Rotary pulls plug on John Ansell's 'Colourblind' launch
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"This is why Rotary is failing today. Full of stiff upper lip fuddy duddies who are interested in polite chit chat about meaningless things."
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The Rotary Club of Remuera has pulled the pin on John Ansell’s "Colourblind" campaign launch and cancelled its meeting in Auckland tomorrow.
In a statement, club president John Burrowes says Rotary is a non-political organisation and following what he termed "media hype" it became obvious the club had been "ambushed" into providing a platform for a political ad campaign launch.
Mr Ansell, due to fly up from Wellington yesterday, told NBR ONLINE Rotary had "misrepresented me terribly".
He says he was invited to talk some weeks ago by a Rotary club member and told he could invite "whoever I like".
On that basis, he invited other people and the media.
"The man who invited me was supportive," Mr Ansell says. "They say they are not political. What was Rotary doing when it invited Don Brash to speak at Orewa?"
"There's been some misunderstanding with the Rotary club," Mr Ansell says, hoping he can find a more "courageous" club for his launch.
In his statement, Mr Burrowes says Rotary has politicians speak at its meetings, "but it is for our members and the people we invite".
“Mr Ansell stepped over the mark when he started to issue his own invitation to members of the public and the media and generally promoted his talk to our club as a ‘state launch’.
“There is no way that the Rotary Club of Remuera endorses John Ansell’s views, or that it ever wanted to give him a platform to launch his political aspirations," he says.
"We might invite him to talk to us in the future."
"Rotarians like to be informed. But he will be just one of a variety of people, including politicians, which we invite to share their ideas."
More by Jock Anderson and Darren Greenwood
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Comments and questions26
This is why Rotary is failing today. Full of stiff upper lip fuddy duddies who are interested in polite chit chat about meaningless things.
dontcha know.. the rotary clubs are maori sympathisers and part of the treatyfraud
One should not generalise about Rotary.......all clubs are different.....some dont even have dinners and guest speakers all the time.Last week I attended Orewa Rotary Clubs breakfast meeting option, where there was Q&A and discussion between members, a local boatbuilder, a local Community Trust CEO and 3 Orewa College senior students about employment and their vocational aspirations. Very interesting and constructive.
Gutless. If they wanted to display some balance they could invite Pita Sharples to speak at their next meeting.
No not Pita but Hone, far more interesting.
An office holder in Remuera Rotary has got jelly knees and the ructions within their ranks will be playing out as we speak. I have been associated with Rotary for decades and the vibrant, effective and progressive clubs enjoy invited guest speakers on any matter even politics often the more controversial the better. Its an insult to the membership that attendees can only hear guests sanitised and via rose tinted arrangement. I still recall the clamour of media, TV, protesters and minders that were a known given, expected for many names attending meals years past, strewth some even had prearranged press releases and journalist interviews sorted before and after. Older members do not appreciate being mollycoddled or treated as if intellectually past it. There will be plenty of other Rotary clubs willing to give this man a hearing or roast whichever when he enters the Lions den...now theres an idea.
I struggle to see how Pablo deduces from the article that Rotary is failing and full of upper-lip fuddy duddies.
The article said that as Rotary is apolitical and stays above particular view points. Rotary does invite politicians to speak to it's members and Pablo is right some including PM Muldoon and Don Brash have been filmed by the press. These however were Rotary not public meetings.Mr Ansell was presumptuous inviting the public at large and the media. If he wished to reach the wider audience he should have hired a meeting room and issued invites. If he was encouraged to do so by a representative of the Remuera Rotary Club he's due an apology from that Rotarian.
Service Clubs be they Rotary , Lions or Zonta ,amongst others, are indeed facing membership squeezes. Not because of the composition or character of the Clubs but the demands of careers and families and a lesser ethos of devoting part of one's week to charitable purpose. These Service Clubs do wonderful work in our communities .....all unpaid helping others less advantaged and their raising money for much needed equipment. An example is a MRI scan recently fund raised in South Canterbury with the hefty purchase price significantly funded by Lions. Diabetes Research and Child Health Professorial Chairs at three Universities were all funded by Rotary. Pablo himself or his family may have benefited from these.
Pablo should attend as a visitor a Service Club close to where he lives.The experience will be quite different to how he currently sees things. He'll meet ordinary people of generous heart who simply want to return something to their local community .
That's to be applauded not sent a cheap shot
The notion that Rotary is apolitical is childish in the extreme. So let's be clear here, if this were the Weimar Republic, or worse, Fascist Germany, Rotary would refrain from passing any judgements? It would simply sit back, sipping tea, and not even utter a tut tut?
Apolitical is gutless. Everyone and every organisation has values that are political. Be proud of them. Wear them boldly. Strive with every breath for a freer and more responsible society.
Maori King been on the " hotline" to Rotary or was it TOW/Maori Council.What a bunch of jellied no back boned men in Rotary,come on men,Man up .Sad day for freedom of speech.
Can he still be there if he wears a maori cloak,come on Rotary,lighten up.And here's me wanting to join.
Rotary has just shot themselves in both feet,damage control needs to be activated because the bad advertising for Rotary will take years to recoup.
Just turned a little story into a big story, maybe,either way its not looking positive.
Ansell,will be doing a jig roundabout now,he could not have bought better advertising for his cause.Rotary did not really think this one through.
i think like all hosts, its their place so its their rules. Go the Rotary,
If you have been to Remuera Rotary lately you will realize it is virtually dead and buried anyway. Now we know why.
Rotary can invite who ever they like. Those who whinge about Ansell being uninvited should take a harden-up pill and realise that no one owes Ansell anything.
Ansell's a big boy. He should organise his own launch and not bludge of others.
Last I looked this wasn't a Peoples' Republic yet.
@ Capt Quirk,
Actually this cancellation in fact suggests we are on the way to becoming a "Peoples Republic" if unpopular views are going to be silenced or organisations cowed into cancelling functions like this.
You seem to have misunderstood the situation entirely.
@Mike Steinberg - That's quite frankly illogical, technically it is a deductive logical fallacy - look it up you might learn something rather than mindlessly regurgitating something you heard on talkback radio - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_fallacy
You mean, Rotary can invite whomever they like.
John Burrowes - the Neville Chamberlain of Rotary Presidents?
Mazda should go instead, because they the produced the RX-2, 3 and 4
Rotary, get your head out of the sand .
Obviously know room for both sides of the story. Don't blame Rotary though who needs the drama. The rednecks here are certainly doing Ansell no favours.
Pretty sure Ansell is redneck himself, but I guess that makes me "brainwashed"
No, it makes you racist.
Don't be dicouraged,John.
In today's PC world you will encounter many types of moral cowardice;most will take the soft option and keep their heads firmly in the sand;that's the easy option,isn't it?
But what you have pointed up is that we have a major problem which is consistently swept under the carpet by self-seving politicians in particular.
We need someone like you to have the guts to confront the problem.
Keep up the good work!
liberte
What is John Ansell is proposing is fundamentally propaganda in n8tur. His outrageous campaign is the catalyst for air time