by frog
The Easter holiday should be abolished and replaced with a more appropriate celebration for Aotearoa New Zealand, the Green Party said today while announcing a protest that could close the Kopu Bridge on Good Friday.”Easter is dangerous and offensive,” said Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons. “We challenge the Government to adopt an alternative, more sustainable holiday.”
“It’s meant to be Good Friday but it’s actually Bad Friday,” said Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman who cited animal exploitation, childhood obesity and, critically, an annual spike in carbon emissions as among the problems plaguing the Easter break. “One of our many concerns is that Kiwis typically jump into their cars at Easter and head to the beach to catch the end of the good weather. It is incredibly selfish behaviour and it needs Government intervention.”
Green Party activists, led by Auckland transport spokesperson Keith Locke, plan to occupy the Kopu Bridge on April 10 next week and stop traffic between Auckland and the Coromandel. “Sitting in their cars for a few extra hours should drive home the message that Easter holidays are a bad idea,” said Locke.
The Green Party also voiced concerns about the rabbit-mania that has become a part of New Zealanders’ Easter ritual. Green MP Sue Bradford said that the cute cuddly idealised images of rabbits confused children and created difficulties for families. “It is really shocking for kids to discover that rabbits are in fact a pest in large parts of New Zealand.”
For Conservation spokesperson Metiria Turei the cute rabbits send a mixed environmental message: “We agree with Federated Farmers that New Zealanders have to understand the real effects of the rabbit population in this country. The primary school curriculum should teach appropriate pest control methods, highlighting Rabbit Haemorrhage Disease (RHD). The teaching should coincide with the Easter break until this anachronistic holiday is phased out.”
Food campaigner Sue Kedgley noted that the traditional Easter egg hunt was also very worrying: “Why on earth would we hide junk food in areas where there are all sorts of herbicides and pesticides, and then encourage our children to eat it?”
The Greens will hold a series of hui around the country to develop a meaningful alternative holiday, according to MP Catherine Delahunty: “The consultation process needs to be thorough. Our first hui is set for Invercargill tonight and we will reach Whangarei before the end of the year.”
The Good Friday Kopu Bridge protest will highlight the Greens new anti-Easter campaign, and also present alternatives. Green MP Kevin Hague, an avid cyclist, will show Aucklanders an alternative cycle route to reach the Coromandel that does not use the Kopu Bridge.
Meanwhile, MP Kennedy Graham said New Zealanders could lead an international movement to abolish Easter: “Our country can lead this issue around the world. Once the alternative holiday is established here, we can present the new model to the United Nations.”
Published in Society & Culture by frog on Wed, April 1st, 2009
Tags: bunny, easter, kopu bridge
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
April Fool’s….
….. I hope
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I vote for the possum!
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I’m glad that someone has finally taken up this issue.
Our children are told that easter eggs come from a cute free-range ‘easter bunny’ with floppy ears, but the truth is far more sinister. Enter the Cadbury’s Factory in Dunedin, and you will see row upon row of cages filled with rabbits that have been genetically engineered to lay chocolate eggs. It’s about time someone did something about it.
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jarbury be a team player
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YA know
I immediately thought this was an April 1st thing. Then I thought about the list of items on the greens’ ‘let’s ban this’ list and thought it was real.
THAT is sad!!
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Sorry bioneer…
Yes the cruelty of forcing genetically engineered rabbits to lay chocolate eggs in an outrage! Particularly the ones on the “What a Pig” egg production line.
Ouch.
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that’s not an april fools day joke..
..these are april fools day jokes..!
http://whoar.co.nz/2009/the-history-of-april-fools-day-plus-the-top-five-pranks-of-all-time-video-pics/
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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On the topic of april fools pranks.
One year I was completely taken in by my children. It was Sunday and I was still in bed catching up on some much needed sleep. Suddenly my eldest barged in, exclaiming in a panic that the goats were in the newly planted apple orchard.
Much alarmed ( goats do alot of damage very quickly) I lept out of bed in two seconds flat and frantically hobbled down the hallway, falling over myself as I struggled to get my legs into some jeans , at the same time yelling for the children to ‘ get the sods out of there’, only to be greeted by the family in hysterics shrieking ‘aprils fool’
They have never let me forget it since.
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I’ve had my stab at one over here.
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I thought that TVNZ were playing an April Fools joke this morning, on the news they mentioned that the dole and DPB were going up today.
Sadly it is true.
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While a joke, one could see a major public reaction to the Greens occupying the Kopu bridge. A reaction that will not be one of sitting in the car waiting for the police to arrive to clear the bridge.
Hope those Greens can swim!
A case of a “bridge too far” for the greens?
And is it not grand that the new bridge is not that far away from being started!
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As an April fools joke you could say that the environment was to be your main focus going forward.
I’m sure some people would fall for it….
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“As an April fools joke you could say that the environment was to be your main focus going forward.
I’m sure some people would fall for it….”
Heh! Best today….;-)
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Ha, good work. I don’t know of a single other political party willing to so openly joke with the criticisms usually levelled against them.
Nice one =)
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LOL so true, yet so ridiculous!
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Hugh Hefner is quaking in his pajamas.
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Gareth said: While a joke, one could see a major public reaction to the Greens occupying the Kopu bridge… And is it not grand that the new bridge is not that far away from being started!
Hmmm, appear that the ferry service from Auckland to Coromandel will be shut down in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, we get a new bridge at Kopu (eventually). And despite the new bridge, the drive from Auckland to Coromandel will still take longer, be less energy efficient, and be more greenhouse gas polluting than the ferry scheduled for its imminent demise is.
Clever, eh?
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Oops, actually it was Gerrit who said that (my previous comment). Sorry to the “Gareths” who comment here.
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toad,
he coromandel ferry is about as useful as a easter bunny if you lived in Whitiangi and had to go to Auckland. You need private transport at either end of the journey.
Ferry is no good if you live in Thames even.
So roll on the new bridge!!!!
And when can we thow those pesky protestors into the river?
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Actually, Gerrit, you should need private transport only from the Coromandel terminus to Whitianga or Thames.
At the Auckland terminus there should be sufficiently frequent public transport to get all commuters where they need to go between Wellsford and Pukekohe (although I have to admit that the Coromandel – Pukekohe trip will likely aways be faster by road – even if there were a ferry from Coromandel to Miranda or Kaiawa, where tidal issues come into play re service times).
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“..Green MP Sue Bradford said that the cute cuddly idealised images of rabbits confused children and created difficulties for families. “It is really shocking for kids to discover that rabbits are in fact a pest in large parts of New Zealand.”
oh really..!
as much of a shock as when they realise mummy and daddy are making them eat cute/cuddly animals..?
setting an hypocrisy-benchmark there..eh sue..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
btw..are you a vegan yet..?
if not..why not..?
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Someone forgot to tell phil u that its April fools.
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yeah..great that they can make jokes about things like cruelty to animals..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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it must be very ‘liberating’ for them..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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