The Seven Year Report.
Having been involved in what is invariably labelled the men’s movement or the Fathers rights movement since 1999, I have reached some conclusions which without this forum, (thanks JohnP), I would have difficulty sharing. These titles are a political convenience for the purpose of accusations and attacks, to antagonise political dissidence. In most cases the men I have encountered walking these corridors have done so for no reason other than the love of their children. The occasional small and allegedly potent force which rises amongst us is humoured with small successes, which serve as a self perpetuating form of propaganda.
Along the way I acquired the label “the moderate face of the men’s movement”. It is not one I either pursued of cherish, simply a consequence of my inclination to want to know why. (So Mr Zorab, spare me the indignity.) I hope of recent I have dispelled that myth – it is not a bed I wish to die in.
While in some minds it may have been a futile exercise, my participation has at least been an act of integrity, something which those who have opposed both our participation and our contribution, have no claim to, and are happy to live without.
For all the energy, behind our contributions, whether it has been protestations of various forms, submissions to government, pleas to MP’s or applications to courts, some may be content with their individual outcome, but collectively we have no claim to any progress or to having improved the welfare of children or the standard of law in our country.
In fact quite the opposite. We have given the tyrants of irrational control more power to abuse both the individual and the family. No doubt society will suffer the consequences of those tortured minds, children imprisoned in houses of political ideology.
Our piece of dirt is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but having had the opportunity to step out of our fish bowl, I can understand why so much of the world can see this, but views our society with ridicule and contempt. While we have every opportunity for success, the only excuse we will have for our failure is that we were the engineers of our own social demise.
We have become a society of mediocrity, unable to offer our children the distinction and excellence of our parents, and like many New Zealanders I can no longer be proud of our level of existence, our society or our country.
We have a government pre occupied with meddling in our domestic affairs, and the management of failure. A complacent and lazy media, content to copy and paste endless PR manipulation. Perhaps that’s why most opinion writers have descended into a fruitless occupation of satire, comedy, and twaddle, one-upmanship amongst themselves, rather than trying to engage the minds of public.
I have no great desire to feel disenfranchised in my own society, but I am absolutely dumfounded as to how I could have encountered so many people who claim the label of professional, without any consideration for the ethics and integrity of the position. Those people that control the direction of New Zealand society have descended to an absolutely laughable level of individual and collective responsibility.
Even my dog has more conscience.
Here’s a good read
How the Government Creates Child Abuse
Comment by jimmy — Tue 18th April 2006 @ 10:48 am
An example of the bureaucratic inertia of an incompetent administration of government child abusers. 8th July 2002 Minister of social services Steve Maharey writes to me;
“ The Prime minister has asked me to reply on her behalf. I am sorry that you are suffering such anguish at the loss of your daughters. However neither Child, Youth and Family social workers nor the police can assist you to mend the situation which has resulted in your estrangement from your ex-partner and other members of the family. Your children are safe, and no crime has been committed.”
Irrefutable evidence has been exhibited to the Court that many crimes have been committed and Miss Clark knew all about a father’s greatest fears years ago. I am thankful my dad said to me before he died Peter you must alert the PM, Law Commissioner and Principal Family Court Judge. I did that March 2002. Still no meaningful contact to my daughters and I sit here sad listening to the happy children playing next door asking myself why and how? I know that corruption and prejudice are the answers to my questions. This country is a disgrace for children and families and the button lip media are to dam gutless to expose orchestrated government child abuse. All scared of the powerful misanthropic regime who condone wrongful behaviour from people who abuse vulnerable young children. Shame on you Miss Clark !!!!Dad4justice wants to meet you in Court !!!!
Comment by Peter Burns — Tue 18th April 2006 @ 12:53 pm
Yes Bevan,
I’m precisely one of those you describe as ‘having stepped outside the goldfish bowl’.
I can honestly say that living away from NZ really broadens the mind and puts it into a larger perspective. Scales drop from the eyes.
Despite all the mumbo jumbo I may hear about NZ’s changing family forms, social fluidity, mobile populations etc, I still reckon a society that creates, then perpetuates the level of family breakdown, fatherlessness, criminality, drug abuse, abortion, youth delinquency, welfarism and general state interference is plain dumb.
So many esconced in positions of power and influence seem happy to rest on thier well feathered mediocre laurels and pump out happy bites or hand wring about these and other big social issues that as you say NZ society is now sadly something of an international laughing stock.
Nice scenery, screwed up society you might say.
I suppose these issues will continue to hound NZ and even exacerbate until the painful reality eventually hits home. For it’s simply not viable to go down the same road IMO.
