“Right on, Farrar, it actually isn’t just government that is capable of repressing speech. I fear that a lot more of this sort of thuggery could be ahead yet on a wider range of issues, especially seeing the younger generations are getting so propagandised by radical political ideas……….”

# stephen Add karma Subtract karma +0 Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:17 pm

“What’s wrong with ‘radical’ PhilBest?

Jeez this is disturbing though…”

MY POINT, sorry if it wasn’t clear, is that it is those radicalised youths who could be the next generation of thugs to act to silence free speech, independent of the agencies of government. I can see physical intimidation of climate change skeptics being common in times to come, for example. Craccum themselves may well be guilty of provoking this sort of behaviour. Environmental Journals have been guilty of condoning vandalism and sabotage. So along with free speech, there needs to be the means of citizens being protected by the State, without favour, from independent intimidation and sabotage. And even though I often don’t agree with what Craccum says, they should enjoy this protection too. But if they or anyone condone criminal behaviour, they should be accountable for that too.

But we mustn’t mention this out loud, of course.

What these intellectual giants don’t seem to realise is that creating a scandal makes more people take an interest in the very subject they are trying to suppress!

In NZ it isn’t. Labour and the Greens have been shutting down websites this year for example.

It was a fundamental right.

And John Key won’t turn this back.

I met with Jim today, along with AUSA staff and AUSA President David Do. We ran overtime, and there willl be another meeting to continue where we left off tomorrow. We also had several hundred Craccums returned to our boxes today, but they are missing an entire page, instead of just the one quarter-page advertisement that we were told would be cut out. This meant that some of our content has also been compromised, not to mention the commercial impact of having any amount of magazines removed from our circulation.

Dan Sloan
Craccum Editor

Just an update. I met with Jim today, along with some AUSA staff and President David Do and we’ll be meeting again tomorrow. Several hundred copies of the magazine were returned today at some point to the distribution box near the engineering building, but they were missing the whole last page, not just the small quarter page advertisement. This means we have also lost review content and our ‘Tribute to Highlanger’ photoshoot as well as the small Divine Performing Arts advertisement.

You can’t resist a barb can you! LOL.

Anyway, returning to the point and keeping it simple…

It’s the nature of contemporary China, not ancient Tibet, that is the point. We don’t want it – political repression, racism, secret police, quasi-slave labour – here. We don’t want it there either, but that’s another matter.

The influence of the Chinese government is growing. It won’t go away with a ‘softly softly’ approach. As well as democracy and human rights, they don’t do ‘softly softly’ either.

Hang on, I think what you are saying is that instead if a Chinese PM voted for by the people of NZ, you are advocating some loonie idea that the reds over the sea are going to take us over – oh glad we are on planet reality.

Having spent the last 6 months in Vancouver, the latest of 3 lengthy trips to that great place, the wonderful people of that d town have thrown away (on the whole) their notions of Zenophobia, it makes for a wonderful place to live, and of course that most horrid of situations – understanding of other people.

Security video recorded the young men stacking the magazines and hastily loading them onto a getaway car..

The little irony is that if there students had been stealing ideologically objectionable texts from the campus bookstore or the library this would be a Police matter, and (potentially) grounds for rustication. If these gentlemen aren’t students, there’s also questions of tresspass. As far as I’m aware, the Auckland University campus and Student Union complex is private property.

It’s not very complicated, if you think about it.

You say it’s cool that we have a Chinese PM? Really? The people of Tibet don’t like the idea and for good reason.

Its a repressive, racist (ask any African student who studied there even when the Chinese still claimed to be communist and liberators, myths which they have now jetissoned) and acutely hypocritical regime which has conquered its own people. They are now set on conquering other lands, first economically and later politically if they wish.

Addressing the growth of China in NZ with a set of liberal values is a grave mistake.

Incidentally on the right to life vs the right to speech, I’ll make the case that it is by having a free media and the right to speak up and communicate that governments can’t get away with just killing people they don’t like (I am not talking NZ here). The right to free speech protects almost all our other rights.

Cool and the problem with that is…?

Are they infectious, do they spread disease, will we grow extra limbs? I’m glad you have the concerns of the nation at your heart toffee (it still galls me that someone so right could be of the ‘peoples club’)

Chinese PM, Maori PM, Alien PM, can I vote for Dr Who? Do the timelords have candidates, or are they multigenerational – now there’s a concept – a timelord PM spanning several generations.

[DPF: Assumptions are only bad when they are implicit. I have stated my assumptions, so people can decide for themselves. But feel free to whine]