Vietnam survived Nixon’s madman theory and the world survived the era of mutually assured destruction. Now we face the moment of two super-empowered shitheads. There is nothing nicer to call them.

Who will stop two self-obsessed, very old men, already dedicated to tearing down humanity? Today Trump openly declares his intention to destroy a civilisation. They are apparently only able to see war personally, Netanyahu as the climax of 40 years of dreaming, and Trump as his arbitrary prerogative.

In lockstep they destroyed Gaza’s homes, places of learning and culture, health and modernity. They murdered civilians with abandon and drew pictures of capitalist castles on the beach — and still they failed, just as their over-armed predecessors have failed from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

• READ MORE: Iran accepts ceasefire after Trump says it will pause bombing for two weeks
• Synagogue in Tehran ‘completely destroyed’ in US-Israeli attack
• Top university says US-Israel attack targeted Iran’s progress, AI learning
• Other US-Israel war on Iran reports

People still live, in great need of our action.

The scorched-earth vision of Trump and Netanyahu rolls onward. Now in Iran and again in Lebanon, they make war on civilian homes and infrastructure. They destroy families and livelihoods, places of beauty and culture, the bridges that connect us, the industries that rebuild and the energy that lights the darkness.

They desecrate all of our religions. The list of their crimes grows daily.

These two evil despots are content to erode the world’s supplies of power, fertiliser, manufacturing components. They are oblivious to the lives they imperil in Iran, Lebanon and Palestine — and countless other people who they will kill around the world by hunger and hardship.

Anything to rule, even over a landscape of bones and dust. They will fail but they must not be allowed to play this out.

We are beyond disgust. We are witnessing the end of an order indeed: America’s empire is flailing in its death throes. How many people will Trump take down with it?

Weighed down with dread, we have no words but these: someone, everyone, stop them!

Republished from Sh’ma Koleinu — Alternative Jewish Voices.

Trump may have backed down for now, but he’s shown how unhinged he is by threatening the death of a “whole civilization.”

I’m heading back to DC to try and get answers for the American people. Congress needs to return to the Capitol immediately and vote to end this war. https://t.co/vZLXb0anhq

— Senator Andy Kim (@SenatorAndyKim) April 8, 2026

New Zealand’s national Māori radio network, Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori o Aotearoa, is considering litigation over a potential loss of government funding which it says threatens the survivability of iwi radio stations.

Chairperson Peter-Lucas Jones (Ngāti Kahu, Te Rārawa, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupōuri) — who was also chief executive of Far North iwi broadcaster Te Hiku Media — told current affairs series RUKU Māori radio was a right under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, not a government handout.

Recent and proposed actions targeting iwi stations, implemented primarily through Te Māngai Pāho (TMP), disregarded the treaty and exposed the Crown to credible legal risk, he said.

• READ MORE: Other Māori broadcasting reports

“This issue is not about resisting change, iwi radio stations have themselves funded transitions to digital platforms and new media without Crown support.

“The issue is whether the Crown can, through an intermediary, dismantle a treaty remedy without Māori consent.”

There are more than 20 iwi radio stations across New Zealand, from Te Hiku in the North to Tahu FM in the South.

Stations receive funding through Te Māngai Pāho to promote Māori language and culture.

Time-limited funding
TMP currently has $16 million of time-limited funding, equal to almost 25 percent of their total annual funding, which is due to expire on June 30.

Te Māngai Pāho said that while 2026/27 appropriations would not be confirmed until the Budget announcement in late May, the impact of this funding loss would be felt across the whole Māori media sector.

“Te Māngai Pāho is consulting with the Māori media sector, including iwi radio, on the future of our funding allocations. We have requested feedback to understand how any reduction of funding will be felt across the sector.

“Feedback will inform the board’s final decisions around funding allocations. We understand that the stability of iwi radio stations and content creators is threatened by this funding cut.”

Jones said iwi stations unanimously agreed at a special general meeting they would not accept any decrease in funding and would consider legal action in response to any cutbacks.

“Decisions taken by TMP that materially affect iwi radio funding, structure or autonomy remain Crown actions for treaty purposes.

“The Crown cannot discharge its Treaty obligations by delegation and then rely on that delegation to insulate itself from responsibility.”

Rapidly changing audience
The iwi radio network said it had been grappling with a wide range of issues including, rapidly changing audience expectation and emerging technologies, numerous siloed media outlets and an inadequate investment in workforce development affecting the ability to grow and retain a skilled workforce.

Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka said Māori media, including iwi radio, played a critical role in supporting te reo Māori revitalisation and connecting whānau and communities across Aotearoa, shaping public understanding by sharing Māori stories and te reo directly with whānau.

He said no final decisions had been made through the consultation between TMP and the Māori media sector and it was premature to confirm impacts on funding levels, services, or jobs, including claims about specific percentage reductions.

“Earlier financial support of $16 million in time-limited funding was put in place under the previous government and is now coming to an end. The current consultation process is focused on how best to manage that transition within existing funding,” he said.

“As Minister, I do not direct or intervene in Te Māngai Pāho’s operational funding decisions. Those are matters for the board.”

Potaka said the Crown’s role was to ensure a strong and sustainable system for te reo Māori revitalisation.

High quality content
“I expect the consultation process to reflect the importance of Iwi radio and the role it plays in communities across the country, while ensuring funding is used effectively to deliver high-quality content on platforms that meet audience preferences.

“Māori media entities continue to adapt to changes in funding and audience behaviour, and I expect decisions to prioritise value for money while supporting strong te reo Māori outcomes.

“Any organisation is entitled to raise concerns or seek legal advice. However, there is an established independent process underway, and it is important that process is allowed to run its course.”

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

As the world’s largest Indigenous education conference (WIPCE) closed last night in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, a shared sentiment emerged — despite arriving with different languages, lands, and traditions, attendees across the board felt the kotahitanga (unity).

The gathering — held in partnership with mana whenua Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, brought together more than 3000 participants from around the globe.

Many reflected that, despite being far from home, the event felt like one.

• READ MORE: Other WIPCE reports

WIPCE officials also announced that Hawai’i would host the 2027 conference.

Throughout the week, the kaupapa — while centered on education — entailed themes of climate, health, language, politics, wellbeing, and more.

‘Being face-to-face is the native way’     Video: RNZ

Delegates travelled from across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean), Canada, Hawai’i, Alaska, Australia and beyond to share their own stories, cultures, and aspirations for indigenous futures.

Among those reflecting on the gathering was renowned Kanaka Maoli educator, cultural practitioner and native rights activist Dr Noe-Noe Wong-Wilson.

She coordinated the 1999 conference, the fifth WIPCE, and has served on the council ever since.

Scale and spirit unique
Dr Wong-Wilson, a Hawai’ian culture educator, retired University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College educator, and former programme leader supporting Native Hawai’ian student success, now serves on the WIPCE International Council.

She believes the scale and spirit of WIPCE remains unique.

“Most of the WIPCE conferences have included over 3000 of our members that come from all over the world . . .  as far away as South, and our Sāmi cousins who come from Greenland, Iceland, and Norway,” Dr Wong-Wilson said.

Wong-Wilson described WIPCE as a multigenerational gathering of educators, scholars, and community knowledge holders.

“We always acknowledge our community knowledge holders, our chiefs, our grandmothers, our aunties, who hold the culture and the knowledge and the language in their communities,” Dr Wong-Wilson said.

“WIPCE is unique because it’s largely a gathering of indigenous people . . .  a lot different than a conference hosted strictly by a Western academic institution.”

She emphasised that WIPCE thrives on being in-person, especially in a climate where technology has largely replaced in-person gatherings.

Face-to-face communication
“Technology is the new way of communicating . . .  but there’s nothing that can replace the face-to-face communication and relationship building, and that’s what WIPCE offers,” she said.

“Being face to face with people is really the native way . . . I think we all know what it’s like when we live in villages and when we live in communities, and that’s what WIPCE is.

“We’re a large community of indigenous, native people who bring our ancestors with us and sit in the joy of being with each other.”

Attendees from across the world thrive
Representatives from Hawai’i — Kawena Villafania, Mahealani Taitague-Laforga, and Felicidy Sarisuk-Phimmasonei — agree that WIPCE is a unique forum, equal parts inspiring as it is educating.

The group travelled to WIPCE to speak on topics of ‘awa biopiracy, and the experiences of Kanak scholars at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

“My mana is being reignited in this space, and being around so many amazing scholars and people to learn from . . . there’s been so much aloha, reaffirming our hope and our healing. This is the type of space we really need,” Taitague-Laforga said.

She added that the power of events like WIPCE lay in seeing global relationships strengthened.

“Especially as a centre for all Indigenous communities globally to connect. Oftentimes . . . colonial tools work to divide us . . .

“it’s just been beautiful to be at a centre where everybody is here to connect and create that relationality and cultivate that,” Taitague-Laforga said.

Vā Pasifika Taunga from AUT Momo’e Fatialofa said it was special to soak up culture from Indigenous communities across the world — including First Nations Canadians, Aboriginal Australians, and Hawai’ians.

‘Sharing our stories’
“I think this kaupapa is important because it allows us to share our stories, to share what is similar between our different indigenous people. And how often can you say that you can be surrounded by over 3000 people from all over the world who are indigenous in their spaces?” Fatialofa said.

Aboriginal Australian educators Sharon Anderson and Enid Gallego travelled from Darwin for the event, speaking on challenges in the Northern Territory.

“We all face similar problems . . . especially in education,” Anderson said. “We enjoy being here with the rest of the nations, you know.”

“When you look around . . .  in culture, there are differences, but we all have a shared culture, it doesn’t matter where we come from.

“We still have a culture, we still have our language, we still have our knowledge, traditional knowledge, that connects us to our land.”

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

The world’s largest indigenous education conference has kicked off in Auckland, bringing with it thousands of indigenous educators from around the world.

About 3000 people were welcomed by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei for the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education 2025 (WIPCE) with a pōwhiri at the city’s waterfront on Sunday.

Around 3800 delegates are expected to attend the conference at the Aotea Centre over the week.

• READ MORE: Thousands gather for WIPCE 2025
• Other WIPCE reports

Auckland University of Technology (AUT) is hosting the event which is set to be the largest academic conference hosted in New Zealand this year.

WIPCE 2025 co-chair and AUT vice-chancellor Damon Salesa said it was an honour to host such an extraordinary range of speakers.

“Each kaikōrero brings their unique perspectives and knowledge. This conference is an opportunity to listen, learn and be inspired by those who continue to lead and shape Indigenous education across the world,” he said.

The four-day conference features keynote presentations from a number of Māori academics including educator Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith, linguistic and cultural revilitalists Professor Leonie Pihama and Raniera Proctor, legal academic Eru Kapa-Kingi and Māori movie star Cliff Curtis.

There are also a number of break out sessions, guest speakers and panels discussions featuring academics from around the world.

WIPCE 2025 co-chair Meihana Durie said the gathering came at a pivotal time for indigenous education and indigenous rights.

“We are immensely grateful for the pōwhiri yesterday hosted by iwi manaaki, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, which highlighted the sheer importance of those themes within the unique dimensions of Indigenous ceremony, language and ritual.”

“WIPCE is the only educational platform designed specifically for native peoples from around the world to come together to share our stories, our challenges and our successes with each other.” he said.

Outside of the conference is the Te Ao Pūtahi, a free, public festival with live performances from Māori artists inlcluding kapa haka rōpu Ngā Tūmanako, Sons of Zion, Corrella, Jackson Owens and Betty-Anne and a number of food and gift stalls.

Twenty-one cultural excursions named Te Ao Tirotiro will also be held across the city, including an onboard waka sailing demonstration and a hāngi.

The conference ends on Thursday.

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

The Cook Islands Secretary of Culture Emile Kairua says people in his country are getting complacent about the use of Māori.

Cook Islands Māori Language Week started on Sunday in New Zealand and will run until Saturday.

Kairua said the language is at risk at the source.

• READ MORE: Other Cook islands reports

“Here in the homeland, we’re complacent,” he told RNZ Pacific.

“People have stopped using it in their everyday lives. Even my children, I must admit, don’t speak Cook Islands Māori. They understand it, thankfully, but they can’t speak it.”

Kairua said he thinks Cook Islands Māori is stronger in Aotearoa because that is where a lot of the language teachers are living.

“We haven’t done a welfare audit of the language in Aotearoa [but] I would imagine that it’s a lot stronger, purely because a lot of our teachers, a lot of our orators, are living in Aotearoa.

“I guess being away from the source, being away from home, there is a feeling of homesickness, so that you do tend to grab onto to what you’re missing.”

Critical to ‘wake up’
He said it was “critical” that Cook Islanders “wake up and appreciate the importance of our language and make sure that it’s not a dying part of our identity”.

“A race without a language – they don’t have an identity. So as Cook Islanders, either first, second or third generation, we need to hold on to this.”

Ministry of Pacific Peoples Secretary Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone said there was power in the  language — it anchored identity and built belonging.

The theme of the week, ”Ātui’ia au ki te vaka o tōku matakeinanga”, translates to “connect me to the offerings of my people”.

The Cook Islands Māori community is the third-largest Pacific group in Aotearoa New Zealand.

UNESCO lists te reo Māori Kūki ‘Airani as one of the most endangered Pacific languages supported through the Pacific Language Week series.

News in Cook Islands Māori is broadcast and published on RNZ Pacific on weekdays.

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

At this year’s May graduation ceremony, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University’s Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban, was awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition for her contribution to education.

Although she has now stepped down from the role, Luamanuvao served as the university’s Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Pasifika, for 14 years. In that time has worked tirelessly to raise Pasifika students’ achievement.

“It’s really important that they [Pasifika students] make the most of the opportunities that education has to offer,” she said.

• READ MORE: Other Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban reports

“Secondly, education teaches you how to write, to research, to critique, but more importantly, become an informed voice and considering what’s happening in society now with AI and also technology and social media, it’s really important that we can tell our stories and share our values, and we counter that by receiving a good education and applying ourselves to do well.”

