New Zealand police say planning is well underway ahead of a pro-Palestinian march that will shut the Auckland Harbour bridge later this month.

The organisers are expecting thousands to turn out for the “March for Humanity” which is due to be held on September 13.

Police told RNZ they were working with partner agencies, and expected to inform the public on how the march would impact on them.

They said they remained in contact with the march organisers.

The organisers say it will be a follow-on from recent protest marches that walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Brisbane’s Victoria Bridge.

The organisers say it will be a follow-on from recent protest marches that walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Brisbane’s Victoria Bridge.

Those events attracted 50,000 to 300,000 protesters.

The Auckland march is being organised by Aotearoa for Palestine, a coalition of Palestinians and tangata whenua. They want the government to sanction Israel for what they say is a genocide being carried out in Gaza.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The co-leader of New Zealand’s minority Māori Party has launched a blistering attack on white privilege and the opposition National Party which it accuses of “igniting racism” in the framing of a debate about radical political change.

In a provocative introduction to her weekly column in The New Zealand Herald today, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer asks: “Hey coloniser, so let me get this right, you want to lead a debate about indigenous rights that you helped to destroy?”

She writes in her media message to Pākehā colonisers: “You dishonour Te Tiriti [1840 Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding political partnership document] and promote continuing to do so.

“You stole our land and our language. You denounce our history, preferring to educate on anything but us. And you have done nothing to reverse this, instead preferring to ignore the problems.

“We are in an inherently white system that you designed, yet you feel oppressed that Māori want to stop the pain of inequities. Your systemic racism continues to perpetuate intergenerational trauma, which you refuse to accept.”

While acknowledging that National Party leader Judith Collins claimed that New Zealanders “find racism abhorrent”, she added that “in my opinion she is igniting racism through a carefully deployed campaign — apparently with the help of former leader Don Brash”.

Ngarewa-Packer says New Zealanders are entitled to a conversation about radical change, but they are not “counteracting with alternative solutions”, preferring to focus on what she saw as the “misery of struggling Māori whānau”.

‘White hypocrisy’
Criticising what she describes as “white hypocrisy”, Ngarewa-Packer called instead for a “debate about the coloniser’s entitlements”.

“And rather than start on a timeline plucked out to help lift right-wing leaders’ dying polls, let’s start at the beginning: 181 years ago, and discuss the rights of tangata whenua and the radical change needed in Aotearoa to see those rights fulfilled,” she said.

“And yes, I hear you. Why should you pay for your ancestors’ mistakes? But why should we, either?

“No one can give our language, lives, and land (actually this is possible) back. There is no true price for our tāonga. But we must at least stop the lying and stop making a mockery of tangata whenua with this pathetic dog-whistling.”

Ngarewa-Packer says a debate was needed on how New Zealand economy had been built off the “displacement of tangata whenua”.

“How tangata whenua are the largest benefactors to this nation, having accepted settlements worth 1 per cent loss of whenua stolen, in a process determined by the Crown!”

Disparity in the economy
Among examples Ngarewa-Packer gave of the disparity between the Pākehā and Māori share of the economy, were the NZ$1.9m funding for Te Matatini, the “largest kapa haka event on the planet, versus $16.9m for the NZ Symphony Orchestra”.

She also cited the $250m spent on the America’s Cup this year.

Ngarewa-Packer has also called for less hypocrisy about “crackdowns needed to stop crime”

“Let’s turn our gaze to white-collar crime, which has seen an estimated $2 billion to $4 billion loss to Aotearoa, through tax avoidance and evasion.”

She added that Māori sought to “drive our own tino rangatiratanga [self-determination]”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Days after being condemned by the largest Pacific Island capital — Port Moresby, the Economist’s Global Liveability Index has been criticised in Auckland by one of New Zealand’s most respected “green” columnists.

The criticisms come from different ends of the spectrum — Port Moresby was third to last in the 140-nation survey while Auckland, with the world’s largest urban Polynesian population, was top.

Both results were thanks to city responses to the global covid-19 pandemic.

National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop had roasted the Economist index, criticising the “irresponsible” criteria used in in the index assessment and called for a rethink about his sprawling city of Port Moresby (pop. 391,000).

“This is a harsh verdict on our city, which we have worked so hard to build,” Parkop said.

