The Terrorism Conference
The recent terrorism conference in Christchurch seems to be
have been ordered to coincide with the United Nations Counter Terrorism week starting
20th June. The UN website has an interesting list of events
scheduled and I expect New Zealand would have drawn on the UN format for the
local effort.
Link:
https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/2021-counter-terrorism-week
Back to the local affair where a few delicate feathers were ruffled
here and there. Islam’s representatives considered that they were not formally
recognised in the first place and then found fault with the Jewish council’s direct
but highly relevant references to Middle East terrorist groups (Hezbollah in
particular). The Islamics staged a walkout to make their point. I have always regarded
walkouts as cheap and shoddy attention-seeking gestures. They scored a few
inevitable headlines and that’s about all.
Andrew Little got in on the act by saying the Jewish council’s
remarks were provocative. He might have gained a tad more respect from all
sides had he not offered any comment. Not sure if he was asked for comment or
if he went out of his way to do so. The Islamics could have politely recorded any
concerns in their spoken presentations. I am not sure whether much will be
achieved via this conference. Should we wait for a conference report, will
there be a report?
Language note: Through all of the reporting, NZ Herald,
Stuff, RNZ, the conference has been titled as a “Hui”. Another example of the
Maori language push and what I regard as language pollution. The UN refers to
Conferences, Events or Strategies.
The conference was called to seek methods and measures for “countering terrorism and extremism”. Those
are worthy objectives. In New Zealand today we have a gang and crime problem
which fits the description of terrorism and extremism. We are told the gangs
have international connections in the same way as terror groups have connections.
Who knows, the gangs and terror groups may be intertwined.
The point I really want
to make here turns on the criminal gangs problem. Australia has a long-running
programme which is systematically uplifting and deporting New Zealand born
criminals from the Australian communities. This I suppose goes a long way
towards cleaning up the Australian criminal scene. We can only presume
Australia is at the same time removing other nationalities in the same way.
Australia is removing
some New Zealanders simply because they have been “associated” with a criminal
gang. Why can’t New Zealand do something similar to deal with the likes of the
gangs we have on our streets today. The gangs are not exactly hiding from us.
Their locations are known and New Zealand is a very small town in so many ways.
But, No. The woolly-minded politicians on all sides will sing as a choir: “freedom
of association”, “human rights”, “civil liberties”. They will ignore the fact
of gangs and criminal elements in general having abused all of those privileges
and almost with Police looking on.
The Police
Commissioner was quoted recently as saying that the police force “policed with
consent”. Policing with the consent of the community was a founding principle
of the original police system but British Justice has matured over a few hundred
years. The Commissioner was indulging himself in another of his pedantic
musings.
It might appear
that the New Zealand Police are often policing with the consent of the gangs.
The recent Hawkes Bay funeral carnival was a good example. As we speak/write
there is another carnival in prospect in Auckland for Friday 18th
June. I don’t think much more needs to be said on this part of the extremism
issue
Link:
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