Those of us in the free speech community hold firm to the belief against the ‘heckler’s veto’, sometimes rephrased for effect as the ‘thug’s veto’. The possibility that someone might protest what you are going to say should not result in your event being cancelled.
Universities and Auckland Council occasionally cite this as an excuse to prevent speakers they disapprove of utilising their facilities. But. I did not come here to defend Swarbrick. But to define her.
Central to the debate over the war in the Levant is terminology. Words matter. Genocide, in particular, is the word of the day.
Chlöe, Greta and the flotilla of activists maintain that what is occurring in Gaza is a genocide. For this they rely on the United Nations definition that is more expansive that what the layman understands.
Under the UN’s broad language, the term could be applied to a range of conflicts.
Central to the debate over the war in the Levant is terminology. Words matter. Genocide, in particular, is the word of the day.
Chlöe, Greta and the flotilla of activists maintain that what is occurring in Gaza is a genocide. For this they rely on the United Nations definition that is more expansive that what the layman understands.
Under the UN’s broad language, the term could be applied to a range of conflicts.
Musician Neil Finn was with MPs Chloe Swarbrick and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer at a rally calling on the government to impose sanctions against Israel, on 16 August, 2025. David White
Even on the UN definition, intention matters so the case becomes untenable in my opinion, but that isn’t important. Most of us don’t study the United Nations manual on crimes against humanity. We understand that genocide entails rounding up families, herding them into cattle carts before cramming them into a fake shower. We imagine mothers hugging their children as they choke to death on poison gas. On an industrial scale.
One word. Two very different meanings.
The Auckland Central MP’s choice of language warrants comment. Because she does understand the distinction. She is aware that, whatever Israel’s intent, there can be no comparison to what happened in Rwanda, Cambodia or Treblinka.
Which brings me to a larger problem that, thankfully, has not manifested itself in these islands but has become a feature in other western nations; a surge of violence against Jews.
Objectively; this makes no sense. We don’t see attacks on Russians or Chinese living in the west over the actions of Moscow or Beijing. So, why harass Jews for crimes, real or imagined, plotted in Jerusalem?
But understanding why this occurs isn’t necessary. We know that it does. And has for millennia. During the crusades, for no logical reasons, Europeans targeted, murdered and burnt alive Jews in the thousands. This obsessive persecution has ebbed and advanced, but never receded into oblivion.
It is enjoying a revival primarily due to the claims made against Israel; although the upswing occurred in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, before Israel had responded. The conflict uncorked a genie that had been well contained but, no matter how long it languished in the lamp, never died.
Humans enjoy being part of a mob. There is a visceral joy in hunting and hurting others, and controlling this instinct is one of the benefits of civilization. But we remain the same creatures that cheered in the Colosseum and, nearly 2000 years later, watched as the railway carriages trundled their way to Poland.
Which brings me back to Swarbrick and how we should define her contribution to our politics. It is tempting to describe her merely as a populist.
There is a distinction between a populist, a benign actor who reflects the wishes of the crowd, and a demagogue, one who plays to a darker aspect of the human soul. The word derives from ancient Greece. It means, in my Collins’ dictionary; “A political agitator who appeals with crude oratory to the prejudice and passions of the mob.”
It’s a form of politics that hasn’t resonated in these shores.
Swarbrick is a gifted communicator who has the ability to move politics towards a more progressive pathway as befits her politics. She is the preferred Prime Minister by over 6% of the population, and has earned the trust of her electorate; winning Auckland Central twice.
But she has forsaken the environmental and social issues that her party traditionally championed in favour of an international campaign beyond our national influence. She is investing her political talent and capital into a cause that will achieve nothing for those in the Middle East but which gives license for others to embrace their darker prejudices......The full article is published HERE
Even on the UN definition, intention matters so the case becomes untenable in my opinion, but that isn’t important. Most of us don’t study the United Nations manual on crimes against humanity. We understand that genocide entails rounding up families, herding them into cattle carts before cramming them into a fake shower. We imagine mothers hugging their children as they choke to death on poison gas. On an industrial scale.
One word. Two very different meanings.
The Auckland Central MP’s choice of language warrants comment. Because she does understand the distinction. She is aware that, whatever Israel’s intent, there can be no comparison to what happened in Rwanda, Cambodia or Treblinka.
Which brings me to a larger problem that, thankfully, has not manifested itself in these islands but has become a feature in other western nations; a surge of violence against Jews.
Objectively; this makes no sense. We don’t see attacks on Russians or Chinese living in the west over the actions of Moscow or Beijing. So, why harass Jews for crimes, real or imagined, plotted in Jerusalem?
But understanding why this occurs isn’t necessary. We know that it does. And has for millennia. During the crusades, for no logical reasons, Europeans targeted, murdered and burnt alive Jews in the thousands. This obsessive persecution has ebbed and advanced, but never receded into oblivion.
