Nándor Steven Tánczos (, ; born 29 May 1966) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

social ecologist, researcher, educator, activist and political commentator. He is currently a councillor in the

Whakatāne Whakatāne ( , ) is a town located in the Bay of Plenty Region, Bay of Plenty Region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and northeast of Rotorua. The town is situated at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. The Whakatāne Dis ...

District Council. He is also co-director of He Puna Manawa social and political change agency. Tánczos was a member of the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament () is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Monarchy of New Zealand, Sovereign and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his Governor-General of New Zeal ...

from

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

to 2008, and represented the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

as a

list A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...

MP.

Early life

The younger of two sons, Tánczos was born in King George Hospital, London, and lived in Ilford, Hackney, and Clayhall prior to the family's emigration to New Zealand after Christmas 1973. Tánczos's Hungarian-born father fled after the suppression of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

; his South African-born mother is

Cape Coloured Cape Coloureds () are a South African group of Coloured people who are from the Cape region in South Africa which consists of the Western Cape, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape. Their ancestry comes from the interracial mixing between th ...

and has

Khoi Khoikhoi ( /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San (literally "foragers") peop ...

, Dutch, and German ancestry. The family returned to England, where Tánczos studied journalism at Darlington Polytech. While living in County Durham he got involved in supporting the 1984–85 Miners' Strike by collecting support funds. He later said, “That was the first time I’d ever seen the police used so explicitly as a political force. What I saw in Britain was the police used to destroy a movement.” He also got involved in the anti-nuclear and peace movements, and regularly visited Molesworth Peace Camp. He attended the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1984 and joined the Peace Convoy the following year. He was at the Battle of the Beanfield and featured in the BBC 2 documentary about those events, 'Trashed'. He returned to New Zealand in 1986. Tánczos has a Permaculture Design Certificate, a Diploma in Sustainable Land Management from Carrington Polytech, a Bachelor of Social Sciences and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management and Sustainability from

Waikato University The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in numerous disciplines such as education, socia ...

and a certificate in Te Reo Māori me Ōna Tikanga from Te Whare Wananga o Aotearoa.

Career

First elected in 1999, Tánczos briefly lost his seat in the 2005 General Election, but returned to Parliament following the sudden death of Rod Donald just prior to the first sitting of Parliament, as he was next ranked on the party list. In 2006, he contested the male co-leadership of the Green Party, but was beaten by non-MP

Russel Norman Russel William Norman (born 2 June 1967) is a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. He was a Member of Parliament and co-leader of the Green Party. Norman resigned as an MP in October 2015 to work as Executive Director of Greenpeace A ...

in a STV vote by delegates from electorates around the country at the 2006 AGM. In 2008, he resigned from Parliament, though he intended to remain a political activist. Tánczos was the NZ Green Party spokesperson for the Environment and Sustainable Land Management, Justice, Information and Communication Technology, Constitutional issues, Treaty Issues and Commerce. The New Zealand media portrayed Tánczos primarily as the voice advocating the liberalisation of the

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

law in New Zealand, although he also actively campaigned against

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

, and in favour of

restorative justice Restorative justice is a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities. In doing so, restorative justice practitioners work to ensure that offenders take responsibility for their ac ...

. He also has a reputation as New Zealand's first and only

Rastafarian Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

MP. His most significant legislative achievement, the Clean Slate Act, conceals non-violent criminal offences if the offender does not re-offend after seven years. His Misuse of Drugs (Hemp) amendment bill led the way for regulation changes to allow

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

growing in New Zealand. He introduced the Waste Minimisation Bill to parliament with a narrow majority but succeeded in building near unanimous support across parliament. Because of this and other activitie such as the Cross Party Accord on Justice that he convened, he built a reputation in Parliament of being able to work collaboratively across party lines. He negotiated the establishment of an Independent Prison Ombudsman, and has advocated for a Criminal Cases Review Office to look at miscarriages of justice, and against unsustainable dairy farming. In addition to his political policies, Tánczos also supports

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

software, and uses the

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

Linux-based operating system on his computer.

