SPEAKEASY

ORAUTA AND LIBERTARIANZ

by Julian Pistorius
The bureaucratic bullies in the Ministry of Brainwashing are trying to strong-arm the Orauta community in Northland. This is being done in an effort to enforce the closure of the small school there. However, the community is standing strong, teaching their children without government support.

This is the key - they have not asked for government support or sanction. This has really upset the socialists. They absolutely hate seeing people being independent and self-sufficient. Not to mention that without being dumbed down into homogenous, unquestioning servitude by a state curriculum, those kids might actually start questioning the status quo. Very dangerous!

Historically, the land belongs to the community, but the low-lifes hiding behind the ministry are trying to claim the school buildings. They have now contracted Opus, a private company, to do this part of their dirty work for them. The brainwashers are also threatening the parents of the children with lawsuits, because their children are attending an unregistered school.

Helen Hughes, Libertarianz candidate for Whangarei, and myself, being the candidate for Northland, visited Orauta School on the 21st of April. We wanted to let them know that they are not alone in their struggle for freedom and to see how we can help them.

Well, Hooch and I had a great time at Orauta School. We found some staunch people at the gate, protecting the school from being stolen by bureaucratic thieves during the holidays. We were warmly welcomed in the traditional fashion and we had a hearty lunch while we talked business.

They want to battle this on the basis of rangatiratanga. We told them that they will never have sovereignty of any meaningful or lasting kind without individual sovereignty. Moreover, you can never be independent if you want somebody else to fund your independence - it's a contradiction.

We also heard about some of the dirty tactics that the government have tried in their efforts to undermine this community. We have a prepared folder with copies of a lot of the documentation.

Now we know where they stand and they know where we stand. We can build on this foundation to cooperate in a combined attack on the government to protect the rights of these parents.

The editor of The Bay Chronicle, Keri Molloy, was there as well. She has been the lone voice in the media crying out against this injustice. She is the only journalist that they trust, as she is the only one who actually reports their side of the story as well.

She was under the impression that we were supposed to be a bunch of right wing conservatives, but she had changed her mind before we even opened our mouths - a right couple of hippies we must have looked. She interviewed us about why we were interested in this issue. She went away with some salient points about the rights of parents to teach their children what they believe in and the evils of state education. She took a photo of a few of us and there was an article in The Bay Chronicle about the event.

I would like to thank Hooch. The extra body there, her moral support, common sense, sincerity and her genuine sympathy for people was wonderful to have. Also thanks to Peter Cresswell and Tim Wikiriwhi for all their advice. Thanks especially to Peter Osborne, our education spokesman, for driving this important issue, which he feels so strongly about.

For background information, read these press releases by Peter Osborne:
http://www.libertarianz.org.nz/?libzpr=312
http://www.libertarianz.org.nz/?libzpr=315

Dear fellow lovers of liberty, this is a crucial battle in reclaiming our own freedoms and those of our children. State education is the linchpin of government control over us. Without government control over education, more people might actually start thinking for themselves! That would be a huge blow to the meddling nanny state and the bullying bureaucrats in this country.

Please, we need your help! Talk to friends, family and as many people as you can about this issue and tell them why you think this is important. Ring talkback radio. Write letters to the editors of newspapers. Write letters to the Ministry of Miseducation and to Opus (Teacher Housing division) telling them how disgusted you are with them.

Personally I have volunteered to help stand guard at the school to relieve some of the diligent people there. When, in due course, they realise that the tax-sponsored rangatiratanga approach is unworkable and unfair, I hope that they will remember those radical Libertarianz people who helped fight for their rights: the guy on the scooter and the eccentric artist, who kept telling them that true sovereignty lies in self-responsibility, small government and individual rights.

Please contact me if you would like to know more about this or want to be kept updated with the latest events: julian.pistorius@libertarianz.org.nz or 021 377 454.

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