It's all downhill - really!

  Sounds crazy? Remember this was a society where Hutus and Tutsis lived together, intermarried, lived and worked alongside each other. "In April 1994, when Rwanda erupted into violence, neighbor turned on neighbor, family turned on family, and love turned to hate. The Rwandan genocide turned friends into enemies. The once beautiful country was as ruined as any spot on earth — 800,000 people were brutally slaughtered in 100 days. Rwanda went down the identity politics road, with its citizens ethnicity identified . "Rwanda’s colonial period, during which the ruling Belgians favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated the tendency of the few to oppress the many, creating a legacy of tension that exploded into violence even before Rwanda gained its independence. Radio hosts discussed discrimination the Hutus suffered under the power of the Tutsis. Strong connotations describing Hutus as slaves during colonization painted the Rwandan genocide as a type of slave rebell...

Double-speak in academia is certainly a thing and my latest experience is not my first.  Some institutions are worse than others and I returned to the one in this story and it hadn't changed in 10 years.   Hi Lecturer, Thinking ahead to assignment two, the Submission, and the discussion we had around it during the contact course. You mentioned that you will be speaking more about this and the issues the coming election will have on the processes of the House with submission dates etc. My concern is with the time frames, as I need to fit my study around my current obligations, and ideally I would start my research and preparation as soon as I have finished assignment one.  Looking at the current Bills on the NZ Parliament site, there are few accepting submissions and they are closing soon and well before due date, (because the expectation was we were to submit after the academic assignment was marked). A topic of interest to me and social policy is https://www.parliam...

   The Incredible Pettiness of Bureaucracy: the scrabble to arse cover.  I lodged a formal complaint with (redacted) on the morning of 11 February 2021. I am today completing my application to withdraw from the GradDip ECE program. I cannot see how this can be resolved in any way that I will be comfortable and safe, studying with (redacted), handing in assignments to be marked by collaborating staff who are ultimately deciding my future, to which so far, they have shown so very little care. I believe, as I am being forced to withdraw\ due to the circumstances (redacted) have created, the withdrawal fee of $309.00 should be waived and I would like to have a discussion in regards to having my expenditure so far towards the course compensated. Although I made contact with (redacted) on the morning of 11 February 2021 in regards to lodging this complaint against (redacted) and (redacted), I was contacted by (redacted). at 1730 also on 11 February 2021.  Kia ora Susan, Th...

  In Search of Equilibrium   As the current Labour government rushes through legislation under urgency to remove the provision of binding referenda in setting up Maori Local council wards, the narrative is, as usual, unsurprising. The 2002 legislation allowed "a tiny minority of voters, just 5%, to force a public referendum and veto council's decision".  Of course omitting that the referendum requires a majority vote to be successful.   Simon Bridges MP for Tauranga, proud of his Maori heritage said it was insulting 'to suggest he, and other Maori needed special treatment' to gain seats of representation.   Willie Jackson admonished Bridges for not being Maori enough in his campaign to win the Tauranga seat.   Maori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has simply labelled anyone who dares oppose race-based representation as a racist.   ( Stuff ) To live in a society with total freedom would be to live with anarchy and the...

I parted ways with my social work Master’s degree with the last re-write of legislation.  Whanau placement children have demonstrably worse outcomes than general placement children because there is a problem with inter-generational disfunction (what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly). So, if it all REALLY is about what is best for the children, and not a massive power trip the likes of Turia and Raukawa-Tait are embarking on, then it should be as Henerae O'Keef says, that "it doesn't matter if foster parents are black, brown, white, purple or green, they need to have the love for children and a passion in their future". No one alive today has been colonised or has colonised anyone. Every single person has a choice. Both Maori and Pakeha choose to become addicts, or abuse/neglect their kids. (Remember Maori campaigned to be allowed access to booze in 1947 - now there's some campaigning to prevent Maori access to booze, South Auckland Maori Warden David ...