Fall out expected over fiery first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill and Prime Minister hopes to meet with leaders at APEC summit. Video / NZ Herald
The most famous hīkoi was the 1975 Māori Land March, on which supporters and protestors travelled the length of the North Island, from Te Hāpua in Northland to Parliament in Wellington, organised by Whina Cooper.
In 2004, the historic hīkoi against the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act reached Parliament with numbers swelling to around 25,000.
Lady Tureiti Moxon is chairwoman of the National Urban Māori Authority and managing director at Te Kohao Health and was a member of the establishment board of the Māori Health Authority.
As organiser Eru Kapa Kingi said on stage at the end before thousands at Garden Place, it was all about “awakening the mana and the power that we have when we stand together as one”.
I say this in view of the late Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero’s vision to bring our people together under taakiri tuu (stand up). It was a wonderful expression of tino rangatiratanga.
Lady Tureiti Moxon: "It’s about confronting the history of Māori being treated as second-class citizens in our own land since the signing of Te Tiriti."
What was most overwhelming was how many turned out and how this hīkoi has united our people. Māori and non-Māori had a positive experience of being together as one.
It’s a statement that this isn’t only about the Treaty Principles Bill; it’s about confronting the history of Māori being treated as second-class citizens in our own land since the signing of Te Tiriti.
This is not about race – this is about rights. Our right to live as Māori, be Māori and express ourselves as Māori in our own country.
The Hīkoi through Hamilton.
While the Government can pay lip service saying, “we’re all one”, through its actions it’s signalling the Crown is in charge and we are not. And it’s as simple as that from their perspective.
Organisers who rose to the challenge made sure every single person who was there, including our babies from Te Kōhanga Reo o Te Kohao o Te Ngira, were safe, happy and looked after.
Homage should be paid to all those who are non-Māori who turned out in thousands to support the kaupapa of the day.
The purpose of standing as one in our aspirations for our tamariki is so they don’t have to live in a world where there’s kōrero from the Crown that diminishes their tapu and their mana.
What we’re saying is Te Tiriti was not born of the Crown taking over Māori. It was born on the basis the Crown and Māori would stand together for the betterment of both people.
But, unfortunately, as we know, in terms of the inequities, deprivation and negative statistics in education, social, wellbeing, health and housing, we have always been viewed by many as undeserving.
In legislation or even in in the conversations that we have with the Crown, it chooses not to recognise tino rangatiratanga, even as recently in the Pae Ora legislation.
Yet legally, in our covenant we were guaranteed tino rangatiratanga, to express our sovereignty and the right to exercise mana motuhake, yet the Crown remains in complete denial.
That’s what this day, this movement is about. We do exist, we do belong to this country and we do have rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
I share Eru’s view that the colonial blueprint all over the world has been really effective, but it never accounted for the resilience of our people and the ultimate power of our aroha.
It created a home for Pakehā to live here, to live in peace, so we can all thrive in a world where Te Tiriti is well, a world where we are all well.
It encapsulates the dreams of our tūpuna, the dreams that we embodied on the hikoi – thriving as one, living our best lives.
So now we will go to Wellington to stand in solidarity with all those who will descend upon Parliament on Tuesday because we all know what is happening to us at this moment in time is wrong.
Te Tiriti exists and it always has, and that’s why we marched yesterday.
