Helen Clark - Prime Minister (Labour Party) of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008. Now the Chief Administrator of the UNDP since 2009. Photo source: wikipedia/UNDP.
We are still waiting for an answer-
HELEN OF BE-TROY (BETRAY)?
by Sasha Uzunov
Former New
Zealand Prime Minister and now the boss of the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark was in Sydney, Australia this week to lecture us
from her position of “moral superiority” about her new pet project, Sustaining
the Rise of the South, but like some who show such courage in doing so, the
question is why is Helen Clark so afraid to talk about her contradictory role
in being peace activist and war monger?
Clark began as an
antiwar activist in the 1960s, especially protesting against the Vietnam War
(1962-72).
The Danish Peace
Foundation gave her an award in 1986 for her work. But in 2001 as New Zealand’s
Prime Minister she sent combat troops into Afghanistan. Even a blind man can
see that this a 360 degree turn, a huge contradiction to her long held
principles.
Naturally, I
wrote to her 5 months ago, 19 May 2013, asking if she would be returning her
award as she sent troops to Afghanistan. Her office said she would respond.
It's now 5 months later and still no response...
Yet she is able
to visit Australia to promote herself as an international do gooder. It would
take 5 minutes of her time to respond but she can't find the time, as her staff
have said she is busy. Yet she can find time to come to Australia. Remember you
the Australian tax payer fund the UN.
Her actions as an
anti war activist would have led to many Australian and New Zealand Vietnam
veterans to be abused and reviled on their return after completing a tour of
duty. Why her dramatic change? Both the New Zealand and Australian public have
a right to know.
New Zealand
pundit Brian Rudman, writing in the New Zealand Herald, put it:
“As in the Vietnam War, we're again on
the losing side, lured into a war not of our making, by misplaced loyalty to a
superpower desperately seeking extra flags to link to its cause.”
Some people would
say that Helen Clark as Prime Minister would have to make tough decisions. That’s
fine. But with political power comes responsibility. She made the decision,
despite being contrary to her confessed anti war principles, but she should
return the Danish Peace award. Or if she was willing to protest against
Vietnam, she should have resigned as Prime Minister over Afghanistan.
She can’t have
her cake and eat it too. We need to call out the do gooders and the politicians,
both on the left and right, who “take the high moral ground.”
I learnt long ago
that it is not about principle but power for the likes of Helen Clark and her
about-face activists or u-turn ideologues
If Joe or
Josephine Citizen were to open their mouth on any issue, you can be sure that
the elite would hit them over the head with either being fascist or
leftist...this is done so the average person can never win... If Helen Clark
says its cool to be anti-Vietnam war or any war, then you the average person
are pressured into following it. But in 2001 if she decrees that war in
Afghanistan is cool... It's called capricious & hypocritical behaviour.
The point with
Helen Clark, like many of Australia & New Zealand's cultural elite, both on
the left & right wings, is simply a way of showing in an arrogant manner
their cultural superiority. It's not the principle...because they change their
views, you the average person, are being kept deliberately one step behind
them. By the time you come around to their way of thinking, you are already out
of date. It's a clever way of keeping control over the "masses" or
the great "unwashed." -
About Face
Activists or U-turn ideologues: you just don't know where they really stand and
this is deliberate. Others in this group include Lord Robertson, Joschka
Fischer, Peter Hain, Mike Rann, and many others.
link to story
Lord Robertson
began his career opposed to nuclear weapons but hey that did not stop him from
later becoming UK Defence Secretary under British Prime Minister Tony Blair and
later NATO Secretary-General.
Joschka Fisher
was a militant German leftist who battled against "US imperialism"
and in 1973 beat to a pulp a West German Police officer during a violent
protest. Later as Germany's Foreign Minister he supported the "US
imperialist" war in Afghanistan.
Another
ex-British politician Peter Hain in his youth campaigned against apartheid and
the Vietnam War but later shouted: "We must not be effete: it's time to
fight" in Afghanistan.
According to The
Australian newspaper: link:
Born in Britain
in 1953, Mike Rann migrated to New Zealand in 1962 with his parents and
brother, Christopher. While completing a master of arts in political science at
the University of Auckland, he worked as editor of the university newspaper and
participated in student politics. He was a member of the New Zealand Greenpeace
executive that sent the Greenpeace III to Mururoa Atoll in 1972 to protest
against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.
