My good friends at the Human Rights Commission have launched their 2017 campaign in a new attempt to stem the rising tide of racism in New Zealand.
The Give Nothing to Racism campaign has set out to “stop casual racism from growing into something more extreme”. Their website states that “we can give it no encouragement. No respect. No place. No power. We can give it nothing”.
To help get their message across, The Commission has enlisted the help of celebrity New Zealanders to lend their faces to the campaign. The most notable of this talented bunch is acclaimed film director and 2017 New Zealander of the Year Taika Waititi, who is currently helming the latest Marvel romp Thor: Ragnorok.
It may be of interest that Mr Waititi has a Maori father and a mother of Russian Jewish heritage. His Wikipedia page declares that he has used his mother’s surname, “Cohen”, for some of his work in film and writing.
Last year the Human Rights Commission launched the That’s Us campaign, asking New Zealanders to submit their stories of racism they have experienced. The results were published on their site, which failed to include any stories from European New Zealanders; stories that they certainly received, as I sent some in myself.
This year The Commission have taken a much ‘hipper’ approach to get their propaganda across by using the edgy tool of Irony, and who better to deliver it than master of post-ironic comedy himself, Mr Waititi-Cohen.
The main video for…