NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Donna Miles Mojab: Refugees have no need to be grateful

By Donna Miles Mojab
NZ Herald·
9 Nov, 2017 04:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Amnesty International says it's getting desperate for the more than 600 refugees who urgently need food, water and medical care.
Opinion

I have just finished helping my 15-year-old son with his social studies cue cards. He has an exam tomorrow and one of the topics is New Zealand's refugee quota and whether it should be raised or not.

I separated the should-raise-quota cards from should-not-raise-quota cards and asked him to recite the reasons and evidences for each.

Should Raise Quota. Reason 1: "New Zealand's international reputation is at stake." Should Raise Quota. Reason 2: "Refugees benefit New Zealand."

"Is that all the reasons?," I asked.

"Yes, ask me about the evidences Mum," he implored me impatiently.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Should Raise Quota. Evidence 1: "New Zealand ranks 121st out of 190 countries for the total number of refugees we host, measured by our GDP." Should Raise Quota. Evidence 2: "Studies in Europe show €1 spent on refugees earns €2 in five years."

(*See below for reasons and evidences against raising the quota.)

We finished the cue cards and he went to bed. I was left pondering on why the most important cue card was missing. Then it dawned on me that I was partly at fault for the missing cue card. The problem was with the way, people like me, had made the case for refugees.

We always held up the success stories. For instance, we referred to the 131 rescued Tampa refugees in 2001 and listed their contributions as nurses, lawyers, engineers, doctors, etc; as if capacity for professional accomplishment was a prerequisite for assessing whether someone's life was worth saving or not.

Why can't refugees be the same mix of high and low achievers as ordinary Kiwis? Why should they always be regarded as an investment? Shouldn't we take in refugees for a simple reason that our humanity compels us to offer refuge to those escaping war and persecution?

Discover more

Opinion

Political Roundup: Has Jacinda Ardern failed her first test?

06 Nov 02:56 AM
New Zealand

Manus Island on brink of catastrophe, says Amnesty

08 Nov 08:30 PM
New Zealand|politics

Leading Aussies urge Ardern to save Manus refugees

09 Nov 05:36 AM

A former-refugee from Iran, Golriz Ghahraman, was recently sworn-in as a new Member of Parliament. Her seat is a great cause for celebration for those us who believe in value of diversity in a representative democracy - you know, "A government of the people, by the people, for the people".

Golriz's surname, Ghahraman, in Farsi, means "champion", a befitting name given Golriz's previous work as a human rights lawyer and her achievement in becoming New Zealand's first former-refugee MP.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The refugee community in New Zealand and the Iranian diaspora everywhere are rejoicing at Golriz's success. They and other refugee supporters will, no doubt, forever hold Golriz up as an example of a beneficial refugee, one who turned out to be a great investment.

But, looking at some of the comments posted on Golriz's Facebook, it is clear that becoming a good refugee is still not good enough. One comment refers to Golriz as "a feminazi piece of trash".

Another lengthy multiple-post comment degenerates into Islamophobic rants and ends with a shocking sentence: "It's time to load your rifle".

To these people, it seems, there is only one thing that is worse than an undeserving and needy refugee and that is a powerful, self-sufficient and outspoken refugee who regards herself or himself as equal to the natives.

Arguments about refugees being good investments are clearly of no consequence to the xenophobes above. To them, refugees will always be either lazy and ungrateful or powerful and threatening - either a burden or a "Trojan horse".

I hope, in her maiden speech to the Parliament, Golriz does not deem it necessary to express gratitude to New Zealand for offering her and her family refuge.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Refugees do not have to be any more grateful for living in this safe country than other Kiwis and, if they do feel grateful, it should be because gratefulness is critical to their happiness - not their acceptance.

I am very suspicious of those who hold firm to the idea that refugees must be grateful - their interest is not in humility but obediency.

They want to uphold a power dynamic that assumes refugees as inferior, never equal and certainly never superior. In reality, refugees have no debt to repay because human lives should never be a matter for investment.

I made two new cue cards for my son.

NZ should raise quota. Reason 3: Our humanity. NZ should raise quota. Evidence 3: A poem by the 13th-century Persian poet, Sadi of Shiraz: "Human beings are members of a whole. In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain, other members uneasy will remain. If you've no sympathy for human pain, the name of human you cannot retain."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

( *The reasons for not raising the refugee quota were: 1, opening the floodgates to more refugees and 2, compromising our world class refugee resettlement programme.

A quote by John Key about keeping future arrivals of more than 30 in detention camps and another about "diluting the programme" were used as evidences.)

• Donna Miles Mojab is a British-born Iranian who migrated to New Zealand with her Kiwi husband.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Lotto Powerball jackpots to $10m, two winners split $1m

05 Jul 09:16 AM
New Zealand

Watch: Jet boat joy rides through swollen stream as severe weather batters parts of NZ

05 Jul 08:41 AM
Auckland

Person seriously injured falling from vehicle in Pokeno crash

05 Jul 08:16 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Lotto Powerball jackpots to $10m, two winners split $1m

Lotto Powerball jackpots to $10m, two winners split $1m

05 Jul 09:16 AM

The winning tickets were sold in Auckland and on MyLotto to a Waikato player.

Watch: Jet boat joy rides through swollen stream as severe weather batters parts of NZ

Watch: Jet boat joy rides through swollen stream as severe weather batters parts of NZ

05 Jul 08:41 AM
Person seriously injured falling from vehicle in Pokeno crash

Person seriously injured falling from vehicle in Pokeno crash

05 Jul 08:16 AM
'Very sad and tragic': Baby found critically hurt at house dies, homicide probe launched

'Very sad and tragic': Baby found critically hurt at house dies, homicide probe launched

05 Jul 06:33 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP