Harawira Hone: Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Harawira Hone: Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:643;Page:12972] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tena tatou katoa e te Whare. Over the past couple of days comments I made about this Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill seem to have generated some heated debate from politicians both inside and outside of this House. I thought I would recap on those comments so that the House is absolutely crystal clear about what I actually said. Here it is: “I will not sit quietly by while State forces terrorise my people. If this requires of me that I speak out against the rule of law that would impose terror on Maori communities in this country then I will speak out. I will speak out against it in this Chamber on television in newspapers and anywhere else I possibly can.” 
 I stand by those comments today in spite of all the personal abuse I have had from someone who called for and signed up to a code of conduct which states that “we will debate the issues raised and refrain from personal attacks” and who then twice in as many weeks has issued press releases abusing me as a person and insulting my position as a member of Parliament. I stand by those comments because they reflect the feelings within many Maori communities all around the country. I stand by those comments because they reflect the feelings of New Zealanders who are proud to stand up for their rights and to respect the right of all other New Zealanders to do so as well. I stand by those comments because neither I nor the Maori Party will allow our views to be silenced by those who think the only good Maori is a dead one. I stand by those comments because unless someone has changed the rules in the last couple of days—and I know that some of the petty little players in this House have been desperately climbing on to the “Let’s do whatever we can to shut this Harawira up and get some media for ourselves.” bandwagon—I have the right as an elected member of this House of Representatives as do the rest of my colleagues in the Maori Party to speak freely on any issue that affects this country and its citizens. 
So let us look at what this whole terrorism thing means. What exactly is terrorism and who are we talking about when we call people “terrorists”? People in this House say that the Taliban are terrorists. My question is: is that the Taliban that was funded by the Americans to throw the Russians out of Afghanistan or—as if there are two different groups—is that the Taliban that turned around and then said: “And now you Yankee warmongers can get out of here as well.”? And Saddam Hussein—is that the Saddam Hussein who was bankrolled by the Americans in the war against Iran or is that the Saddam Hussein who told the Americans to get out of his country? Or is it the terrorism of the United States Seventh Cavalry operating under a clear mandate from their masters in Washington in the 1870s to crush everything that stood in the way of land-hungry settlers and to round up hunt down and kill where necessary any natives who stood in their way? 
When we talk about the fight against terrorism I recall attending a conference in Canada last year the United Nations Expert Seminar on Treaties Agreements and other Constructive Arrangements between States and Indigenous Peoples where I was given the picture I have here of Geronimo and some of his warriors carrying guns with a caption at the bottom that reads: “Homeland Security—Fighting Terrorism since 1492”. I ask whether that is the kind of fight against terrorism that we are talking about here. Or is it the terrorism of those people who lied to the whole world about weapons of mass destruction which were never found and about the link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein which was never proved so that those people could invade Iraq to get control of the oilfields? 
When a member of this House characterises terrorism as the importation of deadly diseases the murder of innocent civilians and the wholesale theft of a people’s lands and territories is he referring to the terrorism of the colonial invasion of Aotearoa? Because people would have to be deaf dumb and blind not to see those very terrorist activities in our own history. 
When we think of this Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill all I ask is that we put aside the blinkers of red white and blue and be honest about the reality of terrorism in all its forms. The Maori Party is no apologist for the regimes of either the Taliban or Saddam Hussein but neither are we so blind as to vote for a bill clearly designed to punish those who would challenge injustice in Aotearoa. 
Nicky Hager author of  
The Hollow Men 
 has said that since the passing of the Terrorism Suppression Act of 2002 people taking part in ordinary protests have found they are being subjected to much heavier policing. He said that the police are now routinely removing computers charging people in a manner well out of proportion to the original activity and using far more Draconian measures against people exercising their legitimate right to protest. He even pointed out that protesters had been charged with wilful damage for writing in chalk on the footpath outside Marian Hobbs’ office—for Heaven’s sake! 
This country is faced with the terror of silence from those who would silence the voice of radical protest vocal dissent and genuine opposition and from those who would tell us: “Wait just wait! The police know what they are doing.” Yeah right! Then there are those of us who would sit silently by muttering about how those so-and-so’s deserved it but secretly terrified that our children might be the next ones to get picked up. I am reminded of those famous words from Pastor Martin Niemöller who said of the Nazi purges of the Second World War: “First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. And then they came for me and by that time there was no one left to speak out for me.” 
So no we will not be terrorised into silence on this or on any other issue that so hugely impacts upon our people. And for all those who think that the Maori Party stands alone I urge them to listen to some of these testimonies: Archdeacon Hone Kaa along with the Anglican Church itself has criticised the authorities for their actions and said that “there is no excuse for women children and the elderly being subjected to terror”. The Rev. John Thrupp of the Presbyterian Church has spoken of the overwhelming hurt and sense of anger amongst the people of Ruatoki—innocent people being held at gunpoint children being frightened out of their wits by police with guns and kids being stranded by the police arresting their parents. There is Te Teira Davies a highly respected Ringatu minister who was arrested. For Heaven’s sake he was taken from the college where he works and questioned for daring to know Tame Iti. Mate you know people can call the Maori Party whatever they like but when the church starts criticising police action we know that something is wrong.  
 When members of this House criticise the Maori Party and the Green Party for standing against State terrorism I have to ask all of them in return whether they really think it is acceptable behaviour for the State to use armed and masked gunmen to blockade communities to smash into people’s homes to hold innocent people at gunpoint to frighten children with guns to arrest and hold people without bail and to suppress all information on those cases. Any freedom-loving New Zealander—Maori Pakeha Pasifika Asian or whoever—would be horrified by the call for us to simply sit back and say nothing about the overkill of the recent police terror raids and the denial of basic human rights to our fellow citizens. We are not blind we are not dumb we are not deaf and we will not be silenced. 
They say that denying legal rights to terrorism suspects is normal in dictatorships but in countries like Aotearoa with a history of political tolerance and non-violent protest it is a development that we must rage against with all our might. On 29 March this year I said in this House that the Maori Party would oppose the use of terror to impose one-eyed nationalistic misconceptions of religion and governance on any people whether committed in the name of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda or in the name of George Bush and the United States of America. Today I repeat that statement. The Maori Party will oppose terrorism in all its forms be it international terrorism or State terrorism and we will stand alongside our people whenever our lands our communities and our people are threatened. 
Me mihi atu au ki te iwi o Tuhoe tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa. 
[ 
My greetings and thanks to the Tuhoe people and to us all 
.]