But will they be joining Médecins Sans Frontières?
The Māori Party and Māori medics have something in common: they have diagnosed what’s gone wrong in the Middle East and prescribed a remedy for the Israel-Hamas conflict. They are pressing for a Free Palestine.
The mainstream media seem not to have noticed that the Māori medical professionals have taken sides in a matter with no obvious relevance to the health and wellbeing of their patients.
But subscribers to the New Zealand Doctor will be aware, because that journal has published a letter from the Māori doctors.
Readers of Professor Jerry Coyne’s blog, Why Evolution is True, have been alerted, too.
Coyne says it is no surprise that a group of Māori doctors have constructed and signed a letter showing their solidarity with Palestine.
After all, they see both themselves and Palestinians as people of colour who were brutally oppressed by white colonialists (Jews are seen as “white-adjacent”, analogous to New Zealand’s “settler-colonialists” from England, often call representatives of “The Crown”).
And so, from the New Zealand Doctor, we have the following letter, sent via a physician who wants to remain anonymous (of course).
The accompanying email to Coyne said:
This is medicine, not science, but I thought I should send this to you as an example of the elasticity of the local brand of critical social justice ideology.
And the letter:
AN OPEN LETTER
17th October 2023
MĀORI DOCTORS IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE AN OPEN LETTER
We the undersigned, as Māori medical practitioners, medical students, academics, and as members of the global Indigenous health community, wish to convey our grave and urgent concern for the genocide the people of Palestine face on their ancestral lands. We offer solidarity with Palestine and condemn the violent dispossession and oppression of Palestinians at the hands of the nation-state of Israel, who are supported in their actions by the U.S, the U.K and even some of our own politicians. We write to say they do not speak for us. We condemn colonialism in all forms, we condemn racism, including anti-Muslim racism and we condemn hate.
Locating ourselves at the intersection of Indigenous solidarity and medicine requires us to always speak in solidarity with those who stand against colonialism and racism, to speak for those who cannot speak, and to always challenge those who refuse to speak. We refuse to be silent and complicit as we observe the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people. We cannot be silent while human rights and Indigenous rights are being violated. We understand the blocking of access to crucial emergency healthcare services as a facilitator of genocide. The denial of access to healthcare and medical supplies in the context of war is a further denial of Palestinian humanity.
We call for the widespread condemnation and immediate cessation of the military assault on the peoples of Palestine. As a collective of Indigenous doctors, student doctors and academics we stand in solidarity with a free Palestine. Again we say, Free Palestine.
In indigenous solidarity,
Jerry Coyne is perturbed that there is not an iota of empathy for Israel or what they suffered during the violence of October 7, or the ongoing Hamas terrorism (“they continue to fire rockets into Israel”).
He notes there is no mention of Hamas and no mention of the kidnappings (Coyne asks: “do they think kidnapping is okay?”)
There is condemnation of “anti-Muslim racism and hate” – but not of anti-Semitism.
Coyne writes:
There has never been “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in Gaza, but that’s what the Palestinians and Hamas explicitly want for Israel (“from the river to the sea. . . . and so on; and read the Hamas charter).
Coyne notes that the use of Palestinians as human shields is not mentioned in the letter; nor is there mention of Palestinian hospitals being used as institutional shields for terrorists who operate beneath them.
He writes:
The hospital issue is particularly odious, and surely a group of doctors would object to using doctors and patients as human shields, wouldn’t they?
Coyne wonders about the letter-writers claiming that….
“Locating ourselves at the intersection of Indigenous solidarity and medicine requires us to always speak in solidarity with those who stand against colonialism and racism.”
He asks if this means the signers would have supported Hamas before Israel started defending itself.
After all, Hamas claims to stand against colonialism and anti-Muslim racism, so aren’t they required to be supported?
Coyne notes:
There is no moral compass here, just approbation for one side and condemnation for the side that was viciously attacked. It’s a good example about how one’s moral judgements can be warped by social-justice considerations and misguided identity politics.
Did I mention that Hamas is still firing rockets at Israel, targeting civilians? And that over 200 hostages from Israel and other places remain in Hamas’s hands? The Māori doctors, far away on an island, apparently don’t care; they sympathize with one side only.
There are several signatories to the letter. Coyne’s blog post enables his readers to open the link that shows their identities.
In the comments below the post, one reader has asked:
Are the Māori doctors joining Médecins Sans Frontières to help out in the field? Because if all they offer in solidarity is signing a letter it’s not worth the spit to seal the envelope.
Another contends that it is hard to tell how many signatories there actually are, and who they are, without wading through a swamp of tribal affiliations, as if that somehow lends credence to their assertions.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
Readers of Professor Jerry Coyne’s blog, Why Evolution is True, have been alerted, too.
Coyne says it is no surprise that a group of Māori doctors have constructed and signed a letter showing their solidarity with Palestine.
After all, they see both themselves and Palestinians as people of colour who were brutally oppressed by white colonialists (Jews are seen as “white-adjacent”, analogous to New Zealand’s “settler-colonialists” from England, often call representatives of “The Crown”).
And so, from the New Zealand Doctor, we have the following letter, sent via a physician who wants to remain anonymous (of course).
The accompanying email to Coyne said:
This is medicine, not science, but I thought I should send this to you as an example of the elasticity of the local brand of critical social justice ideology.