Mr Rann moved to
Australia in the mid-1970s and began a career as a politician with the
Australian Labor Party (ALP), becoming Premier of South Australia, one of the
six states in the Commonwealth of Australia, from 2002 to 2011. As Premier he
did an about face and supported uranium mining in his state.
In 2012 he was
appointed UK High Commissioner.
Mr Rann was also
asked if he felt regret at his actions as a Greenpeace activist in the early
1970s in New Zealand.
Greenpeace was
sending boats into French pacific territory with the aim of interrupting
nuclear weapons testing. In response the French State Security was provoked
into bombing the Rainbow Warrior ship in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand, in
1985. Fernando Perreira, a photographer on board, drowned. Later Mr Rann as
Premier of the state of South Australia supported uranium mining. We asked Mr
Rann if this ideological about turn meant that the death of Fernando Perreira
was in vain. - see link to story
Fernando Perreira
- Photographer who drowned when the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was bombed
by French intelligence in 1985.
In Australia the
custom is when the actions of military officers, politicians or those who run
organisations leads to casualties, it is assumed that those who caused the
casualties be held accountable.
Rann, like Clark over
Vietnam and Afghanistan, does not want to discuss this period in his life.
THE EMAIL PAPER TRAIL - HELEN CLARK
From:
sashauzunov@hotmail.com
To:
helen.clark@undp.org; undp-newsroom@undp.org; satinder.bindra@undp.org;
abdel-rahman.ghandour@undp.org; christina.lonigro@undp.org;
mette.fjalland@undp.org; monica.lorensson@undp.org; trygve.olfarnes@undp.org;
sarah.jackson-han@undp.org; adam.rogers@undp.org; rebeca.grynspan@undp.org
Subject: FW: 1986
Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Date: Mon, 23 Sep
2013 17:34:49 +1000
Attn Ms Helen
Clark
UNDP
Administrator
SUBJECT: MEDIA
QUERY
Dear Ms Clark,
It has now been 4
months since I sent you a media query, and no response from you. (19 May 2013)
On the 7
June 2013 I received a response from your PA acknowledging receipt of my email.
You are aware that as a UN Senior Bureaucrat, getting paid Australian taxpayer
dollars as well as other countries' contributions, you have an obligation to
respond to a question put to you, especially when your job involves in
"trying to make the world a better place" and "world
peace."
My question was
as follows:
Ms Clark, the
reason I am writing to you is to ask will you be returning the Danish Peace
Foundation Peace Prize you were awarded in 1986?
As New Zealand
Prime Minister (1999-2008) you sent combat troops to the Afghanistan War in
contradiction to her long held anti-Vietnam War and overall anti-War
principles. During your Prime Ministership you supported military intervention
in East Timor and The Solomon Islands.
I look forward to
your answer.
Regards
Sasha Uzunov
Independent Film
Maker
Melbourne,
Australia.
Tel: +61
My bona fides are
available to be viewed at the following links:
From:
sashauzunov@hotmail.com
To:
helen.clark@undp.org; undp-newsroom@undp.org; satinder.bindra@undp.org;
abdel-rahman.ghandour@undp.org; christina.lonigro@undp.org;
mette.fjalland@undp.org; monica.lorensson@undp.org; trygve.olfarnes@undp.org;
sarah.jackson-han@undp.org; adam.rogers@undp.org; rebeca.grynspan@undp.org
Subject: FW: 1986
Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Date: Wed, 24 Jul
2013 13:26:01 +1000
Dear Ms Clark,
It has been just
over 2 months since I put in my media query. I am awaiting a response.
cheers
Sasha Uzunov
From:
sashauzunov@hotmail.com
To:
helen.clark@undp.org; undp-newsroom@undp.org; satinder.bindra@undp.org;
abdel-rahman.ghandour@undp.org; christina.lonigro@undp.org;
mette.fjalland@undp.org; monica.lorensson@undp.org; trygve.olfarnes@undp.org;
sarah.jackson-han@undp.org; adam.rogers@undp.org; rebeca.grynspan@undp.org
Subject: FW: 1986
Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Date: Tue, 9 Jul
2013 10:07:44 +1000
Attn Ms Helen
Clark,
Dear Ms Clark,
It's been a month
since my media query. I'm following up for a response to my questions below.
