The Red Peak flag was added to the referendum after a social media campaign. Photo / Getty Images
The Red Peak flag was added to the referendum after a social media campaign. Photo / Getty Images
Maori broadcaster Tu Harawira has told the 24-hour Flag Summit that he disagrees with the popular 'Red Peak' flag because it symbolises "white deciding where the colours will go".
Harawira, presenter for Maori Television's daily talk-show, Mataora, is an award-winning radio host and sports broadcaster but is no fan of the Red Peak flag - admitted to the referendum later this month after a strong social media campaign persuaded the government to add it to the shortlist of the four other flags.
"To me this is symbol of the white fellas with all the colours in the corner," he said of the Red Peak flag which has a white chevron separating red, blue and black triangles. While the back story of the flag has proved popular with many because of its resonance with Maori, Harawira did not agree.
"It has white separating all the colours," he said. "White decides where the colours go and white decides the colours don't go together."
Harawira was a guest panellist on the 24-hour Summit which has run through the night and is due to end at 8pm tonight, discussing a wide-ranging agenda of issues around the flag debate.
Fellow panellist and Maori broadcaster Miriama Kamo was visibly surprised by Harawira's view, saying: "It says a lot in a simple design and is the easiest to replicate. I wouldn't have taken that out of it [Harawira's interpretation]. Personally, I really like simplicity though I do wonder what it would look like flapping in the wind."
The other panellist, Maori designer Johnson Witehira, whose digital designs were featured in Times Square, New York, three years ago was disappointed with the koru design by Andrew Fyfe. The latter told the summit that the koru design represented the fern frond unfurling and new life.
But Witehira pulled him up, saying that interpretation of the koru was what was found if 'koru' was googled.
The other four flag designs in the referendum.
"It's what I say to my students when they tell me that about the koru. I tell them to come back and talk to me when they have done a bit more research. The koru is about kowhaiwhai - the patterns on the rafters of our whare which commemorate our ancestors."
Kamo also did not like the koru design, though she loved the koru itself: "the whole idea of unfurling and new life is important to me. However, maybe because it [the design] is black and white, it didn't inspire me."
She felt Red Peak was the best design while Witehira chose the koru after making the point it was an example of how Maori culture could be diluted by popular expression as opposed to genuine historical relevance.
Harawira did not like the silver fern options saying: "They are the most visible characteristic of us as a sporting nation - but do we want a representation of sport on our national flag? There is a large section of our population that does not agree with any of the flags abut, by default, they have to choose one of them.
"I think the flag we have now is a perfect representation of our country. I fail to see the reasoning behind deciding to choose a new flag and I am suspicious about the narrative; whose narrative are we listening to?"
Earlier all three said the official Maori flag (Tino Rangatiratanga) was not representative of all Maori though Witehira said he had trialled the idea on social media. He had been surprised at feedback which suggested that, if the Maori flag was adopted as New Zealand's flag, it would be another example of "appropriating Maori things and Maori power; it would be saying, 'we'll take your flag and make it our flag'."
Hana O'Regan, a Maori academic and member of the Flag Consideration panel, said she was happy with the level of discussion and symbols of identity put forward in the five flag options now in front of the public.
"I think there is a strong multicultural thread coming through. So much is said [by Maori] about our voices not being heard but now we have a great opportunity to say whether these symbols represent us as a people. For me, as a Maori New Zealander, so much has been imposed on us, this is a chance to make this count."
