May 08, 2024
Jackson tackling museum culture at Oxford Debate
Labour MP Willie Jackson is heading for the United Kingdom to challenge a very colonial institution.
He’s been invited by the Oxford Union to debate against the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23.
He says it’s an honour to be the first Maori asked to participate in such a prestigious debate, particularly since the last New Zealand MP to take part was then-prime minister David Lange putting New Zealand’s case for being nuclear free.
Other New Zealanders such as the late Georgina Beyer and former Prime Ministers have addressed the Oxford Union, but have not participated in an actual debate.
Willie Jackson and American author and former museum director Gary Vikan will debate a former UK minister of culture, Lord Vaizey of Didcot PC, and shadow immigration minister Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP