“This is what they’ll ask in the future, ‘what did you do about Ihumātao?'”
A friend made that prediction as we drove through South Auckland, having seen thousands of people rally at this festival-like protest for indigenous rights.
Like the Springbok Tour of 1981, or Vietnam War protests the decade before, many believe this event will define the current decade.
At Ihumātao, musician Stan Walker declared this was the “revolution of our generation”.
Perhaps only climate change has garnered the sort of momentum which is now fuelling protests to “save Ihumātao”.
What seemed like a minor dispute is national news, drawing thousands of people to a slice of land Auckland Council and the government have tried to ignore.
But the questions this little slice of New Zealand raise will have an impact on us all.
It’s not about a new subdivision, or who owns what, it’s about justice and botched government process.
The many thousands of Kiwis who have made their way to Ihumātao are pulling the curtain off the Government’s failed Treaty Claims Settlement process, and they’ve caught Jacinda Ardern off guard.
Now, the leader glorified as a progressive force for change appears to be scrambling for some sort of resolution.
She’ll find that hard to achieve.
Instead of front-footing this major issue, the prime minister has faced stinging accusations of absenteeism.
Movement leader Pania Newton directly challenged Ardern for not meeting with the Save Our Unique Landscape activists. She also promised there would be no de-escalation.
One reason Ardern hasn’t met with the activists is because she spent the weekend in Tokelau.
Suddenly, her history-making Pacific island trip faced criticism from all sides of the House, with Simon Bridges calling her a “part-time prime minister”.
Had Ardern joined her MPs Willie Jackson and Peeni Henare at Ihumātao, she would have faced an even more serious dilemma than name calling. What will she do about it?
Make no mistake about why Henare travelled to Māngere for the protest. He’s there begging to keep his job.
This is his electorate.
This is an issue which should have been front and centre in his mind.
In 2016, Labour published a statement headlined: “Ihumātao needs action not sympathy”.
The party’s had three years to come up with a solution, and yet in 2019 all Ardern has done is temporarily halt the construction work after saying: “We have heard the strong voice of young people, rangatahi”.
To me, that sounds like sympathy rather than action. Continue reading
- Glenn McConnell is a journalist and student.
- Image: Stuff
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