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Category: Insurrection

  • Pacific US territory leaders denounce the storming of Capitol Hill

    CNMI Governor Ralph Torres … “[The] lawless and violent attempts to disrupt the certification of the electoral college was an affront to our American democracy.” Image: RNZ/Office of the Governor of CNMI

    By RNZ Pacific

    The governors of Pacific US territories the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas and Guam have denounced the violent protests in US Congress.

    In a statement, CNMI’s Governor Ralph Torres said he was disappointed and saddened to see the nation’s senators and representatives threatened and law enforcement officials overwhelmed by this unprecedented act in the US capital.

    Governor Torres said that a peaceful transfer of power was one of the hallmarks of a great republic.

    “[The] lawless and violent attempts to disrupt the certification of the electoral college was an affront to our American democracy,” he said.

    “At a time when democracy has shown its fragility, I am thankful that the CNMI, as a young democracy, has maintained positive civil discourse in order to progress together as one island community.”

    Guam – storming of the Capitol ‘disturbing’
    Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said the storming of the Capitol Building was disturbing.

    “As a society, we are united in our love of democracy and our pride in that for more than two centuries, the American experiment has persevered.

    “We had a great example of democracy in action just yesterday as Georgia elected its first African-American senator,” she said in a statement.

    “Today, our nation experienced another trying moment as a mob attempted to terrorise and prevent the democratic process from moving forward at the US Capitol. The sight of this was disturbing to all of us,” she said.

    “We need to come together and stand strong for the values we all share as people.

    “I therefore ask all of you to join me in uniting in support of our democracy and in support of our new President, Joe Biden, as he takes on the monumental task of healing the soul of our nation and uniting us all as Americans,” she said.

    Governor Lou Leon GuerreroGuam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero … “join me in uniting in support of our democracy and in support of our new President, Joe Biden.” Image: RNZ/Governor’s Office

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bryan Bruce: The hope that arises in spite of the chaotic pro-Trump storm

    COMMENTARY: By Bryan Bruce

    On Wednesday, from behind a wall of bulletproof glass, outgoing US President Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters to be brave and incited them to march on the Capitol Buildings where the electoral college votes were being counted.

    They stormed it and in the chaos many were injured and five people – including a police officer – died.

    The mayhem Trump encouraged and the grandstanding of some Republican senators on the floor of the Senate, however, only delayed the inevitable.

    The votes were finally counted. Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States come January 20 and charged with the responsibility of governing a nation politically divided and ravaged by a deadly pandemic.

    Why should we, here in New Zealand, concern ourselves with what happened this week in America?

    Three answers
    The answers to that deceptively simple question could fill a book, but this is a Facebook post so I’ll offer you just three.

    1. What happens to the US economy has a direct impact on the world economy and therefore on our own immediate economic future.
    2. The longer covid-19 remains uncontrolled in the USA the longer international travel will be disrupted and that does not bode well for us as an island nation geographically isolated as we are from Northern Hemisphere markets.
    3. The huge issue of climate change requires immediate action to be taken on the dire warnings of science about global warming and not the conspiracy ramblings of social media.

    So where is the hope?

    It lies in what also happened earlier that day in the USA.

    When the votes were counted in the Georgia run-offs, Raphael Warnock became the first Black American in that state to be elected as a senator for that state and, along with Jon Ossoff, it gives the Democrats the control of the Senate as well as Congress.

    Mandate for progressive policies
    So the Biden administration now has a mandate to introduce progressive policies that will improve the lives of a great many of his fellow Americans.

    Here in New Zealand Jacinda Ardern leads a government that has a mandate to introduce progressive policies in our own country and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and thereby improve the lives of the majority of New Zealanders.

    We can’t do anything about what happens in America but we can do everything about what happens in our own country.

    We need to accelerate our thinking about how to be more self-sustaining as a country and foster the idea of sharing the nation’s wealth instead of the selfishness promoted over the last 30 years of neoliberal economic policies.

    And we need to keep the Ardern government on task by giving praise when praise is due and speaking up when we see fault and injustice.

    Bryan Bruce is an independent filmmaker and journalist. Asia Pacific Report is publishing a series of occasional commentaries by him with permission.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘They’re trying to tear down the country’, says US expat in NZ

    By Ella Stewart, RNZ News reporter

    American expats are feeling grateful to be living in Aotearoa after watching the chaos and violence unfold at the Capitol building in Washington.

    Madeline Nash, her husband, and her two children looked at moving to New Zealand after the 2016 presidential election.

    Her eldest child was just about to start school and during the hour-long school tours they went on, 20 minutes were spent explaining the school’s shooter protocol.

    They finally made the big move to Auckland from Austin, Texas, in 2018.

    Although she is not surprised, she said what was happening in Washington, DC, was far worse than they had ever imagined.

    “To actually see that people have taken it so far that they are willing basically, I would say to hop over the line to sedition and treason, they’re really just trying to tear down the country.”

    Nash said partisan politics had become extremely polarising in the US but living in New Zealand was like being in an alternate reality.

    “I’m glad that we have this ability to be here and our children are a bit sheltered from what’s going on, but as an adult it is very hard to be straddling both worlds right now.”

    Supporters of President Donald Trump occupy the US Capitol building. Image: RNZ/AFP

    US ‘in shambles’
    Jade De La Paz is an American citizen who moved to Dunedin to complete her PhD at Otago University.

    She has been feeling stressed and can’t take her eyes off the news.

    “We just had this huge victory and now the whole country is falling apart, but there’s nothing I can do from here except for vote.

    “You’re sitting here thinking my country is in shambles,” De La Paz said.

    Katie Smith moved from Southern California to Auckland in 2017 with her New Zealand partner and is flabbergasted.

    “I want to know what alternate reality these people live in.”

    While Smith is a Democrat, much of her family are Republicans, but even they don’t agree with what is happening.

    “It’s not about and it hasn’t been about politics for a very long time. it’s about being a decent human being.”

    Smith said that everything that has been happening in the US has been affecting her mental health.

    “I can’t see things getting better for the States any time soon.”

    She said she is grateful to be living in Auckland here at the moment and wishes she could move her friends and family living in the US to New Zealand.

    In the 2018 census more than 16,000 people living in New Zealand identified as American.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.