Aotearoa has a contentious past with being on the right side of history.
In 1893, we gave women the right to vote. In 1917 we slaughtered Palestinians in Palestine.
In 1950 we deployed troops to Korea, and in 1965 we did the same in Vietnam.
In 1987, we stood up to our Western allies and declared ourselves a nuclear free zone. In 2025, we went back to bowing down to world superpowers with talks of joining AUKUS.
Recently, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters had a phone call with new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Both Peters and Rubio reported that their conversation went well, with Peters saying they’re confident that the US-NZ relationship will “go from strength to strength” over the course of the Trump presidency.
On Trump’s inauguration day, we saw him sign orders targeting trans people and immigrants. We saw Republicans demand an apology from a bishop who only asked him to show mercy. We saw the democratic party sit idly by and concede to fascism once again. We saw Elon Musk do what was very obviously a nazi salute, and not one party here has called them out.
More than anything, this shows the hypocrisy of our politicians. If any of these things happened in Iraq, or China, or anywhere other than the USA (or Israel, of course), there would be an immediate and unequivocal outcry. They would be labelled as dictators, even terrorists.
The ‘prison camps’ (prisons), forced slave labour, and other human rights abuses in China are also happening in the United States, but it’s fine in the United States because we love them as much as we fear them.
Peters claimed that the US and New Zealand are “united by many shared interests and values,” and he may be right. Pushing for less regulation, cutting taxes for the rich, funding genocide overseas — all “shared values” of the USA and New Zealand Parliament.
What’s also telling is Winston Peters’ selective hearing. When Donald Trump tried to claim our achievement of splitting the atom for the USA, radio silence. But as soon as US Senator Ted Cruz accused Aotearoa of opposing Israel, Peters was quick to label it ‘fake news’.
The same happened when a pro-Palestine group set up a hotline for reporting Israeli soldiers in New Zealand. Peters decried it as ‘fascism’ and ‘totalitarian’. And yet he has nothing to say about the American Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s hotline to report ‘illegal’ immigrants.
If any capitalist government were driven by values over profit, this should be Aotearoa’s time to shine. This should be the point where we stand firm on our values, support our communities and push for change.
Instead, as we’ve already seen in occupied Palestine and the Treaty Principles Bill, Christopher Luxon and his government will sit on their hands and allow it to happen - as would Labour, if their roles were reversed.
In twenty years’ time, our grandchildren will read about the USA’s decline into fascism and ask ‘where was Aotearoa? Why did our government not only sit by, but support this transition?’
It’s the question we should be asking now: where is Aotearoa?