Co-Governance
The controversial Stop Co-governance campaign came to Kapiti Monday night with its leader Julian Batchelor, a massive (for Kapiti) police presence and a roomful of protesters.
More protestors were outside, some from the Aotearoa Liberation League singing waiata.
Police controlled the road up to the Lindale Village auditorium. Traffic backed up on the entrance road as they filtered people into the building.
The auditorium was packed- at least a hundred people, some clearly believers. The majority seemed to be ordinary people trying to get a fix on the issue.
A proposed meeting in Levin earlier had been called off after protests.
About a quarter were protestors but their numbers dropped: someone would stand up to denounce Batchelor as a liar and a racist and then be escorted out to chants of “Out, Out, out.”
One protestor stood up and made dog noises, presumably indicating Batchelor was indulging in dog-whistle politics.
One protestor was called a “nasty person.”
Sound familiar- that’s a line from Donald Trump.
Batchelor, a former NZ First member, is a controversial evangelist, ex real estate agent and former teacher.
By some accounts he’s worth a million The Stop Co-Governance booklet he hands out runs to 27 pages.
Local hapu in Northland accuse him of disrespect after cutting down an old pohutukawa on property he owned on a long-time Maori settlement.
His message: co-governance is wrong and must be stopped.The Batchelor scenario is that the trouble “really started” in 1975 with the Treaty of Waitangi Act and the birth of the Waitangi tribunal., subsequently “hijacked by Maori radicals.”
His scorn for politicians is wide ranging, including David Lange, Helen Clark, Jacinda Ardern, Kevin McAnulty and Christopher Hipkins, plus National’s Doug Graham, John Key and Christopher Finlayson. Now that’s a group and a half.
His definition: co-governance code for the take over of New Zealand by tribal companies and their representatives, the end of democracy, the installation of apartheid and seperatism (sic) in everyday life, leading eventually to full blown government by tribal rule. [www.stopcogovernance.co.nz]
He says his group is fighting for “the average Maori & all the other 160 cultures”.
The protestors, many Maori, clearly didn’t see it that way at all. Neither did a group of anti racist Christians who sang as they left the auditorium.
An attempt to hold a similar meeting in Levin was postponed after fights.
The police presence in Paraparaumu held that off. However bringing extra police into Kapiti meant that evening patrol shifts in Porirua were down on the numbers they would usually deploy.
Forty years ago an Irish professor said people can be made to feel part of a country if they can imagine themselves as part of it, mainly through print media.
Mr Batchelor spent some of his time saying the NZ media isn’t reporting much of what’s really going on. His explanation- they’ve been bought off by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund.
He says many people see Maori to be “an elite, separate and privileged race of people, superior to everyone else.”
He seems to imagine that there’s only one reason many people don’t agree with him – they have been misled.
Co-Governance
An attempt to hold a similar meeting in Levin was postponed after fights.
The police presence in Paraparaumu held that off. However bringing extra police into Kapiti
meant that evening patrol shifts in Porirua were down on the numbers they would usually
deploy.
Forty years ago an Irish professor said people can be made to feel part of a country if they
can imagine themselves as part of it, mainly through print media.
Mr Batchelor spent some of his time saying the NZ media isn’t reporting much of what’s
really going on. His explanation- they’ve been bought off by the $55 million Public Interest
Journalism Fund.
He says many people see Maori to be “an elite, separate and privileged race of people,
superior to everyone else.”
He seems to imagine that there’s only one reason many people don’t agree with him – they
have been misled.
The controversial Stop Co-governance campaign came to Kapiti Monday night with its leader
Julian Batchelor, a massive (for Kapiti) police presence and a roomful of protesters.
More protestors were outside, some from the Aotearoa Liberation League singing waiata.
Police controlled the road up to the Lindale Village auditorium. Traffic backed up on the
entrance road as they filtered people into the building.
