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RELIGION AND "HATE SPEECH": WHY ONE OF LABOUR'S PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE EXISTING LAW IS A REALLY REALLY BAD IDEA

  In the aftermath of the tragedy and horror of the Christchurch mosque attacks of 2020, the New Zealand Government fast tracked a review of “hate speech” legislation, with Justice Minister Andrew Little declaring the extant law to be “woefully inadequate”. The Government then began a process of considering options submitted by the Justice Ministry and Human Rights Commission. There is no obvious problem with extending these protections to gender and sexual minorities or the disabled, but there is when it comes to religion. The usual argument in support of such legislative reform, when advanced in secular democracies that have assented to the relevant UN agreements and declarations runs something like this: Article 20(2) of the  International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPP) 1976 – which New Zealand is a ratified signatory to – provides that “Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shal
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THAT STEALING FROM THE SARACENS BOOK SOUNDS LIKE TRASH AND OLLY WAINWRIGHT IS AN IGNORANT HACK

  Reading this review by Olly Wainwright (the Graun ’s design and architecture reviewer apparently), one can’t help be struck by the fact that he apparently he knows nothing first hand of many aspects of European and Islamic architectural history. The book sounds like trash if the review is anything to go by, and his smug preening while discrediting any criticism of the flaws in his review as “white supremacist trolls” suggests a boilerplate ego, but just for kicks I’m going to go through the whole thing and explain why he, and the book’s author Diana Darke (according to Wikipedia, a “Middle East cultural expert, Arabist and occasional BBC broadcaster”, but not as far as I can tell, an architectural historian) are wrong. The text of the original article is in italics. As Notre-Dame cathedral was engulfed by flames last year, thousands bewailed the loss of  this great beacon of western civilisation . The ultimate symbol of French cultural identity, the very heart of the nation, was g
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NOT EVERYONE LOVES JOJO RABBIT: A LIST OF LINKS

Given the tendency of the New Zealand media to be relentlessly jingoistic to the point of sycophancy when it comes to our film-makers in Hollywood, by way of counterpoint and because you are highly unlikely to see attention drawn to them elsewhere, I have compiled a list of less than glowing reviews of Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit , concentrating on the ones that raise interesting points rather than merely being snarky. In no particular order: Richard Brody, "Springtime for Nazis: How the Satire of "Jojo Rabbit" Backfires, The New Yorker , 22 October 2019. Peter Sobczynski, "Jojo Rabbit", eFilm Critic , 23 October 2019. Nick Schager, "Jojo Rabbit": Taika Waititi's Nazi Satire Tries and Fails to Find the Funny in Fascism", The Daily Beast , 19 October 2019. Adam Nayman, "Jojo Rabbit" and Taika Waititi's Childish Approach to Nazism", The Ringer, 18 October 2019. Jonathon Romney, "Film of the Week: Jojo Rabbit&
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A SMALL ODE ON HOME SECURITY

Elicited by the decision of the Otago University Proctor to sneak around private student flats thieving Dunedin flats are cold and damp, Responsible for ague and cramp, With bath-sponge walls and landlord hassles, But Scarfies’ dives are still their castles (Though if you think it be more meet, Their hovel is their Castle Street), And though the boards that girt about Be rotten, who would dare to rout the fragile safety hole provides for harried rat where rat abides? At Troy, cynic Achilles slew Tenes and Troilus in full view Of Phoebus in his temple’s heart, Thus did the god guide Paris’ dart. But no Achilles is the Proctor, And many an Aotearoan doctor Inhaled the herb while at Med School, Ergo, I pray Sir, who’s the fool? A Proctor’s beat lies in the pale Of campus, Sir, so epic fail, And if you think such prowling fine, Dost likewise you the washing line Eye-up for dainty bits of lace To sniff and finger?                                     Such disgrac
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MY SUBMISSION TO CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL ON THEIR ARTS STRATEGY POLICY

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Public notification that a strategy policy was even being developed has been appalling. That aside, if the CCC truly does want Christchurch to be "an innovative and exciting place to live, where our creativity helps us reach our potential", it must first address the following things: (1) Even before the quakes of 2010 and 2011, and massively exacerbated by them following, is the issue of affordable space, both for creative working environments (exhibitions, studios, rehearsal, performance etc), but also living space because creative practitioners for the most part don’t have a lot of disposable income. (2) Relevant to point (1), the cities that attract creative talent and sustain vibrant national and world-class cultural lives (Berlin, for example) combine a balance of affordable living, lifestyle and working with places to exhibit/perform, patronage and audiences. (3) The current post-quake arrangement of arts advocacy being essentially a duopoly between Arts V
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WHY CHRIS TROTTER IS A "USEFUL IDIOT"

Sometimes I haul on the hazmat suit and read the Daily Blog. This particular bloviating pontification by Chris Trotter caught my eye on the whole business with that Canadian dollar store Tomi Lahren, Lauren Southern, and that creepy Renfew thing, Stefan Molyneux, being denied use of the Bruce Mason Centre by Phil Goff and Auckland Council for their little Nuremberg Rally Lite, and I felt I had to respond. I quote Trotts in italics. THAT THE INSPIRATION for this posting came from a man who spent his life studying grizzly bears is entirely fitting. The free speech debate of the past fortnight has seen more than a few angry grizzlies come galloping out of the woods. The question in most need of an urgent answer is – why? What is it that leads the Right to defend the principle of free speech so vigorously? And why has the contemporary Left departed so dramatically from Noam Chomsky’s free-speech absolutism? Well, Chris, the answer to that is because the Far Right overlapping with th
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THINKING ABOUT LUKE WILLIS THOMPSON

This online article criticising Luke Willis Thompson 2018 Turner Prize-nominated work for essentially being appropriation because he has light skin and, in the author’s estimation, “passes” for “white” has recently provoked discussion on social media. It has raised some interesting points, but (acknowledging I really can’t speak to the indigenous perspective and don’t claim to) notions of a melanin pantone chart being applied to indigenous people in colonised places is spectacularly grotesque. Putting aside the quite natural variations in complexion among Polynesian and Melanesian peoples, Thompson’s indigeneity is inalienable from his genealogy/whakapapa and his being raised as iTaukei. This sort of discourse has been insinuating itself in postcolonial discourse in New Zealand lately. It has been very popular with neocolonialists seeking to alienate indigenous people from their identity, and more disconcertingly, turns up in internal Māori and Pasifika politics (shades of Deleu
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