Leading Māori academic Associate Professor Ella Henry of Auckland University of Technology also criticised the criteria saying few indigenous tangata whenua people would agree with Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau (pop. 1.6 million, with 11.5 percent Māori) being the world’s “most liveable” city.

“In particular, I would argue that many Māori whānau in Auckland do not enjoy the benefits of this supposed ‘liveability’,” she said, citing negative employment, health, housing, poverty and digital divide statistics.

Global ‘low bar’
However, while New Zealand Herald commentator Simon Wilson, celebrated for his environmentally progressive views on Auckland, today welcomed his city’s success, he also  criticised the global “low bar” that had contributed to the Economist result.

“It sure puts covid into perspective, doesn’t it? Auckland … is now the world’s most liveable city. And it’s all because of our response to the pandemic,” he wrote.

“Britain has just delayed lifting all restrictions by another month. The fast rollout of vaccines in the US has stalled at around 50 percent, because nobody really knows how to persuade the remaining half of the population to get the jab.

“European and Asian countries alike slide in and out of covid crises. The nightmare that is India seems almost beyond redemption. This is a terrible tragedy.

“Here in Tāmaki Makaurau, meanwhile, we enjoy the luxury of debating the future of yachting contests, school zones and cycling on the harbour bridge.

“Yes, for now and at least into the near future, Auckland has every reason to think of itself as the world’s most liveable city. But the bar is very low.”

Wilson also wrote that it was not very encouraging that the Japanese city of Osaka had been placed second on the index.

What to crow about?
“The Japanese city has uncontrolled covid and is set to be half submerged by even a minimal rise in sea levels,” he observed.

“Here [in Auckland], though, setting covid aside, what else have we got to crow, or complain, about?” Wilson continued.

“We’re tremendously liveable, obviously, if you own property – and cruelly not so if you don’t. We’re tremendously liveable if your life doesn’t oblige you to get stuck in traffic, but not so much, etc.

“Some of us have reasonably well-paid future-focused jobs while others of us are precariously clinging to the gig economy, or are on minimum wage, or are not in the productive economy at all.

“The fact is, measuring liveability is a spurious business. The only markers that count should be the ones that acknowledge we’re doing well when we’re all doing well.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Academics who made allegations of racism at the University of Waikato are welcoming the outcome of an independent review.

While individual claims have been dismissed as “inaccurate”, “incorrect” and “reflective of differing perspectives”, it is hoped the findings could lead to nationwide action on racism at tertiary institutions.

Six academics wrote to the Ministry of Education last month, expressing concerns about casual and structural racism at the University of Waikato – prompting the review.

The review was led by Harawira Gardiner and Hekia Parata, who held individual and group meetings with 80 people and received 96 submissions, and the findings were released yesterday.

Instead of upholding specific claims, it concluded that New Zealand’s public institutions, including universities, adhere to Western university traditions and cultures – so there was a case for structural, systemic, and casual discrimination.

“Today, in 2020, in this post-settlement world, it is not acceptable for places of teaching and learning, of research, scholarship and debate, of nation building, to continue this selectively accommodating patronage, of Māori, tāngata whenua, their mana, tikanga and mātauranga,” it said.

Delighted with outcome
Professor of Māori Education at Victoria University of Wellington Joanna Kidman – who has publically supported the six academics – says she was delighted with that outcome, and confirmation from the University of Waikato that it would set up a taskforce to “open up the dialogues” and tackle the issues.

“I think this will be a positive step forward… we will look towards the university to lead what could be a model for other universities in times to come,” she said.

However, she said the findings could also be put on a “national footing”.

“We’ve seen recently, a group of Māori professors have put an open letter to Education Minister Chris Hipkins saying that they would like an independent review of New Zealand universities. I think this is an excellent way forward.”

The report also recommended the university engaged in a future-focused process to determine how to apply the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, and to refresh its relationships with iwi.

The University of Waikato declined to comment further on the report or speak to RNZ, but Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley posted a video statement saying the university council unanimously accepted the recommendations.

He said the taskforce would create an action plan over the next few months.

“This is an opportunity for the University of Waikato to provide leadership both here, and nationally, for the development of ideas that will address structural and systemic discrimination and racism in the university system,” he said.

“It’s going to be a difficult journey, a challenging journey, but we are committed to making it work.”

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz