by Tan Copsey
Yesterday in my syntactically challenged but enthusiastic denunciation of nearly man Don Brash, I happened to mention the shady dealings he had with a rather odd cult, the Exclusive Brethren. Today I couldn’t help noticing that the group were back in the news, yet again playing politics, this time in Australia. The Exclusive Brethren, for those of you who don’t regularly subscribe to awesome cultwatch, are a Christian sect who reject most of the evils of modern life. The many things they’re not allowed to do amusingly include sharing driveways with neighbours, watching TV, and acknowledging the existence of frogs (sorry, I made the last one up). These prescriptions have not stopped them waging extensive and expensive campaigns against naughty socialist elements, in particular Green parties around the world. So their moves this week to affect state elections in Victoria should come as no great surprise. The adverts they took out in Melbourne based newspapers mirror campaigns in the US - where the Brethren donated $500 000 to the Bush re-election campaign, Sweden, NZ, Canada and in Tasmanian state elections.The Greens in Australia are now demanding that Prime Minister John Howard reveal any and all links to this group. Whilst back in old NZ the publication of Nicky Hager’s book detailing among other misdeeds the extent to which Don Brash cooperated with this group, is seen to have finally forced his resignation. It’s rather comforting really, to think that our electoral democracies guarantee fair and equal representation for all bizarre and repressive cults – even if actually voting is one of the many things Exclusive Brethren are forbidden to do.
