Paul Thomas: Hide, Harawira episodes make us look like a banana republic

Even though it's only the world's 32nd biggest banana producer, Argentina is synonymous with the term "banana republic".

This is probably because of Argentina's slide from the first world to the third. In 1913 it was the 10th wealthiest nation per capita - now it hovers around 50th. Most other countries that we think of as banana republics were basket cases from the word go.

Commentators, particularly those of the laissez-faire capitalist persuasion, often point to New Zealand's slippage on the prosperity leader-board - we're currently about 30th - as proof that we're sleepwalking down the Argentinean path. They usually attribute this decline to our chippy egalitarianism and dependence on the Nanny State, coupled with a reluctance to embrace an economic model seemingly designed to ensure that, even if all else fails, the rich get richer.

Yet Argentina's decline had more to do with politics than policy. Catastrophic economic decision-making was the inevitable consequence of a rotten political culture marked by corruption and irresponsibility on the part of politicians and a partiality for demagogues and jackbooted saviours on the part of the citizenry.

No-one would suggest that New Zealand politics is descending to that level, but the last month has not been encouraging.

Rodney Hide's behaviour only makes sense if you assume that it was intended to make people even more cynical about politics. A politician who has built a career on campaigning for root and branch reform and against parliamentary perks finally gets a chance to make a difference and what does he do? Plants his snout in the trough and puts on a display of disloyalty and grandstanding that suggest he lacks the discipline and seriousness of purpose for the day-to-day grind of government.

Perk-busting doesn't seem to have been a political priority for Hone Harawira; indeed, he seems to have taken the view that if everybody else is doing it, he'd be a mug not to join in.

The most risible aspect of his junket was that this self-styled maverick and confrontationist threw a sickie and sneaked off to Paris like some teenage wimp who'd rather go to the mall than do PE.

Harawira's inflammatory language shouldn't have come as a surprise. In 2007 he denounced then Australian Prime Minister John Howard as a "racist bastard" over his government's draconian plans for combating child abuse and poverty in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

In the ensuing furore, Harawira's rather more troubling follow-up remarks were largely overlooked: if he was an Aborigine, he said, he'd want to go out and "smash someone" and if Howard's policies were tried up north "we'd be out with guns".

Clearly Harawira likes using violent language and striking thuggish attitudes. In the aftermath of his 'white motherf*****s' outburst, there was some debate over whether it was merely a late-night rant or an accurate reflection of who and what he is. In truth it scarcely matters: for the time being at least, Harawira's words are more important than he is.

The fall-out took some curious turns. Some questioned whether Harawira's language was racist, to which the obvious reaction is: well, if it isn't, what is? Given political correctness' relentless assault on the language of potential or conceivable offence, it seems perverse to argue that Harawira's verbal hand grenade wasn't actually racist.

Then there was John Key's feeble response: clearly MMP means never having to draw a line in the sand. And there was the chummy approach adopted by various broadcasters and journalists in their interviews with Harawira.

It's safe to assume that they would have been a lot more judgmental if the source of racial trash talk had been a pakeha. But then we didn't need this dismal episode to prove the existence of a double standard: the mere fact of the Maori Party does that. The double standard is part and parcel of coming to terms with our history, recognising that redress has to be made, and working through that process.

However, if Harawira prefers to posture like a Black Panther circa 1967 rather than conduct himself as an MP of a party which forms part of the government, the rest of the us could be excused for wondering if he and his supporters are really interested in closure and harmonious race relations based on shared national identity and a mutually respectful partnership.

Banana republics tend to be characterised by distrustful and vengeful relationships between social classes and/or ethnic communities engendering a winner-takes-all approach to the exercise of power. Although we've made significant progress in the opposite direction, the disconcerting thing about Harawira's diatribe was that it suggests this progress hasn't changed his outlook one iota.