When asked about the importance of service, Luamanuvao explained “there’s a saying in Samoan, ‘o le ala i le pule o le tautua’ so the road to authority and leadership is through service”.

“And we’ve always been taught how important it is not to indulge in our own individual success, but to always become a voice and support our brothers and sisters, and our families and in our communities who are especially struggling.”

As she accepted her honorary doctorate, she spoke about the importance of women taking on leadership roles.

‘Our powerful women’
“Yes, many Pacific people will know how powerful our women are, especially our mothers, our grandmothers, and great grandmothers. We actually come from cultures of very powerful and very strong women . . .  it’s not centered in the individual women. It’s centered on the well-being of our families, and our communities. And that’s what women leadership is all about in the Pacific.”

She did not expect the honourary doctorate from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University because “I’ve always been aspirational for others. And we Pacific people have been brought up that we are the people of the ‘we’ and not the me.”

The number of Pasifika students enrolled at the University, during Luamanuvao’s time as Assistant Vice-Chancellor, increased from 4.70 percent in 2010 to 6.64 pecent in 2024. She said she “would have loved to have doubled that number” so that it was more in line with the number of Pasifika people living in New Zealand.

Two of the initiatives she started, during her time at the University, was the Pasifika Roadshow taking information about university life out to the wider community and the Improving Pasifika Legal Education Project.

Helping Pasifika Law students succeed was very important to her. While Pasifika make up make up only 3 percent of Lawyers, they are overrepresented in the legal system, comprising 12 percent of the prison population.

Another passion of hers was encouraging Pasifika to enter academia. “I think we’ve had an increase in Pacific academics in some areas. For example, with the Faculty of Law, we’ve got two senior Pacific women in lecturer positions . . . We’ve also got four associate professors, and now I’ve finished, there’s also a vacancy for another.”

Prior to her work in education Luamanuvao was the first Pasifika woman to enter New Zealand politics, in 1999.

First Pacific woman MP
“I was fortunate that when I ran for Parliament, I ran first as a list MP, and as you know, within the parties, they have selection process that are quite robust, and so I became the first Pacific woman MP.”

“What motivated me was the car parts factory that closed in Wainuiomata, and most of the workers were men, but they were also Pacific, Māori and palagi, who basically arrived at work one morning and were told the factory was closing.”

“But what really hit me, and hurt me, that these were not the values of Aotearoa. They’re not the values of our Pacific region. These are human beings, and for many men, particularly, to have a job, it’s about providing for your family. It’s about status.

“So, if factories were going to close down, where was the planning to upskill them so they could continue in employment? None of them wanted to go for the unemployment benefit.

“They wanted to continue in paid work. So it’s those milestones that I make it worthwhile. It’s just a pity, because election cycles are three years, and as you know, people will vote how they want to vote, and if there’s a change, all the hard work you’ve put in gets reversed and but fundamentally, I believe that New Zealand and Pacific people have wonderful values that all of us try to live by, and that will continue to feed the light and ensure that people have a choice.”

Although she first entered Parliament as a list MP, she subsequently won the Mana electorate seat. She retained the seat ,for the Labour party, from 2002 until she stepped away from politics in 2010.

During that time she was Minister of Pacific Peoples, 2007-2008, and even though Labour was defeated in the 2008 election, she continued to hold the Mana seat by a comfortable margin.

Mentoring many MPs
Although she has left political life, Luamanuvao has also been involved in mentoring many Pasifika Members of Parliament, and helping them cope with the challenges and opportunities that go with the role.

One of the primary motivators in her life has been the struggles of her parents, who left Samoa in 1954 to build a better future for their children, in New Zealand. She acknowledged that all of her successes can be attributed to her parents and the sacrifices they made.

“Yes, well, I think everybody can look at a genealogy of history of families leaving their homeland to come to Aotearoa, why, to build a better life and opportunities, including education for their children.

“And I often remind our generation of young people now that your parents left their home, for you. And I’ve often reflected because my parents have passed away on the pain of leaving their parents, but there was always this loving generosity in that both my parents were the eldest of huge families.

“They left everything for them, and actually arrived in New Zealand with very little. But there was this determination to succeed.

“Secondly, they are a minority in a country where they’re not the majority, or they are the indigenous people of their country. So also, overcoming those barriers, their hard work, their dreams, but more importantly, the huge love for our communities and fairness and justice was installed in Ken and I my brother, from a very young age, about serving and about giving and about reciprocity.”

Although she has left her role in tertiary education Luamanuvao vows to continue working to support the next generation of Pasifika leaders, in New Zealand and around the Pacific region.

Her lifelong commitment to service, continues as she’s a founding member of The Fale Malae Trust, a group whose vision is to build an internationally significant, landmark Fale Malae on the Wellington waterfront.

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

Aotearoa celebrates Rotuman language as part of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ Pacific Language Week series this week.

Rotuman is one of five UNESCO-listed endangered languages among the 12 officially celebrated in New Zealand.

The others are Tokelaun, Niuean, Cook Islands Māori and Tuvaluan.

• READ MORE: Other Rotuman reports

This year’s theme is, ‘Åf’ạkia ma rak’ạkia ‘os fäega ma ag fak Rotuma – tēfakhanisit Gagaja nā se ‘äe ma’, which translates to, ‘Treasure & teach our Rotuman language and culture — A gift given to you and I by God’.

With fewer than 1000 residents identifying as Rotuman, it is the younger generation stepping up to preserve their endangered language.

Two young people, who migrated to New Zealand from Rotuma Island, are using dance to stay connected with their culture from the tiny island almost 500km northwest of Fiji’s capital, Suva, which they proudly call home.

Kapieri Samisoni and Tristan Petueli, both born in Fiji and raised on Rotuma, now reside in Auckland.

Cultural guardians
They are leading a new wave of cultural guardians who use dance, music, and storytelling to stay rooted in their heritage and to pass it on to future generations.

“A lot of people get confused that they think Rotuma is in Fiji but Rotuma is just outside of Fiji,” Samisoni told RNZ Pacific Waves.

Rotuman Language Week.        Video: RNZ Pacific

“We have our own culture, our own tradition, our own language.”

“When I moved to New Zealand, I would always say I am Fijian because that was easier for people to understand. But nowadays, I say I am Rotuman.

“A lot of people are starting to understand and realise . . . they know what Rotuma is and where Rotuma is, so it is nice saying that I am Rotuman,” he said.

Samisoni moved to New Zealand in 2007 when he was 11 years old with his parents and siblings.

He said dancing has become a powerful way to express his identity and honour the traditions of his homeland.

Learning more
“Moving away from Fiji and being so far away from the language, I think I took it for granted. But now that I am here in New Zealand, I want to learn more about my culture.

“With dance and music, that is the way of for me to keep the culture alive. It is also a good way to learn the language as well.”

For Petueli, the connection runs deep through performance and rhythm after having moved here in 2019, just before the covid-19 pandemic.

“It is quite difficult living in Aotearoa, where I cannot use the language as much in my day to day life,” Petueli said.

“The only time I get to do that is when I am on the phone with my parents back home, or when I am reading the Rotuman Bible and that kind of keeps me connected to my culture,” he said.

