They Can’t All Win Off the Race-Card
Hone Harawira, MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau
Wednesday 30 July 2014
“They can’t all play the race card and expect to win off it”, said MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira,
following comments by ACT Leader Jamie Whyte, Conservative Leader Colin Craig, and NZ First Leader Winston Peters, that
they wouldn’t work with “race- based” parties such as MANA and the Maori Party.
“It’s the oldest trick in the book – bash Maori at election time to boost your voter appeal”, says Harawira.
“But the fact is that MANA has more non-Maori candidates than Maori ones, and in Internet MANA the difference is even
more pronounced, so the race-based argument has no relevance at all” said Harawira. “We are actually the living
embodiment of what strong but supportive political parties should be all about.”
“Parties trying to minimise MANA’s effectiveness by playing the race card, are simply showing how desperate they are
getting.”
“Or perhaps they’re trying to obscure another reality” said Harawira “which is that Internet MANA isplaying to full
houses at public meetings all over the country while ACT, NZ First and the Conservatives can’t even fill a hall for
their annual conferences.”
“The momentum is clearly with Internet MANA … best I simply leave it at that.”
ENDS