I note the following from a RNZ report:
ACT leader David Seymour was similarly derisive of the approach.
"It's possible to have a peaceful protest but I think what they're doing is far too intense. I think what they need to do is respect the law, respect people's basic property rights and not believe that because they disagree they have the right to trample over a whole lot of other people.
"I mean, they're trespassed, they're breaking the law ... but look, I just think it's rude to set up your tents on someone's lawn - not everyone in New Zealand can do it, what makes them different?"
I support the protest 100 percent.
I know several who have travelled up from Arrowtown including a young mother with her toddler. Good people who work their business and have been destroyed by policies you have supported.
I don't agree with you that my rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are extinguished by a government declaring a pandemic. To me those rights are absolute.
With the ACT party in support we have been locked up and are now excluded from society. We have been shut out of our local swimming pool because literally we don't take the government's recommended medicine and refuse to present the government's ID.
That small indignity after all the misery inflicted upon us as a family was the proverbial straw that broke my back.
If anything, I would wish the protest be more intense given the damage Parliament has inflicted on the people I love and the community of which I am a part.
I have no doubt that in standing up to this tyranny we are a minority, but the smallest minority of them all is the individual, and individuals have rights and their rights have been trampled and destroyed and the people have not been listened to or understood. Our political leaders including you have belittled us and disparaged us.
Somehow I am anti-science and anti-vax. You know me to be neither. But I oppose lockdowns and I oppose mandates. I oppose them for the best reason of them all: I believe in human freedom above all else. I do not want the human spirit squashed and it has been, and it continues to be.
The protest is a little spark of human spirit.
We might be wrong about the madness of staying locked up or whether this or that medicine is ill advised or not but in a free society we all are allowed to be wrong. Indeed, it is through different approaches, and the many mistakes, that we learn and develop. What we are seeing now is only mistakes from government and no learning.
You publicly complain of trespass by which I assume you mean tents on Parliament's lawn and of disruption to traffic. That's nothing to the damage that I have personally witnessed by the policies of lockdown and mandate. And I am only a little corner of just a small part of the country. Your comments suggest you don't understand the suffering being caused when I am sure you do understand.
I don't expect you will change course and I don't need a response. I just wanted to have my say.
I don't write as a former anything. Just as a concerned once citizen now subject.
And to ask you to consider this: what do you expect people to do when their rights are trampled and their lives destroyed while politicians not only refuse to meet with them but belittle them when they protest?
My answer is to fight.
Sincerely
Rodney Hide
With the ACT party in support we have been locked up and are now excluded from society. We have been shut out of our local swimming pool because literally we don't take the government's recommended medicine and refuse to present the government's ID.
That small indignity after all the misery inflicted upon us as a family was the proverbial straw that broke my back.
If anything, I would wish the protest be more intense given the damage Parliament has inflicted on the people I love and the community of which I am a part.
I have no doubt that in standing up to this tyranny we are a minority, but the smallest minority of them all is the individual, and individuals have rights and their rights have been trampled and destroyed and the people have not been listened to or understood. Our political leaders including you have belittled us and disparaged us.
Somehow I am anti-science and anti-vax. You know me to be neither. But I oppose lockdowns and I oppose mandates. I oppose them for the best reason of them all: I believe in human freedom above all else. I do not want the human spirit squashed and it has been, and it continues to be.
The protest is a little spark of human spirit.
We might be wrong about the madness of staying locked up or whether this or that medicine is ill advised or not but in a free society we all are allowed to be wrong. Indeed, it is through different approaches, and the many mistakes, that we learn and develop. What we are seeing now is only mistakes from government and no learning.
You publicly complain of trespass by which I assume you mean tents on Parliament's lawn and of disruption to traffic. That's nothing to the damage that I have personally witnessed by the policies of lockdown and mandate. And I am only a little corner of just a small part of the country. Your comments suggest you don't understand the suffering being caused when I am sure you do understand.
I don't expect you will change course and I don't need a response. I just wanted to have my say.
I don't write as a former anything. Just as a concerned once citizen now subject.
