Nandor Well, you know being a Rasta is who I am, and so it influences everything I do. It influences me every moment of my life and it influences my politics. Because politics is one expression of the philosophy that underpins, you know?
But I think it does make... I have to be careful how I say this. I'm not saying that other MPs don't have a spiritual foundation to what they do; some do and some don't. And not all Greens have a clear spiritual orientation, although many do. Many mainly have a kind of Gaian philosophy or whatever, I guess. But I guess because being a Rasta is so explicit that it influences the way people see me and it influences the way I do things. Just one small example is when I get up to speak publicly; I always make a Livication to the Creator, the Most High JaH Ras Tafari. And I livicate to the earth and to the sky and to the forces that guide us and to our ancestors and to the local people that are hosting us. Now it's interesting that Maori people also do that very often in the formal way that they greet in their own language. But somehow because I do it in English, because I don't speak Maori (to my shame), it affects the audience in a different way because a lot of people... people often come up to me afterwards and they say that they are really pleased that I do that because it's recognising those spiritual forces which are important to them. And it gives people permission in some way to take seriously or not have to feel ashamed. Because we live in such a secular age, people feel like they often have to hide and be ashamed of their spirituality. Whereas I'm saying "no it's right out there in front, it leads everything I do, and it drives everything that I do". And that's not to say that I want anyone else to be Rasta, I'm not interested in converting anyone to be Rasta. As far as I'm concerned, you are born Rasta, you either are or you're not, and I've got no interest in you trying to pretend that you are if you're not. So it's not about converting anyone or trying to convince anyone to the rightness of my knowledge and my overstanding of reality, it's simply saying this is who I am and this is what I acknowledge. So it's not being ashamed to assert my own philosophy, while fully recognising and respecting everyone else's as well.
Interviewer And in fact you've been quoted on the front page of a major daily newspaper of how that's influenced the creation of some legislation in parliament and it was the first time that you publicly got on with the right wing Christian fundamentalist party, and that was highly entertaining. How did you find that?
Nandor Yeah that's right, this is the Clean Slate Bill, which is a Private Members Bill I introduced to wipe people's minor convictions if they haven't reoffended for seven years or more and that's party policy as well. And I was involved in writing that policy in 1999. What happened is I introduced a member's bill and then the Government said it was such a good idea, they were going to think of it themselves. So they introduced their own bill to do the same thing and struck my bill down and advanced their own bill. In the process of the select committee we managed to persuade them to adopt my seven years without reoffending rather than, they originally had ten years. And in the select committee report, myself and United Future, who's our Christian democrat party I guess, and then Richard Worth from National also interestingly, joined in. We just made the point that we were convinced by the evidence about reoffending rates after seven years and ten years and that, but we were also convinced by the Biblical seven-year cycles of forgiveness and renewal, and quoted from Leviticus. We actually got a lot of criticism from a lot of newspapers for even mentioning it. It was interesting because nobody was saying that that was the only thing that moved us to have that point of view. There was other evidence as well but we just mentioned it. And it was a huge scandal really. And we were criticised by a number of different national papers.
Interviewer including young greens!
Nandor Ha ha, but you know, as I say, why should I be ashamed of having a philosophy which promotes forgiveness and renewal? That seems to be a basic Green philosophy.
- How has being a Rastafarian influenced your job as an MP? Does it add more depth to your political analysis?
asked by Dread
- How has indigenous poitics influenced what you do?
asked by Ecokid
- Some people in the anarchist movement have criticised you for entering parliament. Do you think being an MP is compatible with anarchist politics?
asked by Anarchist
- Can the econation idea extend to the rest of the planet, and do you have any message for other EUYGs?
asked by European Young Green
