Stuff Digital Edition

Let’s stop belittling protest

Michael Gibson’s letter (November 25) suggested Groundswell is disingenuous.

Perhaps he did not attend the Howl of a Protest in July, where grassroot support for Groundswell NZ and its message of standing up against unworkable regulations, was certainly no illusion.

The recent ‘‘Mother of all Protest’’ again repeated the same sentiment.

NZ is still a democracy where MP’s are elected to represent the people.

Refusing to engage in dialogue with the people creates the illusion we are actually not a democracy.

Let’s stop belittling movements or individuals (with professional or homemade signs) who hold differing views.

The people of NZ want and deserve to be heard.

Fiona Meyer, Invercargill

Rights aren’t Government-bestowed

With the Covid-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill and the proposed introduction of a vaccine certificate, the Government is proposing to drastically change the relevance of our basic civil liberties and inalienable human rights.

The current proposal will surrender our birthright to move freely within society and the individual’s sovereignty over their own body to a Government-issued document.

We should ask ourselves the question: at which point do the solutions proposed by our leaders become more harmful than the current problems we are facing?

To be clear, this is not a discussion about vaccine safety or efficacy.

It is about the potential setting of a dangerous precedent which has the power to destroy the values a country passes on to subsequent generations.

The values of freedom and liberty for every citizen to have agency over their own life and whether our children and their children inherit a New Zealand where these values continue to be respected.

These rights were not given to us by government; they are inherent in every person because we acknowledge the intrinsic value of every human being. We fail to recognise these rights at our own peril.

Nicholas Hancox, Wellington

Opinion

en-nz

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281878711644111

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