Harry Tam: Still standing up for himself
“My pathway into the Mob wasn’t one of crime. It has always been one of: ‘How do we develop people?’” — Harrry Tam.
A challenge not a threat
The recent attacks on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) are not just ill-informed — they’re “dangerously provocative”, writes Moana Jackson.
National’s use of race as a political tool
“On one hand, National wants Māori votes. On the other, National MPs criticise Māori initiatives and shoot themselves in the foot when they use race as a political tool.” — Dr Paerau Warbrick.
WAKA Episode 1: The revival
"The knowledge of wayfinding and waka building was almost lost as a living practice, destined to survive only in historical journals and museums. Luckily for us, a small group took up the battle to keep them alive." — Simone Kaho.
WAKA Episode 2: The future
"Billy Harrison isn’t just carrying the mana of the Aotearoa team in this symposium. He’s the future of waka building in Aotearoa. If tārai waka is to survive here, it will need more like Billy and his teammates." — Simone Kaho.
WAKA Episode 3: Creatures of perfection
The Hawaiians are considered the best technical experts in canoe building: “They make creatures of perfection," says James Eruera.
WAKA Episode 4: The edge of old times
“I can look at the wood and see parts of the canoe. The shape. Like a vision in my head.” — Freddie Tauotaha, Tahitian master waka builder, who came to Aotearoa to finish the va'a his father started 27 years before.
They’re not worthy — they’re not ‘us’
“We demonise these guys, right? And then we've got reason to hate them. But when they try to do something for themselves, we're going to bash them again anyway. They can't win.” — Harry Tam.
Rereata Makiha: Holding on to ancestral knowledge
“It’s only recently that we started to talk about ‘the Māori calendar’ — which doesn’t actually make sense. Because there’s over 500 of these calendars." — Rereata Makiha, an expert on maramataka and ancestral knowledge.
Amanda Malu: The wāhine at the heart of the Plunket story
“It was just incredible to go back and lift our tūpuna out of the shadows, and to say: ‘These women, they were part of the story. So, let’s raise them up.’” — Amanda Malu, chief executive of Plunket.
Emalani Case: Remembering our Pacific connections
“When we can show people how we're all connected, there will be more motivation to stand and fight as a region.” — Dr Emalani Case.
One law for all?
“The evidence is clear that the white supremacist who was threatening slaughter should have been charged from the get-go and been treated the same as the brown Mongrel Mob members.” — John Tamihere.
Focusing on the wrong end of the problem
Teachers "don’t realise they spend more time with Asian and Pākehā students. Māori students see it, though, and retreat to the back of the classroom, where they sit in groups and disengage.” — Anton Blank.
Colonisation has always been separatist
“Colonisation has always been a separatist process in which the colonising states imposed their own separate institutions in places that already had their own.” — Moana Jackson.
The Dawn Raids: Why apologise?
“The government must acknowledge that ugly racial stereotypes were officially promoted for political gain, leaving a lasting legacy of prejudice against Pasifika peoples in New Zealand.” — Joris de Bres.
‘We’re gonna need a whole new everything’
“It occurred to me as we drove around Westport that you might feel private about flood damage. We looked at the piles of rubbish, carpet, toys and clothing and we said we would hate to have strangers looking at our sodden mess.” — Becky Manawatu.
Farewell to a woman of fire
“Like the Hawaiian atua Pele, portrayed as a goddess of volcanoes and fire, Haunani-Kay Trask could be volcanic in her thinking and writing, a lava flow of protest.” — Kennedy Warne.
Chronic Kaupapa Fatigue
“I’ve known many individuals who grew old before their time because of the energy they expended, and the risks they took with their health or their domestic happiness, all to be able to serve a vital kaupapa that uplifted the wellbeing of the people.” — Tainui Stephens.
Policing the Dawn Raids
“The attitudes of the special squads which had been formed to do this work was appalling. The latent racism, usually judiciously concealed, was blatant and paraded for all to see, with constant talk of ‘getting the coconuts’.” — Tā Kim Workman.
