New Zealand has hauled in its biggest stars in an effort to crack down on rising levels of racism in the famously peaceful South Pacific nation. The country’s human rights commission reports a third of all complaints now concern racist discrimination, though the vast majority of racial abuse still goes unreported. Race relations commissioner Dame Susan Devoy said New Zealanders were being influenced by increasing levels of xenophobia and racism overseas, and she personally wrote to New Zealand’s most recognisable faces asking them to help put a stop to it. “Hatred and extremism is becoming normal in some places and we want to avoid that future for Aotearoa,” said Devoy.

“Racial prejudice and intolerance starts small, in quiet places, in our everyday lives. When it becomes normalised it turns into overt racism and extremism.”

Hollywood director and New Zealander of the year Taika Waititi, who is of Maori descent, fronts the campaign, and took a day off from shooting blockbuster Thor to appear in the video, which uses his affable blend of Kiwi irony to get the point across.(guardian)…[+]