Anthony Hubbard Puts Our Minds at Rest on "Terrorism"
One journalist I always read is the Sunday Star/Times's Anthony Hubbard.
Not because of his virtues as a writer, but because I think he is a great guage of what the far left is thinking.
Hubbard seems to consistently follow the leftist line.
In today's SST he penned an interesting article on former Maori radical, Ripeka Evans.
The far left is currently trying to undermine the recent Police action against alleged "terrorists".
Every effort is being made to minimise the allegations against those arrested.
Hubbards article, entitled The Reformed Revolutionary, fits the pattern well.
Hubbard paints a picture of a naughty little radical turned to the path of peace and righteousness after being counselled by the older and wiser. We're left with the distinct impression that we shouldn't take today's radicals too seriously-even if they're doing some silly things now, they'll grow out of it in time.
Once she advocated bloody dissent. Now Ripeka Evans fights for Maori from within the system. She talks to Anthony Hubbard about the differences between protest, civil disobedience and terrorism.
Ripeka Evans used to sound just like a terrorist. "I feel I have the right to take the blood of white people if necessary," she told a reporter in 1982. The SIS put her on a list of radical suspects during the Springbok tour, noting that she "advocates revolutionary tactics and confrontation with the police; `this is war"'. She was said to have attended "training camps" in Cuba.
She was one of the leaders of her generation and she was scary, but Evans ended up reforming the system from inside. She helped lay the foundation for Maori TV; she was part of the movement that spawned the Waitangi Tribunal and treaty settlements; she has done much for Maori economic development....
Evans does not approve of terrorism but she is waiting to see if there is any evidence of it.
"I think the whole gesture is politically motivated," she says, showing that the fire still burns. The police raids were aimed at organisations that mainstream New Zealand "might want to marginalise"...
National prime minister Robert Muldoon used the same tactic against Springbok tour protesters.
"He tried to marginalise a very strong and well-built public opinion," Evans says. Muldoon issued an SIS list of 15 people, "extremists exploiting the protest movement for their own radical ends".
The SIS said eight were members of subversive organisations, and seven were "radicals not positively known to be members of subversive organisations". Evans was in the second group, and was said to "seek support for the anti-tour movement from urban Maori gangs".
There were 15 on the official list then; this year there are 17.
"I had a feeling of deja vu," she says. And "it was only a matter of time before Maori were going to be targeted under this type of (terrorism) legislation", Evans says...
She scorns the idea that Tame Iti is a terrorist, and approves of Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia's description of him as "an ageing rock star".
It's vital, she says, not to overreact to inflammatory language and she should know, because her language in those years was explosive. In an interview with the Auckland Star in September 1982, Evans said she was prepared to go "all the way" in her protest.
"Through the blood of my ancestors killed in the struggle for their land, I feel that I have the right to take the blood of white people if necessary. There'll be unfortunate deaths. We've got to look at the power figures. Assassination? That's a limited definition. I'd see it as utu, revenge..."
In retrospect, she says, "the bright thing to do would have been to have some senior member of the (police) force come around and say, `Don't be so bloody stupid.'
"It's quite funny because one of my older aunties did `Oh, no no no no no, you don't get away with saying something like that.' Senior members of the Auckland community and senior members of the family (did) as well. They give you a ticking-off and they don't care for the niceties of debate."
The "grand dames" of the Maori Women's Welfare League such as Dame Mira Szaszy "purse their lips and take you aside quietly and have a quiet little chat and push you along the way... Ignore it at your peril".
Hubbard is no stranger to controversy when it comes to Maori issues.
In 2005 he and leftist researcher/journalist Nicky Hager wrote a bombshell story for the SST claiming that the Security Intelligence service had been spying on Maori radicals and the Maori Party.
A group of dissident spies has launched an unprecedented attack on the SIS, saying it has misused its powers by bugging law-abiding Maori for political intelligence. The SIS's Operation Leaf, they say, has been used to find "dirt" on individuals, and intelligence about iwi divisions, finances and Treaty claims. Now they question the service's leadership and strategy.