The auditorium was packed- at least a hundred people, some clearly believers. The majority
seemed to be ordinary people trying to get a fix on the issue.
A proposed meeting in Levin earlier had been called off after protests.
About a quarter were protestors but their numbers dropped: someone would stand up to
denounce Batchelor as a liar and a racist and then be escorted out to chants of “Out, Out,
out.”
One protestor stood up and made dog noises, presumably indicating Batchelor was indulging
in dog-whistle politics.
One protestor was called a “nasty person.”
Sound familiar- that’s a line from Donald Trump.
Batchelor, a former NZ First member, is a controversial evangelist, ex real estate agent and
former teacher.
By some accounts he’s worth a million The Stop Co-Governance booklet he hands out runs
to 27 pages.
Local hapu in Northland accuse him of disrespect after cutting down an old pohutukawa on
property he owned on a long-time Maori settlement.
His message: co-governance is wrong and must be stopped.The Batchelor scenario is that the
trouble “really started” in 1975 with the Treaty of Waitangi Act and the birth of the Waitangi
tribunal., subsequently “hijacked by Maori radicals.”
His scorn for politicians is wide ranging, including David Lange, Helen Clark, Jacinda
Ardern, Kevin McAnulty and Christopher Hipkins, plus National’s Doug Graham, John Key
and Christopher Finlayson. Now that’s a group and a half.
His definition: co-governance code for the take over of New Zealand by tribal companies and
their representatives, the end of democracy, the installation of apartheid and seperatism (sic)
in everyday life, leading eventually to full blown government by tribal rule.
[www.stopcogovernance.co.nz]
He says his group is fighting for “the average Maori & all the other 160 cultures”.
The protestors, many Maori, clearly didn’t see it that way at all. Neither did a group of anti
racist Christians who sang as they left the auditorium.
An attempt to hold a similar meeting in Levin was postponed after fights.
The police presence in Paraparaumu held that off. However bringing extra police into Kapiti
meant that evening patrol shifts in Porirua were down on the numbers they would usually
deploy.
Forty years ago an Irish professor said people can be made to feel part of a country if they
can imagine themselves as part of it, mainly through print media.
Mr Batchelor spent some of his time saying the NZ media isn’t reporting much of what’s
really going on. His explanation- they’ve been bought off by the $55 million Public Interest
Journalism Fund.
He says many people see Maori to be “an elite, separate and privileged race of people,
superior to everyone else.”
He seems to imagine that there’s only one reason many people don’t agree with him – they
have been misled.
Co-Governance
The controversial Stop Co-governance campaign came to Kapiti Monday night with its leader
Julian Batchelor, a massive (for Kapiti) police presence and a roomful of protesters.
More protestors were outside, some from the Aotearoa Liberation League singing waiata.
Police controlled the road up to the Lindale Village auditorium. Traffic backed up on the
entrance road as they filtered people into the building.
The auditorium was packed- at least a hundred people, some clearly believers. The majority
seemed to be ordinary people trying to get a fix on the issue.
A proposed meeting in Levin earlier had been called off after protests.
About a quarter were protestors but their numbers dropped: someone would stand up to
denounce Batchelor as a liar and a racist and then be escorted out to chants of “Out, Out,
out.”
One protestor stood up and made dog noises, presumably indicating Batchelor was indulging
in dog-whistle politics.
One protestor was called a “nasty person.”
Sound familiar- that’s a line from Donald Trump.
Batchelor, a former NZ First member, is a controversial evangelist, ex real estate agent and
former teacher.
By some accounts he’s worth a million The Stop Co-Governance booklet he hands out runs
to 27 pages.
Local hapu in Northland accuse him of disrespect after cutting down an old pohutukawa on
property he owned on a long-time Maori settlement.
His message: co-governance is wrong and must be stopped.The Batchelor scenario is that the
trouble “really started” in 1975 with the Treaty of Waitangi Act and the birth of the Waitangi
tribunal., subsequently “hijacked by Maori radicals.”
