The Wire with Caeden

Last week, the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa published the results of a survey poll showing public support for sanctions on Israel. The PSNA have backed the results as proof that popular opinion in Aotearoa is against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Further, PSNA claims that by doing nothing, the Government and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters are falling out of alignment with the public on the issue, and demands action from the Government.

Producer Alex spoke to Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa Co-Chair John Minto about the results of the survey, what they mean, and what PSNA want to see from the Government.

Following on from our chat with Simon Court, Thursday Wire Host, Caeden, spoke to Margaret Mutu - a Māori Studies Professor at the University of Auckland, who has a PhD in linguistics, about Education Minister, Erica Stanford’s announcement, that the early-reading book At the Marae from the Ready to Read Phonics Plus series, will be canned.

The ministry told RNZ that At the Marae, unlike other books in the series, the book uses six kupu Māori, could result in challenges for young learners.

However, Officials have advised the ministry that there was “limited” research regarding the effect kupu Māori had in early-reading books.

Caeden spoke to Mutu about this, and the positives of raising tamariki with both English and te reo Māori.

A couple of weeks ago in our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, we discussed multiple countries moving to formally recognise Palestinian Statehood, and what New Zealand’s plans were in this regard.

Last week, Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, said the country would carefully weigh its position over the next month in recognising the state of Palestine.

During a debate in Parliament, the government’s delay in recognising a Palestinian state, as opposed to other countries such as France, the UK, Canada, and Australia, led Green Party co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick, to refer to the country as “outlier,” and called for the government MPs “with a spine” to “stand on the right side of history”. This led to her being ordered to leave Parliament by Speaker Gerry Brownlee, after refusing to apologise for her statement.

As well as this, last week, Education Minister, Erica Stanford, announced cancelling the early-reading book At the Marae from its Ready to Read Phonics Plus series. 

The government’s reasoning for this is through “mixed” evidence suggesting that learning both English and te reo Māori for young learners could confuse them.

The move has been widely criticised by linguists, academics, and educators, for being “an act of racism” and “white supremacy”.

For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, Producer Castor spoke to Simon about both these topics, starting with recognising a Palestinian state.

Find out more about the Māori words which are a part of the official Oxford English Dictionary here

Earlier this week, Israel killed four Al Jazeera journalists, as well as two freelance journalists, in a targeted strike.

In total, nearly 270 journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel since the war began in October 2023. This makes Israel’s war on Gaza the deadliest conflict ever for journalists. 

More journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the United States' war in Afghanistan combined, according to a report published by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. 

For International Desk, I spoke to Assistant Professor in Journalism at Mount Royal University, Gabriela Perdomo Páez, about the danger facing Palestinian journalists on the ground, including from before the current war.