It is enjoying a revival primarily due to the claims made against Israel; although the upswing occurred in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, before Israel had responded. The conflict uncorked a genie that had been well contained but, no matter how long it languished in the lamp, never died.
Humans enjoy being part of a mob. There is a visceral joy in hunting and hurting others, and controlling this instinct is one of the benefits of civilization. But we remain the same creatures that cheered in the Colosseum and, nearly 2000 years later, watched as the railway carriages trundled their way to Poland.
Which brings me back to Swarbrick and how we should define her contribution to our politics. It is tempting to describe her merely as a populist.
There is a distinction between a populist, a benign actor who reflects the wishes of the crowd, and a demagogue, one who plays to a darker aspect of the human soul. The word derives from ancient Greece. It means, in my Collins’ dictionary; “A political agitator who appeals with crude oratory to the prejudice and passions of the mob.”
It’s a form of politics that hasn’t resonated in these shores.
Swarbrick is a gifted communicator who has the ability to move politics towards a more progressive pathway as befits her politics. She is the preferred Prime Minister by over 6% of the population, and has earned the trust of her electorate; winning Auckland Central twice.
But she has forsaken the environmental and social issues that her party traditionally championed in favour of an international campaign beyond our national influence. She is investing her political talent and capital into a cause that will achieve nothing for those in the Middle East but which gives license for others to embrace their darker prejudices......The full article is published HERE
Damien Grant is an Auckland business owner, a member of the Taxpayers’ Union and a regular opinion contributor for Stuff, writing from a libertarian perspective
10 comments:
All of your comments are true... just short of defining the girl as a manipulating nutcase - a true psycho with evil "powers". Thank God she does not represent me in parliament.
As a reminder of the Achilles' Heel of parliamentary democracy.
Starbucks legalize Marijuana campaign demonstrated her complete dishonesty.
Americas and Canadas Legalized Marijuana is a psychoses disaster
Agree with you Damien and the above two comments. As an example of genocide, you should also mention our very own home-grown example of that which happened in 1835 in the Chatham Islands. Ms Swarbrick would, no doubt, disagree or conveniently forget.
I posted a piece on Chloe on Ani O’Brien’s the week that was, but a herald poll today on the state of affairs in central Auckland, prompted me to write this one:
The Vanishing Act in Green
When 97 percent of Aucklanders tell the Herald they no longer feel safe in their own city centre, that’s not a poll — that’s a scream.
Six thousand people, from coffee shop owners to commuters, united on one point: Queen Street has become a gauntlet of meth, menace, and human misery.
Yet in Tom Dillane’s seven-minute epic of civic despair — filled with CEOs, baristas, security guards and passers-by — there’s a glaring hole where the local MP should be.
Auckland Central’s Chloe Swarbrick, supposedly the street-level Green champion of urban life, does not appear once.
That’s quite a feat. The deputy head of Herald news files a city-in-crisis feature, complete with the City Mission, the cops, and a chorus of business despair, but never asks: “What does the person elected to represent this place think?” Not one quote, not one reference, not even a perfunctory “Swarbrick was unavailable for comment.”
You’d think the Herald’s deputy editor might have her on speed dial. Or at least ask the business owners if they’ve tried contacting her. Apparently not. The story reads as if Auckland Central exists in a vacuum, without political representation. Which, come to think of it, may not be far from the truth.
Because when you check her own record, the silence only deepens. Swarbrick’s Green Party page is full of moral thunder about Gaza, climate, and inequality. But on the decay of the very heart of her electorate — the filth, fear, and flight from Queen Street — nothing. No statement, no walkabout, no “eyes on the street.”
So what we have is a perfect Auckland loop: a city sliding into chaos, a newspaper chronicling it with civic earnestness but no political heat, and a local MP who’s gone entirely missing from her own patch — perhaps meditating on carbon pricing while her constituents step over vomit.
The Green movement loves talking about regeneration and sustainability.
Someone should tell Chloe it starts at street level — and right now, the electorate she represents is dying from neglect.
— PB
"She is aware that, whatever Israel’s intent, there can be no comparison to what happened in Rwanda, Cambodia or Treblinka."
Comparisons cannot be made "whatever Israel's intent"? So if genocide is intended we cannot make comparisons? Or is the author implying that genocide isn't the intent? Or are we not allowed to make comparisons because the actions of those of the leaders of Israel? I find this phrase very strange.
Somebody ...pulease lock the girl up in a Psych unit... She has no place in public life.
I think of Chloe Swarbrick as the NZ equivalent of Greta Thunberg.
What? Both a bit scary looking and mad as a hatter?
As MP for Auckland Central, she should be deeply concerned about the disastrous state of certain areas of her constituency. This - not Gaza - is her prime responsibility and for which she is well paid.
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