His scorn for politicians is wide ranging, including David Lange, Helen Clark, Jacinda
Ardern, Kevin McAnulty and Christopher Hipkins, plus National’s Doug Graham, John Key
and Christopher Finlayson. Now that’s a group and a half.
His definition: co-governance code for the take over of New Zealand by tribal companies and
their representatives, the end of democracy, the installation of apartheid and seperatism (sic)
in everyday life, leading eventually to full blown government by tribal rule.
[www.stopcogovernance.co.nz]
He says his group is fighting for “the average Maori & all the other 160 cultures”.
The protestors, many Maori, clearly didn’t see it that way at all. Neither did a group of anti
racist Christians who sang as they left the auditorium.
An attempt to hold a similar meeting in Levin was postponed after fights.
The police presence in Paraparaumu held that off. However bringing extra police into Kapiti
meant that evening patrol shifts in Porirua were down on the numbers they would usually
deploy.
Forty years ago an Irish professor said people can be made to feel part of a country if they
can imagine themselves as part of it, mainly through print media.
Mr Batchelor spent some of his time saying the NZ media isn’t reporting much of what’s
really going on. His explanation- they’ve been bought off by the $55 million Public Interest
Journalism Fund.
He says many people see Maori to be “an elite, separate and privileged race of people,
superior to everyone else.”
He seems to imagine that there’s only one reason many people don’t agree with him – they
have been misled.
The auditorium was packed- at least a hundred people, some clearly believers, reports Jeremy Smith.
The majority seemed to be ordinary people trying to get a fix on the issue.
One protestor was called a “nasty person.” Sound familiar- that’s a line from Donald Trump.
Batchelor, a former NZ First member, is a controversial evangelist, ex real estate agent and former teacher.
By some accounts he’s worth a million The Stop Co-Governance booklet he hands out runs to 27 pages.
Local hapu in Northland accuse him of disrespect after cutting down an old pohutukawa on property he owned on a long-time Maori settlement.
His message: co-governance is wrong and must be stopped.
The Batchelor scenario is that the trouble “really started” in 1975 with the Treaty of Waitangi Act and the birth of the Waitangi tribunal., subsequently “hijacked by Maori radicals.”
His scorn for politicians is wide ranging, including David Lange, Helen Clark, Jacinda Ardern, Kevin McAnulty and Christopher Hipkins, plus National’s Doug Graham, John Key and Christopher Finlayson.
Now that’s a group and a half.
His definition:co-governance code for the take over of New Zealand by tribal companies and their representatives, the end of democracy, the installation of apartheid and seperatism (sic) in everyday life, leading eventually to full blown government by tribal rule. [www.stopcogovernance.co.nz]
He says his group is fighting for “the average Maori & all the other 160 cultures”. The protestors, many Maori, clearly didn’t see it that way at all.
Neither did a group of anti racist Christians who sang as they left the auditorium.
An attempt to hold a similar meeting in Levin was postponed after fights.
The police presence in Paraparaumu held that off. However bringing extra police into Kapiti meant that evening patrol shifts in Porirua were down on the numbers they would usually deploy.
Forty years ago an Irish professor said people can be made to feel part of a country if they can imagine themselves as part of it, mainly through print media. .
Mr Batchelor spent some of his time saying the NZ media isn’t reporting much of what’s really going on. His explanation- they’ve been bought off by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund.
He says many people see Maori to be “an elite, separate and privileged race of people, superior to everyone else.” He seems to imagine that there’s only one reason many people don’t agree with him – they have been misled.
As someone who was there, it was a shocking display of twisting facts to suit his racist narrative. Those who had every right to be there (the public were invited) were intimated and bodily threatened by Julian’s supporters for voicing their opinions, despite Julian beginning the meeting with a statement about people’s right to free speech. That this kind of ugly racist rhetoric is supported by members of my community makes me deeply ashamed.