“Tigers inspire fear.  But if they are made of paper, they cannot devour nobody. The fact is you believe too much in the power of adults and do not sufficient in their own abilities”

It only takes one match and the illusion of power, poof, is gone. All that is left is a pile of ash that is easily blown away by a gentle breeze.

The Little Red School Book

Was written by two Danish schoolteachers, Søren Hansen, Bo Dan Andersen and writer Jesper Jensen. The Little Red School Book was first published in 1969.

It was subject to much controversy upon its publication. Generating lots of indignant moral outrage.

Getting itself banned  in the following jurisdictions:

• UK 1972
• France 1970’s
• Italy 1970’s
• Queensland Australia 1972

for giving advice to children about sex, drugs and resisting authority.

While not officially banned in New Zealand, it was not widely available. I was able to secure a copy while visiting the capital city for a school Volleyball tournament.

The chapters about sex and drugs were a non event. But the concept of authority as a Paper Tiger was revolutionary for a 14 year old. It created the foundation for a life time of challenging authority.

The Back Story

Was discussing with a friend about how to get a decision by the local Council, affecting our Saturday morning meditation venue, reviewed and hopefully overturned.

Was attempting to explain what options were available to the community

• first approach the Council to resolve
• contact a Coastal Ward Councillor (2)
• online petition
• Local Government Ombudsman
• deputation to council meeting

And the way to approach things in a clear thoughtful way. Don’t want to sound like a Looney Tune.

Trying to reassure him what was possible, mentioned have successfully challenged government, corporations etc in the past. Began to rattle off a string of examples.

After the call ended, started to recall even more events. And back to the beginning. The Little Red School Book, where the revolution started.  

The NZ Television Licence and The Broadcasting Act

The NZ Post Office began licensing Television sets on the 1st of August 1960. A household needed to hold a license if they had one or more TV sets in a home. Enforcement of this requirement began a month later.

In 1975 an amusing commercial was run on the state run network. In which Fred Dagg (national comedy icon) is sitting in front of his television set wearing his gummies, urging viewers to get their licences without delay because “TV detector vans may be working in your area now”.

The Broadcasting Corporation tried to deny the existence of the “TV detector vans” but I had seen one driving around our small town.  I started to get letters about owning a TV set which all naturally got thrown in the bin.

One night I got a phone call on the landline wanting to know if I had received the letter? And did we own a TV in the house? I had to put my hand over the mouthpiece and yell for them to turn the bl00dy TV down.

Of course we don’t own a TV. And yes when I find the letter I will certainly fill in the declaration and return in the accompanying envelope. Never heard anymore about that.

Until a decade later. We had moved to a new house with a long driveway. If you parked your “TV detector vans” at the end of the driveway, you looked directly into lounge. And would have got a good look at the back of my son’s orange mop watching cricket on the TV set.

I received a request for payment for two years Television licence. Now I always like to read the Letters To The Editor in newspapers. Remember reading about how one could get out of paying the Television Tax. Went to the local library and searched through copies of the NZ Herald until I found the letter, name and suburb.

Looked up the Auckland Yellow Pages at the Post Office. Rang the lady. She was not the lady that wrote the letter but had so many phone calls. She was able to give me the phone number I required.

Beating Big Brother: How People Power Turned Off The TV Tax

A book was written about it by Ian Wishart.

Beating Big Brother: How People Power Turned Off the T.V. Tax" details the successful campaign in New Zealand that led to the abolition of the Broadcasting Fee, showcasing how public activism and collective action can influence government policy. The movement, known as the Anti TV Licence Campaign, effectively rallied citizens against the tax, ultimately leading to its removal in 2000.

 New Zealand Broadcasting Act 1989 and the Anti TV Licence Campaign

Section 82 allowed an exemption to paying the Television Tax. This was meant to cover people

• who could not receive a signal
• hospital patients and
• residents in rest homes

But it did not stop you from writing to the Broadcasting Corporation requesting an exemption under Section 82 of the Broadcasting Act 1989.

The Broadcasting Corporation would write back to you telling you couldn’t.

You would write back again requesting an exemption under Section 82 of the Broadcasting Act 1989. Along with photocopies of all previous correspondence.

Eventually the Broadcasting Corporation would hand the debt over to a Collection Agency. A threatening letter arrives. You write across the letter “This Debt Is In Dispute” and return it to the Debt Collection Agency with copies of all the correspondence.

Groundhog Day Revisited

This kept repeating itself for about 4 years. The only thing changing was the size of the “copies of all the correspondence” file, size of the envelope needed and the cost of postage required.

And oh the irony. Not only was it costing the Broadcasting Corporation more in administrative costs than they were collecting from the Television Tax. It also had a hidden cost, as all the Public Servants who were part of the Anti TV Tax Campaign, got to get their photocopying, envelope and postage costs paid for by the same bunch of Bureaucrats. 

Commonsense prevailed in 2000 with the abolishment of the now famous Tax. But commonsense doesn’t naturally fit with Government Bureaucrats. For the next few years they tried to continue to collect the TV Tax debt. Refer to Groundhog day. It took awhile but commonsense eventually made sense and the imaginary debt vanished.

Footnote in History

It was many years later that I realised that if the same paper tigers (bureaucrats) had only created an exemption form for us to fill. Then all they had to do was use red ink and an “Application DECLINED” rubber stamp. End of the Anti TV Tax Campaign.

Bureaucrats are not only powerless, they can be pretty dumb as well as lacking commonsense.