Jonathan Bishop

I made this post to Peter Hain in reply to some of his sycophantic comments:

@peterhain MPs like you make this country suck. You’d be better off throwing sticks in Rhodesia! Compared to Nelson Mandela you are shaming!

— Jon Bishop (@jonathan_bishop) August 6, 2012

This was not intended to be racist, and wasn’t racially motivated, in case people saw it as such. Peter Hain originates from Africa, where there are many indigenous tribes. Many of these were killed off by the British Empire when they occupied Zimbabwe and renamed it Rhodesia.

My reference to Peter Hain being better off ‘throwing sticks’ was calling him tribal. I felt as someone who is always going on about his anti-Apartheid background, he should not be partisan and tribalist. As I said, when you compare him to other anti-Apartheid figures like Nelson Mandela, Peter Hain can’t measure up to his stature as someone will to give up his freedoms for his beliefs and vision of peace and harmony between peoples – in this case race, but politics should be no different.