And the letter:
AN OPEN LETTER
17th October 2023
MĀORI DOCTORS IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE AN OPEN LETTER
We the undersigned, as Māori medical practitioners, medical students, academics, and as members of the global Indigenous health community, wish to convey our grave and urgent concern for the genocide the people of Palestine face on their ancestral lands. We offer solidarity with Palestine and condemn the violent dispossession and oppression of Palestinians at the hands of the nation-state of Israel, who are supported in their actions by the U.S, the U.K and even some of our own politicians. We write to say they do not speak for us. We condemn colonialism in all forms, we condemn racism, including anti-Muslim racism and we condemn hate.
Locating ourselves at the intersection of Indigenous solidarity and medicine requires us to always speak in solidarity with those who stand against colonialism and racism, to speak for those who cannot speak, and to always challenge those who refuse to speak. We refuse to be silent and complicit as we observe the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people. We cannot be silent while human rights and Indigenous rights are being violated. We understand the blocking of access to crucial emergency healthcare services as a facilitator of genocide. The denial of access to healthcare and medical supplies in the context of war is a further denial of Palestinian humanity.
We call for the widespread condemnation and immediate cessation of the military assault on the peoples of Palestine. As a collective of Indigenous doctors, student doctors and academics we stand in solidarity with a free Palestine. Again we say, Free Palestine.
In indigenous solidarity,
Jerry Coyne is perturbed that there is not an iota of empathy for Israel or what they suffered during the violence of October 7, or the ongoing Hamas terrorism (“they continue to fire rockets into Israel”).
He notes there is no mention of Hamas and no mention of the kidnappings (Coyne asks: “do they think kidnapping is okay?”)
There is condemnation of “anti-Muslim racism and hate” – but not of anti-Semitism.
Coyne writes:
There has never been “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in Gaza, but that’s what the Palestinians and Hamas explicitly want for Israel (“from the river to the sea. . . . and so on; and read the Hamas charter).
Coyne notes that the use of Palestinians as human shields is not mentioned in the letter; nor is there mention of Palestinian hospitals being used as institutional shields for terrorists who operate beneath them.
He writes:
The hospital issue is particularly odious, and surely a group of doctors would object to using doctors and patients as human shields, wouldn’t they?
Coyne wonders about the letter-writers claiming that….
“Locating ourselves at the intersection of Indigenous solidarity and medicine requires us to always speak in solidarity with those who stand against colonialism and racism.”
He asks if this means the signers would have supported Hamas before Israel started defending itself.
After all, Hamas claims to stand against colonialism and anti-Muslim racism, so aren’t they required to be supported?
Coyne notes:
There is no moral compass here, just approbation for one side and condemnation for the side that was viciously attacked. It’s a good example about how one’s moral judgements can be warped by social-justice considerations and misguided identity politics.
Did I mention that Hamas is still firing rockets at Israel, targeting civilians? And that over 200 hostages from Israel and other places remain in Hamas’s hands? The Māori doctors, far away on an island, apparently don’t care; they sympathize with one side only.
There are several signatories to the letter. Coyne’s blog post enables his readers to open the link that shows their identities.
In the comments below the post, one reader has asked:
Are the Māori doctors joining Médecins Sans Frontières to help out in the field? Because if all they offer in solidarity is signing a letter it’s not worth the spit to seal the envelope.
Another contends that it is hard to tell how many signatories there actually are, and who they are, without wading through a swamp of tribal affiliations, as if that somehow lends credence to their assertions.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
5 comments:
These idiots are priceless!
"We condemn racism" they all chant together. Yet openly support policies from the most racist party in NZ.
Wonky woke justification and morality on show again from people too thick to realise, or maybe they just don't care, that they are supporting the very thing they pretend to be taking a stand over.
It would be great to know their names because I would most certainly avoid any form of treatment from them.
'Global indigenous health community', huh.
It is always bad news when professional bodies become politicised as it spells an end to the multiplicity of views that is so important in any democratic institution.
Medical doctors rely on their high public image for credibility but they are no more qualified to comment on geopolitics than are plumbers or carpenters.
Will I be able to refuse treatment from a Moari doctor (without being called racist and risking inferior treatment). It is obvious that Maori are racist, and having a Jewish surname - my husband has Jewish heritage - I feel quite unsafe now with all the anti-semitism in the whole world.
My husband's family lost many members, murdered in the Holocaust.
The names of the doctors are at the end of the letter in Jerry Coyne's article. My GP is Indian so she won't be on the list!
Thanks Boudicca.
I started to read the names but I only made it to about the 5th line, and probably only the 4th name, because they'd not just listed their occupations and specialisms which are long enough, they'd put down every iwi they belong to as well.
It was not only very hard going but extremely depressing to see supposedly well qualified medical specialists adhering to this kind of woke garbage.
I wonder if they'd been on holiday, visiting their idols in Gaza in early October, and had taken a quick day-trip into Israel, whether they would have attempted to treat any of the Israeli civilians which Hamas shot.
Probably too busy writing a collective postcard to Te Pati Maori to be bothered and high-fiving their brothers in the struggle against colonialism.
Save us from well educated plonkers who have taken an oath to save ALL lives, but are happy to condone the slaughter of those they disagree with.
Now that really is f$$ked up!
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