He added he definitely felt connected whenever he was dancing.

“Growing up, I learnt our traditional dances at a very young age.

Blessed and grateful
“My parents were always involved in the culture. They were also purotu, which is the choreographers and composers for our traditional dances. So, I was blessed and grateful to have that with me growing up, and I still have that with me today,” he said.

Celebrations of Rotuman Language Week first began as grassroots efforts in 2018, led by groups like the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group Inc before receiving official support from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples in 2020.

Interview with Fesaitu Solomone.      Video: RNZ Pacific

The Centre for Pacific Languages chief executive Fesaitu Solomone said young people played a critical role in this movement — but they don’t have to do it alone.

“Be not afraid to speak the language even if you make mistakes,” she said.

“Get together [and] look for people who can support you in terms of the language. We have our knowledge holders, your community, your church, your family.

“Reach out to anyone you know who can support you and create a safe environment for you to learn our Pasifika languages.”

Loved music and dance
She said one of the things that young people loved was music and dance and the centre wanted to make sure that they continued to learn language through that avenue.

“It is great pathway and we recognise that a lot of our people may not want to learn language in a classroom setting or in a face to face environment,” she said.

Fesaitu said for these young leaders, the bridge was already being crossed — one dance, one chant, and one proud declaration at a time.

“And that is the work that we try and do here, is to look at ways that our young people can engage, but also be able to empower them, and give them an opportunity to be part of it.”

Petueli hopes other countries follow the example being set in Aotearoa to preserve and celebrate Pacific languages.

“I do not think any other country, even in Fiji, is doing anything like this, like the Pacific languages [weeks], and pushing for it.

“I think we are doing a great job here, and I hope that we will everywhere else can see and follow through with it.”

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

The New Zealand fuel company Z Energy is swapping out street names for “correct” kupu on service stops around the country, with the help of local hapū.

When Z took over 226 fuel sites from Shell in 2010, the easy solution was to name the respective stations after the streets they were on, or near.

But when it named the Kahikatea Drive station in Kirikiriroa Z — K Drive, the company’s Māori advisor questioned the abbreviation.

“Kahikatea is the correct name. That led to a bigger conversation about where are we with our knowledge as we start to learn a bit more about te reo Māori and acknowledging interconnected-ness of all things, like, where else are there opportunities to do it,” Z Energy customer general manager Andy Baird said.

After 12 months of whakawhanaungatanga (relationship building), the company was guided by Te Hā o te Whenua o Kirikiriroa on changing the name of Z Dinsdale to Z Tuhikaramea.

That led to two other stations being renamed — New Plymouth’s Z Courtenay Street became Z Huatoki, while Hamilton’s Five Cross Roads station became Z Te Papanui.

“This is not about ticking a box per se, this is about a bigger sort of commitment that we have to te reo Māori and obviously to the communities that we operate in, so it’s a much bigger broader long-term programme,” Baird said.

Internal te reo drive
There had also been an internal drive to incorporate more use of te reo, kicking off each day with karakia, Baird said.

It added more of a connection between the company and Māori traditions.

“We’ve been adding bilingual language inside the sites but we have equally taken the time to make sure that we’re getting the right dialects as the regions as we go through it.

“Part of the project this year was to sort of understand the process that we go through in terms of engagement with mana whenua and how they want things to happen and occur, and how we can come together to make that really a great outcome for local communities we operate in.”

The company could have changed the station names off the bat, but Baird said consulting with local hapū and iwi was the right thing to do.

“The opportunity to meet them, to start to engage with mana whenua and to build a relationship with them and to do something that they’re just as proud of as we are, was just as important as the actual name.”

Each site’s name was gifted by the hapū, with careful consideration of the history of the whenua.

Facebook community included
Ngāti Te Whiti hapū in Ngāmotu was thrilled to play a big part in renaming the Courtenay Street petrol station and included its Facebook community in making the decision.

It had a kete of three names that went to a vote — the name Huatoki was favoured.

Julie Healey of Ngāti Te Whiti said it was only fitting to have the name Huatoki, as the awa flowed just around the corner from the petrol station.

“Huatoki is probably all the life essence of New Plymouth at the beginning. We have the pā Puke Ariki at the front and then we have the other pā around, I think there’s about five or six different pā in that area.”

The hapū was in its rebuilding phase and was working towards a Huatoki restoration plan with the New Plymouth District Council, so when Z approached it at the start of the year, the timing could not have been better, she said.

“When we were approached, I just thought straight away ‘this is going to work brilliantly with our Huātoki’, and I was hoping whānau would vote that way, and they did. It just made sense, it was consistent.”

She praised Z for taking the right steps to engage with locals.

“One of our whānau, Damon Ritai, met the people outside Puke Ariki Museum, talked to them about the museum, the designs, the cultural expression on the museum, the meaning of the different things of whakapapa on the ceremonial doors, all the names that were in the foyer, and explained everything about those.”

Cultural induction hīkoi
The cultural induction hīkoi ended at Te Whare Honanga (Taranaki Cathedral) where they had refreshments.

Then, the hapū worked on the dialect, something Healey triple-checked before giving the nod of approval.

“This is about reclaiming our language and culture, not as a political act, but as a celebration.

“It’s always a good opportunity for hapū to try and get those names, you know, renaming before the colonial names, taking things back to language and culture.”

Z Energy aimed to rename more petrol stations but first, more whakawhanaungatanga, Baird said.

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

Michael Leunig — who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” — was the closest thing Australian cartooning had to a prophet. By turns over his long career, he was a poet, a prophet and a provocateur.

The challenge comes in attempting to understand Leunig’s significance: for Australian cartooning; for readers of The Age and other newspapers past; and for the nation’s idea of itself.

On this day, do you remember the gently philosophical Leunig, or the savagely satirical one? Do you remember a cartoon that you thought absolutely nailed the problems of the world, or one you thought was terribly wrong-headed?

• READ MORE: ‘The pen has run dry’: Acclaimed cartoonist Michael Leunig dies
• Gallery: Michael Leunig’s life in cartoons

Leunig’s greatness lay in how intensely he made his audiences think and feel.

There is no one straightforward story to tell here. With six decades of cartooning at least weekly in newspapers and 25 book-length collections of his work, how could there be?

The light and the dark
One thread is an abiding fondness for the whimsical Leunig. Mr Curly and Vasco Pyjama live on in the imaginations of so many readers.

Particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, Leunig’s work seemed to hold a moral and ethical mirror up to Australian society — sometimes gently, but not without controversy, such as his 1995 “Thoughts of a baby lying in a childcare centre”.

Another thread is the dark satirist.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he broke onto the scene as a wild man in Oz, the Sunday Observer and the Nation Review who deplored Vietnam and only escaped the draft owing to deafness in one ear.

Then he apparently mellowed to become the guru of The Age, still with a capacity to launch the occasional satirical thunderbolt. Decidedly countercultural, together with Patrick Cook and Peter Nicholson, Leunig brought what historian Tony Moore has called “existential and non-materialist themes to the Australian black-and-white tradition”.

By 1999, he was declared a “national living treasure” by the National Trust, and was being lauded by universities for his unique contributions to the national culture.