And to ask you to consider this: what do you expect people to do when their rights are trampled and their lives destroyed while politicians not only refuse to meet with them but belittle them when they protest?
My answer is to fight.
Sincerely
Rodney Hide
Rodney Hide is former ACT Party leader, and Minister in the National-ACT Government from 2008 to 2011. This article was first published HERE
28 comments:
I agree Rodney.
On ACT's website two of it's founding principles are:-
"That it is inherent in the nature of human beings as individuals that they are the owners of their own lives and must be free to act according to their own judgments so long as they accept and respect the like freedom of others"
And
"Freedom of thought, conscience, religion, belief, and expression including the right to adopt, hold opinions, and express those opinions, is essential to a free society and must be promoted, protected, and preserved"
ACT are ignoring their own principles by denigrating the protesters and refusing to meet with them. I'm assuming this is purely political. Seymour must reckon that this will lose them votes so is prepared to bin his Party's principles.
That's sad. Because what we need right now is a mainstream political party to stand up and respect the rights, opinions and concerns of that large protest and represent them in parliament.
Seymour and ACT are behaving hypocritically - something they regularly accuse the government of doing.
Come on David. Do the right thing here and follow your principles.
So where to from here? I suggest maybe Act as our main party if they are at all redeemable.That is still a debatable issue for me but they do have parliamentary experience and they seem to see us as "one people". We need to get behind a smaller party and there are a couple who fit the bill.
So an Act, smaller party coalition? I think its possible.
National have had their day. I compare their response to that of the Canadian Conservative Party who are backing a call from the people to get rid of all mandates. They are sadly a shadow of their Canadian counterparts. I also read that Luxon is really keen to go down the whole " Maori" track, so no thanks, he's only going to get worse.
People need to start thinking outside the square. Those who still support National could still vote for them providing a third minor coalition party.
People have been through enough pain we need an equal sharing of future wealth.
One country, one people one vote and the benefits of everybody's labour distributed equally.
Absolutely brilliant Rodney....it couldn't be said better or more accurately. We have been trampled for the sake of a bigger agenda.
Hi Rodeny, I'm an old ACT supporter and in fact was part of Heather's campaign committee in the Ohariu electorate and then Colin Du Plessis after her.
It has really turned me right off the ACT party the way David has turned his back on the parties principles and taken the popularist approch, like a younger less charismatic version of Winston Peter.
What happened to the ACT of the late 90's through the 2,000's?
After his recent display, I could not vote ACT in it's curent carnation.
Regards
Brent Lewis
I would vote for Rodney Hide. There's no one else worth even considering. Nation and Act have sold out to the NnWO narrative. Absolutely disgusting.
I agree DeeM. I would also say a couple of other things.
Firstly, in my lifetime, I've had to tolerate all manner of protests and demonstrations whether I liked it or not, from memories of the Vietnam protests, through South Africa, endless endless Maori whining, feminists, LGBTQ+ - many of them still being ongoing. None of them had or have the vaguest problem with assaulting any part of my consciousness or physical presence with their rabidly insistent self-righteousness - and most of it progressively backed up with legislation to force compliance.
Of course, I'm neither allowed to even say that I don't like any of it, at any time, and no-one else is either. That's because, of course, they believe they're 'right' and 'good' and the only ones who should be allowed a voice. Any different view is never represented in the MSM, if it can even be expressed anywhere at all. And all this to the point of complete absurdity - e.g. I'm presumably not allowed to say I was born a female anymore; scientists are censured and need to appeal for international support for saying that mythology is not 'science'. It's one long constant mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual assault - that no-one can avoid.
Secondly, or maybe thirdly, where do people get off saying things like 'I don't want to hear the horns' in Canada; or why should someone be allowed to camp on my lawn (actually, the public's lawn) in NZ? The government is claiming it has the right to stick a needle into someone's arm and pump them with drugs they don't want. Just a little more invasive wouldn't you say? I know the world is totally and dangerously irrational and absurd these days, but isn't it just a little more intrusive, invasive, and totally destructive of all human rights to inject people with chemicals against their will than to put up a tent on public property or obstruct parking? Where has any sense of proportion gone?
