New Zealand, that little place that many of you consider to be further on "Down under", under Australia. The small country that is heading down the path that America has and the same path that Australia has done.
Having lived here in the South Island of New Zealand all my life and observing the changes that have been occurring it seems that we are on the brink of either making a final fatal decision or trying to right the damage we have already caused. Some say that New Zealand is a rational Country, I guess time will tell.
New Zealand is not oppressed by Australia and America it just risks falling into the same mindset. Not only does New Zealand have a vast area of protected National Parks it has a marketable image as being clean and green. This is true to an extent but we are currently being visited by a Royal Commission looking at Genetic Engineering. This issue is of a similar scale to the anti-nuclear campaign that resulted in New Zealand taking on an anti-nuclear status.
New Zealand like Australia has had a record of terrible race relations. The Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840 is not honoured by the New Zealand Government. Many tribal land cases have resulted as local iwi seek to illustrate how the treaty has been dishonoured by the taking of tribal land when the treaty guarantees The Maori people rights of sovereignty over their resources including land. These struggles continue and the current Labour government have sought to tokenistically show initiatives to change race relations in New Zealand through the :Closing the Gaps Policy" which seeks underlying assimilate Maori people further into a Pakeha-White New Zealand atmosphere. Forms of suppression still exist: there are a number of specially allocated Maori seats. While this seems fantastic it actually seems like a form of apartheid to me. The day when political parties can have increased number of ethnic representation and a broad range of age groups it will be great. The only party it seems at present that has policies that encourage the resurrection of Maori Language in schools and Maori culture are the Green Party: Http://www.greens.org.nz. The Greens are encouraging Maori members to stand for the election as well as young people, which is a first.
The South Island is experiencing some interesting press at the moment. Christchurch, New Zealand's third largest city has been recently stated as having the highest suicide rate in New Zealand. New Zealand has the highest suicide rate in the world. Not only does Christchurch have appallingly high levels of smog - air pollution, but now the highest suicide rate. This is rather frightening for the young people in Christchurch. New Zealand also has a problem called the "brain drain" a high number of qualified graduates leaving the country to get good employment and to avoid paying huge student loans up and above of around $50 000(NZ). The government have made a commitment to culling interest accrued during study, but once leaving university the interest piles up. Fees are increasing and government funding is not rising to meet the need, this is with a Labour government so imagine how much worse it could become with the right getting back in the National Party.
New Zealand is selling out to the big wigs of American culture. Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King etc, you know the rest have since the mid seventies pervaded our landscape. I remember the day the McDonalds in Nelson opened when I was 7, I went home and was violently ill, lets face a Childs stomach is just not designed for such processed crap.
New Zealand's government is opening up its markets currently to free trade agreements that allow great amount of overseas good into out ports. This is meaning that we support these nations such as Hong Kong who receive tonnes of clothing and textiles from China that are made in sweatshops. We are selling out to the mass culture that America exerts. New Zealand is full of activists and we have and probably will remain for sometime a nation protesting against the implantation of America culture. If we continue to achieve our goals of making the public aware of what the current government are doing and of the impact on our environment we will gradually increase awareness and create change. The country is looking at being GE Free, organic by the year 2020.