http://www.makepovertyhistory.org Bloggreen: Deep breath post

Monday, October 03, 2005

Deep breath post

Thanks to those of you who noticed my absence. I have had some personal stuff to deal with (aak! who let real life get in the way of my blogging habit!) and I was waiting for the specials to be counted before sharing my thoughts. Those of you who read this blog will probably guess how I am feeling now about the loss of Nandor from Parliament. I'm absolutely gutted. Not because the Greens have lost their 'poster boy' but because we've just lost one of the most knowledgable, committed experts on Justice that this parliament has ever seen. Many people have discussed Nandor's demotion on the list as a reaction to his campaigning on drug law reform but I reject that notion. I think the main reason he dropped was due to a) the others getting pushed up and b) it's the result of a term spent working incredibly hard on low profile, yet exceptionally important issues. For example, the Corrections Act, the Supreme Court Act, the Constitutional Inquiry, just to name a few. Now it's a sad reality that the way we understand our world is in large part influenced by the way the media constructs 'reality' and they write on what sells newspapers, not necessarily what's important. Oh well, what's done is done. But I want to publicly thank Nandor. Dude, you got me involved in politics, you made me realise that just because politics is full of grumpy old white guys doesn't mean I'm excluded. In fact that gives me even more reason to get involved. I have never worked with anyone who has had to deal with so much bullshit and get so much done. If I had a dollar for everytime someone said to me "oh that Nandor he's just a stoner ropehead" I'd be a fuckin millionaire. The thing that always cracked me up is how quickly the story changes when people actually meet you. They always sound so suprised at this intelligent, gentle spoken, generally on to it as fuck man. But most people had no idea. Personally I will never forget the people I met who had life changing stories to say about you. The people who I meet who are some of the most disenfrachised people you could possibly meet, who hadn't even heard of parliament before you got here. Those people I have met who shed tears of joy when they tell me stories about how you helped them when no one else would. Those people who are at the bottom of this shit heap called capitalism who finally had someone to advocate on their behalf for their vision of how this world could be. Those people who are too young to legally have an opinion on how parliament runs but could at least come to you and share their opinion and it would be listened to. Those people who got involved in Green activism because through you they could see that this mission we're on is one for change, one for difference and diversity and one for the future of this world. Bro, thanks for being my hero. Thanks for all the inspiration and thanks for being human. Your mahi will live on and I hope that some of that mahi lives on through me. Kind of hard singing a waiata on a blog, but here goes. E hara i te mea No naianei te aroha No nga tupuna Tuku iho tuku iho Te whenua te whenua Te oranga mo te iwi No nga tupuna Tuku iho tuku iho Whakapono tumanako Te aroha ki te iwi No nga tupuna Tuku iho tuku iho EDIT Translation as requested: It is not a new thing Now that is love Comes from the ancestors Handed down through the passages of time The land, the land Is the life for the people Comes from the ancestors Handed down through the passages of time Faith and hope Love to the people Comes from the ancestors Handed down through the passages of time

11 Comments:

At 10/04/2005 03:40:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your blog is great, but it would be more effective if you could refrain from swearing and be more exressive.

 
At 10/04/2005 05:30:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Unfortunatly it is that the f word is one of the most expressive words I know. There is appropriate and not so appropriate use of swear words of course. Can u guess who would have this view kakariki?

 
At 10/04/2005 05:55:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

good post..you've expressed some of my thoughts...
my take on his departure has been one of anger at those shortsighted greens who voted him down the party list..but even more so at the braindead boofheads who voted for the aotearoa legalise cannabis party..and especially for the head of that organisation, michael appleby..who for reasons of personal aggraindaisment and ensuring government dosh for him to spend next election...urged alcp supporters to vote for him...despite knowing how parlous the situation was for the greens and nandor in particular....and his supposed cause..

phil(whoar.co.nz)

a pox on his house...i say..

(cd you plse give us a translation of your waiata.....and tell those anal retentive anti-swear merchants to just get a grip....there is nothing like a healthy curse to make your point...)

 
At 10/04/2005 10:40:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My teenage sons also only noticed Parliament because Nandor was there ,and I am a grumpy old white guy myself but I had and have nothing but admiration for his good works and attempted good works.NZ politics is poorer for his loss I reckon.Sadly missed.

 
At 10/04/2005 12:33:00 PM, Blogger Kakariki said...

I'm really fucking sorry to all those people that get offended by my shit-poor use of the English language. I'm not sorry for abusing english cause it abuses me all the fucking time, but oh well.

I do however promise to be more exressive in the future, when I figure out what that means ;)

 
At 10/04/2005 04:30:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

you're so full of shit kakariki, green coloured shit

 
At 10/04/2005 07:22:00 PM, Blogger Will de Cleene said...

Great post, Kakariki. Hope it's not the last post. I have every confidence that parliament hasn't seen the last of Nandor. You can't keep a good rep down. Nandor will be backy-wacky.

 
At 10/04/2005 08:02:00 PM, Blogger Psycho Milt said...

This grumpy old white guy is also sorry to see Nandor go from Parliament. His response to NoRightTurn's candidate survey was the most sensible of the lot (with no apology to Mr Common Sense, Peter Dunne). What Phil said re ALCP. And to quote the mighty poet Ian Dury, "Arseholes, bastards, fucking cunts and pricks".

 
At 10/05/2005 07:25:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

G'day,
I'm an aussie, and I first heard of Nandor at the Students of Sustainability conference at Murdoch University in West Australia(I was a uni staffer), when one of the young fezza kids came in with an MP3 file of a Nandor hiphop track about consumerism. She was gushing about the man. We burnt the track onto a CD, and played it during the conference. Immediately all these kids came over and where asking who "that guy who was singing about smoking the crackpipe of consumerism was". Well alot of us looked into nandor and found that he was perhaps one of those rareitys; A politician that was honest, passionate and most important , still one of the little people.

Nandor, your fucking amazing, and mate. If the kiwis won't have ya, well fuck it. We will!. (God only knows are politics need some nandor)

Also, Chin up Kakariki, theres still a future while NZ remains beautiful. Or to put it another way, we still have howard :(

Duckmonster.

 
At 10/07/2005 12:49:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

nandor really made an impact on me and everyone i know who has met him, he is one of those people that geniunely care for those around him. I just want to thank nandor for being a sane voice in a sometimes bleak world. Awesome post kakariki i couldnt have said it any better

john

 
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