Hon Kate Wilkinson MP
Associate Minister of Immigration
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON
Friday 13 November 2009
Dear Kate
Invitation to Anthony Moses Davis (alias “Beenie Man”) to perform at Big Day Out 2010: Request to Decline Entry Visa
Anthony Moses Davis (born Kingston, Jamaica, August 22, 1973) is a reggae performer, notorious for his lyrics and other statements promoting the killing of gay and lesbian people.
The lyrics to one of his songs include: “I’m dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays”. In another, “Mi Nah Wallah”, he says he would like to cut the throats of all gay men. In “Bad Man Chi Chi Man” he instructs listeners to kill gay deejays, and in “Han Up Deh”, he advocates hanging lesbians, with a long piece of rope.
It is reported that the organisers of the Big Day Out, a music festival, have invited Anthony Moses Davis to perform at their 2010 event.
Since 1994, gay and lesbian New Zealanders have had the protections affirmed by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. These include the right to freedom from discrimination. That right cannot be given practical effect if people who rejoice in advocating violence towards us, especially in a public way, are welcomed to this country. As one of our parliamentary colleagues has recently observed in this context, music that denigrates gay men and lesbians in the most extreme way imaginable sends some very powerful signals both to young gay and lesbian people but also to their peers. It is now well-document that many young lesbian and gay people suffer violence, harrassment, lowered self-esteem and the consequent health and social problems that stem from the denigration that many of them experience. It cannot be conducive to social cohesiveness, good order and desirable public policy that these outcomes are facilitated. Granting an entry visa to Anthony Moses Davis would constitute such facilitation.
It appears that Anthony Moses Davis is a Jamaican passport holder. As such, he does not enjoy the right to visa-free entry to New Zealand.
I ask that you decline an entry visa on the grounds set out in para
Y3.1 viii of the Immigration Manual, which notes that “people will normally be refused entry to New Zealand if they…are a threat to security or public order in New Zealand”. For the reasons set out above, Anthony Moses Davis constitutes such a threat.
I look forward to your careful consideration of this matter.
Yours sincerely
Charles Chauvel MP
I’m all for equal rights for homosexuals but Charles you can’t stop someone entering the country for what they might say…
Don’t you see what a slippery slope that is..? Who draws the line..? What next; repeal section 14 of the Bill of Rights or not allow a reporter into NZ because they’re critical of us..?
It’s madness, we should hate this guy for what he says but rejoice in the fact he is FREE to say it…
“And by the way, Christians have been dishing out hatred for 2000 years. They are responsible for the Ku Klux Klan and the Inquisition. They deserve every single piece of abuse they get, because as Bill, Dave and Sherlyn have shown, they are more than happy to dish it out. And indeed, if you gave them a gun, they will quite happily shoot homosexuals.”
People who call themselves Christians have been guilty of a wide range of injustices. Whether they are genuine Christians or not, well that is not for me to determine. The point is that nearly every group imaginable is subject to “hate speech” and offensiveness from somewhere. It is mostly the homos who squeal like stuck pigs and demand that freedom of expression be compromised when someone says something about them that they don’t like. In any case, you are confused. It is Islamists who will quite happily shoot the homos, and quite happily do so in Islamist run countries.
Bill.
Is this where we say “put Bill/BR up against the wall and shoot him” because we know he doesn’t mind that sort of talk? Mind you, shooting might be too good for him, it’d be over too quick, and maybe if we tortured him it would teach him a lesson better.
What a revolting thing I just said. Lucky for me, Bill/BR won’t think it is offensive…
Bill,
Can you please tell me, what have you got against ‘homo’s?
Surely what they do in their own homes is none of your business? Its not like it affects you or anything?
Are you one of these SPCS people who want to put them against a wall and shoot them?
Anyway, as I said before: Minority groups need some form of legal protection from hate speech. It is simple as that.
stick it to my motives, like you usually do… Shame that getting your MA hasn’t improved your perceptiveness.
I didn’t mention your motives, let alone stuck it to them, Charles. And FYI, I haven’t got an MA, but I am very perceptive.
“Is this where we say “put Bill/BR up against the wall and shoot him” because we know he doesn’t mind that sort of talk? Mind you, shooting might be too good for him, it’d be over too quick, and maybe if we tortured him it would teach him a lesson better.
What a revolting thing I just said. Lucky for me, Bill/BR won’t think it is offensive…”
You are missing the point, deliberately I suspect.
It doesn’t matter what I think of your opinion. I am not the one calling for someone to be denied entry into the country on the grounds that they have expressed an opinion that you and others do not agree with. Can you not see how this sets a dangerous precedent?
Bill
You havent really denied that you hate gays and you think that homosexuality should be recriminalised. I think you really need to tell us where you stand on that. You too Mr Cramption.
Bill,
“Can you please tell me, what have you got against ‘homo’s?”
If Chauvel is anything to go by, then they are far too easily offended. Apart from finding such an attitude irritating, this does not otherwise bother me per se. However, when you get the likes of Chauvel, a member of parliament, calling on the powers of the state to deny entry to an individual (who would otherwise be allowed into the country) for no other reason than the fact that the member disapproves of an opinion he has expressed, well, work it out for yourself.
“Surely what they do in their own homes is none of your business? Its not like it affects you or anything?”
Irrelevant.
“Are you one of these SPCS people who want to put them against a wall and shoot them?”
That’s a rhetorical question.
Bill.
“Anyway, as I said before: Minority groups need some form of legal protection from hate speech. It is simple as that.”
Which will undermine one of the most important legal cornerstones of the civil society; freedom of expression.
