It is becoming our habit that Denis and I engaged in a Northern migration for the Waitangi season again this year. We supersized the trip (abandoning our house plants) by going to Kōtare activist summer school, heading to Karikari Peninsula for a writing retreat, then Waitangi at Waitangi and tomorrow we heading out to the Wero Antiracism conference in Hamilton.
Our plans were to arrive early, leave late and staff our STIR Stop Institutional Racism booth. Massive numbers of people were in attendance at the festivities, the weather was favourable and the vibe positive. For me it was about who was there not about absent politicians.
Most of my time was literally at the STIR booth shared with Tāngata Tiriti - Treaty People pitching ideas, selling raffle tickets and t-shirts, networking and giving stuff away. It was heartening that folks leaned into our radical book raffle because they wanted to read and learn. The people I spoke to were well informed and not needing Te Tiriti 101. They had recently written submissions and were at Waitangi to see friends, witness, learn and be part of the debate. Apparently, no-one was there to buy handwoven woolly scarves and shawls.
A highlight for me was the evening performance piece by Tame Iti and Indigenous comrades from Canada and Palestine. The small crowd by the pou were treated to drumming, waiata, live co-creation of paintings, megaphone moments and the burning of a very colonial looking potae. I remain bitter that I missed the radical poetry reading with Karlo Milo, Tina Ngata and company – I will be more organised in 2026. Does anyone have the link to the live stream?
In my down-time I got to check out the Tāngata Tiriti and Tāngata Moana session at the political forum and was heartened to hear from Prof Jane Kelsey (I’m a superfan) about some of the key foundational work that was done by activists in the 1980s. Kirsty Fong was clear and strong, and it was wonderful to hear from new (to me) leaders Bloody Samoan, Samah Huriwai-Deger, Gen Ilohia. It is great to be in space that was intentionally dialling down Pākehā voices so we can hear multiple Tāngata Tiriti viewpoints.
I managed an unplanned five minutes on the stage thanks to Veronica Tawhai to talk about STIR and Te Tiriti based futures + Antiracism. She asked me what Tiriti education needed to be focussed on? I replied the Māori text, not the English version or those troublesome principles. Ironically, that night I got my callup to do our oral submission on the Treaty Principles Bill – I can feel the kōrero starting to shape up #Maorinevercededsovereignty #Wai1040. Watch that space.
After staffing our booth most of the day I went to “An evening with Annette Sykes on tino rangatiratanga” in the political forum. She was on fire, passionate, committed, articulate and spellbinding. She was joined on stage by Nania Mahuta, Aperahama Edwards and Te Wehi Wright. The kōrero danced from conscientisation, alternative economic systems, to independence and self-determination. I phoned a friend so she could hear the kōrero and are grateful there is a livestream to come back too. One of my mates tried to get me to ask a question (after Tina Ngata) but I was shy, tired, hungry and still processing what I heard. I will be reflecting for the weeks and month ahead on the detailed set of resolutions that were handed out…
The thing about Waitangi is no two people have the same experience as we all get to curate our own visit. We get to decide which speakers to go listen to, whether to go for a swim, mirimiri, attend the dawn service, one of the pōwhiri or stay at one’s booth eating real fruit ice creams and deep-fried potato on a stick. There were many reunions with old friends and comrades, excellent political t-shirts, flags everywhere and waiata sometimes drowning out the generators. I challenge all Pākehā New Zealanders that have never been to get it on their bucket list to go to Waitangi once on Waitangi Day - it is great to witness history, listen and learn and lean into being an active citizen.
Meantime we are still hosting manuhiri in the camping ground so need to whip up some tasty treats and later we are off the movies to watch “The Haka Incident” in the airconditioned theatre up the road. Then we will be back into it because everyday is Waitangi Day.
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