But to tell the story of Leunig’s significance from the mid 90s on is to go beyond the dreamer and the duck. In later decades you could see a clear distinction between some cartoons that continued to console in a bewildering world, and others that sparked controversy.

Politics and controversy
Leunig saw 9/11 and the ensuing “War on Terror” as the great turning point in his career. He fearlessly returned to the themes of the Vietnam years, only to receive caution, rebuke and rejection from editors and readers.

He stopped drawing Mr Curly and Vasco Pyjama. The world was no longer safe for the likes of them.

Then there was a cartoon refused by The Age in 2002, deemed by editor Michael Gawenda to be inappropriate: in the first frame, a Jew is confronted by the gates of the death camp: “Work Brings Freedom [Arbeit Macht Frei]”; in the second frame an Israeli viewing a similar slogan “War Brings Peace”.

Rejected, it was never meant to see the light of day, but ABC’s Media Watch and Crikey outed it because of the constraint its spiking represented to fair media comment on the Middle East.

That the cartoon was later entered, without Leunig’s knowledge, in the infamous Iranian “Holocaust Cartoon” competition of 2006, has only added to its infamy and presaged the internet’s era of the uncontrollable circulation of images.

A decade later, from 2012, he reworked Martin Niemöller’s poetic statement of guilt over the Holocaust. The result was outrage, but also acute division within the Australian Jewish community.

Dvir Abramovich (chairperson of the Anti-Defamation Commission) made a distinction between something challenging, and something racist, believing it was the latter.

Harold Zwier (of the Australian Jewish Democratic Society) welcomed the chance for his community to think critically about Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank.

From 2019 — a mother, distracted, looking at her phone rather than her baby. Cries of “misogyny”, including from Leunig’s very talented cartoonist sister, Mary.

Then from 2021 — a covid-19 vaccination needle atop an armoured tank, rolling towards a helpless citizen.

Leunig’s enforced retirement (it is still debated whether he walked or was pushed) was long and drawn-out. He filed his last cartoon for The Age this August. By then, he had alienated more than a few of his colleagues in the press and the cartooning profession.

Support of the downtrodden
Do we speak ill of the dead? We hope not. Instead, we hope we are paying respect to a great and often angry artist who wanted always to challenge the consumer society with its dark cultural and geopolitical secrets.

Leunig’s response was a single line of argument: he was “Just a cartoonist with a moral duty to speak”.

You don’t have to agree with every provocation, but his purpose is always to take up the cause of the weak, and deploy all the weaponry at his disposal to support the downtrodden in their fight.

“The role of the cartoonist is not to be balanced”, said Leunig, but rather to “give balance”.

For Leunig, the weak were the Palestinian civilians, the babies of the post-iPhone generation, and those forced to be vaccinated by a powerful state; just as they were the Vietnamese civilians, the children forced to serve their rulers through state-sanctioned violence, the citizens whose democracy was undercut by stooges of the establishment.

That deserves to be his legacy, regardless of whether you agree or not about his stance.

The coming year will give a great many people pause to reflect on the life and work of Leunig. Indeed, he has provided us with a monthly schedule for doing just that: Leunig may be gone, but 2025 is already provided for, via his last calendar.

Dr Richard Scully, professor in modern history, University of New England; Dr Robert Phiddian, professor of English, Flinders University, and Dr Stephanie Brookes, senior lecturer, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says that as far as Fiji is concerned, Fijians of Indian descent are Fijian.

While Fiji is part of the Pacific, Indo-Fijians are not classified as Pacific peoples in New Zealand; instead, they are listed under Indian and Asian on the Stats NZ website.

“The ‘Fijian Indian’ ethnic group is currently classified under ‘Asian,’ in the subcategory ‘Indian’, along with other diasporic Indian ethnic groups,” Stats NZ told RNZ Pacific.

• READ MORE: Other reports on Indo-Fijians as Pacific Islanders

“This has been the case since 2005 and is in line with an ethnographic profile that includes people with a common language, customs, and traditions.

“Stats NZ is aware of concerns some have about this classification, and it is an ongoing point of discussion with stakeholders.”

The Fijian Indian community in Aotearoa has long opposed this and raised the issue again at a community event Rabuka attended in Auckland’s Māngere ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa last month.

“As far as Fiji is concerned, [Indo-Fijians] are Fijians,” he said.

‘A matter of sovereignty’
When asked what his message to New Zealand on the issue would be, he said: “I cannot; that is a matter of sovereignty, the sovereign decision by the government of New Zealand. What they call people is their sovereign right.

“As far as we are concerned, we hope that they will be treated as Fijians.”

More than 60,000 people were transferred from all parts of British India to work in Fiji between 1879 and 1916 as indentured labourers.

Today, they make up over 32 percent of the total population, according to Fiji Bureau of Statistics’ 2017 Population Census.

Now many, like Sangam community NZ leader and former Nadi Mayor Salesh Mudaliar, say they are more Fijian than Indian.

“If you do a DNA or do a blood test, we are more of Fijian than anything else. We are not Indian,” Mudaliar said.

The indentured labourers, who came to be known as the Girmitiyas, as they were bound by a girmit — a Hindi pronunciation of the English word “agreement”.

RNZ Pacific had approached the Viti Council e Aotearoa for their views on the issue. However, they refused to comment, saying that its chair “has opted out of this interview.”

“Topic itself is misleading bordering on disinformation [and] misinformation from an Indigenous Fijian perspective and overly sensitive plus short notice.”

‘Struggling for identity’
“We are Pacific Islanders. If you come from Tonga or Samoa, you are a Pacific Islander,” Mudaliar said.

“When [Indo-Fijians] come from Fiji, we are not. We are not a migrant to Fiji. We have been there for [over 140] years.”

“The community is still struggling for its identity here in New Zealand . . . we are still not [looked after].

He said they had tried to lobby the New Zealand government for their status but without success.

“Now it is the National government, and no one seems to be listening to us in understanding the situation.

“If we can have an open discussion on this, coming to the same table, and knowing what our problem is, then it would be really appreciated.”

Lifting quality of data
Stats NZ said it was aware of the need to lift the quality of ethnicity data  across the government data system.

“Public consultation in 2019 determined a need for an in-depth review of the Ethnicity Standard,” the data agency said.

In 2021, Stats NZ undertook a large scoping exercise with government agencies, researchers, iwi Māori, and community groups to help establish the scope of the review.

Stats NZ subsequently stood up an expert working group to progress the review.

“This review is still underway, and Stats NZ will be conducting further consultation, so we will have more to say in due course,” it said.

“Classifying ethnicity and ethnic identity is extremely complex, and it is important Stats NZ takes the time to consult extensively and ensure we get this right,” the agency added.

This week, Fijians celebrate the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali. The nation observes a public holiday to mark the day, and Fijians of all backgrounds get involved.

Prime Minister Rabuka’s message is for all Fijians to be kind to each other.

“Act in accordance with the spirit of Diwali and show kindness to those who are going through difficulties,” he told local reporters outside Parliament yesterday.

“It is a good time for us to abstain from using bad language against each other on social media.”

