North and South, May 2017
When you step into the polling booth to vote on election day you are equal to every other New Zealander.
That was the deeply sombre and pointed message from Yolande Ah Chong, the fabulously engaging and very funny female co-host at the Vodafone Pacific Music Awards last Thursday in Auckland.
That powerful statement anchored an evening where the very best Pacific music artists and their families gathered to celebrate excellence.
On one level, it was urging the big and buoyant crowd to get enrolled and vote.
“Bloody vote,” said Yolande to cheers, after raising points about Christianity, colonists and racism. All real, relevant and recurring issues for many in the house.
On another, it was a firm reminder to the parliamentary politicians present and profile-building that a reckoning is on the way and not to take the Pacific population for granted.
Among them was the Green Party co-leader James Shaw and its wahine toa Marama Davidson, as well as the Labour leader Andrew Little, Labour’s diligent Pacific MPs Carmel Sepuloni and Aupito William Sio, and National’s retiring Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.
There was also a contingent of Auckland Council politicians, mostly Pacific Islanders, who are trying to do the best for their voters and ratepayers.
Also present was number-20-on-the-Green-Party-list, Leilani Tamu.
That’s right: number 20. Unless there’s a miracle, both she and Teanau Tuiono — who’s at 19 and the only other Pacific Islander on the Greens’ list — won’t get in.
That’s a big shame. It’s a shame because I know them both and recognise what they bring to a mostly entitled Green Party table that is well meaning but in many ways out of touch with the populations, communities and regions in which Leilani and Teanau are embedded and informed by.
When the list was announced last week, James Shaw said the party was excited by its “strongest ever candidate list”.
“In terms of age, geography, ethnicity and professional background, this list looks a lot like modern New Zealand.”
It seems the party doesn’t have a problem with a New Zealand where Pacific people are left outside the boundaries of power.
The signals about rank and status were there when someone in whatever equates to a marketing or PR team for the Green Party selected those who were to grace the cover of “The New Greens” issue of North & South magazine.
Green hands went up in horror, and posts on Facebook and other places shrieked that this was not the Green way and the cover trivialised the party’s serious messages.
Relax. It was an eco-shoot, someone was wearing a vintage-aka-recycled frock, and they weren’t real emeralds.
But that cover was also a clear illustration of who needed to be in and who didn’t quite matter.
Who matters depends on where you stand and what expectations you have.
Green delegates were given a special instruction by the party’s general secretary to ensure 22-year-old Chloe Swarbrick, who came third in Auckland’s mayoral race, secured a top place — even though she had just joined the party and wasn’t even eligible to vote on the list as a member. Chloe made the Greens top 10 and the North & South cover.
Clearly the youth vote is valuable political property this election.
“What are you going to do to get the Asians to vote for us? They don’t vote for us,” Leilani Tamu was asked by a well-meaning silver-haired white older lady when she took questions on why she should be selected as the Green Party candidate for New Lynn.
Let’s take a moment to unpack that question, which was asked without malice by a loyal party member exercising her right to interrogate the candidate.
The tone of the statement-as-question set up a them and us situation where the power was vested in the asker and the fault was located in those who “don’t vote for us”. Oh, and it was the candidate’s job to come up with a solution “to get the Asians to vote for us” because they need to make better choices.
It wasn’t an open-handed open-hearted question based on a notion of sharing and reciprocity, or a glimmer of walking in the shoes of the not-voting-for-us-population. It was a question located smack in the middle of entitlement.
And that entitlement and sense of privilege is perhaps why neither Leilani nor Teanau was on the cover of North & South, and why the Green Party members possibly favoured other candidates while Leilani and Teanau slid south on the list.
Of course, this list displacement comes as Donald Trump declared that the US will exit the Paris Climate Change Accord.
Via Twitter, the Green Party responded that “the decision to desert the Paris Climate Accord puts NZ & our Pacific neighbours at serious risk from the devastating impacts of climate change.”
And, again via Twitter: “We’re calling on the PM to invite Pacific Island ambassadors to meet with the US Secretary of State #climatechange #Paris #nzqt.”
Keep on tweeting if you must, but Leilani Tamu — a historian, Fulbright scholar, former diplomat and published poet — and Teanau Tuiono — “a noted activist and climate change expert”, as James Shaw boasted on the party website last week — are a better bet for long-term real-time engagement with the people who are really going to be affected.
