Once Were Warriors

The movie, Once Were Warriors, shocked us with its vivid account of family and street violence, says Emma Davies of the Children and Families programme of the Institute of Public Policy at AUT. Movie-goers around the world saw an ugly side of life in New Zealand, she says.

The opening in Christchurch on the 2nd of March, nine years after the movie, of a musical production of Once Were Warriors raises the question, 'What have we been doing about it since we lost any excuse that we didn't know about the violence in our midst?'

Jim Moriarty, the show's director, has been doing his bit. He works with young people, helping them to express themselves and find a strong identity through drama. He has invited organisations that work with families and young people to see the show and use it to publicise the need for reform in New Zealand.

What he and the organisations he has contacted particularly want is repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act of 1961. This is the section of the law that has been successfully used as a defence

NEXT... MORE... by people who have beaten children. Ian Hassall, Senior Researcher with the Institute of Public Policy, says similar laws have been repealed in many other countries concerned about condoning violence in the home.

Information on repeal and how to register interest in taking action will be available at the shows, he says. A website has been established at http://feedback.aut.ac.nz/repealsection59

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>