Mana | Movement of the People

Ae Marika! 3 December 2013

Been a couple of weeks since the Taura Whiri Reo Maori Awards were held down in Gisborne but what an awesome night it was, with awards for the promotion of reo Maori right across the whole of society – community, local and national government, the private sector, IT, print, broadcasting, education, Maori language community, youth, individual, and of course the supreme award.

And to no-one’s great surprise, Tuhoe cleaned up, taking the youth, the Maori language community and the supreme awards. But the bit I enjoyed was watching those Ngati Porou’s pack the stage to sing for their winners because they do it so well. They don’t only all know the songs (and of course the haka) they also know all the actions as well, young ones, old ones, the whole lot. And not to be outdone, Tuhoe also took over the stage to back their winners as well and they were awesome too – not as polished as the Ngati’s but strong and raw and equally as powerful.

And to top it all off, the whole night was all in te reo, the presenters, the recipients, the singing … even one poor Pakeha guy struggling through his speech, murdering the language with the best of intentions while everybody politely smiled (grimaced) and let him stagger to the end before giving him a warm round of applause. Api Mahuika, Wharehuia Milroy and Erima Henare spoke with simplicity and style, calling on iwi to protect their own special dialects, all the while learning the new reo to keep pace with the mokopuna!

Me mihi atu ki te Taura Whiri i hangai i tera kaupapa kia whakanuia i te reo Maori me ona āhuaranga katoa.

And to end the evening on a personal note … I watched this kaumatua playing in the band that night, and he could play! So I have a chat to him and guess what? I’d actually watched this guy play way back in 1969 when he was in a band called the ‘Shriek Machine’. Me and my mates had run away from St Stephens to go watch them play at the Tabla in Auckland!! And he’s still going strong today. How cool is that!!!

Last week I also travelled to a little place called Whakapara, just north of Whangarei to support a blockade of State Highway 1, called by the local iwi, Ngati Hau, and the local farming community.

They were opposing a proposal to mine for gold in the Puhipuhi hills, because mining would release high levels of mercury into the waterways which feed into the main rivers running from the western shores of Northland right across to the Northern Wairoa and out into the Kaipara Harbour, one of the biggest snapper nurseries in the whole of the southern hemisphere.

And in its place they were proposing an alternative that they had clearly put a lot of research into and that was well supported by the local community – to re-flood the swamp and rebuild the waterways and ponds which in the old days had made Hikurangi one of the greatest natural catchments for eels in the country – an altogether healthier idea which would employ more people than the gold mine without destroying the environment.

I wish them well and will support them in any way I can.

AE MARIKA is an article written every week by Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. You are welcome to use any of the comments and to ascribe them to Mr Harawira. The full range of Hone’s articles can be found on the MANA website at www.mana.net.nz