This then leads to another question.
What does it take for talented brown people to be recognised by well-meaning but inherently Anglo-centric structures where decisions are made about and on behalf of other people?
Labour has apparently learned a lesson and smartly placed Carmel Sepuloni in its top 10 — and she knows as a seasoned player that politics is no holiday park.
But she’s had to fight for that position as have the other Pacific MPs in Labour. These MPs have proven their worth in parliament and in the electorates where they bring in big numbers of party votes by working and engaging with their electorates with dedication. (Teanau and Leilani are more than capable of this and have already secured support for their campaigns.)
National’s been clear about its Pacific outreach and while it’s going through a very bumpy patch, it understands what matters to people and plays a clever hearts and pockets game when it comes to luring voters from Labour.
The Greens have much to learn about engaging with the Pacific population, and the list placing of Leilani and Teanau is evidence of that.
If the Greens are to build a rapport with Pacific people and not just talk about climate change yadda-yadda-yadda, it needs to get serious about talented Pacific candidates.
The lady at the Pak’nSave checkout who takes things out of her trolley till her eftpos is accepted and the men in hi-vis vests on the North Western motorway aren’t as interested in organic bread and chicken, or electric cars and sustainable cotton. They want jobs, homes, good schools and healthcare.
They may not look like the people the Greens are used to or are even comfortable engaging with — but this is the fault line the Greens need to deal with if they are to first understand and then reach the hearts of these voters.
Pasifika voters know how to make better choices — and they will at the ballot box on election day when, as Yolande Ah Chong said, they are equal to every other New Zealander.
Richard,
Richard,
Granted, many pakeha/palangi such as myself don’t fully understand PI struggles and aspirations. We are perhaps well meaning but maybe have gaps where our privilege blinds us to realities experienced by pacifika people. We put Teanau Tuiono at 19 and Leilani Tamu at 20, which I’m guessing must be a heart-breaking disappointment for you.
The same might have been said of Maori participation back in the day. And of course the depth of understanding of many Pakeha can always be questioned, but we have a commitment to Te Tiriti, we have Maori up there on the list, and we have a ton of goodwill, and genuinely want to see Maori aspirations become realities.
And we have the same openness and goodwill towards our PI sisters and brothers. The future will see the Greens including Pacifika communities much more, and Pacifika candidates higher up the list. We will seek you out, both because our future depends on it, and because of our appropriate decision making charter principle. Pacifika people do and will have a place at the table in the Green party.
Having said that, our list is decided by all our members. It can be conservative. It’s perhaps harder for Pacifika and their allies to get Pacifika candidates high up because we have to convince all Green members; not just a few key players or spin an expedient political story. The flip side is once we’ve done the deep work in the party to Pacifikize it, the place you will find in our party will be permanent.
In Dunedin we thank the Pacific community for supporting us and helping elect Marie Laufiso to the City Council under a Green banner. It’s early days, but to me this shows a path forward and how the Green party can support and acknowledge our Pacifika communities and heritage in Aotearoa. Marie is a superstar, with such a deep commitment to serving her community in Brockville and marginalized communities in Dunedin. Her values are thoroughly Green values. We are lucky to have her, and we welcome her with open arms.
We can’t pretend we’re where we want to be, but the Green Party door is well and truly open for the participation of Pacifika people, and I’m hoping we will have done the work to put Pacifika candidates high on our list in 3 years time. And in the mean time, everyone in the party is working hard to get Teanau and Leilani into parliament.
Kia Ora Richard,
Kia Ora Richard,
I have a few further thoughts in response to some of the important issues you raise in your article. I failed to outline my standing point in my last response to your work. To demystify my position for Pasifika community readers, I have Palagi ancestors. I also have Pacific genealogy from around the moana and, according to an Uncle with the long family genealogy, one Maori ancestor. But I speak as an urban PI, Green Party member here, with a working class background and a middle class education- I don’t speak on behalf of the Pasifika Greens, or anyone else in the many diverse Pasifika communities living in this land. I hope this preamble demystifies my comments, and allows people to understand I speak as an individual.
