After a decade of making music, Sons of Zion are still refusing to settle into a genre. They sit down to talk about the joys of pop music and te reo Māori, and why a “reggae” band can do both. In 2009 Sons of Zion released their debut album, a self-titled fusion of rock, R&B, … Read more
In the third episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Te Aroha Grace talks to host Russell Brown about the Iwi Algorithm. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. At this year’s AI … Read more
We’ve become used to Samoan characters as peripheral bad guys. But from the tatau Sāmoa on his chest to his relationships with his aiga, Hobbs & Shaw showed us someone who is us. And he kicks arse. When I was growing up, there were hardly any Sāmoan or Polynesian faces on our television or movie … Read more
The land protection movement at Ihumātao may have wrongly been pitted as rangatahi versus rangatira, but there’s no denying it has given rise to a new generation of leaders and values. Have Treaty settlements and tribally controlled assets changed how iwi leaders see land, and is it time for recalibration? The tension that gave rise … Read more
This year Nicole Hawkins has decided to opt out of Wellington on a Plate over its lack of engagement with people who are offended by its marketing creative. Read Wellington On a Plate’s response at the end of this article. It’s annual burger and bougie plate season in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara. I ordinarily relish this time of … Read more
When the University of Otago was founded 150 years ago the interests of local Māori were disregarded. But now, in the last 50 years, engagement with tangata whenua has become an essential part of the university’s identity. New Zealand’s first university was co-founded by a controversial Scottish politician determined to make something of himself in … Read more
Talking to Ātea editor Leonie Hayden, Herbs: Songs of Freedom director Tearepa Kahi discusses the ‘constant riddle’ of documentary making, and the joys and sorrows of celebrating 40 years of one of our most important bands. A Tongan, a Sāmoan, a Cook Islander, a Māori and a Pākehā walk into a bar, and make music … Read more
A new ruling on the ban on prisoner voting delivers a fierce reminder of the need for urgent change. Now it’s over to the government: put up or shut up, writes Andrew Geddis. In some ways, it tells us nothing we didn’t already know: the legislative ban on prisoners voting enacted in 2010 by National … Read more
As a proposed new law to protect the Parihaka name makes its way through parliament, Rachel Buchanan reflects on the shifting legacy of something that is so much more than a set of GPS coordinates. In 1848, my kuia Arapera Rongouaroa Parai gave birth to Tāre Warahi (Charles Wallace) at Te Aro Pā, in what … Read more
On the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing in Aotearoa, Ian Taylor is vowing to tell the story of those who came before Cook: the Polynesian celestial navigators. “My ancestors travelled across a third of the planet to get here,” says Ian Taylor, “they used state-of-the-art craft and the stars and they knew exactly … Read more
RNZ journalist Te Aniwa Hurihanganui was about to catch a plane home from Auckland when an Air New Zealand worker saw her name on her passport and asked, how on earth did you spell that as a kid? It wasn’t the first time. I had just spent three days at Ihumātao, the 32-hectare land-block in … Read more
Chaotic weather and energy in August means it’s a good time to take care of ourselves and our loved ones (and maybe plant some seeds). Kia ora koutou, ngā mihi o te wā o Aponga. Aponga is a month of planting or preparing the garden to lay seedlings in the next moon cycle. It is … Read more
An exhibition of Dutch-New Zealand artist Theo Schoon at the City Gallery in Wellington has set off a debate about the place of racially problematic work in public spaces. Lana Lopesi reports on the ongoing protests, and how they connect to the activism at Ihumātao. When Theo Schoon: A Biography by Damian Skinner was released … Read more
When we decided to do an episode of On the Rag on ageing, I knew immediately I wanted to talk to one of my kuia, and I knew who I wanted it to be, writes Ātea editor Leonie Hayden. Growing up, Naida Glavish (Ngāti Whātua) was one of my adopted mum’s very good friends, her … Read more
