by Anonymous
I attended the meeting that morning. I wish to remain anonymous and cannot speak out on social media for fear of being attacked [a lot of folks know that feeling —Eds].
Here follows what I witnessed by a young man who was part of the local iwi against a woman sitting in the back row.
The lady and her husband where sitting in the back row and the man was sitting directly in front of the lady. When he stood up to Haka, he shoved his chair hard against the lady’s legs using the back of his legs. She tried to push the chair off her legs but the man continued to force the chair against her legs. Their chairs were against the wall and there was no room to escape. The man continued to Haka and took over more space as he became more vigorous in his movements. I could see by the look on the lady’s face that she was being hurt.
There was a struggle for some time with the chair, between the woman and husband in the back row and the lady that was standing next to the man doing the Haka. She must have been the teacher that was mentioned in the Stuff report. The lady’s husband managed to pick the chair up and placed it on a vacant chair in front of him. It’s possible that when he picked the chair up and while he was trying to put it down, he may have accidentally knocked it against this person. I did not see that. But no chair was thrown at a student. The lady would have bruising on her legs because of the force used. The man was tall and stocky and was wearing a white shirt. It was his chair that was involved in the incident.
There were elderly people sitting on either side of the couple in the back row and also next to this man, who could easily have been hurt also. One man was in his late eighties and looked quite frail. I felt quite scared and I was worried that the situation would escalate. There were other people who witnessed this.
I heard the lady next to me say ‘why are they speaking in Maori’ to which I replied ‘Maori is an official language of NZ and Maori are allowed to speak their own language’. I did hear ‘casual racism’ from people who should know better. It’s complete ignorance and unfortunately common with some baby boomers. I did not hear the monkey comment and if I had, I would have spoken out. Since I read the Stuff article and the reported racism, I had wondered whether this incident was in retaliation, hence my subject line two wrongs don’t make a right.
The students mentioned in the Stuff article conducted themselves really well, so they should be really proud of themselves. I hope the students heard me remonstrate with the lady sitting next to me.
Learnings — I think that the four rows of chairs were placed way to close to each other. I think council need to come up with protocols around haka being performed in the chamber, i.e. for the performers to come to the front of the public gallery to perform it. The behaviour of a few people in that meeting was pretty poor, but the majority were just ‘jo averages.’
What is ‘casual racism’, and did you hear anything of the type coming from the ‘group’ seated to the right?
So, we have yourself Mr Bolton, with a background as a published white supremest sitting next to a man who wore a Klu Klux Klan outfit to a council meeting and still thinks its okay, sitting amongst a tight group of people well known for causing stirs in council just so they can write about themselves in their own media by jumping aboard everyone with legislate reasons to raise their concerns about a council action.
……and many people have reported racial taunts towards the Maori present that went on all day long.
Really??? Surprised?????
The first hurdle I had to get over arriving for the day, was how you two were even allowed in the public gallery, Given you have both previously been trespassed by council, with the latest trespasses notices being for aggressive behaviour, victim shaming a female assault victim and placing obscene material in a public place, is that causing a public disturbance? Not sure. Not to mention breaching court ordered name suppression for a female assault complainant. Personally I found it really disturbing that you were even allowed in. I thought you were both still trespassed.
Talk about defending the indefensible.
In regard to Cllr. Elliott
I find her lack of coherence a little difficult to decipher, so please excuse me if I have misunderstood. She has brought ad hominem to a new level with a ready number of red herrings.
I find it a little odd that she refers to a matter of trespass relating to an incident in which she at the time stated she was an eye-witness and affirmed that my version of events was correct, and in fact was the only councilor who voted in my favour when I brought misconduct complaints.
I was not sitting next to a man that wore a KKK outfit. I was sitting next to a member of the Labour Party.
While I assume she has not read my book on ‘race’, The Decline and Fall of Civilizations, which is a detailed refutation of ‘white supremacist’ race theory, I seem to recall a telephone call several years ago during which she assumed I was a Communist ‘ and said that she was too. This would have been around the time she phoned me, asking whether I would help distribute anonymous leaflets alleging that a then councilor was a ‘paedophile’, to which I replied that I do not publish or distribute anything anonymously and that I would not put my name to anything that could not be proven. So accusations seem to come easily to Cllr. Elliott.
Given my family connection with Raukawa her quip about being a ‘white supremacist ‘ is deeply offensive but of course calculatingly intended to be so.
The references to being ‘recently trespassed’ for aggressive behaviour’ are too incoherent for a response. I am not aware of what Cllr. Elliott is referring to.
‘Jumping aboard every’… i guess that means ‘jumping aboard every bandwagon’, to get published, as in when? My interest in KCDC has been exactly this: the travesty against the dog Beau, in which Cllr Elliott was again on ‘my’ side. What else.? The other travesty against David Scott, of which Cllr. Elliott knows zilch. As for naming the ‘victim’, this was in error, something that could have been thwarted by the radio station, and I will never recover the loss of $10,000 in the process ($2000 reparations; $8000 legal fees). Oh yes, I really enjoyed the loss of $10,000., albeit resulting in dismissal without conviction.
As for the ‘group’ with which I was sitting: I know a couple of them casually and nobody else. Cllr. Elliott was once closely aligned with several of them when she was on the ‘outer’ in council. Now she seems to be turning on them. Friends one day, white supremacists the next, including I assume the Jewish lawyer Christopher Ruthe.
It was no ‘group’ as far as I know. I went with Kathy to hear Mr Webber speak. I have never said anything about the Gateway, and do not have any record of frequently remarking on KCDC, let alone jumping on bandwagons. Oh yes,. there was the time I was involved with lobbying council under Rowen’s mayoralty, on dog access to the beach; ultimately successful. so that is three issues over 25 years: the Scott matter and two dog issues. Perhaps one could also mention that I got Kapiti News to report on the lack of a proper fence separating the busy road from the hoop court at MacLean Park, which prompted the council to take action after so much prevarication.
And I am still wondering what precisely I did that was so abhorrent, aside from applauding Mr Webber, whose talk we had come specifically to hear?
And what ‘posting of obscene material in a public place’? what kind of scabrous insinuation is that?
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