You addressed issues of privilege and entitlement in the leadership of the Green Party, Richard. I respect that you have tried to stand up for Pasifika communities in your comments on that issue: as PI in Aotearoa, we better have a decolonising analysis at hand for our Pasifika communities. I don’t know any of the leadership of the Green Party personally, so I can’t answer that question. But I have a take on the issue of entitlement regarding how the Green Party deals with the Pasifika community at other levels of the Green Party.
To mention only three exemplars, Green MP’s such as Marama Davidson, Catherine Delahunty, and Denise Roche have all privileged Pasifika community concerns in their work. Marama is a cousin of Pasifika people as Tangata Whenua. None of these MPs has shown entitlement vis-à-vis Pasifika community issues. While none of these people are Pasifika, they have all supported Pacific communities in Aotearoa and in the wider ‘Sea of Islands’. None of this changes the fact that Pasifika people should represent Pasifika issues- this is self-determination in action operating within a decolonising Pacific framework. But I acknowledge the altruism and integrity underpinning the work of non-Pasifika Green MPs acting on behalf of our Pasifika communities. I haven’t seen arrogance or a sense of entitlement in media res at this level of the Green Party.
Regarding entitlement at flax roots levels; I have always found the grassroots members of the Green Party to be humble and fairly warm people. I have met grassroots non-Pasifika members of the party who are very sympathetic towards Pasifika community aspirations. I haven’t seen entitlement at this level of the Green Party either. Nonetheless, I believe many in the Green Party do not fully understand our Pasifika community aspirations; our histories of colonisation and oppression; our community desire to self- determine our way forward so Pasifika people represent Pasifika issues; our ecological and environmental genius as people living in close relationship to the environment; our rich ecological and environmental genealogies of knowledge regarding sustainability and survival- sometimes I wonder if ordinary and decent grassroots party members genuinely understand the many contributions Pasifika communities could make towards Green politics and the Green Party. But like Steve Biko taught in, “I Write What I like”, you have to sit down with your opposition and negotiate at the end of the day. Paying heed to Pasifika community aspirations; providing space for genuine Pasifika electoral representational space, and inviting Green Party people to engage more closely with Pasifika communities need not erase or silence other community voices in the Green Party: such a position could enrich the Green Party immensely by transforming it into a party that represents the polyphony of voices that make up the communal fabric of Aotearoa. This is my individual perspective. I have enormous respect for the Western ecological and environmental genealogies of knowledge I have learnt- particularly from activist traditions like Greenpeace. The Green Party is a wellspring of ecological knowledge because of its grassroots members. But we Pasifika people have environmental genealogies of knowledge going back thousands of years- and Aotearoa is part of the wider ‘Sea of Islands’.
I have some faith in the Green Party because (1) Green Party policies on issues such as climate action, housing, power policy, and equal pay for women all support the needs of Pasifika communities doing it hard (b) Green Party people are warm and decent folks (c) Pasifika Greens people are very fine people (d) Leilani and Teanau will encourage grassroots communities to come out and vote, and they will represent their electorates with integrity and respect. Leilani and Teanau always think of others, not themselves- these are Maori and Pasifika community values.
I think your article identified some of the supervening forces acting upon Pacific communities- the legacies of colonialism; marginalisation; oppression; poverty, and racism that leave Pasifika on the periphery in regards to political parties in Aotearoa- specifically in relation to the Green Party. While I am always alert to how Pacific communities are marginalised, I always look for those places where resistance to marginalisation is concentrated. Pacific communities have capacity to let all political parties know what their issues are. Pasifika activists are taking responsibility to transform parties like the Greens- not to silence other voices within the Greens, but to enrich the whole by conscientising people.
Thank you again for your thoughtful reading, Richard. We need more people standing up for Pasifika communities in mainstream media. Solidarity,
Tony Fala
Kia Ora Richard,
Kia Ora Richard,
It is always refreshing to read analysis dedicated to upholding Pasifika community aspirations. Your thoughts above are useful for our Maori and Pasifika communities. I have only been a full up Green Party member since December 2016. But I have a take on some of the important issues you raise in your article above.
