Tag: Aotearoa

Aotearoa [so-called New Zealand]. Street after street of nearly identical, poorly maintained houses owned by social housing agencies (some iwi run) and low-decile schools where important subjects are either sidelined or poorly taught.  Alcoholism, problem gambling, drug abuse, and domestic violence are commonplace.  Suspicion, hostility, and a mixture of ethnic, religious, and nationalistic hatreds stir below the surface, just waiting to explode in violence. This is not the product of an over-active imagination influenced by mainstream media.  It’s the reality of what I see every time I go to visit family in Porirua.  It’s what I was born and raised in.  It’s what I spent various parts of my adult life living in.