Section:OBS 2N PaGe:29 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 12:51 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
29
The Observer
World 04.08.19Evans , said the company has com-
mitted to returning 25%, or eight hec-
tares, of land to Māori and would take
due care of the site.
But protesters want the govern-
ment to buy Ihumātao from Fletcher
Building and preserve it in perpetuity;
a desire the government says would
set a dangerous precedent for other
unresolved indigenous land disputes
across the country. The issue is com-
plicated by the fact that some Māori –
also with claims to the land – want the
building project to go ahead, and say
warm, dry homes are more impor-
tant for their people than memories.
Minna Popata, 16, a student from
nearby Aorere college, is touring
Ihumātao with her school group. It
is her fi fth visit. Young Māori people
have almost unequivocally supported
the occupation , and there is a sense
that the land rights struggle is about
the survival of the Māori people.
“Maori has lost a lot of their land
already, so getting more taken off us,
it feels like it’s tearing Māori apart,
and breaking our culture down,” says
Popata, neatly dressed in her school
uniform, her hair braided, her eyes
moist with emotion.
“To us, this land has a deeper
meaning. When people build on top
of our land, you feel that disrespect.
It just doesn’t feel right.”
Last week the call went out for
bodies at Ihumātao. Country wide,
whanau (family) and friendship
groups shared urgent messages on
social media, calling for peaceful
protesters to travel swiftly to New‘To us, this land has
deeper meaning.
When people build
on top of our land it
just doesn’t feel right’
Minna Popata, 16
LEFT
Protesters gather
at the Ihumātao
camp, Auckland.
Photograph by
Phil Walter/GettyRIGHT
Organisers hope
the PM will visit;
(below) Soul’s
Pania Newton.
Eleanor Ainge
Roy/the ObserverZealand’s largest city, to bring bed-
ding and food, pause their jobs and
family lives, and sit, wait and hope.
“We heard the call and we
came,” says Riki, a Māori man from
Northland, who travelled to Ihumātao
with his wife, Kylie. Stirring a sauce-
pan of soup outside their tent,
Riki says there’s something about
Ihumātao that feels different from
other land right disputes.
“The government are in a stalemate
zone, expecting us to bow down as
the in digenous people, as we have
done for the last 183 years,” says Riki.
“The reality is, it’s not happening ...
There’s a new generation of children
coming through that are educated in
the specifi cs of what has happened to
their people; their anger has forced
them to self-educate. I need to be here
to know my children and my grand-
children will still have land.”
This weekend the Māori king is
v isiting Ihumātao , bringing 10 bus-
loads of supporters and his entourage
with him. Two Māori government
MPs have also visited; tasked with
talking their way through the quag-
mire , which is tainting the gov-
ernment’s brand of kinder, more
compassionate politics.
The prime minister, Jacinda
Ardern ’s governing Labour party has
more Māori MPs tha n any other in
New Zealand history, and took offi ce
in 2017 with expectations high that
they would deliver for the country’s
most marginalised population. Two
years on, disillusionment has set in.
Further talks with government
ministers are planned, a move activ-
ists applaud as “heartening”. But
there is only one name on the lips
of the protesters each day; one smil-
ing face they want to see squelching
through the mud : Jacinda.
“Will we get Jacinda, is Jacinda
coming?’ asks an old Māori man , his
skin etched with blue tribal tattoos.
“Not yet,” the organiser replies.
“But we remain hopeful.”
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