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

The Chamorros are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands — politically divided between Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia.

Today, Chamorro culture continues to be preserved through the sharing of language and teaching via The Guam Museum.

But the battle to be heard and have a voice as a US territory remains an ongoing struggle.

• READ MORE: Other Guam reports

Chamorro cultural historian and museum curator Dr Michael Bevacqua says Chamorro people in Guam have a complex relationship with the US — they consider themselves as Pacific islanders, who also happen to be American citizens.

Bevacqua says after liberation in July 1944, there was a strong desire and pressure among Chamorros to “Americanise”.

Chamorros stopped speaking their language to their children, as a result. They were also pressured to move to the US mainland so the US military could build their bases and thousands of families were displaced.

“There was this feeling that being Chamorro wasn’t worth anything. Give it up. Be American instead,” he says.

‘Fundamental moment’
For the Chamorros, he explains, attending the Festival of Pacific Arts in the 1970s and 1980s was a “very fundamental moment”.

It allowed them to see how other islanders were dealing with and navigating modernity, he adds.

“Chamorros saw that other islanders were proud to be Islanders. They weren’t trying to pretend they weren’t Islanders,” Dr Bevacqua said.

“They were navigating the 20th century in a completely different way. Other islanders were picking and choosing more, they were they were not completely trying to replace, they were not throwing everything away, they trying to adapt and blend.”

Being part of the largest gathering of indigenous people, is what is believed to have led to several different cultural practitioners, many of whom are cultural masters in the Chamorros community today, to try to investigate how their people expressed themselves through traditional forms.

“And this helped lead to the Chamorro renaissance, which manifested in terms of Chamorros starting to carve jewellery again, tried to speak their language again, it led to movements for indigenous rights again.

“A lot of it was tied to just recognise seeing other Pacific Islanders and realising that they’re proud to be who they are. We don’t have to trade in our indigenous identity for a colonial identity.

“We can enjoy the comforts of American life and be Chamorro. Let’s celebrate who we are.”

Inafa’ maolek
Guam’s population is estimated to be under 170,000, and just over 32 percent of those are Chamorro.

Dr Bevaqua says respect and reciprocity are key values for the Chamorro people.

If someone helps a Chamorro person, then they need to make sure that they reciprocate, he adds.

“And these are relationships which sometimes extend back generations, that families help each other, going back to before World War II, and you always have to keep up with them.

“In the past, sometimes people would write them down in little books and nowadays, people keep them in their notes app on their phones.”

But he says the most important value for Chamorros now is the concept of inafa’ maolek.

Inafa’ maolek describes the Chamorru concept of restoring harmony or order and translated literally is “to make” (inafa’) “good” (maolek).

Relationship with community
“This is sort of this larger interdependence and inafa’ maolek the most fundamental principle of Chamorru life. It could extend between sort of people, but it can also extend as well to your relationship with nature, [and] your relationship to your larger community.”

He says the idea is that everyone is connected to each other and must find a way to work together, and to take care of each other.

He believes the Chamorro people are always held back because as a territory, Guam does not have an international voice.

“The United States speaks for you; you can yell, shout, and scream. But as a as a territory, you’re not supposed,to you’re not supposed to count, you’re not supposed to matter.”

He adds: “That’s why for me decolonisation is essential, because if you have particular needs, if you are an island in the western Pacific, and there are challenges that you face, that somebody in West Virginia, Ohio, Utah, Arizona and California may not care about it in the same way, and may be caught up in all different types of politics.

“You have to have the ability to do something about the challenges that are affecting you. How do you do that if 350 million people, 10,000 miles (16,000 km) away have your voice and most of them don’t even know that they hold your voice. It sucks.”

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

French Pacific results for the first round of French national snap elections yesterday showed a firm radicalisation, especially in the case of New Caledonia.

In both of New Caledonia’s constituencies, the second round will look like a showdown between pro-independence and pro-France contestants.

The French Pacific entity has been gripped by ongoing riots, arson and destruction since mid-May 2024.

Local outcomes of the national polls have confirmed a block-to-block, confrontational logic, between the most radical components of the opposing camps, the pro-independence and the pro-France (loyalists).

Pro-France leader Nicolas Metzdorf, who is a staunch advocate of the still-unimplemented controversial constitutional reform that is perceived to marginalise indigenous Kanaks’ vote and therefore sparked the current unrest in the French Pacific territory, obtained 39.81 percent of the votes in New Caledonia’s 1st constituency.

In the capital Nouméa, which has been suffering massive damage from the riots, he even received the support of 53.64 percent of the voters.

Also vying for the seat in the French National Assembly, the other candidate qualifying for the second round of vote (on Sunday 7 July) is pro-independence Omayra Naisseline, who belongs to Union Calédonienne, perceived as a hard-line component of the pro-independence platform FLNKS.

She obtained 36.34 percent of the votes.

Outgoing MP Philippe Dunoyer, a moderate pro-France politician, is now out of the race after collecting only 10.33 percent of the votes.

For New Caledonia’s second constituency, pro-independence Emmanuel Tjibaou topped the poll with an impressive 44.06 percent of the votes.

Tjibaou is the son of emblematic Kanak pro-independence leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a dominant figure who signed the Matignon-Oudinot Accord in 1988 with pro-France leader Jacques Lafleur, ending half a decade of civil war over the Kanak pro-independence cause.

In 1989, Tjibaou was assassinated by a hard-line member of his own movement.

Second to Tjibaou is Alcide Ponga, also an indigenous Kanak who was recently elected president of the pro-France Rassemblement-Les républicains party (36.18 percent).

Another candidate from the Eveil Océanien (mostly supported by the Wallisian community in New Caledonia), Milakulo Tukumuli, came third with 11.92 percent but does not qualify to contest in the second round.

In New Caledonia, polling on Sunday took place under heavy security and at least one incident was reported in Houaïlou, where car wrecks were placed in front of the polling stations, barring access to voters.

However, participation was very high on Sunday: 60.02 percent of the registered voters turned out, which is almost twice as much as the recorded rate at the previous general elections in 2022 (32.51 percent).

New Caledonia’s four remaining contestants for the run-off round of French snap elections next Sunday, July 7 are Nicolas Metzdorf (clockwise from top left), Emmanuel Tjibaou, Omayra Naisseline and Alcide Ponga. Image: NC la 1ère TV

French Polynesia
In French Polynesia (three constituencies), the stakes were quite different — all three sitting MPs were pro-independence after the previous French general elections in 2022.

Candidates for the ruling Tavini Huiraatira, for this first round of polls, managed to make it to the second round, like Steve Chailloux (second constituency, 41.61 percent) or Mereana Reid-Arbelot (third constituency, 42.71 percent) who will still have to fight in the second round to retain her seat in the French National Assembly against pro-autonomy Pascale Haiti (41.08 percent), who is the wife of long-time pro-France former president Gaston Flosse).

Chailloux, however, did not fare so well as his direct opponent, pro-autonomy platform and A Here ia Porinetia leader Nicole Sanquer, who collected 49.62 percent of the votes.

But those parties opposing independence, locally known as the “pro-autonomy”, had fielded their candidates under a common platform.

