Clive Bibby: Behind the headlines - the truth about race relations in this country

Anybody watching Parliament debating the Treaty principles bill or the headlines on TV covering the Hikoi heading for Wellington - most of the traveling aboard buses with only predetermined stops at big centres where the cameras were waiting eager to get comment from hand picked protestors - would have gained the impression that the country was in revolt against proposed legislation that is already condemned to die in the committee stages. So what is the point these seemingly disaffected groups are trying to make? 

Because, if it is as we are led to believe that democracy is in danger, then the protestors had better make a better job of producing the evidence that we are on the brink of a movement that will have serious consequences for race relations in this country.

Ele Ludemann: Maori Party recruitment march

If a former candidate from one of the government parties, now a staff member for that party in parliament, was leading a protest march, that would be the focus of media attention.

Why hasn’t this got the same attention?