In the beginning of Covid, there may have been (or even was) a justification for mandates. There is not now. General masks do not work anywhere in the world which is shown by all the data and all the experts. Risks of Covid varies hugely by age and health status - ranging from severe in immuno-compromised and elderly to almost nothing in children and needs to be individually determined by oneself and one's doctor. Omicron is vastly less serious and exposure is inevitable in the imminent future. The focus needs to be on appropriate treatment, especially of the vulnerable, until we all have more natural immunity. I'm double vaxed and boosted - how many 'boosters' am I going to have to have - every 3 months? Forever? Cardio problems are a valid concern from the vaccine - again validated across the world.
But much more importantly, NZ needs to restore democracy - you know, that political state of, by, and for all the people - not just rule by a fairly weird but egotistical elite few who think they know better than everyone else who should be disenfranchised, ridiculed, and cancelled if they dissent. Because that way lies inevitable revolution.
You have always been anti-science, thinking that your opinion trumps science experts in their fields. We saw this with your views on climate change. No Rodney, you are not smarter than all the world's climate scientists, you are someone with internet access. Stop with the delusions.
Where have the politicians gone with passion and guts? Are you really there for New Zealand and it's people? Have a good, hard look in the mirror. All of you and many of us know what's really going on internationally. You are selling us out. We love our country that ALL of us have created. We will not see it slip away.
Thank God for someone with some... even former... links to govt saying something empathic. I'm a lifelong left voter until last time when I unbelievably voted ACT. Not next time. I'm disgusted by Seymour's comments. It's so reassuring to read something supportive of people just asking to be heard. BTW Rodney.. months ago I heard you talking about a book about Cpt Cook. I would love to know which one so I can buy it for my son.
Rodney, well said. You have much more support than you realise from many who are silent and watching the protests. No-one who is protesting wants to be there. They want to get on with their lives in freedom from these draconian restrictions and mandates.
Thanks Rodney - well said
Us down trodden people need a leader of your calibre
Absolutely agree with Deem. Seymour will be losing support if he doesn't stand out from the rest of the career politicians. What he needs to realize is he will get votes if he listens to and respects the growing angry public who aren't all rent a mob activists as he seems to now be so dismissive of.
Tootsweet,
This is a copy of an email I sent to David Seymour on 10/2/22.
I am an ACT donor and member but wish to express my disappointment that David has not addressed the demonstrators at Wellington. In my view, if he had done this, it would have shown strength of character which is what is lacking in our leadership today. The people of NZ have very real grievances and particularly from this government but if David behaves just like the Red Queen, how is he hoping to show he is better? Get in front of the public and let them see you have the balls. What an opportunity and you have missed it. I am so disappointed.
I have not received a reply. ACT has lost our family. So sad.
Thank you Rodney, you're a great guy. If only we had leaders of your calibre in parliament today. Not one politician came out to address the freedom rally or spoke up to defend NZ'ers freedoms which shows us there is NO opposition party in parliament.
Most of the protesters are maori, Seymour is just afraid to pass them off like the rest of the country.
David Seymour and ACT have read this wrong by following Aderns narrative about lock downs, masks etc (Sweden's success compared to Aderns failed approach)
And since when has it become a crime to protest on Parliament grounds, owned by NZ citizens, not politicians?
If ACT cannot show itself as a supporter of freedom it will always be a minor party.
Couldn't agree with Rodney more, as a vaccinated financial ACT supporter I've been devastated at how David has been deafened in his echo chamber and misread the situation. All David needs do is acknowledge having some sympathy for the anti mandate protest by virtue of the fact that Jacinda and Co have given no time line or even displayed any solid commitment to removing the mandate. I think we now have enough information to know that the mandate is now illogical, it is certainly divisive and a shocking attack on personal freedoms. Wake up David you are currently gift wrapping political capital and support to dear old Winston!