This is the case for Moerani Frébault, from the Marquesas Islands, who managed to secure 53.90 percent of the votes and is therefore declared winner without having to contest the second round.

His victory ejected the pro-independence outgoing MP Tematai Le Gayic (Tavini party, 1st constituency), even though he had collected 36.3 percent of the votes.

Wallis and Futuna
Incumbent MP Mikaele Seo (Renaissance, French President Macron’s party) breezes through against the other three contestants and obtained 61 percent of the votes and therefore is directly elected as a result of the first round for the seat at the Paris National Assembly.

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

Last night’s Matariki drone show was an emotional experience for some of the thousands who huddled under the glow at the edge of Lake Rotorua on the eve of Aotearoa’s national indigenous holiday today.

The Aronui Indigenous Arts Festival is hosting the first ever matauranga Māori story told with 160 drones over the Rotorua Lake last night and tonight.

The show is created by Te Arawa artists Cian Elyse White and Mataia Keepa, who were helped to tell the story by Rangitiaria Tibble and James Webster.

• READ MORE: Other Matariki reports

In both te reo Māori and English, the show tells the stories of environmental markers connected to the star cluster.

Lynmore Primary School deputy principal Lisa Groot went with a group of tamariki from the school.

The teachers had spent time together remembering those who had died in the past year, and so the display hit deep.

“The waka picks the stars up on the way, seeing it in the drone show made us quite emotional.

‘So simple to understand’
“It was so simple for everyone to understand.”

She said the group had wanted to join up for the event.

“We wanted to finish our night together, it was a beautiful way to do it.”

Frances Wharerahi said to be part of the Matariki festivities gave the children te ao Māori experiences alongside whānau.

The show was appreciated by a wide audience, and Wharerahi said as she looked around at who was watching and there were old and young standing with “people from all parts of the world”.

A statement from the charitable trust said it believed that while the drone show was a risk for a reasonably new trust, it had paid off.

“Arts is an essential service. Arts deserves investment.

‘Tough time for people’
“It’s a tough time for people at the moment with the current state of inflation and the economic climate, however, events that deliver on social impact and the uplift of communities that can be brought together under a positive premise are important to our livelihood.

“These events sustain us and give our future generations something to aspire towards.”

Rotorua Trust is among the major funders of at least at $10,000, and in-kind partners helping to promote, volunteer or support include Bay Trust, Te Kuirau Marae, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Rotorua Lakes Council.

Aronui Indigenous Arts Festival was founded in 2019 and aimed to create a platform for Rotorua arts talent.

The charitable trust is made up of local community arts and business leaders.

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Published as a collaboration.

An exhibition from Tara Arts International has been brought to The University of the South Pacific as part of the Pacific International Media Conference next week.

In the first exhibition of its kind, Connecting Diaspora: Pacific Prana provides an alternative narrative to the dominant story of the Indian diaspora to the Pacific.

The epic altar “Pacific Prana” has been assembled in the gallery of USP’s Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies by installation artist Tiffany Singh in collaboration with journalistic film artist Mandrika Rupa and dancer and film artist Mandi Rupa Reid.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific International Media Conference reports

A colourful exhibit of Indian classical dance costumes are on display in a deconstructed arrangement, to illustrate the evolution of Bharatanatyam for connecting the diaspora.

Presented as a gift to the global diaspora, this is a collaborative, artistic, immersive, installation experience, of altar, flora, ritual, mineral, scent and sound.

It combines documentary film journalism providing political and social commentary, also expressed through ancient dance mudra performance.

The 120-year history of the people of the diaspora is explored, beginning in India and crossing the waters to the South Pacific by way of Fiji, then on to Aotearoa New Zealand and other islands of the Pacific.

This is also the history of the ancestors of the three artists of Tara International who immigrated from India to the Pacific, and identifies their links to Fiji, expressed through ancient dance mudra performance.

The 120-year history of the people of the diaspora is explored, beginning in India and crossing the waters to the South Pacific by way of Fiji, then on to Aotearoa New Zealand and other islands of the Pacific.

Support partners are Asia Pacific Media Network and The University of the South Pacific.

A journal article on documentary making in the Indian diaspora by Mandrika Rupa is also being published in the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review to be launched at the Pacific Media Conference dinner on July 4.

Exhibition space for Tara Arts International has been provided at the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies at USP.

The exhibition opening is next Tuesday, and will open to the public the next day and remain open until Wednesday, August 28.

The gallery will be open from 10am to 4pm and is free.

Published in collaboration with the USP Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies.

By Tiana Haxton, RNZ Pacific in Hawai’i

A fleet of traditional voyaging canoes have been welcomed into Kualoa bay, Hawai’i, heralding the beginning of the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC).

Hundreds of Pacific Islanders gathered on the shore to witness and participate in the special wa’a ceremony.

The exhibition of rich and vibrant cultural practices provided a window to what to expect in the coming days as FestPAC officially kicks off this evening Hawai’i time (Friday NZT).

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Vaka voyage – Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture 2024
• RNZ FestPAC image gallery
• FestPAC 2024: Largest celebration of indigenous Pacific islanders kicks off
• Other FestPAC reports

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

Anna Solomon, a Papua New Guinean journalist and editor with 40 years experience, is now providing training for journalists at the Wantok Niuspepa.

Wantok is a weekly newspaper and the only Tok Pisin language newspaper in PNG.

Solomon, who spoke during last month’s public inquiry on Media in Papua New Guinea, asked if the Parliamentary Committee could work with the media industry to set up a Complaints Tribunal that could address issues affecting media in PNG.

Anna Solomon talks about the media role to “educate people” at the public media inquiry.  Video: Inside PNG

She also called for better Tok Pisin writers as it was one of two main languages that leaders, especially Parliamentarians, used in PNG to communicate with their voters.

At the start of the 3-day public inquiry (21-24 May 2024), media houses also called for parliamentarians and the public to understand how the industry functions.

The public inquiry focused on the “Role and Impact of Media in Papua New Guinea” and was led by the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Communication with an aim to improve the standard of journalism within the country.

Republished from Inside PNG with permission.

The ACT Party’s election promise of a referendum for Aotearoa New Zealand to redefine and enshrine the “principles” of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) is likely to dominate debate at this year’s Rātana and Waitangi Day events.

ACT’s coalition agreement with the National Party commits the government to supporting a Treaty Principles Bill for select committee consideration. The bill may not make it into law, but the idea is raising considerable alarm.

Leaked draft advice to Cabinet from the Ministry of Justice says the principles should be defined in legislation because “their importance requires there be certainty and clarity about their meaning”. The advice also says ACT’s proposal will:

change the nature of the principles from reflecting a relationship akin to a partnership between the Crown and Māori to reflecting the relationship the Crown has with all citizens of New Zealand. This is not supported by either the spirit of the Treaty or the text of the Treaty.

Setting aside arguments that the notion of “partnership” diminishes self-determination, the 10,000 people attending a hui at Tūrangawaewae marae near Hamilton last weekend called by King Tūheitia were motivated by the prospect of the Treaty being diminished.

