New Zealanders used to be a fantastic bunch of people. We looked after one another, we were mostly fair-minded and we were quite laid back about a lot of issues. We were famous, not just for No 8 wire, but also for our “She’ll Be Right” attitude to life.
Oh, how things have changed in two short years.
You may remember that in April 2020 Winston Peters warned all Kiwis to come home as soon as possible, otherwise they might not be able to. Certainly, those Kiwis who were on holiday came back quickly, although not all of them. I remember people travelling in South America becoming stranded because they were unable to get to a place where they could board a plane to get home.
For Kiwis living and working overseas, things were not that simple. Some of them might have planned to return within a year or two but suddenly the door was slammed shut. Some may have been working on fixed-term contracts; some may have had leases on apartments, houses to sell or children in school. They were in no position to just drop everything and board the next plane; nor did anyone imagine for one second that they would need to. They were New Zealand citizens, and they would always be able to return home.
How could anyone have imagined, back then, that they would not be able to return home, and that our government’s action against its citizens overseas has effectively rendered them stateless?
But still, many people safely tucked up in their hermit kingdom have no time or sympathy for their Kiwi brothers who are stuck overseas. “Serves them right” is what I often hear.
No. This is a violation of our rights as New Zealand citizens. Our Bill of Rights says we can return home any time we like. The government is breaching the Bill of Rights and our human rights, and it doesn’t care one iota what happens to Kiwis who are stranded.
Any government that deliberately slams the door shut on its own citizens is a despotic government.
The case of Charlotte Bellis has really shown that many Kiwis have lost their compassion and their sense of decency. She was an expatriate New Zealander working for Al Jazeera. The details of her case are irrelevant, but I’ll cover them anyway. She thought she was unable to have children and was focusing on her career when she found that she was pregnant. She resigned from her job in November, not wanting to put her employer in a difficult position because it is illegal to be pregnant and unmarried in that Muslim country. She travelled to Belgium with her Belgian partner and tried to make arrangements to come home. About that time MIQ was closed indefinitely because of the onset of Omicron. Her visa for the EU was about to expire, she could not get home and the only place she held a visa for was Afghanistan.
Even given the promise of her safety from the Taliban – a remarkable feat in itself – anything could happen to an unmarried pregnant woman in a Muslim state, there could be no question that her safety – and that of her unborn child – were at risk. She could be stoned to death. That is the ultimate price paid by women under Sharia law who break the rules about extramarital sex.
Not all kiwis were sympathetic though.
If being pregnant is not a medical condition, why do we need doctors and midwives when giving birth? Does nobody ever have pregnancy complications anymore? Have we eradicated those along with the pandemic?
This is a new one. Citizenship expires after 7 years? What drivel!
Yeah, it’s all a PR stunt. No doubt she is laughing all the way to the Bank of Afghanistan.
These are just a few comments, taken mainly from one thread, but there are plenty more. As you can see, the unkindness is palpable. I am disgusted.
We never used to be like this. Kiwis were the best people in the world. Many still are, of course, and there are many who are standing up for Bellis, but I would swear there was a time, not long ago when such comments would never have been heard from the mouth (or the keyboard) of a New Zealander.
How did it come to this?
I have friends from all across the political divide, but I have to say that it is the left-wingers who spout this trash. Older white women who complain about dealing with ‘old white men’, even though they are married to old white men themselves. People who think it is perfectly OK for unvaccinated people to lose their jobs. And people who think that Kiwis stranded overseas have only got themselves to blame. What is happening to us all?
It is government-driven, of course. The government and Jacinda Ardern in particular have created deep divisions within our society – built on the grounds of race, medical status, or locality – and hidden behind a toothy smile and a false request to “Be Kind”. Jacinda is the least kind of them all.
Of course, Jacinda is now finding some of this hatred aimed at her, which she didn’t expect. She thought she was adored and revered. To now find herself being chased out of Paihia or told to leave a butcher’s shop must be a shock to her. I really don’t know what she expected.
Those who create divisions in society must expect to be affected by them.
Maybe she thinks she is Joseph Stalin or Mao Tse Tung – not exactly loved, but feared – but no one fears Jacinda. Those that love her treat her like a doll and those of us who do not love her treat her with the contempt she absolutely deserves. Nobody sees her as a great leader and it is really starting to show.
But where does all this leave us? It won’t be long before Jacinda is gone. Rumours are that the knives are being sharpened as we speak.
If her legacy is to leave us an embittered and unkind society, she will have done the worst thing imaginable. She will have taken a nation of thoroughly decent people and turned them into cowards and haters, terrified to leave our little hermit kingdom. That is not exactly a legacy to be proud of.