Tuesday, August 02, 2011



Sworn in

Hone Harawira has just been sworn in as an MP and taken his seat in the House. As required by law, he has mouthed the words - but he's not required to believe them or mean them. And I don't think he did for an instant. Which is what happens when you have absurd archaic rituals like this.

Our oaths and affirmations are clearly outdated relics, and do not reflect modern New Zealand. Hell, arguably the very idea of an oath of loyalty to the state has no place in a modern liberal democracy (it gets the relationship between state and citizen exactly backwards). Hopefully Hone's actions last month will bring about change in this area. And the sooner it happens, the better.