Tensions at the Ihumātao occupation in Māngere, south Auckland escalated last night after a dramatic increase in police numbers. Hundreds gathered at Ihumātao on Monday night as police increased their presence, cutting off the road and refusing blankets to shivering land protectors. Around 30 officers have been at the whenua since July 23, when a … Read more
Māori protests in New Zealand have often been led by women. From the suffrage movement in the late 1800s to the fight for Ihumātao today, here are five wāhine Māori leaders who faced large criticism, but left larger legacies. “The protest at Ihumātao is a feminist issue,” explained Pania Newton during a hīkoi of the … Read more
One thing that has set the fight for Ihumātao apart is the confidence with which multi-media digital communication has been deployed to spread the message far and wide. Peter McKenzie looks at the new tools of the revolution. The message was sparse. “Tomorrow, midday, Wellington Cenotaph, there is a rally against the confiscation of land … Read more
The dispute over land at Ihumātao in southwest Auckland dates back to the wars of 1863, and has been characterised as New Zealand’s ‘trail of tears’. Since 2016 an occupation has been in place at Kaitiaki Village as part of an effort to protect the land from development by Fletcher Residential, who want to build … Read more
Artist Nikau Hindin is reviving a contemporary form of Māori art that was largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost … Read more
The current standoff at Ihumātao has deep roots in the legacy of colonialism and land confiscation. Historian Vincent O’Malley writes about how it was taken by the Crown, and why that matters today. The New Zealand Wars may have ended nearly 150 years ago. But their consequences continue to be felt today. Nowhere is that … Read more
DiscoveryCamp gives Māori and Pacific high school students the chance to experience science at a tertiary level. Alice Webb-Liddall finds out why it’s important to get these young people interested. Māori and Pacific people have been experts in science for thousands of years. They navigated the earth using astronomy, grown food with biology and created … Read more
A number of activists have been arrested tonight after attempting to blockade Auckland’s Southwestern Motorway, as part of an ongoing standoff between police and land protectors at Ihumātao. However, a spokesperson for the group coordinating the occupation say they did not know the action was going to take place. Just after 5pm today a red … Read more
Aroha Bridge writer and director Coco Solid talks about the new characters on the show, the ‘psychic vat of reality’ that birthed them, and her Ihumātao call-out of PM Jacinda Ardern. In season two of locally made cartoon series Aroha Bridge, 10-year old wunderkind pop star Angeline announces on television: “I’m Māori so obviously I … Read more
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good on their promise to remove mana whenua from Kaitiaki Village, enforcing Fletcher Building’s demands … Read more
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded. *All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved Newsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt to ‘uplift’ a newborn baby at a Hawke’s Bay maternity ward has alarmed … Read more
Our government and leaders are (still) divided on the question of compulsory te reo Māori. Who’s for it, who’s against it, and who’s flip flopping around in the middle? Under article two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the government pledges to protect “taonga katoa” (all treasured things), amongst which sits te reo Māori, one of … Read more
Ātea editor Leonie Hayden headed out to the hui for a Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children, and found a unified Māori force that has decided enough is enough. When first announced, Saturday’s Oranga Tamariki hui was to be hosted at Ngā Whare Waatea marae in Māngere. When four times the projected … Read more
Whanaungatanga, whakapapa and whānau – the solutions that have always been with us, but largely ignored. Laura O’Connell-Rapira reflects on yesterday’s historic Oranga Tamariki hui Prior to the arrival of European settlers, Māori society was governed by a system of principles, laws and customs known as tikanga Māori. The word ‘tikanga’ is derived from the … Read more
Closed adoption saw thousands of Māori babies handed over to Pākehā families with no way of accessing their ancestral roots. RNZ’s Te Aniwa Hurihanganui looks at the outdated Adoption Act and its impact on Māori who grew up desperate to reconnect. Nicola Lancaster remembers holding Annabel’s tiny premature body in her arms moments after she … Read more