Moana Jackson Archives

Why did Māori never have prisons?

Posted by Moana Jackson | Jun 17, 2023 | Comment & Analysis

“What I hope we might do is not just revisit reports, but also look back into the history of this land, where many of the seeds of what might replace prisons are already present.” — Moana Jackson.

Moana Jackson: What it means to be at home in this land

Posted by Moana Jackson | Nov 20, 2022 | Comment & Analysis

“If we can think about the idea of home as a place to which we can all belong, as a place upon which we can all stand, then the idea of housing falls more easily into place.” — Moana Jackson.

Everyday acts of resistance to colonisation

Posted by Aroha Gilling | Oct 16, 2022 | Reflections

“I’ve been fortunate to contribute to big systemic change, but it’s the little acts, the personal struggles on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute basis that I find both potent and fascinating.” — Aroha Gilling.

Portrait of a Quiet Revolutionary

Posted by Moana Maniapoto | May 13, 2022 | Reflections, Video

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.

Learning from Moana Jackson

Posted by Catherine Delahunty | May 1, 2022 | Reflections

“I have never met a more inspiring person with a greater influence over so many of us for the good. Let’s hope that we can now be worthy of his generous challenges to us.” — Catherine Delahunty.

Being part of Moana’s legacy

Posted by Mengzhu Fu | Apr 16, 2022 | Reflections

“Moana taught me, a young Chinese activist, the meaning of solidarity and what it means to be living on this land as tangata Tiriti who respect tangata whenua.” — Mengzhu Fu.

Justice Joe Williams: Kua moe Te Tāwera?

Posted by Joe Williams | Apr 4, 2022 | Reflections

“Moana was an idealist who believed in the transformative potential of sound ideas. If the ideas were right, the practical issues would resolve themselves in time.” — Justice Sir Joe Williams.

Moana Jackson: ‘I’m absolutely sure transformation is coming’

Posted by Matthew Tukaki | Apr 3, 2022 | Kōrero

“If there’s anything that has marked the survival of our people and the flourishing of our people, it’s that we have been brave.” — Moana Jackson.

Moana Jackson: His legacy will endure

Posted by E-Tangata | Apr 3, 2022 | Reflections, Top 10 for 2022

“If he hadn’t taken on those fights, he could quite easily have buffered himself against the health issues. But he didn’t. He didn’t swerve. He didn’t flinch. He just kept on going.” — Ngahiwi Tomoana.

Tariana Turia: A time for other stories to be told

Posted by Tariana Turia | Apr 3, 2022 | Reflections

“He was tenacious and yet so tolerant; formidable in his intellect, yet always wanting to make space for the ordinary people to contribute.” — Dame Tariana Turia.

Moana Jackson: Covid and the pandemic of colonisation

Posted by Moana Jackson | Dec 12, 2021 | Comment & Analysis

“Vaccination is a necessary protection against Covid, but dealing with a living history and the ongoing discriminatory actions of the Crown requires more than just an injection in the arm.” — Moana Jackson.

A challenge not a threat

Posted by Moana Jackson | Aug 1, 2021 | Comment & Analysis

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.

The hope for change: imagining decolonisation here and now

Posted by Kennedy Warne | May 16, 2021 | Comment & Analysis

“Just as colonisation began in the mind — as a set of ideas based on racial and cultural superiority — so must decolonisation begin with a mental deconstruction of those ideas.” — Kennedy Warne.

Moana Jackson: Decolonisation and the stories in the land

Posted by Moana Jackson | May 9, 2021 | Comment & Analysis

“In this country, the potential exists to develop a different and unique decolonisation discourse because there are already stories which express the power of a different truth.” — Moana Jackson, from ‘Imagining Decolonisation’.

Cannabis and Race

Posted by Tim McKinnel | Jun 21, 2020 | Comment & Analysis

“It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that our cannabis laws have been yet another tool of colonial oppression.” — Tim McKinnel on the upcoming cannabis referendum.

Racism or satire? Analysing Bob Jones’s columns

Posted by Moana Jackson | Mar 22, 2020 | Comment & Analysis

Moana Jackson on whether Bob Jones’s NBR column, as well as various other examples of his writing and public statements, express views that could be regarded as “racist or amount to hate speech”.

With stories, anything is possible

Posted by Moana Jackson | Mar 15, 2020 | Comment & Analysis

“The building of new relationships and the telling of new stories begins with the identification and ‘un-telling’ of colonisation’s past and present lies.” — Moana Jackson.

Moana Jackson: Rethinking free speech

Posted by Moana Jackson | Aug 19, 2018 | Comment & Analysis

“The so-called humanitarian colonisers who came here in the 19th century did not necessarily hate Maori. Indeed, they sometimes professed to love us and simply wanted to dispossess us in a sensitive and caring way.”