Spies have never before broken ranks in New Zealand. Now three have done so and say they have evidence of a scandal. Their claim that the SIS has bugged "decent, law-abiding New Zealanders" has been made many times by liberal and left-wing activists. But now, for the first time, the accusation comes from within the intelligence community.
The story understandably provoked outrage from the left. However the SST eventually had to back away from the allegations as the alleged informants disappeared into the ether.
Hubbard and Hager were apparently hoaxed.
Like most former Listener journalists, Hubbard was once a bit of a leftie himself.
Check out this little "Hubbardism" from the SST of 25th October 1998, entitled;
Free Markets, Trapped People
A business corporation, says philosopher Noam Chomsky, is a tyranny. "That's always been well understood," he says in his matter-of-fact way, as though he were stating the obvious. Among human institutions, he continues, it's hard to find one whose internal structure is more tyrannical. "Orders come from the top down. At the bottom you can sort of rent yourself out to it if you're lucky. At middle level you take orders from above and hand them on down below. You know what to call that in the political domain?" What Chomsky calls it is fascism.
What kind of leftie was Hubbard?
I don't know his politics now, but as a young man he was allegedly pretty extreme.
I quote from the 2003 edition of the anarchist 'zine Thrall-an article dealing with the anarchist movement in Christchurch.
1975 the Anarchy collective was having weekly meetings that involved about five people including Jock Spence, McDonagh, Margaret Flaws, Katherine Mulcahey and Anthony Hubbard (later a journalist with the "Listener"). The group split up after Hey left for Brisbane, where he became involved in the anarchist movement there, and McDonagh moved to the North Island.
Was Anthony Hubbard once an anarchist?
Hang on a minute, aren't a lot of the people arrested in the recent "terrorist" swoop anarchists?
Ain't life the funniest thing?
Not because of his virtues as a writer, but because I think he is a great guage of what the far left is thinking.
Hubbard seems to consistently follow the leftist line.
In today's SST he penned an interesting article on former Maori radical, Ripeka Evans.
The far left is currently trying to undermine the recent Police action against alleged "terrorists".
Every effort is being made to minimise the allegations against those arrested.
Hubbards article, entitled The Reformed Revolutionary, fits the pattern well.
Hubbard paints a picture of a naughty little radical turned to the path of peace and righteousness after being counselled by the older and wiser. We're left with the distinct impression that we shouldn't take today's radicals too seriously-even if they're doing some silly things now, they'll grow out of it in time.
Once she advocated bloody dissent. Now Ripeka Evans fights for Maori from within the system. She talks to Anthony Hubbard about the differences between protest, civil disobedience and terrorism.
Ripeka Evans used to sound just like a terrorist. "I feel I have the right to take the blood of white people if necessary," she told a reporter in 1982. The SIS put her on a list of radical suspects during the Springbok tour, noting that she "advocates revolutionary tactics and confrontation with the police; `this is war"'. She was said to have attended "training camps" in Cuba.
She was one of the leaders of her generation and she was scary, but Evans ended up reforming the system from inside. She helped lay the foundation for Maori TV; she was part of the movement that spawned the Waitangi Tribunal and treaty settlements; she has done much for Maori economic development....
Evans does not approve of terrorism but she is waiting to see if there is any evidence of it.
"I think the whole gesture is politically motivated," she says, showing that the fire still burns. The police raids were aimed at organisations that mainstream New Zealand "might want to marginalise"...
National prime minister Robert Muldoon used the same tactic against Springbok tour protesters.
"He tried to marginalise a very strong and well-built public opinion," Evans says. Muldoon issued an SIS list of 15 people, "extremists exploiting the protest movement for their own radical ends".
The SIS said eight were members of subversive organisations, and seven were "radicals not positively known to be members of subversive organisations". Evans was in the second group, and was said to "seek support for the anti-tour movement from urban Maori gangs".
There were 15 on the official list then; this year there are 17.
"I had a feeling of deja vu," she says. And "it was only a matter of time before Maori were going to be targeted under this type of (terrorism) legislation", Evans says...
