Leave the poor Israelis alone Minto.

Concentrate on a real and local issue.

You can use the same posters though, quite convenient.

“Ban Apartheid!”

I think you just wrote what I wrote, but differently?

I highly doubt that most of the level-headed thinkers who read this site would want to take Mr. Minto’s right to protest, but I think the general consensus is that his protest has attracted less than 20 supporters (again), and to make up for it, he has to shout louder until he gets his 30 seconds on the 6′oclock news (where he will look like a twat).

You pick on one person and you and your small group of followers will just look like assholes. And when you get arrested on National television for being assholes, most of the public who you are trying to win over are just going to laugh at you.

The problem with this sort of activism is that he is still only attracting those very few people. Reminds me of the saying about the group of animals trying to run ‘the jungle’; when the mice try to take control, but the lions say, “it’s a good plan, but it lacks teeth and claws like we have”.

Someone will correct me on that (because I have 11pm brain on), but 16 people trying to bully one person who has the sympathy of thousands of New Zealanders(the lions) are not going to achieve their goal (Israel pulling out of Palestine…)

This isn’t 1981. This is starting to scream of some sort of activist mid-life crisis.

…what Minto was doing was well within the bounds that the Supreme Court has set down…

If Minto’s performance does prove legal, the law will soon be changed or Bro. Key will be out on his ear.

Re your point on Minto’s teaching. There are many criteria to the suitability for becoming a teacher. What he is teaching is only one aspect of this.

@Gooner
I’m not suggesting for a moment that it is or should be absolute and unfettered. However what Minto was doing was well within the bounds that the Supreme Court has set down. Its one for the lawyers, but I suspect the charges will either be dropped or the case will be thrown out of court.

Their protest is pretty misguided. They are victimising someone who has done nothing wrong and anyone trying to watch the tennis is just going to think they are a bunch of arseholes both for the disruption and for singling out the player. It is certainly not going to advance their cause. They might get a soundbite on the 6 o’clock news but to what efffect?

…Anyone who cares about free speech should be worried about this…

What rubbish. If Mad Marxist Minto had just stood quietly in the street holding a sign expressing his opposition few would have objected. That’s freedom of speech.

Trying to ram his message down other people’s ears with megaphones, and trying to disrupt their lawful entertainment is where Minto made an arsehole of himself.

Anyone in NZ can issue press statements, start blogs or web sites or email newsletters, start minor or major print publications, hold public meetings, write to newspapers etc etc etc. That’s freedom of speech.

In addition, Minto has the apparent support of the Fairfax NZ newspaper chain, which gives him space enormously out of porportion to public support for people of his political ilk.

At the tennis, Minto abused his right to free speech. He tried to take away the right of others not to take notice.

As for the role of Minto as a teacher in taxpayer funded schools, in case anyone thinks raising this question to be unfair consider this. If Kyle Chapman, at the other end of the political spectrum from Minto, wanted to teach in public school, would the education authorities allow him. Of course not.

Can anybody here imagine New Zealand if it was run by Socialist Aotearoa? Any comments on their blogs that criticise them is swiftly removed – Freedom of speech?

What else would be banned? Owning a business, choosing a way of life? Looking at all other Socialist countries in the world – those are the ones that are “Police States”.

How about Iran? Don’t see too many protests from Socialist Aoteroa of GPJA there…. They seem to completely ignore Hamas – probably the sole blockage to peace. What freedoms do Hamas allow? How racist are they?

Tomorrow the protesters will leave the tennis and conduct a march into the city. This means the Shahar will probably lose (as she won’t have the added motivation of their illegitimate protest).

BTW – Shahar Peer has gained a visa to play in Dubai. This nullifies another of Minto’s (stupid) arguments that we had to follow suit with Dubai not granting her a Visa last year as part of a “boycott”

I understand what you are saying. I really do. But what Minto is doing is really is the wrong way about going about it.

Bullying a single person because of her country of birth is the reason why only 16 people bothered to join their protest. Say what you will about media bias and right wing agendas – at the end of the day that is how it looks.

Watching the videos of their protests just makes them look sad and weak. It isn’t doing their cause any good. This is the wrong approach for this issue. And Minto should have realised that last year.

The substance of the protest isn’t the issue here. Lets face it, the number of people who support their cause is small, the number who think their protest is doing their cause any good is even smaller and by the time you account for the people who might support them but who think that Minto is a fuckwit, then the ranks are really starting to thin out (hence the need for the loudhailer).

The issue here is that what the protesters were doing is not illegal in New Zealand (whether it should be illegal is an entirely different arguement). The police are either ignorant of the law or are deliberatly contravening it because there are no consequences for them for making a wrongful arrest and it effectively silences the protest. I’ll give them the benefit off the doubt and say its the first option as cock up is always a more likely option than conspiracy.

Anyone who cares about free speech should be worried about this. The bottom line is that the laws that protect free speech for Minto are the same laws that protect free speech for you and I and that right is much more important to me than a game of fucking tennis. There is no guarantee that next time it will be a bunch of smelly extreme leftists, istead it could be you or someone whose cause you happen to agree with.

dad4justice (5638) Says:

January 7th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Minto is a repulsive maggot. Why the hell he is given the time of day is beyond me? I gave up buying a local paper because the paper got Mintoblown!

http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/cnc/complaints/makingcomplaints.stm

Heh. Shame there’s no web form

Anyone know if One News being more left leaning gave him any face time ?