Can we please zoom out a little …. and look more globally at what is happening in NZ. I wonder how many have read Dr Timothy Snyder’s book entitled ‘On Tyranny ~ 20 lessons from the 20th Century.’ It is a very worthwhile read, and although Dr Snyder initially wrote the book (only slightly more than 100 pages of easy read chapters) to alert the American public to the political moves occurring in the States it does have application to NZ society and the trends we are experiencing. What are the conditions within a society that allow a government (or political force) to make societal changes so that the rights of its citizens are carefully and consistently eroded? As rights become eroded the logical consequence is anger and protest and I suspect the mandate is just the trigger for all the other issues that are piling up, 3 waters, rewriting the history curriculum to present an ‘approved’ view of historical events, and the move towards centralization of tertiary education and health. People have a choice: they can go along with the changes willingly, they can ignore the changes that are occurring until it is too late to do anything about them, or they can protest. Whilst I am in favour of vaccination, and taking all the health measures I can to keep myself and other around me safe, I do not think that my rights are more important than the rights of others, and whilst I would have wished this group of protesters to have chosen an issue that wasn’t so susceptible to being overrun by the anti-vaxxers or the conspiracy theorists it is the issue that was chosen and the message is that our human rights are being trampled. I agree with the message. This needs open, honest discussion. This is about the line in the sand concerning the direction in which this country is steadily moving.
Well Rodney I have been an ACT but supporter do not agree with you. The protesters are essentially a group of idiots . No person in their right mind would not be vaccinated except for a minute number who may have legitimate medical reasons to refuse. The last thing ACT should do if they do not want to lose support is to back these protestors.
Clinton B
Here's where we are at, and why Kiwis are telling the Government to go away. The Parliament grounds rally and vote to total no confidence in the present party political system is an absolute statement by all of us.
Government failed the people.
Corporations murdered people for profit.
Doctors, hospitals and the medical system betrayed the people.
Big Tech platforms silenced the truth, costing millions of lives.
Big Media was complicit in the plandemic and the vaccine biowar against humanity.
The institution of science deceived the people and proved it is hopelessly corrupt and evil.
Our health, our children's best years, our families, businesses, communities and nation are under attack from Ardern and ALL the MPs and most of the bureaucratic Cultural Marxists, including the politicised section of the Police force.
This time represents the end of the road for them.
History is the judge of the crimes perpetrated on the Kiwi people by the sociopaths and psychopaths who seek to dominate us. Their time is coming to an end. Will they jump or will the people have to push them? That is the only question to be resolved.
Interesting isn't it? The right to be heard by all factions in a community is a long held desire in an open democracy. It is also the duty of those elected to listen and afford the common decency of keeping the door open and showing respect. I wonder how this incompetent Government's predecessors view their attitude to this particular group of protestors. Many would have been in the front line in 1981 when their antics and blatant disregard for others views and rights were the complete antithesis of those of their modern day counterparts. Hypocrisy is alive and well in most modern day politicians, but particularly so for those from left leaning parties whose so called principles are founded in activism and protest. So come on David, you have shown great leadership over the years, you can show it again by at least making an effort to calm the situation and listen to what these people have to say.
Thank you Rodney
I always thought you were a decent human being.
David Seymour is indeed a disappointment. He was in support of Choice re dying [though the religious lobby made the eventual Law incredibly restrictive], I am sure too supportive of a woman's choice to have an abortion.
So why not supporting the NZ and International legal right to refuse a medical intervention? Truly cowardly if he does actually believe in personal autonomy.
Thank you, Rodney. I agree wholeheartedly. Ted
I have never voted for ACT but from what I have read David Seymour has denounced vaccine mandates and said he would get rid of them if in Government. He has also supported vaccination which is a reasonable position. I personally can't stand it when Labouror Green MPs go and join in with protestors so don't have a problem with David on this.
Having been in medicine for over forty years still and in active specialist practice until I was forced out through refusing to submit to mandatory covid innoculation I remain stunned that so many lay people believe the science supporting vaccination against covid is anywhere near settled.
