Winning speech a reflection on racism in New Zealand
Queen's High School student Malak Tamimi, 15, won the Dunedin Host Lions Young Speechmaker Contest for a speech she made on racism.
Malak said winning the competition made her feel she had a voice.
"I felt like I was actually seen."
Her speech was about how racism feels in the Western world, which she felt was a "forgotten-about topic".
"For the longest time, I didn't write about racism because I thought it was only in legends and movies, but then I realised it is not just in verbal or explicit things.
Dunedin Host Lions Young Speechmaker Contest winner Malak Tamimi. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
"It is often the backhanded comments and things you don't think would be called racism."
Malak felt racism was experienced less in New Zealand, but was present nonetheless.
She said her speech was emotional because of her mention of the Christchurch mosque shootings of March 15, 2019.
As a young Muslim girl at the time, she did not know exactly what had happened, but she could see how it was affecting the people around her.
"I didn't know the severity of it, but I knew what happened was bad and that it would be bad for a long time."
"As I said in my speech, we were afraid and we are afraid."
mark.john@odt.co.nz
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
20 hours ago
- NZ Herald
The far-right in Germany wants to soften its image, not its policies
The AfD's new strategy emerged from an internal analysis of its performance in national elections in February. It ran on an anti-elite, anti-immigrant platform that included promises of mass deportations. It also vowed to reignite the nation's industrial economy, powered by German coal and Russian natural gas. The party finished second, winning more than one-fifth of the vote. But the AfD found itself shut out of government, with no other party in Parliament willing to work with it. Unable to cement its place in the Bundestag, the AfD decided that it needed to expand its appeal at the ballot box and in circles of power in Berlin. Enter the new approach, which takes as its starting point the idea that German voters are fundamentally conservative — an assertion that centre-left parties dispute. It is based largely on a surface read of February's election, when more than half of the voters either backed the AfD or the centre-right sister parties of Merz, the Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union. Merz's voters broadly agree with AfD's view that Germany needs to strengthen the economy and reduce migration, said Beatrix von Storch, a senior AfD Member of Parliament and an architect of the new strategy. Opinion polling shows that Germans are worried about migration and security above all other issues. The AfD, she said, will try to appeal to centre-right voters through those issues. It will also try to provoke Germany's major liberal parties to move to the extreme left on social issues like abortion and transgender rights, she said, by raising the profile of those matters and of Germany's growing far-left party. 'There is a cultural war in the Western world and we will win it,' she said. She said she hoped for an echo of last year's American presidential election. 'Moderate Republicans voted for Donald Trump, even though they don't approve of everything he says or does,' von Storch said. 'But the divide between moderate Republicans and the progressive Democrats is so deep that these reservations no longer mattered.' There are many reasons why the AfD's effort could fail. Merz's voters disagree with the AfD's stances on several issues, surveys suggest, most notably Germany's backing of Ukraine in its war against Russia. And Germans tend to be consensus builders. While its political extremes are growing, many voters still baulk at supporting any party seen as too far on one end or the other. 'You could say that the political centre is a kind of ideal in Germany, which is why I believe that, despite the potential for polarisation, there is no great desire for division among the German population,' said Johannes Hillje, a political scientist who has studied the new AfD strategy. Some voters have also been turned off by the AfD's sharp rhetoric, particularly on immigration. German intelligence has formally declared the AfD to be extremist over what the Government called an unconstitutional campaign to treat migrants differently from other German residents. The extremism designation could someday lead to the party being banned from German politics. The force of many voters' distaste for the AfD helped prompt the other part of its strategy, the effort to soften its image without retreating on policy. In May, AfD drafted penalties for members who had acted uncivilly in parliament, including fines of up to €5000 ($9760) and a three-month ban from giving speeches in the chamber. Earlier, it dissolved the Junge Alternative, the party's notoriously radical youth wing. The AfD is now polling around 25% nationally, but it has lost ground to the centre-right since Merz took office in May. His party gained support after loosening government borrowing limits, cutting some taxes and tightening border controls. The Chancellor has rallied Germans around increased military spending, as long-standing American security guarantees for Europe have faltered. Until recently, he had avoided the sort of coalition bickering that brought down former Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Government last year. To rattle Merz's coalition, the AfD needed a controversy — one that combined hot-button