1999 election

Tánczos first gained election to Parliament in the 1999 election, having held the fifth place on the Green Party's list. His previous involvement with parliamentary politics had involved the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party. In the 2002 election, Tánczos occupied the fourth Green list place, and remained in Parliament. In the 1999, 2002 and 2005 elections, Tánczos also contested the Auckland Central electorate, winning 9.2%, 20.0% and 14.4% of the vote respectively.

2005 election

In April 2005 the Green Party announced their list for the 2005 election. Tánczos ranked 7th, moving down 3 places from 2002. As of election night (17 September) the Green Party polled 5.07% of the vote, qualifying them for 6 seats, which meant that Tánczos stood to lose his parliamentary seat. In both the 1999 and 2002 elections, the number of

special vote In elections in New Zealand, a special vote, also known as a special declaration vote, is a provisional ballot used in special circumstances. Special votes are cast by voters who are not able to cast an ordinary vote. The voter's eligibility to ...

s for the Green party had sufficed to earn them an extra seat once the official count finished. The final total in 2005 (announced on 1 October) fell just short of the number required for a seventh seat, leaving Tánczos out of parliament. However, on 6 November 2005, the Green Party co-leader Rod Donald died suddenly, a day before the new parliament met for the first time. This allowed Tánczos to return to Parliament as the next candidate on the Green list.

Return to grassroots politics

Following the death of Rod Donald, Tánczos stood for the leadership of the Green Party but was defeated by Russel Norman. On 17 January 2008 Tánczos announced he would not be standing in the 2008 election. It was initially not clear when he would resign his seat as he intended to see his member's bill, the Waste Minimisation Bill, through Parliament. The bill was due back in the house in March 2008, after passing its first reading with Government support in 2006. He also wanted

the Greens co-leader to enter Parliament in his place (because of the advantages in having the co-leader in Parliament in an election year); ex-MP Mike Ward, who was above Norman on the party list, initially declined to stand aside but changed his mind. Tánczos left Parliament on 26 June 2008, giving a last speech,. He commented that his opinions of parliamentarians had changed during his time as an MP, from initially seeing them as a bunch of 'bastards' to recognising that "there are many good people here. The very notion that all politicians are dishonest is misconceived." Expecting politicians to be dishonest and venal is letting them off the hook, he added. He said that he believed most MPs came to Parliament with honest intentions, but not many left with their honesty intact because of how the system itself compromises people. His main point was that in almost every country, governments of whatever flavour are so compromised by corporate agendas that they cannot do what is needed in the face of our environmental crisis. It will be up to people working in community to take control: "When the people lead, the leaders will follow." Tánczos ended by noting that he had bought a watch for the first time when he entered Parliament and had since been chained to time as a prison rather than an ally. He then took it off and smashed it, saying, "When I look at the state of our rivers, our atmosphere and our communities, I don't need a watch to know what time it is". In 2010, two years after he left politics, Tanczos cut off his dreadlocks as a part of a purification process following his departure from Parliament.

Whakatāne District Council

Tanczos has been one of 5 councillors for the Whakatāne-Ōhope ward of Whakatāne District Council since 2016. He chairs the Strategy and Policy Committee. Excluding sewage emissions, the council has reduced its carbon footprint by 23%.

Personal life

Tánczos co-founded Hempstore Aotearoa, a business that produces

-related products such as cosmetics and clothing. A

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

an, Tánczos has attracted controversy for his admission that he uses

, in accordance with Rastafari ritual. He is, however, a teetotaller. Tánczos has an official exemption from wearing a bike safety-helmet, granted on religious grounds by the New Zealand Police. He lives in Whakatāne with his wife Ngahuia Murphy, who's from Murupara, and their two children.

Notes

References

External links

Green Party biographyNándor's websiteDread Times
Tánczos' old blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanczos, Nandor 1966 births New Zealand people of Dutch descent New Zealand people of Hungarian descent New Zealand people of South African descent Khoekhoe Cape Coloureds New Zealand cannabis activists Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand MPs New Zealand Rastafarians University of Waikato alumni Unitec Institute of Technology alumni New Zealand psychedelic drug advocates Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party politicians New Zealand list MPs New Zealand republicans Unsuccessful candidates in the 1996 New Zealand general election Living people Unsuccessful candidates in the 2005 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians People from Ilford