Release from Dalai Lama Visit Trust
For those of you who missed it. I think it’s worth reprinting.
Press Release by Dalai Lama Visit Trust New Zealand at 12:46 pm, 20 Jun 2007
An open letter to the Prime Minister of New Zealand
In succumbing to diplomatic pressure from the Peoples Republic of China for you and your government not to meet and welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Zealand, you have compromised New Zealand’s sovereignty, and also alienated a very large number of New Zealanders who respected your judgement and your appreciation of human values in politics.
In this respect your judgement has failed you.
Your actions were further compounded by your Minister of Foreign Affairs, who extended an invitation to His Holiness on the letterhead of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to meet, and then proceeded to act only in the role of the Leader of New Zealand First. He was poorly briefed. He was so afraid of the meeting that all media and cameras were banned from attendance, with the result that he could not get a photograph of himself with the Dalai Lama.
In 1996 as leader of the Opposition you were obliged with special arrangements to satisfy your request to meet with His Holiness. In 2002 you were out of the country, but your deputy Hon Jim Anderton met His Holiness at the Beehive. Now, in 2007, you cite a chance encounter in Brisbane airport as a justification for failing to uphold the rights of New Zealanders to honour a guest whose message is fundamental to addressing many of the global problems that not only we New Zealanders, but all of humanity face in the years and decades ahead.
Your actions have given the Chinese Government justification in pursuing their policy of interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. We fear not just for the Tibetan people and the insult that your actions have been to them, but for those all over the world who see that relations with a China that respects human rights, that engages in dialogue, not polemic, and that does not use its growing economic strength to intimidate and oppress is absolutely essential to the future peace and prosperity of this world.
David Lange upheld our democratic principles in the face of international pressure. Your actions have failed that legacy.
Sincerely
For and on behalf of the Dalai Lama Visit Trust New Zealand
Simon Harrison
Secretary
June 20th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Well done, Russ.
The fine stance held by Rod Donald is valiantly upheld by you in this action.
Om Shanti, katie
June 21st, 2007 at 12:27 pm
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200706211032/green_mp_proposes_la w_to_lower_voting_age_to_16
Austria has done it (therefore we should)> (Zimbabwe hasn’t therefore we shouldn’t)
16 year olds can get married, pay taxes……. therefore they should be able to vote. And they drink rum with coke and raspberry thru a straw..
Must be fun being a list MP under MMP.
jh
June 21st, 2007 at 2:58 pm
So, like, is it true that prior to the DL’s exile, that he was a theocratic dictator with a human rights record more-or-less on a par with Mao’s? (who I note he claims as a friend).
June 21st, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Toad, how about make a post of this mad idea of Sue Bradford to lower the voting age to play to your demographic. She’s also suggesting compulsory (her other main word is “ban”) civic education and of course, making “Inconvenient Truth” a compulsory video to watch (and banning all dissenting information no doubt).
And the logic that 16 year olds can get married - I’m pretty sure that requires parental consent. So do parents check over who the kid can vote for too?
And the logic that they pay taxes to be eligible to vote? I think a few greens have argued eloquently why that cannot be a basis or justification for granting the vote, particularly when the Labour Government specializes in recruiting non-tax paying voters to ensure they stay in power.
Anyway, so to take this off thread, but JH did raise an issue of Green policy…
June 21st, 2007 at 5:40 pm
I wonder what age Sue was when she was in the Progressive Youth Movement. They had a march to the police station and where they were chanting “take a walk, come on down, and see the pigs that run our town.
jh
June 21st, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Sorry, ZenTiger - had I seen your helpful suggestion I would have posted earlier on the Vote 16 Bill - you’ll see there is now a thread for your guys to vent on.
P.S. I think you’re confusing the Sue’s vis a vis their lexicon
P.P.S. I think you’re confusing FrogBlog with Kiwi Blog or Whale Oil…