FROM THE EDITOR

Freedom. What does it mean? For me, it’s many things but perhaps it’s easier to say what it isn’t. Personally, it’s not about being denied the freedom to eat hot dogs in a stadium of thousands or to travel the world in the middle of a pandemic. It’s not about the curtailment of my personal liberties. It is about choosing to see the big picture. The view of freedom, by those who are marginalised, those who have been truly persecuted, is far richer and more meaningful than that viewed through the lens of my privilege. When Nelson Mandela talked about freedom, for example, he meant freedom from the shackles of racial discrimination and oppression. Freedom, he said, is to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. When professional sailor Russell Coutts talks about freedom, it’s about escaping Aotearoa’s “dictatorship”. What he really means is the freedom to be fast and loose with the facts and to cast off from reality. It’s astonishing that one who has spent his entire career assessing expansive horizons can have such a deficient perspective. Freedom for some means not choosing to vaccinate, yet curtailing the freedom of others by protesting outside vaccination centres. The word “freedom” has been hijacked and held hostage. This week, Renee Liang, pediatrician and writer, examines what freedom means in a pandemic. Reading it, I found solace in what are very noisy times. It is a kind of cerebral and emotional reset. It’s a reminder of the power we have when we act as a community.

Also this week, the new face of Covid, a brilliant rapping scientist, Joel Rindelaub, talks to Greg Bruce. And Amanda Saxton talks to the new Governor-general, Dame Cindy Kiro — a remarkable wahine, who applauds people who “connect us, unify us, and show our collective humanity and its importance for this country”. Ma te wa