A timely reminder

With Winston Peters promising special "flying squads" of patriotic New Zealanders to target illegal immigration, TVNZ has delivered a timely reminder of exactly what that means with tonight's documentary "Dawn Raids". Thirty years ago, the National Party won power after an election campaign in which they stirred racial divisions and scapegoated Polynesian migrants for New Zealand's problems. There immediately followed a crackdown on overstayers. Houses were raided at dawn, and those who could not prove residency were deported. "Suspected overstayers" (meaning "brown people" - including many Cook Islanders, Niueans, Tokealuans and even Maori, all of whom were New Zealand citizens) were randomly stopped on the streets and asked for their passports. The racist tactics reflected the racism of the strategy as a whole: two thirds of overstayers at the time were in fact Europeans, but it was Pacific Peoples who were singled out and targetted.

This is what Winston's policy means - except that rather than targetting Pacific Peoples, he'll be targetting more recent arrivals: asians and arabs. And the result is likely to be the same: whole communities feeling persecuted, discriminated against, and unwelcome. Is that really the sort of country we want to be?

Don't let Winston ruin our country. Whichever party you support, it is time to tell them that you will not accept their cutting a deal with Winston at the expense of immigrants. Parties must be warned that making that sort of Devil's bargain will be punished at the polls - and punished severely.