Rawiri Waiti, a sitting Member of New Zealand’s Parliament and co-leader of Te Pati Maori, openly admires and idolises one of the world’s modern-day strongmen, Ibrahim Traoré, the military leader of Burkina Faso, who came to power in a coup and has since delayed democratic elections and moved to restrict human rights, including LGBTQ+ freedoms.
Rawiri Waititi calls Ibrahim Traoré his ‘modern-day hero’ and while that’s shocking enough, Waititi has also publicly and frequently stated he is ‘not a fan of democracy’, describing it as ‘a tyranny of the majority’. This should be cause for real alarm in a democratic nation – it is a cause for real alarm. These are not throwaway comments. Waititi openly dismisses liberal democracy and shows open approval for authoritarianism. Presumably he’s also in love with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un too.
What I find most concerning is that this Member of Parliament’s views are not sparking widespread public dismay or even attention from the mainstream media. Every hardworking, taxpaying eN-Zedder is funding Rawiri Waititi’s salary and parliamentary privileges, even as he expresses open admiration for a regime that suppresses free expression, delays elections, and restricts civil rights.
We must demand more from our elected representatives. At the very least, we should expect them to believe in democracy.
eN-Zed 