There were SOME early positive signals for efficacy of the innoculations but the evolving medical literature is showing these gains to have been transient. The UK and the Istaeli health stats both show omicron is both more infectious to and more damaging to those who are double and triple vaccinated.
When one then analyses the safety data the case for vaccination crumbles to nothing. In fact signals of long term harm secondary to covid innoculation are flashing red. Read the latest “Cell” preprint regarding the ‘completely unexpected” persistence of active mRNA in the lymph node germinal centres in biopsied adults - persistence right up to the sixty day mark when the study finished. Recall doctors and ‘whole truth exoerts’ poo pooing the idea of ongoing vaccine harm because studies had proven the mRNA was gone from the body within hours to days? Well those ‘proofs’ were infact basic animal tests only in which the mRNA used was of a type that produced another protein entirely - not even the spike, but a glow in the dark protein they named luciferase. You see the mRNA in fact used in the covid injections has a manufactured nucleoside called pseudouridine, to replace the uridine, because it was found this replacement tricks the body’s immune system into switching off its vigilance. Given we now know that this artifically ma ipulated mRNA which is immune suppressive remains active in our bodies for at least two months, maybe people previously reassured about covid vaccine safety will understand why those of us in the know are becoming increasingly concerned. This basic science knowedge raises the prospect of being a valid explanation for the alarming ( and desperately suppressed) data of massive increases in cancer (possibly up over 400 % for some types) Our immune systems are vital for keeping cancers in check.
The US military whistleblowers who recently released their own health data from the past six years did so because of their extreme alarm at what they were witness to. The way in which the Pentagon has tried to explain away the data ( which the CDC itself had been following) is alarming.
To those of you above who speak in such convincing tones about the rightness of using this particular treatment for covid I ask you to stop, think, and reassess. This ‘vaccine’ is dangerous. Recognise that. Speak to that, and be on the right side of history.
And for the record we too have contacted David, linked him to updated evidence and expressed our dismay that he has refused to speak with the protesters. If we dont see a material move in ACT’s approach to this issue we will be withdrawing our support
Rodney thank you for speaking up.
Parliament is supposed to be a house of representatives, yet not one of the 120 MPs is prepared to listen to the protesters and take their message to Parliament. Representation does not mean having to agree with those you speak for - it means giving them a voice in a place where decisions are made. If they have no voice from within Parliament, then they will protest from behind the police barriers as they are doing now. Are you MPs so beholden to your political strategists and party leaders that you are scared to represent those who harbour a contrary view? If the honest answer is yes, then you do democracy a disservice and lack the character to do justice to the position of privilege that has been given to you.
Clinton B
You have misread the group, and obviously not read their signs. They are anti-mandate, not anti-vaccination. Of course, some of them will be anti-vaccination, which is their choice. I personally know of vaccinated people who are joining the protest because they are fed up with the pulpit of truth, telling lies and forcing dumb and ever-changing rules upon people that limit their freedoms.
I 110% supported the anti-mandate protest, would have attended if not for the fact I still have a job to go to, though my employer continues to try and mandate me.
What I don't support is the stupidity of the organisers in allowing our movement to be hijacked by those with other agendas.
If people showed up with Aryan Brotherhood and Swastika flags, they'd soon be told to jog on.
Yet front and centre in every video and picture of the anti-mandate occupation were the racist He Whakaputanga and Tino Rangatiratanga banners of part-Maori brown supremacism.
The intellectual incoherence of this approach was summed up for me in some wank cannon standing beside his ute emblazoned with "Mandates are divisive" and waving a Maori sovereignty flag.
These people should have been told "You are welcome to join our movement as a NEW ZEALANDER who stands united on the freedom of choice issue, but leave your seditious rags at home.
If you cannot do that, piss off and start your own march/convoy/occupation, don't hijack ours.
I put this question repeatedly to the organisers on the Convoy 2022 FB page without receiving the courtesy of a reply, then they blocked me, so clearly they have no problem with our movement being comandeered by part-Maori who have raised up one group of ancestors while trampling down another to identify monoculturally as 'Maori.'
These brown supremacists are filth on the face of my country!
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