Maori lawmakers suspended over protest haka performed in New Zealand Parliament
The three lawmakers, whose record suspensions last up to three weeks, drew global attention last year when they performed the ceremonial dance to protest a contentious bill.
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I'm gonna say it again because it pisses me off.
But that is such utter bullshit. What a bunch of lily livered asswipe racists they have to be to claim that shit was threatening.
The fact that they made such a big deal out of it is pure silliness.
You can’t disrupt a legislative chamber without consequences. The question is how severe they should be.
Legislators can disrupt the legislative chamber. In fact if they don’t once in awhile, that’s probably bad.
You say that, but when I searched "politician brawl" in the last year, I got Illinois, Turkey, Serbia, Georgia (the country), Italy, Brazil, and Argentina. Now not all of those were in the legislative chamber. One was at a board meeting (Illinois mayor), and i think a couple others might have been, out of chambers, too. But at least half of those were in chambers. In the last year. And this isn't even counting the Swedish politician who shot someone, which was at his home.
And you will have to explain how someone doing a traditional dance of political relevance is any less culturally significant than the filibuster.
None of those examples were in the Westminster system however, which places a premium on the conduct within the chamber.
And I guess a bunch of men shouting and banging on tables is the height of civilization
The only way your point makes any sense is if you think British cultural history is more important than Maori cultural history.
Nothing to do with cultural history. Thems the rules, they swore oaths to abide by the rules, they break the rules, they get sanctioned. It’s a simple process of cause and effect. It has nothing to do with the content of their position.
fair point
Malarkey.
It was a power play entirely, a smack in the face of the Maori. A protest was a absolutely called for. Disruption is the only useful form of protest.
They did so by performing a ceremony in a formal way. There was no threat, there was no attack.
Reprimanding them verbally would have been bad enough, but the extreme response points right at racism.
No legislative chamber is sacred ground unable to be protested.