While Winston was sleeping
It wasn’t our minister of foreign affairs’ finest hour as he had a While You Were Sleeping moment during a speech by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC). A jet-lagged Winson Peters was caught not only napping, but back-pedalling during an urgent trip to Istanbul, which was supposed to sort Erdogan out over his use of the graphic footage of the Christchurch terrorist attacks.
Instead of confronting Erdogan, Peters admitted he hadn’t questioned the president over the footage because he didn’t think it was going to be shown again. But only a few hours after his bilateral meeting with Erdogan, the video was rescreened at an Erdogan political rally.
Peters defended his conciliatory tone by implying that, in the early days following the terrorist attacks, some ‘‘misinterpretation’’ may have occurred. Peters was referring to Erdogan’s allegations that Anzac soldiers were anti-Muslim, and the Turkish president’s threat, that anyone attacking Turkey would be sent home in coffins, like their grandfathers.
Bending over backwards to protect New Zealanders attending pending Anzac commemorations at Gallipoli comes at a high price for Peters. New Zealand is on high terror alert and part of Peters’ diplomatic role is to try to stop any further escalation of retaliatory rhetoric.
Not only has he appeared to pull punches that were authorised by Jacinda Ardern, but Peters was also caught asleep at the wheel, causing criticism that he is too old for the job.
Peters may be counting the days, all eighteen months of them, till the next election when he can gracefully retire and be given an overseas diplomatic posting. But no-one can forget that, if it wasn’t for Peters, there would have been no empathetic Ardern fronting the tragedy. She owes him, big time.
Under the John Key regime, we had an alleged rock star economy. Under the Ardern coalition, we have an international rock star politician. The image of the prime minister in headscarf in an embrace shines in a hologram on the world’s tallest building. A renowned French poet has started a petition proposing her as the next recipient of the upcoming Nobel Peace Prize to acknowledge her dignified and inclusive response to the attacks. A similar petition has been started in New Zealand.
A leading Australian counter-terrorism expert assessed Ardern’s handling of the attacks as a ‘‘masterclass in leadership’’. The plaudits roll in as Ardern says, modestly and inclusively, that she is merely showing the humanity of all New Zealanders.
No doubt, Ardern will appear on the front cover of Time magazine wearing the headscarf, setting an example to rise above the dark bottomless pit of white supremacist hatred and fear of ‘‘The Other’’.
Ardern is blessed with a face that is an open book to her emotions. In the past week her features have unfolded in an origami of pain and compassion read loud and clear by the watching world. When she talks about the perpetrator, her face is stony, all angles and bones, as the exhausted agnostic looks a day older than God. Other times, she looks like a young woman whose terrible burden it is to rise to the occasion.
Her careful words have not been kindling to be thrown on a fire to burn out of control. The leader of a mainly secular society exhibits dignified control as a reminder to show religious tolerance and love.
In the long days ahead, we will not only hold and console each other, we will also watch and correct each other. Meanwhile the spy in the house of this newfound love will look on, trying to ensure that a watched plot never boils.