Bill
“You havent really denied that you hate gays and you think that homosexuality should be recriminalised. I think you really need to tell us where you stand on that. You too Mr Cramption.”
I’m sorry Chief Superintendent, I didn’t realise I under investigation.
Bill.
OK BR, do you not agree that if Weimar Germany banned the NSDAP in the late 1920’s, the world would be a better place?
Bill, the Ku Klux Klan used ‘freedom of expression’ to carry out a reign of terror through the American South as well.
For what it is worth ( offensive term deleted Trevor ) Millsy, I support the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Seeing as you asked.
“BR, you ignorant fool, christians in Britain are whining about their sensibilities being offended, in response to laws proposed to make it an offence to exhort people to kill gay people. It is illegal though to say you should kill Christians. Double standard? Or fair enough in your view?”
And why shouldn’t they? The new law would not make it an offence to promote the view that Christians or indeed most other groups should be killed. In fact, it would appear that this law was contrived to protect homos from “hate speech” exclusively.
Do you approve of this?
Bill.
I do. ‘Homos’ have been perscuted too much. Time to cut them some slack.
“OK BR, do you not agree that if Weimar Germany banned the NSDAP in the late 1920’s, the world would be a better place?”
How the hell can anyone answer that question with any certainty? Do you really need to be reminded of what usually happens when governments take it upon themselves to ban rival political parties?
“Bill, the Ku Klux Klan used ‘freedom of expression’ to carry out a reign of terror through the American South as well.”
What nonsense. They did not use freedom of expression to do anything of the sort. It was the criminal acts of violence that created the terror. I find it utterly incredible that anyone would use the example of the Ku Klux Klan, or the behaviour of other disreputable gangs of thugs as an excuse to promote restrictions on free speech, or to ban political parties.
Bill.
“I do. ‘Homos’ have been perscuted too much. Time to cut them some slack.”
They are no more persecuted than any other minority. They just whinge the loudest.
Bill.
This post is beyond belief.
Dominic wrote:
Craig- well if an artist was advocating women should be executed then yes, keep them out of the country.
I reply:
OK, and here’s where I start having problems with such a broad definition of incitement. I’ve just received the announcement of the Auckland Theatre Company’s 2010 season — which includes William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, which contains (not to put too fine a point on it) murderous gang warfare, statutory rape, and a sympathetically presented teen suicide pact. I would be singularly unsympathetic to the idea that the ATC is guilty of “incitement” to commit any of those crimes.
[...] lyrics. A Facebook site was created to oppose Beenie Man, and Charles Chauvel had even called for him to be refused a visa to enter the [...]
Aw, I don’t want millsy to go.
Not all christians are homophobic – not disagreeing with some of the stuff christians have done – I think homophobia is very old fashioned and has no place in the 21st century.
The American Open Church is pro-gay… It comes from the realisation that the literal translation of the bible is a very modern occurrence and the 7 (IIRC) verses in the bible that mention homosexuality can be very easily explained away and the research done by many prestigeous American (mainly and suprisingly) medical societies who have shown it to be a natural phenomenon…
That is why beanie man is a joke, socially and scientifically and the correct response was what happened today, free people coming together to speak with mainly one voice and say his message is unacceptable and the event organisers responding… Trying to have him banned from the country was a silly and dangerous idea…
Craig Ranapia , if Shakespeeare was coming to visit you might have a point
No one is suggesting BMs music be banned from shops or that individuals not be free to listen or not .
Just that under longstanding rules for visitors he be refused entry.
We even prevent visitors with very little money ( Marie of Romania comes to mind )from staying, they are put on the next flight home.
This doesnt mean poor people allready living here are going to be kicked out
Lindsay Perigo, himself gay and no fan of rap music, has this to say:
http://www.solopassion.com/node/7074
Gay fascists have won a victory over homophobic fascists. The loser is freedom of speech and conscience, says SOLO Principal Lindsay Perigo.
In response to gay fascists, Big Day Out organisers in Auckland, New Zealand, have pulled Jamaican performer Beenie Man out of next year’s event.
Apparently, Beenie Man’s lyrics at one point included, “I’m dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays.”
Gaynz.com content editor Jay Bennie had called on Beenie Man to be axed from the line-up to send a message that homophobia was not acceptable in New Zealand.
“I’d never heard of Beenie Man till now,” says Perigo, who himself is gay. “I know, quite apart from such revolting lyrics—which are probably inaudible—I’d loathe his brand of headbanging anti-music. But in the spirit of Voltaire I’d defend to the death his right to perform it to consenting adults.
“The Big Day Out website says while Beenie Man has renounced those sentiments, signed the Reggae Compassionate Act [!!] and promised to stick to ‘peaceful and humanistic values’ at Big Day Out, ‘the depth of feeling and hurt amongst these groups has convinced us that for us to proceed with his Big Day Out appearances was, and would continue to be, divisive amongst our audience members and would mar the enjoyment of the event for many.’
“One wonders what would happen were the homophobic misogynist Eminem the ‘artist’ in question,” Perigo muses.
“BDO, of course, have the right to extend and revoke invitations as they see fit. But it’s a shame they’ve succumbed to pressure from a group of toxic totalitarians who form a significant contingent of New Zealand’s Politically Correct Thought Police, who won’t be satisfied till they’ve criminalized ‘offensive’ and ‘inappropriate’ speech.
“Bennie and Beenie are flip sides of the same coin. Both would benefit from a course of sensitivity-training in the spirit and practice of, ‘I disagree with what you say, but defend to the death your right to say it,’” Perigo concludes.