A Week Of It: Publishing & Punishment

Friday, 13 May 2005, 1:27 pm
Article: Kevin List

In This Edition:
120 NZers Still Able To Read Objectionable Magazine
Benson-Pope And Allegations Of Tennis Ball Sadism
Is It time To Bring Back Doone?
Former National Party Leader Calls For NZ To Pull Out Of International Commitments
Libertarianz Enjoy Taxpayer Largesse
New Zealand Political Review Finally Out

Jim Peron – From An Interview On TVNZ's Queer Nation
Source – TVNZ News 9/3/05

Earlier this week, it was revealed that a magazine (put together in San Francisco in the late 80s) containing writings by controversial American Libertarian and Auckland book show proprietor Jim Peron had been found by the Censor's Office to be objectionable. According to NZ First Leader Winston Peters, Mr Peron was not only a contributor to Unbound magazine but was also its Editor.

Mr Peters' view may have been sparked by an email from Eric Garris, the founder of antiwar.com. Mr Garris owned the bookstore, Free Forum Books, that was later owned by Mr Peron. Mr Garris claims that Mr Peron was the publisher of Unbound and alleges that Mr Peron wrote an editorial protesting the fact that the San Francisco police had raided Free Forum books when it was owned by Mr Peron and confiscated NAMBLA (the bulletin of the North American Man Boy Love Association) and Unbound materials. Mr Peron, who is believed to be overseas at present, has denied being the Editor or Publisher of Unbound.

Whoever it was that edited Unbound apologised to their readers that part 2 of an article would not be appearing due to the San Francisco Police having seized the manuscript.

Should anyone in New Zealand have a copy of Unbound, they will now face the New Zealand Police's wrath and the possibility of five years in the clink - that is, unless they are an MP.

In late March, filled with righteous indignation, Mr Peters tabled Unbound in the House. A copy still exists in the Table Office but may not be viewed by either journalists or members of the public. According to the Office of the Clerk, they are "unable to provide access to this document to any person other than a member of Parliament."

According to a Dominion Post article in April, ACT Party leader Rodney Hide wrote that nothing "in the voluminous writing" of Mr Peron would indicate positions that would make him unworthy of working and living in New Zealand.

Unlike the general public, Mr Hide will be able to verify the truth of this statement through the Clerk's Office.

Whining, moany victims of corporal punishment look set to crawl out of the woodwork following some strange accusations levelled at Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope by ACT leader Rodney Hide and National MP Judith Collins. Mr Benson-Pope was accused by these two parliamentary stirrers of shoving tennis balls in miscreants mouths and throwing these yellow furry missiles at teenage malingerers when he was a teacher. Mr Benson Pope has totally refuted these allegations of tennis ball sadism.

A Week Of It can't understand what all the fuss is about. Having the good fortune to attend a fine Catholic School in the mid-80s, (St Bede's), this episode brought back memories of choice in education. In this case the choice related to which cane an evildoer would get their punishment from. An elderly scholar of the French language would present evildoers with the choice of the cutter, the masher or the basher. The cutter was so called because it was guaranteed to draw blood even after only 'a couple of licks'.

A Week Of It chatted to a do-gooding old boy of St Bede's who, although never having suffered the attention of the cutter, the masher or the basher, did remember a former teacher of technical drawing, Mr Gerry Brownlee, and his bellowing voice.

Mr Brownlee would often yell across the quad "You boy," in a manner the anonymous ex-Bedean described as loud and possibly bullying in tone. The old boy suggested Mr Brownlee used the words "You boy" because he couldn't remember anyone's name.

This week the Police Minister and the Police Commissioner Rob Robinson came in for a media grilling hard on the heels of a report into the failings of the 111 system. While this was happening a former Police Commissioner, Peter Doone was also in the news. Mr Doone, who took voluntary retirement in 2000, is about to sue the Prime Minister for defamation.

Although absolutely no pundits are picking Mr Doone's return to the top job, A Week Of It is not afraid to be the first. When Mr Doone was Police Commissioner, crime was much nicer than it is today. Back in the late 90s murderers were much less heinous; so much so that many got sentences of only ten years in the 'jug'. Under Commissioner Doone, crime and nefarious criminals had been so severely licked that there were plans afoot to cut staff numbers by hundreds, including those that answer the 111 calls. There was of course a select committee inquiry in the late 90s regarding the 111 system, however A Week Of It understands this was probably sparked by how well the system was working.

This week former National Party leader Bill English moved beyond educational tub thumping in his weekly political column and urged New Zealand to break commitments it has signed up to in international treaties. In a sober, dry article that was a million miles away from Winston Peters-type demagoguery, good Catholic father of many Mr English urged New Zealand to fling those that sought asylum in New Zealand "back on the plane". While this would be illegal now, and would also have been illegal when Mr English was last in government (a while ago now), it was good to see international law meant little to this one-time aspirant for the NZ's top job.

"Several years ago Ahmed Zaoui entered the country illegally. He should have been put on a plane immediately. Instead, after 3 years of litigation he has become a hero for the left. New Zealand is seen now as a soft touch for other fascists, terrorists, whoever is on the losing side in bad regimes, unwanted at home and unable to get into any other country," moaned the welterweight from Dipton.

Luckily for Mr English, not all administrations are as "soft" as the current Government. During the first Gulf war in 1991, the administration Mr English was a part of did skirt international conventions and booted asylum-seekers back to where they came from. Of course some of these individuals did suffer death and torture but no-one was able to accuse the National Government circa 1991 of being "soft".

Whilst flicking through the Free Radical magazine (editor: Lindsay Perigo) looking for where to get the best deals on Ayn Rand books (now that Aristotle's isn't often open), A Week Of It was heartened to see that there was finally "A New Libertarian Radio Show".

Had Alan Gibbs got sick of hanging out with alleged war criminal and Afghan warlord Rashid Dostum and returned to New Zealand ready to set the airwaves alight with freedom? No he hadn't - the "New Freeland Show", hosted by Tim and Robin and, according to the blurb, sticking it to the Nanny State, was actually on community radio. Whilst Tim and Robin stuck it to Nanny State, the poor old much-maligned Nanny State had actually provided the operational equipment for Tim and Robin's diatribe. A Week Of It understands that groups such as the Libertarianz do pay a contribution to be on air. However, the money is not exactly a true reflection of market rates. A Week Of It asks, " Where is the gratitude?"

After what seems like a year, and probably was, there is a new issue of the New Zealand Political Review (editor: Chris Trotter). This magnificent political publication devotes a number of articles to the tricky topic of race relations in New Zealand. However A Week Of It has spotted one teensy mistake relating to the name of a (valued) contributor. The first Scoop reader that spots this mistake gets a small prize.

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