She scorns the idea that Tame Iti is a terrorist, and approves of Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia's description of him as "an ageing rock star".
It's vital, she says, not to overreact to inflammatory language and she should know, because her language in those years was explosive. In an interview with the Auckland Star in September 1982, Evans said she was prepared to go "all the way" in her protest.
"Through the blood of my ancestors killed in the struggle for their land, I feel that I have the right to take the blood of white people if necessary. There'll be unfortunate deaths. We've got to look at the power figures. Assassination? That's a limited definition. I'd see it as utu, revenge..."
In retrospect, she says, "the bright thing to do would have been to have some senior member of the (police) force come around and say, `Don't be so bloody stupid.'
"It's quite funny because one of my older aunties did `Oh, no no no no no, you don't get away with saying something like that.' Senior members of the Auckland community and senior members of the family (did) as well. They give you a ticking-off and they don't care for the niceties of debate."
The "grand dames" of the Maori Women's Welfare League such as Dame Mira Szaszy "purse their lips and take you aside quietly and have a quiet little chat and push you along the way... Ignore it at your peril".
Hubbard is no stranger to controversy when it comes to Maori issues.
In 2005 he and leftist researcher/journalist Nicky Hager wrote a bombshell story for the SST claiming that the Security Intelligence service had been spying on Maori radicals and the Maori Party.
A group of dissident spies has launched an unprecedented attack on the SIS, saying it has misused its powers by bugging law-abiding Maori for political intelligence. The SIS's Operation Leaf, they say, has been used to find "dirt" on individuals, and intelligence about iwi divisions, finances and Treaty claims. Now they question the service's leadership and strategy.
Spies have never before broken ranks in New Zealand. Now three have done so and say they have evidence of a scandal. Their claim that the SIS has bugged "decent, law-abiding New Zealanders" has been made many times by liberal and left-wing activists. But now, for the first time, the accusation comes from within the intelligence community.
The story understandably provoked outrage from the left. However the SST eventually had to back away from the allegations as the alleged informants disappeared into the ether.
Hubbard and Hager were apparently hoaxed.
Like most former Listener journalists, Hubbard was once a bit of a leftie himself.
Check out this little "Hubbardism" from the SST of 25th October 1998, entitled;
Free Markets, Trapped People
A business corporation, says philosopher Noam Chomsky, is a tyranny. "That's always been well understood," he says in his matter-of-fact way, as though he were stating the obvious. Among human institutions, he continues, it's hard to find one whose internal structure is more tyrannical. "Orders come from the top down. At the bottom you can sort of rent yourself out to it if you're lucky. At middle level you take orders from above and hand them on down below. You know what to call that in the political domain?" What Chomsky calls it is fascism.
What kind of leftie was Hubbard?
I don't know his politics now, but as a young man he was allegedly pretty extreme.
I quote from the 2003 edition of the anarchist 'zine Thrall-an article dealing with the anarchist movement in Christchurch.
1975 the Anarchy collective was having weekly meetings that involved about five people including Jock Spence, McDonagh, Margaret Flaws, Katherine Mulcahey and Anthony Hubbard (later a journalist with the "Listener"). The group split up after Hey left for Brisbane, where he became involved in the anarchist movement there, and McDonagh moved to the North Island.
Was Anthony Hubbard once an anarchist?
Hang on a minute, aren't a lot of the people arrested in the recent "terrorist" swoop anarchists?
Ain't life the funniest thing?
posted by Trevor Loudon at
10/21/2007 09:59:00 PM
2 Comments:
You know, Trevor, I thought you did have some points the first time you mentioned this whole police swoop thing.
Then I realised you've posted about 10 times about it. It seems a touch McCarthyist, to be frank, and I suspect the Left will be getting the last laugh in these matters. But we'll wait and see.
What I really want to know is: what do you think about the new Kiwi state-sponsored movie coming out detailing your religious colleague's Dave Henderson's battles with the IRD?
Amazing how Leftist ideologues like Hubbard are happy to make a good living in the free press when if they had their way there would be no free press.
Am I alone in thinking the Sunday Star Times has moved left under the present editor?
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