Migrants Picnic Saturday 2 Feb

On Saturday 2nd February at 2pm, Love Aotearoa Hate Racism will be hosting a Migrants Picnic at Myers Park to celebrate the cultural diversity that makes Aotearoa beautiful.

On Saturday 2nd February at 4pm in Aotea Square, a group calling themselves “New Conservative NZ” are hosting a rally to protest immigration in New Zealand. This group of far right racists actively seeks to alienate and reduce the number of refugees and migrants into Aotearoa.

When similar organisations overseas have gone unchallenged, hate crimes and violent attacks against migrants, including women and children, increase and go often unpunished. Aotearoa will no longer be the safe place to live that most of us take for granted.

If this groups dream is realised, healthcare, education, and other areas such as construction will suffer as a large proportion of nurses, teachers and construction workers are migrants.

Danni Wilkinson from Love Aotearoa hate racism says “the idea that immigrants take our jobs, our houses and commit of crimes are wrong. Unemployment is extremely low at 3.9% and we have a shortage of workers in many areas such as construction, education, and healthcare”.

While there is a housing crises, this is not because of immigration, but wealthy investors ‘land banking’ - Auckland alone has 30,000 empty houses. Further, all international research into crime show that immigrants and refugees commit far fewer crimes in any country they migrate to than natural born citizens of that country.

Gem Pritchard, Industrial Support Officer from First Union and member of Love Aotearoa says “Racism in any form should be challenged. It's a capitalist ploy designed to divide and conquer us all. We need to cultivate a United front across the union movement, and wider, into our communities, so has to continue with the emancipation of all, from the tyranny people face daily across our planet under capitalism.”

Love Aotearoa Hate Racism wants to celebrate our Migrants and Refugees. We will be joined in this celebration on Saturday by other organisations such as the Unitarian Church, Unions Auckland, Mums 4 refugees, Nightingales fight for fair pay and Socialist Aotearoa.

Olivia from Mums 4 Refugees has shared her reason for supporting “We are a group of mothers from across Australia and New Zealand, united in the belief that all families deserve a safe future and a secure home. For those coming from asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds, being resettled in a third country is only the beginning of that journey. A welcoming community which embraces difference is vital. That is the kind of place we want New Zealand to be.”

A member of Socialist Aotearoa has stated “we fully support the kaupapa of Love Aotearoa Hate Racism. Aotearoa is richer for the diversity that migrants bring. Aotearoa functions only because of that migration. We are all migrants here and we should embrace and welcome all that want to join us.”

© Scoop Media