A research first has highlighted the important role of non-Māori learning te reo for the revitalisation of the language. Charlotte Muru-Lanning spoke to Dr Will Flavell about where the language is going. Before he started learning te reo Māori, Dr Will Flavell (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Whatua, Ngāti Maniapoto, Tainui) was already fluent in English and … Read more
The legislative changes are designed to improve renters’ rights, but will they make a difference to the people who have borne the brunt of the housing crisis? A Māori public health provider has welcomed new tenancy laws that came into effect this month, but is concerned the new rights haven’t been communicated to the most … Read more
A recent Twitter thread, which asked Pākehā who are learning te reo to be gentle with Māori who don’t know the language, sparked a lot of conversation. Ātea editor Leonie Hayden reflects on her own experience, and offers some advice. It was a Pākehā friend who first told me that it wasn’t appropriate for her … Read more
Ana Scotney (Ngāti Tāwhaki, Ngāi Tūhoe) released her first single as Kōtiro last year, and now she’s dropped the full-length EP, Hi-Def Multinational. She chats to producer Thomas Arbor about concept albums, asymmetry and the smallness of long-distance walking. Ana Scotney is a rising star of the stage and screen, a creator of theatre, art … Read more
We’re entering the fourth phase of summer, Matiti Kaiwai, known as the middle of summer. This is when the ground is so dry it opens up and thirsts for water. Just like that, it’s February and 2021 is well underway. Many of us are shaking off the sand and getting back into mahi. It has … Read more
It’s time to abandon the culturally bound and frankly lazy concept of ‘business attire’, which is simply code for Pākehā visual symbols of authority, writes former Green Party leader Metiria Turei. At least they are not talking about how women MPs dress for a change. From that awful Makeover an MP segment to the awarding … Read more
The Māori economy continues to grow, while employment drops and home ownership remains a distant dream for many. Business advisor Joshua Hitchcock explains the disconnect. The Māori economy is now worth almost $70 billion. That was the headline figure of Te Ōhanga Māori 2018-The Māori Economy Report 2018 recently released by BERL (Business and Economic … Read more
Three decades ago one of the giants of New Zealand thinking and writing, Ranginui Walker, published Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou, Struggle Without End. The book, originally released in 1990 and revised in 2004, is a history of Aotearoa from a Māori perspective had a profound influence and today remains as piercing and illuminating as ever. … Read more
Nanaia Mahuta has confirmed the Labour government’s commitment to urgently change the law so that councils may establish Māori wards in the same way as general wards. Those in opposition have a lot to say about it – but what are they actually saying? The release from local government minister Nanaia Mahuta this week states: … Read more
Ahead of Waitangi Day, Jacinta Ruru and Jacobi Kohu-Morris imagine an alternative to New Zealand’s constitutional framework that gives Te Tiriti o Waitangi the mana it deserves and Māori a meaningful seat at the table. In the early 1980s, fresh from law school, Sir Justice Joe Williams (Ngāti Pūkenga, Te Arawa) wrote ‘Maranga Ake Ai’ … Read more
Lawyer and commentator Kingi Snelgar has some programming recommendations for a stellar Waitangi Day line-up. Dear Magic FM E ngā kaiwhakarite o Magic Talk, tēnā koutou, I heard in horror the recording earlier this week on your station as your temporary host John Banks allowed and contributed to racist comments by a talkback caller called … Read more
Moana Jackson, the esteemed Māori lawyer and teacher, has died. The following is an excerpt from one of his last pieces of writing, the foreword to new book Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art. Art is the telling of stories. In some cultures, storytellers begin by saying, “In the days before we remember”, or, … Read more
Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Duncan Greive: It’s great to see … Read more
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend an hour or two. They … Read more
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past. Content warning: This article contains racist language and images. On a pub wall in Pūhoi, covered in … Read more
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures. As we enter the New Year I think it’s important that … Read more
Who could have predicted the stand-off at Waikeria prison? Absolutely anyone, writes Emilie Rākete of People Against Prisons. The Waikeria uprising protesters have come down safely from the rubble of the prison unit they destroyed. The last smouldering embers have been extinguished. As a member of the prison abolitionist group People Against Prisons Aotearoa, I … Read more
Prisoner advocate Sir Kim Workman on how New Zealand’s human rights record has taken a battering, and the Māori-led measures that are actually working. The six-day stand-off between prisoners in Waikeria’s top jail and prison management partially destroyed a building already targeted for demolition. It was variously described as “a protest”, “an uprising”, “a riot”, … Read more
Summer reissue: The 1954 novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a story about young boys shipwrecked on a desolate island, is a parable for the supposedly innate cruelty and selfishness of human nature. In May 2020, an excerpt was published on The Guardian from the book Humankind by Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, … Read more
Summer reissue: We should be unanimously outraged that in seven short years the number of Māori women on remand has doubled, in part thanks to a pernicious reform. What will you do about it, asks Awatea Mita. First published 3 July, 2020. In December this year, it will be six years since I was released … Read more
Summer reissue: As the American media giant comes under fire for its treatment of POC contributors, it’s time to talk about the whiteness of food media in Aotearoa, say Jean Teng and Charlotte Muru-Lanning. First published June 13 2020 A wave of consciousness around racism is sweeping the globe at the moment. Protests that started … Read more
Summer reissue: In October, New Zealand voted against legalising cannabis in a non-binding referendum. Law expert Khylee Quince explains how racism plays a big part in the way current cannabis laws are applied – and why it’s time for reform. First published 9 September, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in … Read more
Summer reissue: There are many lessons climate scientists can learn from mātauranga Māori. Lesson one is: don’t panic. This story was made with support from the Science Journalism Fund and was first published 29 December, 2019. Hank Dunn (Te Uri o Tai, Te Rarawa) has survived five shipwrecks in his lifetime. He told me this … Read more
Summer reissue: Photographs of tūpuna Māori are fetching top prices at auction houses, with their descendants often forking out to ‘bring them home’. First published 29 November, 2020 On September 20, 2001, an auction of 300 rare photographic prints and plates was blocked due to protests by Māori activists. The collection, potentially worth at least … Read more
Summer reissue: In April, a six-month armed police trial ended that sparked a small but insistent public outcry. Later, as the Blacks Lives Matter resistance took hold, it became an urgent part of the movement in New Zealand to challenge the systemic racism and individual prejudices within NZ Police that could lead to disproportionate numbers … Read more
Summer reissue: You might not know his face, but Māori Television’s Heta Gardiner was one of the most valuable and memorable contributors to the daily Covid-19 briefings. Hayden Donnell spoke to him about what it was like covering a pandemic in a still Pākehā-dominated press gallery. First published 16 May, 2020. Independent journalism depends on … Read more
Charlotte Muru-Lanning is an ethical consumer, and she wants a hot AF party dress for the festive season. Why is it so damn hard to find something sexy and sustainable? For many, lockdown meant reflecting on our normal ways of doing things, as the pandemic cast a magnifying glass over how cruel, unsustainable and frankly … Read more
For years now, people who should know better have been spreading misinformation about Ihumātao. Now that a deal has been made, it’s time to set the record straight on some of these repeated falsehoods. Didn’t ‘the iwi’ sell the land in the first place? Nope, the block of land named the Ōruarangi block was stolen … Read more
Five years ago a group of local cousins began a campaign to stop a proposed Fletcher Building housing development and restore the whenua into iwi ownership. Yesterday a deal was signed paving the way for its return. Justin Latif speaks to the woman who started it all about how they defied the odds and the … Read more