Time to put your hands up
“It’s important to rehumanise the discourse, because this has gone too far,” Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories, talking to Moana Maniapoto.
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Author: Moana Maniapoto
Moana Maniapoto: Words matter
“Reverting to the articles of Te Tiriti is something a lot of people might prefer over the rather anaemic Treaty principles because it would definitely get New Zealand ‘back on track’.” — Moana Maniapoto on Act’s proposed Treaty referendum.
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Nanaia Mahuta: Forward we must go
“I look at a number of politicians who are out of that place, and how relieved, relaxed and vibrant they look. So, you know, it’s all in front of me.” — Nanaia Mahuta.
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Winston Peters: Not his first rodeo
“Despite warning Māori of an ‘Asian invasion’ in the mid-‘90s, Winston is now suggesting that we share the same whakapapa and that the real enemy, particularly for young Māori, are those ‘fanciful radicals’ working towards co-governance.” — Moana Maniapoto on Winston Peters.
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Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: ‘We know where we belong’
“We’ve got a small cohort who are scared of what tangata whenua represent, and what rebalancing our world represents. This is, sadly, the fear-mongering and race-baiting that we’ve been responding to.” — Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
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James Shaw: ‘I have a great deal of hope about the future’
“We’ve defied history because we’re the only support party, who, in a term of government, have increased our support. So I think that shows that we’ve kind of got it right.” — James Shaw, Greens co-leader.
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An accidental convert
“I come from a rugby-obsessed family. I suspect they thought football was a bit girly even though the sport was pretty much invisible in our lives. We’d barely heard of blokes playing, let alone women.” — Moana Maniapoto on the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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Chris Hipkins on his commitment to te ao Māori
“There is an unfortunate sort of baiting that’s going on at the moment that isn’t going to take us forward as a country. It’s using Māori as a political punching bag. I hate that style of politics.” — Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
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Rob Campbell: We know the problem and we know the solution
“I think we’re at a really interesting period in colonial history in New Zealand, where people are going to have to take stances more and more on what they believe in and where they stand.” — Rob Campbell.
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Just don’t call her an activist
“We must never, ever take it for granted that freedom comes on the silver platter. It does not.” — Titewhai Harawira.
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A problem for the whole world
“What happens in the Amazon isn’t a problem for Brazilians only. It’s a problem for the whole world.” — Gabriel Uchida talking to Moana Maniapoto.
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Adrian Rurawhe: Fairness is important
“One thing I’ve learned through all of my experiences is that fairness is really important. No matter what the rules say, people respond to being treated fairly.” — Adrian Rurawhe, the new Speaker of the House.
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Moana Maniapoto: Small steps, big kaupapa
“The new EU FTA locks the door on Māori being able to get new IP laws to stop the misuse of our taonga in Aotearoa and the EU.” — Moana Maniapoto.
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Portrait of a Quiet Revolutionary
Moana Jackson was “our Māori Yoda”. “He brought clarity to our struggle and wisdom to our kitchen tables, influencing generations of policymakers and jurists alike.” — Moana Maniapoto on the making of ‘Portrait of a Quiet Revolutionary’, made with the support of NZ On Air.
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The Matriarch of Māngere
“June was a matriarch of Donna Corleone proportions. Smoked up a storm, was a hotshot card player, and swore like a trooper. She had a shotgun under her bed.” — Moana Maniapoto.
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Imagining an even better deal for Māori
“Despite the fact that ‘mānuka’ is a Māori word, not an Australian word, the UK IP office backed Australia’s claim that it also produces ‘mānuka honey’. The UK FTA will cement in those legal tests.” — Moana Maniapoto.
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What I’ve learned this year
“When Māori are used as political football, someone has to make the tackles, and that’s what we try to do.” — Moana Maniapoto reflecting on the role of her award-winning current affairs TV programme, Te Ao with Moana.
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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.
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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.
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Justice Joe Williams: Let’s try and get it right
“Both sides are saying: ‘We want to do it a different way.’ It’s just no longer right to say evil nasty Crown, good angel iwi. It’s not like that at all.” — Supreme Court judge Sir Joe Williams.
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Jemaine Clement: ‘They’re tough here’
“New Zealanders are fiercely reticent. They don’t want to stand out, whereas in America they just go: ‘Wow.’” — Jemaine Clement on New Zealand audiences.
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Talking with Tame
“Being a short-arse, I got bullied hard by people. So I had to learn how to move, to look after myself.” — Tame Iti.
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A man of contradictions
“When you ask me whether I’m in parliament as a Māori? No, I’m a New Zealander lucky enough to have Māori in my background.” — Winston Peters.
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‘Only a global movement can eradicate racism’
“When we say that we’re struggling for Black lives, it’s not just for Black people, it’s for a different framework, a different system, a different future. A future that involves all of us.” — Angela Davis.
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Atareta Poananga: Elegant and unflinching
She described Pākehā as “the product of the riffraff, the flotsam and jetsam of British culture.” — Moana Maniapoto on Atareta Poananga, who died just over a week ago.
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Our new normal is aukati and rāhui
Whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, and aroha will get us through, writes Moana Maniapoto. But stay in your bubble.
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Shane Jones: ‘I’m a bit of a stirrer’
“I’ve always detected a growing level of smugness and snobbery amongst the woke leadership and I’m just never going to tolerate that.” — Shane Jones.
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Pimp my reo
“I’ve always wanted to be confidently fluent and, at times, I’ve felt like it’s been within my grasp. But then I let it slip away.”
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A call to war?
“There’s a litany of examples, including admissions by the police themselves, of unconscious bias. Or racism, as we called it in the good old days.” — Moana Maniapoto.
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Restoring mana and confidence
“We want to work shoulder to shoulder with this government rather than head-to-head headbutting.” — Ngahiwi Tomoana, Kahungunu leader.
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