Reclaiming what was lost
“That bridge tragedy in 1947 severed my links to my taha Māori. And only now, in my early 40s, am I reclaiming what was lost.” — Cornell Tukiri.
No longer scared to speak my language
“It’s only in recent years that I’ve even plucked up the courage to claim my identity, to proudly say: Yes, I am Māori.” — Siena Yates.
Cole Meyers: Bringing truth to trans stories
"We don’t just want to see our life experiences. We want change so we can fully experience our lives." — Cole Meyers, writer and producer of 'Rūrangi'.
The struggle to embrace my identity
“It’s funny to think that it took moving across the moana and immersing myself in another Pacific culture to gain an appreciation of my own.” — Terina Kaire.
Calling in on The Godfather
“I sometimes get: ‘Kei te takahi koe i taku mana’ — you’re trampling on my mana. And I think to myself: ‘Well, you're murdering my language. Which one is it going to be? Murdering my language or your mana?’" — Tīmoti Kāretu.
Alison Jones: When Pākeha acquire te reo
“I worry that te reo, like land, may be in the process of becoming yet another thing that Pākehā can acquire from Māori, like a unique new jacket that we think suits us.” — Professor Alison Jones.
This doesn’t make us less
“We can be Māori and reo-less at the same time. It’s not ideal — especially in the hidden places we never talk about — but we can keep our heads held high. This doesn’t make us less.” — Shelley Burne-Field.
Keeping Māori storytelling alive
“Ours is an oral tradition and that's important because it's not only how we share stories but how we transfer and transmit knowledge.” — Lee Timutimu.
Reforming Māori media
"Sometimes I think we have too big an expectation of the reo Māori sector. Yes, broadcasting is part of the reo revitalisation plan. But it’s not the only mechanism." — Bailey Mackey.
Breaking the circuit
“There are unhealthy consequences for our society if the mainstream media doesn’t become much more accomplished at looking beyond Pākehā interests.” — Gary Wilson.
The Māori voice comes in English as well as te reo
“English is the language that reaches all the politicians and the voters, including the journalists and teachers and lawyers and doctors and nurses and academics and business leaders and all the others who play a part in shaping our society.”
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Nigel Borell: Sovereignty is still the name of the game
“Sometimes we need to challenge the status quo and put forward our ideas so that we can shift the ground.” — Nigel Borell.
Remembering Richard Nunns
“He looked more Pākeha than any Pākehā I knew . . . But his was a life deeply immersed in te ao Māori. He was one of the best taonga puoro players in the world. A leading force behind their revival.” — Moana Maniapoto on Richard Nunns.
Racists Anonymous — a reflection of ourselves
“A man stood up and said: ‘I thought this was the group to come to when you want to be racist.’ And then he left. I’m still hoping that was part of the show.” — Emmaline Pickering-Martin on 'Racists Anonymous'.
Story sovereignty belongs with the people
“It is the people who offer us the material and inspiration for our stories . . . The people are the ultimate sovereign power. Story sovereignty belongs with the people we serve.” — Tainui Stephens.
From Parihaka to He Puapua: it’s time Pākehā New Zealanders faced their personal connections to the past
"For many Pākehā, me included, our time here began on land that had been stolen (sorry, 'confiscated') from the people to whom it belonged." — Professor Richard Shaw.
Restoring a lifeline
“If knowledge is power, then the draft curriculum is signalling a significant shift in society’s power base.” — Kennedy Warne.
Te Tāpihana
“He was a born adventurer. Neil Armstrong-astronaut class. He was also a Bear Grylls-type survivalist — though his dramas were for real, and not invented for TV.” — Lloyd Ashton on Phillip Tapsell.
The Dawn Raids of 1974
“No one was safe. The police just went to addresses where they knew Tongans lived, maybe tipped off by a disgruntled neighbour. And the checks were indiscriminate.” — Joris de Bres.
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