Self-defence not violence

I read yet again that a ‘‘defenceless’’ teenager has been attacked by two cowardly youths, this time at a Porirua family festival.

While the ‘‘hook’’ of the story is aimed at the violence that ensued against the victim, the focus of the story should actually be the inability of the victim to defend herself – hence ‘‘defenceless’’.

The evidence-redundant ‘‘zero tolerance’’ whole of school anti-bullying programmes that infect our children’s education continue to weld the concept of violence to self-defence.

In doing so, and in schools visiting the same consequence upon a student who defends themselves, and a person who attacks them, these programmes are disempowering our young people, and placing them at even greater risk than even the attackers can mete out.

The fact is that the victim of the Porirua attack had no self-defence resources whatsoever to mitigate the attack upon them – they simply lay down and froze, as kick after kick after kick was delivered to their head.

Parents, please ignore what the schools are telling you, and enrol your children in a local Krav Maga studio, where they will quickly learn how to end an attack like this in seconds, against multiple attackers.

Self-reliance can most often be the last bastion of self-preservation, and we parents can’t be around all the time to protect them.

Dylan Tipene

Ranui