Like many, I was disappointed with Leilani and Teanau’s position in the final Green Party 2017 candidate listings. Like you, I know both candidates personally. Leilani is a gifted diplomat, editor, scholar, teacher, and creative writer. She is also a warm-hearted soul who loves Pasifika communities. Teanau is a gifted activist, community organiser, educator, and thinker. Teanau is a truehearted fulla who is committed to Pasifika communities. I was hoping Leilani and Teanau’s community service would merit a higher list ranking. Final decisions on the list rankings have been made by the Greens- and this day is done. But how do we move forward towards better outcomes for Pasifika communities tomorrow?
Pasifika Green Party members (including me) are responsible for inviting Pasifika communities to consider the worth of Green Party policies. We are primarily responsible for helping the Green Party gain more Pasifika members. Similarly, Pasifika Green members need to have continuously evolving conversations with non-Pasifika Green Party members so they are informed of Pasifika community aspirations, goals, needs, and pressures. Fine Pasifika people like Mua Strickson-Pua, Trish Tupou, and Tim Baice have already initiated such labours both within the Green Party and beyond it- in the Pasifika community.
Whilst this fine Pasifika grassroots labour is already occurring, The Green Party will have Pasifika electoral candidates in higher rankings in the future when (a) Green Party members are fully conscientised to the endless struggle many in our Pasifika community endure in Aotearoa today (b) Green Party members are made fully cognisant of Pasifika communities and their long familiarity with ecological questions, the environment, and sustainability- thousands of years before these issues became kosher in Modernity today (c) Green Party members as a whole are made aware of our Pasifika community desires for political candidate representation through higher positions on top twenty candidate listings). (d) The Green Party Pasifika membership numbers increase, and pressure bubbles up from below, so Pasifika community needs are taken more seriously at all levels of the Green Party- including electoral candidates within the ranking system.
When I think of the Pasifika context, the historical experience of our Maori cousins always informs my contextual analysis. Without the tireless activism of souls like Syd and Hana Jackson, Maori communities and their issues would not have become so integral to political debates at all levels of society today. Our Maori cousins are still waiting for justice on many issues today., their struggles continue. But the work of activists like Hone Harawira and others have put Maori issues on the social agenda. Pacific activists, including our Polynesian Panthers have put issues on the social agenda of modern Aotearoa- a new generation of Pasifika activists continue this work. But we as Pasifika need to ‘keep on pushing’ at all levels of society. We as Pasifika do not have the Te Tiriti like our Maori cousins, but we can rap with people about our community issues. If we want Pasifika candidates with higher list rankings, we Pasifika Greens need to help shift the party base towards our communities and their aspirations. We need Pasifika communities to keep pushing issues, so political parties of all stripes take our issues seriously.
Leilani and Teanau’s mana as Pasifika community workers is not diminished by their positions on the candidate list- even if the Pasifika community concerns they represented were not recognised by higher electoral list positions.
I do not know whether an instruction was given to Green Party candidate voters to privilege Chloe Swarbrick. If that did happen, I don’t support that kaupapa. As PIs we always need to defend our communities against colonialism and oppression. But we also need to have an open hand to others, even in a colonial context- as brother Stephen Biko taught in, ” I Write What I Like”. I don’t know if this situation with the Swarbrick vote is colonial or not. But what I will say is that I don’t begrudge Chloe Swarbrick gaining a good list ranking- we should support talented young women of any culture attempting to serve our communities. Leilani and Teanau are also seeking to serve our communities, and their work continues moving towards the elections.
Finally, Leilani is representing New Lynn. I used to kick around that town when it was a blue-collar dormitory suburb. Leilani is already engaging with her New Lynn community.
Teanau is standing in the electorate of Manurewa. I used to visit an Uncle and cousins who lived in the working class part of that suburb- all the kids went through Manurewa High. Manurewa is another fine community.
I would say Leilani and Teanau’s campaign will be successful in New Lynn and Manurewa if they are both (a) Able to encourage people in their electorates to vote, even if people come out to vote for other parties- so ordinary people get to participate in democracy and utilise their ordinary people power (b) Able to engage in conversations with all of the age, class, culture, and gendered communities located in their electorates. (c) Able to encourage non-Pasifika communities to come out and vote for the Greens, and if they are able to encourage all people in their electorates to come out and vote for two Pasifika candidates for the Greens in New Lynn and Manurewa (d) Able to encourage our diverse Pasifika communities to engage with parties that will genuinely represent Pasifika community based aspirations and goals- and not with parties looking to use the Pasifika community as fodder on voting day. Leilani, Teanau, and the Green Party have a lot to offer Pasifika communities (e) Able to represent the good peoples’ of both New Lynn and Manurewa seriously.
