s blog. The posting isn’t that frequent but exceptionally good quality satire. Then I checked out another buddy Dr Cam Sexenheimer who turns out to be 10 times weirder than I previously thought. I already knew about Weezil’s blog but took the time to have a read, and thought I’d mention it here so Darp will see it and might update the link he has cause it’s like, so wrong!
Then I stumbled across Ms Cynic at Watchdog of the Wankers. As I read the top post I realised this was to be the last, which saddened me and obviously her regular readers. Coincidentally, the next blog I read was Annonymous Lefty commenting on the departure of Ms Satire and the inability of blogland to catch up with reality when things go bad. And it got me thinking, we’ve had one blogger that I know of in Aotearoa depart to the land of next. And we did find that out. But what would happen to some of our blogs? Has the blogging phenomena developed to the point now where we should be leaving logins with a loved one in case of departure? Will people be leaving a final post as a part of their will? I predict a future phenomena will be blogs dedicated towards linking to blogs of dead people. I know a couple of angsty teenagers that would totally dig that!
For the record, I think Asher would probably know first, so if you really care about me, bookmark Asher too and I’ll make him tell you all if I die. (he he Asher, did you see that? I got all cunning and told people to link to you, damn I’m a clever pants!).
Anyhoo, so I read a few more blogs and came to the realisation that there’s some bloody interesting people out there in the world. But it seems some of them only get interesting when they’re online and behind a pseudonym. Which I think really sucks! When I go walking down Lambton Quay I see all these boring suits, but what I never realised is that they’re all probably being boring outside and then running home to their computers to be fun and interesting.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
I reckon the time has come for a International Act Like Your Blog Says You Do Day. One day a year set aside for people to be flambouyant, revolutionary, smart-ass, or maybe even dull and boring and just reciting news articles all day. But it could be interesting. So, cause I can’t wait too long for this to happen or I’ll forget, I declare the 10th of November to be International Act Like Your Blog Says You Do Day or IALYBSYDD for Wellingtonian Acronym Fetishists or WAFs. I’ll make a wee button and we can all spread the word!