The smears continue, this time Tariana Turia demonises the Harawira family. From the NZ Herald:
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia was sickened by what she called "psychological abuse" meted out to her and others by MP Hone Harawira's mother and sister at a hui yesterday."It was just terrible. It was the whole hui. It wasn't just two minutes. It was shouting, abusing, swearing, singing loud over the top of people."
She said Mr Harawira's mother, Titewhai, "kept shouting at me that I was a liar ... bloody liar ... snakes".
"Nobody could shut them up. They just shouted and denigrated people the whole way through the hui."
Mrs Harawira and daughter Hinewhare also tried to intimidate people by saying they had written down the names of those present.
"It was nothing short of being psychologically abusive and violent," said Mrs Turia. "I've never seen anything like it, to be honest. I felt sick."
"I kept thinking as it was going on [that] here we are, trying to bring about a transformation in our families, amongst our people to do with violence and abuse, and here we were sitting with ... the worst form of psychological abuse during a marae hui."
She said Mrs Harawira was a kuia, "and where I come from we hold our kuia in the highest regard".
"We had kuia who travelled with us to be there and I felt really sad for them that another kuia would behave like that - even if it was on her marae.
"The mana of your marae resides in those of you who belong and I wouldn't have thought that was mana-enhancing behaviour at all."
To be frank, I think this is sensationalised bullshit. Turia is indulging in very, very gratuitous hyperbole. The Harawira family is an easy target and, admittedly, they invite controversy and encourage easy smears. But this over the top.
Having said that, the Harawira family needs to wake up. The best way to lose support is to attack the Maori Party on a personal level. All is well and good if the Mana Party, but especially the Harawira’s, keep to the line that the Maori Party has passed a 21st century raupatu (MCA act), presided over a violent increase in living costs (GST etc), and favoured the symbolic over the substantive. Many Maori are uncomfortable with the idea of, for want of a better term, civil war. The battle needs to be clean.
Ultimately, there is no place for the Harawira family in the public battle between the Mana Party and the Maori Party. The Harawira’s need to continue as if the Maori Party is irrelevant because increasingly they are.
Congratulations must be extended to Turia though. She has smeared Hone, albeit indirectly, very effectively. Evil, but genius. Titewhai Harawira is one of Hone’s biggest weaknesses. She is an unreformed version of Hone, but without the common touch and political experience. She possesses loose lips and a toxic tongue and will say what she means, when she wants and in no uncertain terms. If the media want to run an easy smear campaign all they need to do is call Titewhai. If the Maori Party wants an easy smear all they need to do is offer themselves as bait. Titewhai is a mother after all and she wants revenge for the disgraceful way the Maori Party treated her son.
If we rewind back to the foreshore and seabed controversy, this could have easily been Turia sticking it to Maori who supported the Foreshore and Seabed Act. Funny how things change.
(Oh, I’ll blog about the byelection later today btw – I have to head off to class now)
Does Turia support asset sales and privatisation? This is about more than the what just happened at the marae.. The Maori Party under its weak leadership wants to stand in Te Tai Tokerau to remove the threat of the Mana Party.. which no doubt National is pushing to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe Maori Party is in a hard place, they sold out on the MCA, and the ETS climate policy which is a subsidy for big polluters, and has been altered to suit the interests of big business, which is an insult to our pacific brothers and sisters.
Mining and deep sea oil and seabd mining will increasingly become issues along with workers issues. Te Mana is a shift in what is important in Aotearoa.
It is unfortunate that the Maoti Party, Labour and Te Mana cannot work together.
Surely Pita and Turiana will not be around in Parliament much longer, maybe Turiana would be better being in change of a maori organisation designed to improve livelihoods for maori.
Te Mana is going to overtake and destroy the Maori Party, unless the maori party decided to become a movement again, rather than a junior ally if Brownlee, Brash and big business National.
Well spoken Titewhai - she's right you know, regardles of what you might think of her. The Maori Party are viewed by Maori voters as snakes and liars - after all, they do prop up this government that passed the MCA, ETS and increased GST. For once, I find myself agreeing with Titewhai!
ReplyDeleteYeah this is really just a massive tone argument from the Maori Party. Even if this is true, "Vote for us because we don't deserve to be shouted at" is not really much of a strategy. Most voters, Maori and Pakeha alike, are pretty comfortable with the idea of politicians getting some raw unfiltered feedback, even if we don't necessarily think they deserve it.
ReplyDeleteTLDR version:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/62p2alo
In the case of the maori party and its corporate leaders, going with national and confirming they would work with Brash who is a racist, climate denier who would work hard to attack the working poor in Aotearoa and sell off public assets, making things even harder for maori. Turiana will get a lot worse if she signs a pact with the pakeha devil, Brash.
ReplyDeleteTuria is evil??? Man, you've lost it. Tariana has a right to be pissed - even if Titewhai wanted to korero up a storm, it should be fair criticism, not just slagging off Pita and Tariana. That just makes Hone look bad, and like he's got nothing to criticise them with.
ReplyDeleteAnd Tariana does need to be hauled up on her talk about offshore oil drilling, and possible asset sales. That's bad shit that will only hurt Maori.
But Titewhai's rant is the only thing that demonised her. It ain't sensational bullshit to reject bad behaviour on the marae. Strong words shouldn't be a couple hours of abuse.
And did the Maori party MPs vote to raise GST?
No, Turia is not evil. The smear she has chosen is evil, but genius. Not evil in its literal and emotive sense, but evil in an ordinary and unemotive sense.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the Maori Party MP's voted to increase GST.
What a disgusting and disgraceful display of cave woman proportions, the only thing missing was Harawira whipping out a Taiaha to beat Turiana with. Mrs Harawira is an embarrassment to my culture and my heritage. Everyday I am given examples of why I should be ashamed to be Maori, and it comes from my own people. The many racist comments her son has made in the past, and continues to make, are further evidence that neither he, nor his mother should be given any public platform from which to speak, or in most cases, belittle, yell and scream from. As a proud Maori man, it saddens me to think that my own people would belittle each other like dogs, and in front of their own Tangata Whenua, the media, and more importantly, guest to their Marae.
ReplyDelete