social issues and hot-tempered political infighting. This month, Merz's Government provided both. A progressive law professor named Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf had been nominated for a seat on the nation's constitutional court by Merz's centre-left coalition partner, the Social Democrats. But Merz's party was baulking at supporting her. The far-right had helped provoke the dispute. The AfD and social conservatives had been attacking Brosius-Gersdorf, claiming without evidence that she supported legalised abortion to the ninth month of pregnancy. Such a stance would have been far outside the German mainstream, were it true. Abortion is illegal in Germany, but there are no penalties for the procedure through to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Brosius-Gersdorf had worked on a commission to change the law to decriminalise those early-term abortions, but she never publicly supported late-term abortion. The AfD, which opposes abortion, cares little about that distinction. When Merz took questions in Parliament this month, von Storch asked whether he could in good conscience vote to seat Brosius-Gersdorf. After verbally attacking von Storch, Merz said yes. Soon, an edited version of the exchange raced across social media. Outrage built among conservatives, who fumed that Merz had effectively endorsed legalised abortion. Some Catholic bishops warned against confirming the nominee. Merz's governing coalition had to postpone the vote, fearing Brosius-Gersdorf had insufficient support. The nomination remains unresolved, though Merz has refocused his attention in recent days onto foreign policy. Government aides say the best way for Merz to thwart the AfD is to stay out of culture wars and stick to solving problems that rank high among voters' concerns. That includes restarting economic growth, reducing migration and restoring German leadership on the global stage. And doing so while projecting unity inside the government. Some AfD leaders agree that policy wins would be Merz's best weapon against them. Von Storch said AfD voters could flock to Merz if he effectively adopted the party's platform on immigration, including blocking new migrants from crossing the German border and deporting millions of asylum-seekers from Syria and elsewhere. Merz has tightened border controls and stepped-up deportations, but there is no indication he would support anything close to the full AfD migration agenda. Even as she stressed the importance of culture wars to divide the Merz coalition, von Storch said that for the AfD to grow in popularity, it must sell Germans on its plans for their wallets. 'Voters want a government that can lead the economy out of crisis, secure prosperity and ensure sound public finances,' she said. 'The AfD will gain massive acceptance and support if we aggressively stake out these areas.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Jim Tankersley and Christopher F. Schuetze Photograph by: Lena Mucha ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
MP ‘ill-informed' on seesaw
A National MP has been accused of getting his facts wrong after slamming council spending on a central Dunedin seesaw. In a social media post published on Thursday, Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell criticised the Dunedin City Council for wasting ratepayer money on "stupid vanity projects". He claimed the council had spent $600,000 on a seesaw as part of an inner city playground built during upgrades to George St. "The message to local government is clear: get your costs under control — Kiwis are doing it tough." "I mean, how stupid do you have to be," he asked. Reaction from social media commenters was mixed — some were supportive while others pointed out the overall playground feature had cost less than $600,000 in total. The council said the play space cost $586,000 and also featured "talk tubes", benches and shading and soft-fall surfaces. Invoices showed the three seesaws in the playground — a 7m-long, 12m-long and inclusive seesaw — together cost $244,700. The council had received a $250,000 donation from lead contractor Isaac Construction to go towards the cost of the playground. Cr Christine Garey said Mr Uffindell was "ill-informed" — "but that's not a surprise". Children and families loved the playground feature of George St, she said. "This decision was made long before the cost of living crisis that was caused by his government. "Did he talk about the huge cost of government regulation imposed by central government on local government? I doubt it." Cr Andrew Whiley said he and Mr Uffindell attended the same event when the MP was in Dunedin earlier this month where the topic of the seesaws came up. "I quickly said, 'well, actually, councillors never signed off on the seesaws'," Cr Whiley said. "I made it quite clear to him that actually councillors had not seen or had the ability to review that prior to it being installed and being signed off by council staff." Councillors had seen and noted a plan for the play space at an extraordinary planning and environment committee in April 2022, but it did not include the seesaws, Cr Whiley said. "I never basically understood [how] the playground went from what was in our papers to being what it was finished." Council central city plan project director Glen Hazelton said councillors voted to note the report in 2022, "including the details on the play space". The council was "disappointed" by Mr Uffindell's comments. "The total cost of the entire play space on George St was $586,000," he said. "At less than 1% of the total budget for George St, we believe the investment in a more people-friendly space is good value for money." "A number of new retail tenants coming to George St have noted the improvements that make the area more people-friendly, including the play space, as the reason for relocating," Dr Hazelton said.