Cheers
Sasha Uzunov
Independent film
maker/journalist
Melbourne,
Australia
From:
sashauzunov@hotmail.com
To:
helen.clark@undp.org; undp-newsroom@undp.org; satinder.bindra@undp.org;
abdel-rahman.ghandour@undp.org; christina.lonigro@undp.org;
mette.fjalland@undp.org; monica.lorensson@undp.org; trygve.olfarnes@undp.org;
sarah.jackson-han@undp.org; adam.rogers@undp.org; rebeca.grynspan@undp.org
Subject: 1986
Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Date: Wed, 26 Jun
2013 22:51:50 +1000
Hi Sharon,
Any luck with Ms
Clark's response?
cheers
Sasha Uzunov
From:
sashauzunov@hotmail.com
To: helen.clark@undp.org
Subject: RE: 1986
Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Date: Fri, 14 Jun
2013 09:29:38 +1000
Thank you Sharon.
I look forward to
Ms Clark's response.
cheers
Sasha
From:
helen.clark@undp.org
To:
sashauzunov@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: 1986
Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Date: Fri, 7 Jun
2013 21:02:12 +0000
Dear Ms. Uzunov,
This is to
acknowledge you email and request below. Ms. Helen Clark is currently
travelling on official mission and we will bring your request to her attention
upon her return to New York next week.
With best
regards,
Sharon Kinsley
Deputy Chief of
Staff and Deputy Director
UNDP Executive
Office of the Administrator
From: Sasha
Uzunov [mailto:sashauzunov@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 12:39
AM
To: hdr media; William Orme; UNDP Newsroom; Satinder Bindra; Abdel-Rahman
Ghandour; Christina LoNigro; Helen Clark; Mette Fjalland; Monica Lorensson;
Trygve Olfarnes; Sarah Jackson-Han; Adam Rogers; Rebeca Grynspan; Carolina Azevedo
Subject:
1986 Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Attn UNDP
I'm still waiting
on a response from Ms Helen Clark over my query below.
cheers
Sasha Uzunov
Independent film
maker and freelance photo journalist
Melbourne,
Australia
tel: +61
For media
enquiries, please contact: Carolina Azevedo, +1 212 906 6127,carolina.azevedo@undp.org or
William Orme, +1 212 906 6763, william.orme@undp.org;
or UNDP Newsroom, +1 212 906 5382, undp–newsroom@undp.org.
From: sashauzunov@hotmail.com
To: undp-newsroom@undp.org; satinder.bindra@undp.org; abdel-rahman.ghandour@undp.org;
christina.lonigro@undp.org;
helen.clark@undp.org; mette.fjalland@undp.org; monica.lorensson@undp.org;
trygve.olfarnes@undp.org; sarah.jackson-han@undp.org;
adam.rogers@undp.org; rebeca.grynspan@undp.org
Subject:
1986 Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (UNDP)
Date: Sun, 19 May 2013
19:08:39 +1000
Subject: 1986
Danish Peace Foundation award to Helen Clark (ex New Zealand Prime Minister)
Attn Ms Helen
Clark
UNDP Administrator
Dear Ms Clark,
My name is
Sasha Uzunov, an Australian freelance photo-journalist and independent film
maker.
I'm also a
former Australian soldier who served in East Timor. As a civilian cameraman
I've worked in Iraq and Afghanistan.
below are some
of my previous stories
My bona fides
as a film maker:
Ms Clark, the
reason I am writing to you is to ask will you be returning Danish Peace
Foundation Peace Prize you were awarded in 1986?
As New Zealand
Prime Minister (1999-2008) you sent combat troops to the Afghanistan War in
contradiction to her long held anti-Vietnam War and overall anti-War
principles. During your Prime Ministership you supported military
intervention in East Timor and The Solomon Islands.
I look forward
to your answer.
Regards
Sasha Uzunov
Tel: +61
Melbourne,
Australia
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