However, in taking stock and lest I be accused of simply whining without offering some ideas about how to solve such matters, I suggest NZers consider the following policy prescriptions.
* Get rid of ‘No fault’ divorce. It makes marriage a whimsical joke. Replace it with contestable divorce whereby it must be proved beyond doubt that there are good solid reasons for divorcing. Make marriage resolution counselling as available as free marriage disolution counselling currently is, especially if the marriage has produced dependent children.
* Bring the same level of integrity to the family court as exists in the criminal court. Allegations of abuse must be backed by proper corroborating evidence. Open up the courts to FULL public accountability. Families, The taxpayer, and above all others children deserve no less.
* Lower taxes, breaking welfarist dependency.
In the process force people to become more self relient as the state shrinks.
* Bust gang headquarters, physically with bulldozers, and economically by freezing bank accounts and siezing assets. End this blight on NZ communities.
* Eradicate dangerously high levels of abortion by expediting the availability of the male pill, now successfully on trial in three countries.
* Make DNA paternity testing legal to legitimize fatherhood. Make it illegal to not be able to name a child’s father.
* Set up presumptive joint custody as the new benchmark for child custody in those marriages that do fail.
* Scrap the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. It’s socially divisive ‘research’ duplicity demonising men has no place in any society which wishes to claim it’s progressive, harmonising and of integrity.
* Amend the Domestic Violence Act. Stop the abusive issuance of protection orders without corroborating evidence, indeed often without a judge so much as seeing the applicant nor respondent in person!
* Penalise all proven false allegations appropriately as perjury and waste of police/court/social services resources.
* Implement referenda in all policy portfolio areas at each election. (Switzerland recently did this on 54 different issues at an election).
* Introduce yearly electronic referenda.
It’s gobsmacking that a society where proliferation of ATM and EFTPOS terminals which exploded in number over a mere decade hasn’t gotten around to voting this way.
That would be a much more truly democratic system, reducing politicians to debaters of issues whilst giving society the power to lead itself – power of the people, by the people.
If these sorts of things were in place I’d then be proud again to call myself a Kiwi instead of hanging my head in shame when asked where I’m from.
Comment by Stephen — Tue 18th April 2006 @ 2:50 pm
This post and comments are really good. Enjoyed that article Jimmy and kept this.
“It is difficult to believe that judges are not aware that the most dangerous environment for children is precisely the single-parent homes they themselves create when they remove fathers in custody proceedings. Yet they have no hesitation in removing them, secure in the knowledge that they will never be held accountable for any harm that comes to the children. On the contrary, if they do not they may be punished by the bar associations, feminist groups, and social work bureaucracies whose earnings and funding depend on a constant supply of abused children. It is a commonplace of political science that bureaucracies relentlessly expand, often by creating the problem they exist to address. Appalling as it sounds, the conclusion is inescapable that we have created a huge army of officials with a vested interest in child”
I had something similar sent to me today.
Women centres in NZ are receiving alot of money to hold anger management groups for women and there are a number of other groups paid to step in when mothers can’t cope.
This is very scary.
Comment by julie — Wed 19th April 2006 @ 1:06 am
Dear Bevan Berg,
Very well written. I’m not so sure on how much better things are outside of New Zealand with the men’s movement, unless you are talking about the economy. The failure of the men’s & father’s movement, in all the countries, is to be found in the thin-skinned inability of men to deal with other men that don’t have their opinions on the issues that face us. Many claim some kind of brotherhood, but it is terribly weak for it’s forfeited so easily. Maybe too many men of character were lost in the ANZAC battles and we are left with those who went on strike at the docks slowing or stopping supplies to those terrible Yanks and your own men who were fighting the Japs to save your islands. Unity can never come from the thin-skinned and or stubborn. We need to look at ourselves. Have we put the cause in its proper position, or have we only wanted to do things our way or the highway?
Comment by Intrepid — Wed 19th April 2006 @ 1:12 am
Intrepid,
I am glad you wrote your comment because that’s what I have been wondering. It seems like lots of people on this site are well educated and life experienced as well as having other sites. But I am not sure we they all meet one another.
If everyone worked together I am positive a huge group would be formed and thus strong and very, very loud. Maybe they do all meet up once a month, I am not sure. Personally, I think mums can help dads and would very much want to be a part. If not me because I am female then maybe a male of our group. Our group is not actually soloparents (haven’t had extra money to change website name) but is Auckland Single Parents Trust. Our whole constitution evolves around the wellbeing of Parents and Children. Mums and Dads, with or without custody. It follows Maori constitutions so that we have a lot of room to move.
I am slowly meeting others outside of this website to see where we fit.
Comment by julie — Wed 19th April 2006 @ 8:55 am