New New Zealand Movie ‘Operation 18’/On Tuhoe Police Raids 2007
Was This Operation Racist?
Maori Television New Zealand tonight gave us an insight into the 2007 raids on Tuhoe. We were given a great interview with an Auckland University Professor, Jane Kelsey, who defended the rights of Tuhoe, pointing out that the raids were incredibly unjust, and that those accused of ‘terrorism’ have not really had their names cleared due to inadequacies in the legal processes.
The accused, who have had to suffer being labelled ‘terrorist’ for several years now, since their arrest in 2007, have had their human rights severely undermined. Jane Kelsey pointed out some of the hardships these people have endured: Things like families being broken up because of having been separated when they were put in jail; families being broken up because these men, who lost their jobs at the time of arrest, cannot find work again since being released from jail; of not being able to get a passport to travel, not even to Australia; and being labelled on-line so that you cannot find a flat to live in. The first thing that a land-lord, or a prospective boss, does these days is search a prospective tenant or job applicant on-line to see if he or she is suitable. Of course they are deterred as soon as they see the label ‘terrorist’. These accused claim that they are innocent, and have not been found guilty at this stage, yet the label is applied anyway.
On the ‘Native Affairs’ programme tonight , 24th April, 2011, we were introduced to the new documentary on the subject of the Tuhoe raids. This new New Zealand movie from ‘Cut, Cut Cut’, is called ‘Operation 8’ ‘ (Or is it Operation 18? – The television subtitles said Operation 8, but there are 18 accused – maybe this was a typo error)
‘Native Affairs’ features on Maori Television every Sunday night. The programme is on earlier in the week as well: If you miss both the shows, you can catch it on-line.
I really like the presenter of ‘Native Affairs’ on Maori TV. Unfortunately, the TV News gives only a small spot to Maori Television programmes, and, except for Willie Jackson’s ‘Newsbites’, it does not give us many details as to the names of the presenters: I have yet to find out this presenter’s name. He has all the natural style, grace and charm of BBC’s Parkinson , in my estimation. I am sure he will go a long way.’
Getting back to ‘Operation 8’, the new movie, released just this past week in New Zealand. This movie is co-directed by movie-makers Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones. It is a documentary about the police raid on Maori Tuhoe, on October 15th, 2007.
Annabelle Lee interviewed the directors of ‘Operation 8’. Annabelle Lee is the daughter of the most eloquent and erudite Sandra Lee, and her husband Mike Lee, who is reported to be the favourite ‘leftie’ after Auckland Mayor, Len Brown. Just great to spot Annabelle doing the interviewing on ‘Native Affairs’ tonight– I used to teach Annabelle piano on Waiheke Island many moons ago, so I was pretty excited to see her now, excelling in her role as television reporter on Maori Television.
to be continued
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