Te Pati Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke during the opening of the 54th Parliament in Wellington on January 5, 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Te Pati Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke during the opening of the 54th Parliament in Wellington on January 5, 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Opinion by Ian Powell
Ian Powell is the editor of blog 'Otaihanga Second Opinion.' He is also a columnist for New Zealand Doctor and was Executive Director of Association of Salaried Medical Specialists
The haka was used in Parliament as a protest against a bill reinterpreting the Treaty of Waitangi.
Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke led the haka and tore up a copy of the bill.
The hīkoi, led by young Māori leaders, highlighted opposition to perceived anti-Māori policies and aimed for empowerment.
While it is occasionally used ceremonially in Parliament, on November 14 the haka was used as an unprecedented and visually dramatic protest against a controversial bill that sought to simplistically and misleadingly reinterpret New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi (1840).
The dramatic event achieved enormous coverage including overseas. As an example of the massive international media coverage of this extraordinary event, below is the introduction to a BBC online report (November 15):
New Zealand’s Parliament was temporarily halted by Māori politicians performing a haka.
This dramatic event occurred the week prior to the arrival of a huge hīkoi starting at both the top of the North Island and bottom of the South Island.
The first national hīkoi
Until 1975, hīkoi were largely regarded as a communal walk or a public march as a form of protest.
New Zealand Prime Minister Bill Rowling.
But this changed with one of the biggest protests to date in New Zealand’s history. In 1975, about 5000 marchers arrived in Parliament as the culmination of a national hīkoi. They presented a petition signed by 60,000 people to the then Labour Prime Minister Bill Rowling.
The primary aim of this hīkoi was to protest against the continuing loss of Māori land. It was a powerful stimulus for stronger legislative recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi, including numerous consequential Treaty settlements.
The empowering second national hīkoi
The second hīkoi arrived in Parliament on November 19. Attended by around 50,000, the largest national protest in Aotearoa. Further, an estimated 80,000 in total participated if those who joined the hīkoi for various stages on its journey are included.
The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti outside Parliament in Wellington on November 19. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The culmination of the hīkoi in Parliament Grounds was well covered by Newsroom journalist Fox Meyer (November 20).
The Treaty Principles Bill was the lightning rod for the hīkoi but the focus was much wider. It was the catalyst for many but as the hīkoi reached Parliament, it was clear that it was much more than this.
Instead, it was a response to what was seen as a consistent anti-Māori rights narrative since the current Government took office after the 2024 election; a false narrative based on a disingenuous and dishonest claim of Māori privilege.
Poverty, health status and housing conditions alone give the lie to this absurdity. But this has not stopped the Government from, in the words of Fox Meyer, spending “its first year in power running a policy blitz of legislation that data suggests will disproportionately affect Māori”.
Kōhanga reo generation
Hīkoi participants march in Hamilton on day four of a journey to Wellington to protest various issues impacting Māori, including the Act Party’s Treaty Principles Bill. Photo / Mike Scott
The hīkoi was about empowerment. Along with its size, organisation and passion, what stood out was its young leadership such as haka leader Maipi-Clarke. Its leadership was recognised as the Kōhanga generation.
The philosophy of the Kōhanga Reo is a Māori world view and the movement’s goal is to revitalise and increase the use of the Māori language and traditional Māori beliefs and customary practices with all who embrace it.
The Kōhanga generation provided the leadership of the 2024 hīkoi.
In part inspired by the 1975 national hīkoi, Kōhanga Reo “language nests” began to be set up in the mid-1980s. This led to a proliferation of Māori immersion and bilingual education providers throughout the system.
Kōhanga Reo proved to be generationally empowering. From this empowerment, a new generation of Māori leaders have now emerged, much to the delight and pride of their elders.
From struggle to consciousness to empowerment
I’m an admirer of English Marxist historian E.P. Thompson. Arguably the most famous of his numerous published works was The Making of the English Working Class.
Thompson argued against a narrow view within Marxism that saw consciousness as little more than a reflection of material circumstances.
His contrary and convincing argument was that people were active, rather than simply reactive, in forging the shape of their struggles. Further, it was from struggle in its various forms that consciousness was actively self-created.
Although Thompson’s focus was on the relationship between class struggle and consciousness, the hīkoi and its preceding haka were not divorced from class. The hīkoi was not a narrow form of identity politics; it saw linkages with other struggles.
Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke speaks as hīkoi marchers gather outside FMG Stadium in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton). Photo / Alex Cairns
Empowerment is what follows consciousness. This relationship (and its precursor of struggle) was central to Thompson’s thinking. He would have applauded the final words at the hīkoi by Maipi-Clarke: “This march was never about the [Treaty Principles] bill. I ripped that in half and chucked it away [as part of the haka in Parliament]. This march was about us: walking, marching, side-by-side, generation-by-generation.”
E.P. Thompson would have said “right on”. It was about consciousness coming from struggle and strengthening the basis for empowerment. New Zealanders should be indebted to the hīkoi for this.
