Bonny Hone

The Syndrome of the Embarrassing Advocate

Poor old Hone Harawira. You have to have a certain sympathy for the politician who is so bedevilled by a sense of grievance that perpetual truculence is his mien. When one must always lash out at a world of perceived enmity one soon devolves to an extremist growling curmudgeon. Hone is rapidly getting to the stage where the only time he opens his mouth is to change feet.

First there was the re-run of calling his political nemesis a Nazi sympatico. It was a charge he had made years ago, but he has been foolish enough to repeat his folly in recent days. Don Brash a Nazi. Really? Really! Actually if you compare Brash to Harawira, the more Nazi-like is Harawira himself if his stated policies are anything to go by. Yes, we know that this would be an egregious exaggeration, but after all it was Hitler and Nazi ideology that presented Aryans as superior and better than everyone else, and Hone argues (wrongly) but vociferously that Maori are exceptional and have more rights than any other race in New Zealand. So, if Hone is really going to persist in the Nazi meme he may find the cap fits him more snugly than anyone else.

But he is on a roll.  He has now come out to call Bin Laden a great freedom fighter (that is, someone like himself). According to the NZ Herald:

Hone Harawira has described Osama bin Laden as "a man who fought for the rights, the land and the freedom of his people". In tributes on Maori-language television, the leader of the new Mana Party said the al-Qaeda founder should be "honoured" rather than "damned" in death according to Maori culture.

Apparently his right hand woman, radical Maori lawyer, Annette Sykes (who looks to be shaping up as a co-leader of Hone's Mana Party) has similar views. In an interview with Duncan Garner, the following interchange took place (H/T: Keeping Stock):

Duncan And what's Annette said about standing, Annette Sykes?

Hone Annette said she'd be happy to consider it and we'll probably hear her answer later on today at the party launch. . . . She'd make a great leader of this party. This isn't about me being the leader, this is about the kaupapa leading the party. This is about the people in this country recognising in this party a beacon in a time of desperate straits for a lot of Maori, Pacific Islanders and Pakeha.

Duncan Are you comfortable with someone like Annette Sykes being so involved, I mean remember what she said around the time of 9/11 where she laughed and effectively applauded and clapped when those planes went into the towers on 9/11? I mean are you comfortable being a party in parliament having someone like that there?

Hone I'm comfortable having alongside me one of the strongest Maori women I have ever met, one of the strongest women I have ever met, a person who's courageous in all that she's done, who has defended those that all other lawyers have walked away from, and who is fearless in her dealings with government, with Iwi leaders, and with all levels of society. I have great respect for Annette Sykes.

"Excuse me while I change feet." Hone is a gift for conservative New Zealand. He is a precious diamond to the (now) refocused Act Party. Every time Hone's growling, truculence leads him to enunciate his extreme racial views, and his neo-Marxist ideology, the number of committed voters for Don Brash must rise exponentially. And, because Hone is tribal Maori, tribalism will out. His own people will close ranks behind him and support him all the way.

Meanwhile Maori politics is fracturing into impotence, hopelessly divided between Hone, the Greens, Labour, and the Maori Party itself. A house divided against itself cannot stand. "Mainstream", non-tribal Maori must be embarrassed every time Hone growls--particularly because he asserts that he represents true, authentic Maori beliefs and culture. The way Hone tells it, he is true Maori--all the rest are Uncle Toms.

We are confident that Hone will attract great media attention. The right wing must be rubbing their hands with glee.