Harawira’s Dear John letter (a response to Key’s criticism)
Posted on December 19, 2013 by admin in Hone Harawira, News, Press ReleasesDear John,
Why are you being so nasty about my going to South Africa to farewell Nelson Mandela?
Were you upset by the world media calling you the “unidentified guest” while I was on national television dancing with Madiba’s people in Soweto? I’m sorry about that John, but was that my fault?
And yeah … I know I said your delegation didn’t truly represent those who loved Mandela but I wasn’t the only one. Heaps of people said so – even the media. I mean look at it. You went (and you didn’t even know what your position was on apartheid!), and you took two members of the National government that supported the apartheid-backed Springbok Tour of 1981.
I mean really … is that the best you can do to represent us at the memorial services for one of the greatest men of our time?
And I heard your comments about there being “people with a greater claim to going than me”. Yeah – like John Minto and Sue Bradford. But you didn’t take them. You didn’t even ask them did you John? So why are you being so bitchy about me going when you didn’t take them anyway?
And yes, I know you chose Pita Sharples to be the “Maori” on your delegation, but when it came to who got into the stadium you didn’t pick him did you John? You left him standing out in the rain and it was only through the good graces of David Cuniliffe stepping aside that Pita actually got in. Is that why you’re picking on me – because my visibility embarrassed your clumsy treatment of Dr Sharples?
And as for my using taxpayer’s money on a “jolly”, isn’t that just a little churlish and mean-spirited John? I went to memorial services just like you. I went to a private service at Mandela’s family home (not sure whether you got to do that John). And I went to view his body just like you (except my wife did a karanga mate as we Maori do, and I followed that up with a haka). So if I did what you did, except better, how come I have to pay the money back but you don’t have to?
Or are you just attacking me to try to take people’s attention off the bigger issues of the day, like all those reports highlighting how deep child poverty is in Aotearoa, or how the referendum showed that NZers don’t support your selling our assets, or the public anger about you selling off our sovereignty under the TPPA, or how pissed off people are that you’ve done a deep sea oil deal with a company that’s just been hammered with a $16 billion lawsuit over claims and compensation for contaminated sites in the US? Is that what this is all about John?
Your attack on me is just mean John. So maybe if I tell you why I went, you’ll forgive and forget.
You see John, as soon as I heard Mandela had died I cried. And then I decided I was going to go to South Africa.
I wanted to farewell a man I have always looked up to, a man who was a hero to people of colour all across the world, who suffered under one of the most deeply racist regimes of our time, and walked out of jail after 27 years with a smile on his face and love in his heart.
I went to farewell a man who cast aside forever the ugliness of apartheid, and gave us the phrase “in my country we go to prison first and then become President.”
I went to farewell the man who said that when we stopped the game in Hamilton during the 1981 Tour “it was like the sun came out”. Yes John … I can remember being there and I was proud of being there.
I went to farewell a wonderful, warm and caring man that I was privileged to meet when he came to thank the protesters in 1995.
You see John, I went to farewell a man that I loved.
And if you want to condemn me for that then you go right ahead.
Hone Harawira
MP Tai Tokerau
Claire says:
Post Author December 19, 2013 at 1:22 pmBrilliantly and eloquently said. What more needs to be said? Let’s just hope John actually reads it.
Paul Alexander says:
Post Author December 19, 2013 at 2:34 pmFirstly I hated and opposed apartheid in SA but and here is the very big but, Mandela wasn’t always the saint that everyone likes to make him out to be. Yes he was the leader of the ANC but he was also the leader of the feared MK. Mandela left his first wife and children and joined forces with the beautiful Winnie Mandela and the ANC. They led a campaign of fearful violence, especially against any dissenters within their own ranks. Horrible stories of “necklacing” and torture came out, and Mandela was not seen as the smiling old man doing a dance shuffle in those days. He was arrested and sent to serve 27 years in prison on Robben Island. In London in the 60′s, Amnesty International faced a terrible day when one of their early prisoners of conscience, Nelson Mandela, said he could no longer support non-violence as a means of combatting the racism of apartheid in South Africa. Accordingly, and I would say correctly, the organization had to drop Mandela as an adopted prisoner. After he was imprisoned, the MK started terrorist bombing campaigns, including the Johannesburg railway station bombing, which killed many innocent people, including women and children. Mandela also offered support for brutal communist regimes such as Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya and Fidel Castrol’s Cuba. The sad part about post-apartheid South Africa is that Nelson Mandela, the ANC, and Western countries (especially Canada) insisted that there be no transition period, but that the proverbial keys to the country be handed over immediately to an oppressed people who, due to the apartheid system, were under-educated and largely unprepared to run a country. As a result, the country that previously was the most advanced country in Africa (and where the first human-to-human heart transplant was performed) now has the dishonourable distinction of being the most violent country (not at war) in the world. While Mandela’s push for reconciliation is admirable, I think he gets far too much credit for bringing down the apartheid system. Equality for blacks was achieved on the backs of others, and the decline of the previously most advanced country in Africa is not much of a legacy. Apartheid is alive in well in South Africa, the oppressors have just changed colour.
PoeticFalunku says:
Post Author December 19, 2013 at 7:38 pmS.A. Is a young nation in this form.. just about to become 20yrs young.
Can you imagine the Decolonisation the peoples have to go through?
Every butting nation has to be able to bring about change without the world wanting it to run back to its old form.
Reminding people of the other side of Madiba is a empty point, as he never denied that. More interesting is the haste to remind one of the violent part of his activism without talking about the ongoing human rights abuses in South Africa at that time. While most of the world governments watched and did nothing or worse, participated economically.
Please start remembering..
And give SA a real chance on change coz her children are still working for it.
nick says:
Post Author December 19, 2013 at 11:44 pmthis is for hone matua they say moari will never govern aotearoa prove me wrong matua
Angelique says:
Post Author December 20, 2013 at 7:35 amAs an aside to Paul Alexander, Mexico is actually the most violent and dangerous country in the world currently not at war.
Ewa Marshall-Kopua says:
Post Author December 20, 2013 at 11:04 amKia ora Hone … anei taku tautoko mou. beautifully, eloquently put.. this belongs on the front page of every news paper in Aotearoa. John Key can kiss our collective black assets ..
Paul Alexander says:
Post Author December 20, 2013 at 5:50 pmReally Angelique, that is all you got from my comment, which country is the most violent? That’s pretty sad that you missed the point but let me educate you a bit. unemployment, poverty, AIDS, murder, corruption and crime all have surged, and South Africa now regularly tops the charts worldwide in terms of rape and murder as average life expectancy has plummeted. I admire both mandela and hone but let’s be quite honest here, the real struggle has been going on for the last 20 years! So hone, protest, visit as as many times as needed but start fighting against the corrupt, wealthy black South Africans so that the poor, struggling black South Africans can have their chance of a better future.
wearerevolution says:
Post Author January 23, 2014 at 10:50 pmDear John? John …who? Whose that? Not that John Keys banker? The John Keys that allegedly, as a minister in charge, traded shares in Tranzrail with insider information doubling his investment within a matter of weeks? Him. He’s your prime minister. That immoral weasel? He should be in jail! And I’m positive that he will be held accountable for his current crimes against New Zealanders and humanity.
If you want to know the truth about John Keys, then watch and listen too Trillons ‘John Key – Pack your things’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiPbw_q5uUA&list=PL6F9B1D0384FE27C4&feature=c4-overview-vl