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Israel, US abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared on Friday to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinian militants did not want a deal. Netanyahu said Israel was now mulling "alternative" options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending Hamas rule in the enclave, where starvation is spreading and most of the population is homeless amid widespread ruin. Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down", telling reporters: "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job." The remarks appeared to leave little to no room, at least in the short term, to resume negotiations for a break in the fighting, at a time when international concern is mounting over worsening hunger in war-shattered Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron, responding to the deteriorating humanitarian situation, announced that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognise an independent Palestinian state. Britain and Germany said they were not yet ready to do so but later joined France in calling for an immediate ceasefire. British Prime Minister Keith Starmer said his government would recognize a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal. Trump dismissed Macron's move. "What he says doesn't matter," he said. "He's a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight." Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations on Thursday from the ceasefire talks in Qatar, hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal. Sources initially said on Thursday that the Israeli withdrawal was only for consultations and did not necessarily mean the talks had reached a crisis. But Netanyahu's remarks suggested Israel's position had hardened overnight. US envoy Steve Witkoff said Hamas was to blame for the impasse, and Netanyahu said Witkoff had got it right. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Facebook that the talks had been constructive, and criticised Witkoff's remarks as aimed at exerting pressure on Israel's behalf. "What we have presented - with full awareness and understanding of the complexity of the situation - we believe could lead to a deal if the enemy had the will to reach one," he said. Mediators Qatar and Egypt said there had been some progress in the latest round of talks. They said suspensions were a normal part of the process and they were committed to continuing to try to reach a ceasefire in partnership with the US The proposed ceasefire would suspend fighting for 60 days, allow more aid into Gaza, and free some of the 50 remaining hostages held by militants in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel. It has been held up by disagreement over how far Israel should withdraw its troops and the future beyond the 60 days if no permanent agreement is reached. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Netanyahu's coalition, welcomed Netanyahu's step, calling for a total halt of aid to Gaza and complete conquest of the enclave, adding in a post on X: "Total annihilation of Hamas, encourage emigration, (Jewish) settlement." MASS HUNGER International aid organisations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza's 2.2 million people, with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions. The Israeli military said on Friday it had agreed to let countries airdrop aid into Gaza. Hamas dismissed this as a stunt. 'The Gaza Strip does not need flying aerobatics, it needs an open humanitarian corridor and a steady daily flow of aid trucks to save what remains of the lives of besieged, starving civilians,' Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, told Reuters. Gaza medical authorities said nine more Palestinians had died over the past 24 hours from malnutrition or starvation. Dozens have died in the past few weeks as hunger worsens. Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to distribute it, in what the Israeli foreign ministry called on Friday "a deliberate ploy to defame Israel". The United Nations says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. United Nations agencies said on Friday that supplies were running out in Gaza of specialised therapeutic food to save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher also has demanded that Israel provide evidence for its accusations that staff with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were affiliated with Hamas, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The ceasefire talks have been accompanied by continuing Israeli offensives. Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes and gunfire had killed at least 21 people across the enclave on Friday, including five killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City. In the city, residents carried the body of journalist Adam Abu Harbid through the streets wrapped in a white shroud, his blue flak jacket marked PRESS draped across his body. He was killed overnight in a strike on tents housing displaced people. Mahmoud Awadia, another journalist attending the funeral, said the Israelis were deliberately trying to kill reporters. Israel denies intentionally targeting journalists. Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
