Time to applaud those who stood against war

I NOTE in the ODT (10.7.18) two articles.

One, on the front page, lauding the ‘‘achievements’’ of several men with high powered rifles slaughtering wild animals for fun and profit.

Men who clearly have no compassion or even remote understanding of the fear, suffering and pain caused by their actions on defenceless wild animals. We are asked to applaud their accomplishments on screen.

Secondly, a large threecolumn article on page 7 by Mr Cunningham, arguing that we should not in any way memorialise those incredibly brave men who stood up to the British Imperial state and community pressure, and resisted going to kill their fellow humans in a completely senseless war.

And so we continue to laud those men who have gone off to kill, terrorise, slaughter and be complicit in genocide with our ‘‘Five Eyes’’ partner, the United States, in its imperial wars of aggression.

This continued unconditional support for men to act out their aggression and anger in violent ways on defenceless others does our society and our living world no good.

Paul Martin Northeast Valley

GERALD Cunningham’s article on the Archibald Baxter memorial garden (ODT, 10.7.18) is factually correct but misses the point of the proposed memorial.

It is not to insult those who fought, often unwillingly, and in many cases died. These people have memorials to recognise their service and sacrifice in nearly every town, big and small, in New Zealand.

The memorial garden is to promote peace and, in particular, to recognise all conscientious objectors including Archibald Baxter from Otago, who was shipped to the battlefields of World War 1 and underwent ‘‘crucifixion’’ or Field Punishment No. 1.

This is not to belittle what the conscripted soldiers went through. Many of these soldiers were supportive of Baxter, as he explains in his memoir We Will Not Cease.

World War 1 did not solve anything. A generation later the world was fighting again.

Since the end of World War 2, various wars have continued. Let’s give peace a chance.

Barbara Weavers

Mornington

Don’t ignore Wanaka

THE article (ODT, 6.7.18) highlighting the frustration of the Wanaka Community Board regarding the lack of progress in implementing the Wanaka Lakefront Development Plan is just the tip of the iceberg.

Lack of parking in Wanaka has been highlighted for years, and a car parking building has also been mooted.

The rules of the Queenstown Lakes District Council also apply to Wanaka, and the Wanaka Community Board has a dropin session on the first Wednesday of each month where concerns can be aired.

Sadly, the community board is obviously not always listened to, or does not have the support of the council in enforcing some rules, with the result that attending the dropin sessions each month is futile.

Lismore Park is a significant area of Crown land open space, and appears to have been seriously downgraded.

The 2003 Management Plan for Lismore Park was a standalone document of 42 pages. The now current 2008 Management Plan for Lismore Park consists of only four and is included with two small parks — Allenby Park and Kelly’s Flat.

All Wanaka people need to be vigilant and aware of what this may signal in the future.

The question is, do our council representatives need to be more assertive in promoting Wanaka’s legal rights, or is the QLDC too big and too busy to be concerned about Wanaka? Loris King

Wanaka