In conclusion, I think Leilani and Teanau are already on the way to achieving all of these above goals. If Leilani and Teanau do not get into parliament I will be disappointed. But what is more important is that they represent their communities and encourage grassroots communities to come out and vote. Leilani and Teanau are already engaging with their communities. Thank you again Richard, for your thoughtful piece above,
Tony Fala
It’s important to have this
It’s important to have this conversation but for Richard to open the conversation with insult and ridicule is unlikely to win the hearts and minds of the people he seeks to influence. For him not to acknowledge that possibly his unnamed source, alone among hundreds who heard something different, may have misheard Gwen Shaw is, again, not helpful. Richard ridicules us for using Twitter (@RPamatatau with 45.9k tweets). He ridicules us for “inherently Anglo-centric structures”. He fails to say what he means by this but if he’s talking about our democratic structures, again, he’s wide of the mark. He ridicules us for organic bread and electric cars and sustainable cotton (as if these stereotypes were incompatible anyway with recognising the importance of his central point). And finally we get this from Richard “”What does it take for talented brown people to be recognised ..” I don’t know what gradations of brown he had in mind but the people of Maori background may take exception.
Yes, some pakeha have an entitlement viewpoint and sense of privilege and some don’t understand that being a pakeha gives them automatic benefits in society (not being harrassed by police for example, or being more au fait with manipulating power structures for themselves). However the problem with identity politics is that can become racism in itself – the intellectually lazy assumption that all pakeha are racist, all political parties not reflecting your identity are racist or lacking in insight about the need for change, or that if a pakeha person disagrees with separatism and identity politics they must be racist.
Identity politics is indeed a thing. As John Pilger says “A generation ago, a post-modern cult now known as “identity politics” stopped many intelligent, liberal-minded people examining the causes and individuals they supported – such as the fakery of Obama and Clinton; such as bogus progressive movements like Syriza in Greece, which betrayed the people ..”
Couldn’t agree more, thanks
Couldn’t agree more, thanks for posting.
Aah at last someone is
Aah at last someone is questioning the Greens liberal politics that are fundamentally Eurocentric regardless of how much they attempt to be ‘culturally’ competent. Their constant attempts to own kaupapa Māori policies when they have no idea of tika or Pono or how to apply a Māori world view as ironically the expression of our rangatiratanga fundamentally undermines their ideology. The Kermadecs issue and recent RMA changes are a case in point. As the old war horse Māori activist Dunn Mihaka always opined ‘Greenies will hug a tree before a native’ – a perception as relevant now as when he first made that comment back in the 1980’s. Today a number of Leaders from across the Pacific attended Shane Taurima’s Campaign Launch for Tāmaki Makaurau electorate. As Dame Tariana Turia said we are bound by our birth waters acknowledged by Tā Pita Sharples who pointed out our common toto…there are exciting things afoot for the forthcoming election.
Kia Orana Gwen.
Kia Orana Gwen.
Thank you for your response to the article which asks is the Green Party out of touch with Pasifika voters? So far you have not engaged with what is an important matter for a section of the voting public in election year.
With regard to matters of fact perhaps you can begin by spelling my name correctly in your earlier Facebook post today.
This article is a response to people in the Pacific population talking about the Green Party list and where Pacific candidates were placed alongside the importance of inclusion in a democratic society.
The specific sentence to which you refer and state as being incorrect is based on an unsolicited written communication that I received from a credible member of the Green Party. I have today sought clarification from the Green Party member concerned and there has not been a retraction.
It would appear with respect to the sentence we have a case of he said, she said within the Green Party.
Whilst you are entitled to continue your focus and resolve any issue with the sentence referred to above I also look forward to your response to the substantive matter raised by the article. I have people standing with me who are awaiting a response.
Kia Manuia
Richard Pamatatau
You have a totally inaccurate
You have a totally inaccurate statement in this article . I am the General Secretary of the Green Party and I can assure you that at no time did I give any ‘special instruction to Green delegates’ in relation to ANY individual candidate standing for the Green Party list.
Please remove it. Thank you.