• READ MORE: Why redefining the Treaty principles would undermine real political equality in NZ
• The kīngitanga movement: 160 years of Māori monarchy
• Putting te Tiriti at the centre of Aotearoa New Zealand’s public policy can strengthen democracy – here’s how

Do we need Treaty principles?
The Treaty principles were developed and elaborated by parliaments, courts and the Waitangi Tribunal over more than 50 years to guide policy implementation and mediate tensions between the Māori and English texts of the document.

The Māori text, which more than 500 rangatira (chiefs) signed, conferred the right to establish government on the British Crown. The English text conferred absolute sovereignty; 39 rangatira signed this text after having it explained in Māori, a language that has no concept of sovereignty as a political and legal authority to be given away.

Because the English text wasn’t widely signed, there is a view that it holds no influential standing, and that perhaps there isn’t a tension to mediate. Former chief justice Sian Elias has said: “It can’t be disputed that the Treaty is actually the Māori text”.

On Saturday, Tūheitia said: “There’s no principles, the Treaty is written, that’s it.”

This view is supported by arguments that the principles are reductionist and take attention away from the substance of Te Tiriti’s articles: the Crown may establish government; Māori may retain authority over their own affairs and enjoy citizenship of the state in ways that reflect equal tikanga (cultural values).

Author and Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland, Margaret Mutu, who was in attendance at the recent hui-ā-iwi at Tūrangawaewae marae, says the government is required to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.https://t.co/zSusoi5RER pic.twitter.com/dMrxjtMRan

— 95bFM News (@95bFMNews) January 26, 2024

Democratic or undemocratic?
The ACT Party says this is undemocratic because it gives Māori a privileged voice in public decision making. Of the previous government, ACT has said:

Labour is trying to make New Zealand an unequal society on purpose. It believes there are two types of New Zealanders. Tangata Whenua, who are here by right, and Tangata Tiriti who are lucky to be here.

Liberal democracy was not the form of government Britain established in 1840. There’s even an argument that state government doesn’t concern Māori. The Crown exercises government only over “its people” – settlers and their descendants. Māori political authority is found in tino rangatiratanga and through shared decision making on matters of common interest.

Tino rangatiratanga has been defined as “the exercise of ultimate and paramount power and authority”. In practice, like all power, this is relative and relational to the power of others, and constrained by circumstances beyond human control.

But the power of others has to be fair and reasonable, and rangatiratanga requires freedom from arbitrary interference by the state. That way, authority and responsibility may be exercised, and independence upheld, in relation to Māori people’s own affairs and resources.

Assertions of rangatiratanga
Social integration — especially through intermarriage, economic interdependence and economies of scale — makes a rigid “them and us” binary an unlikely path to a better life for anybody.

However, rangatiratanga might be found in Tūheitia’s advice about the best form of protest against rewriting the Treaty principles to diminish the Treaty itself:

Be who we are, live our values, speak our reo (language), care for our mokopuna (children), our awa (rivers), our maunga (mountains), just be Māori. Māori all day, every day.

As the government introduces measures to reduce the use of te reo Māori in public life, repeal child care and protection legislation that promotes Māori leadership and responsibility, and repeal water management legislation that ensures Māori participation, Tūheitia’s words are all assertions of rangatiratanga.

Those government policies sit alongside the proposed Treaty Principles Bill to diminish Māori opportunities to be Māori in public life. For the ACT Party, this is necessary to protect democratic equality.

In effect, the proposed bill says that to be equal, Māori people can’t contribute to public decisions with reference to their own culture. As anthropologist Dr Anne Salmond has written, this means the state cannot admit there are “reasonable people who reason differently”.

Today thousands answered the Māori Kings call for unity by descending on Tūrangawaewae marae for a national hui to discuss Act’s proposal to redefine the principles of the treaty. Here’s David Seymour being grilled by @moanatribe on his questionable use of the word apartheid. pic.twitter.com/1E9pItTqLm

— Kelvin Morgan (@kelvin_morganNZ) January 20, 2024

Liberal democracy and freedom
Equality through sameness is a false equality that liberal democracy is well-equipped to contest. Liberal democracy did not emerge to suppress difference.

It is concerned with much more than counting votes to see who wins on election day.

Liberal democracy is a political system intended to manage fair and reasonable differences in an orderly way. This means it doesn’t concentrate power in one place. It’s not a select few exercising sovereignty as the absolute and indivisible power to tell everybody else what to do.

This is because one of its ultimate purposes is to protect people’s freedom — the freedom to be Māori as much as the freedom to be Pakeha. If we want it to, democracy may help all and not just some of us to protect our freedom through our different ways of reasoning.

Freedom is protected by checks and balances on power. Parliament checks the powers of government. Citizens, including Māori citizens with equality of tikanga, check the powers of Parliament.

One of the ways this happens is through the distribution of power from the centre — to local governments, school boards and non-governmental providers of public services. This includes Māori health providers whose work was intended to be supported by the Māori Health Authority, which the government also intends to disestablish.

The rights of hapū (kinship groups), as the political communities whose representatives signed Te Tiriti, mean that rangatiratanga, too, checks and balances the concentration of power in the hands of a few.

Checking and balancing the powers of government requires the contribution of all and not just some citizens. When they do so in their own ways, and according to their own modes of reasoning, citizens contribute to democratic contest — not as a divisive activity, but to protect the common good from the accumulation of power for some people’s use in the domination of others.

Te Tiriti supports this democratic process.

Dr Dominic O’Sullivan is adjunct professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and professor of political science, Charles Sturt University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Pacific youth and first time voters in Aotearoa New Zealand feel forgotten and ill equipped ahead of the election.

Pasifika are the fastest growing youth population in New Zealand and their main concerns are the cost of living and beating the dire statistics stacked against them.

Although Pasifika have been long established in areas like Timaru and Christchurch, their voices have not always been heard.

“I don’t feel part of the conversation . . . just sitting in the background,” Timaru Boys High Year 13 student Kaluseti Moimoi said.

Moimoi grew up in Oamaru and the upcoming election marks his first time voting. He has enrolled to vote but does not quite know where to start.

“Not really sure who I am going to vote for. Not really sure about the parties or what they are doing. I don’t think there is much education around that.”

More than half of New Zealand’s Pacific population is under 25 years old.

Wanting to feel empowered
The growing group wants to feel empowered to speak up on issues like climate change and creating a better future for their families.

But a lack of civic information has left people in the dark, with less than one month to go until they are expected to make cast their vote.

Rangiora New Life School head girl Avinis Siasau Ma’u also has concerns.

“I don’t get any information about this at school. The only information is on the news or from friends. This is the society we are going to live in so it’s key to know what kind of party is going to lead our country,” Ma’u said.

Although she was still learning the names and values of each party, she plans to vote for a party that prioritised Pacific language weeks and addressed the cost of living.

“Back then $20 could get you a lot, but now $20 can only get you three things,” she said.

She said almost everyone she knew had complained about the cost of food.

Periods of family stress
“Every family will go through periods of time where it’s just stress and paying off debt and asking will we have enough for groceries.”

Kaluseti Moimoi’s family was also feeling the pressure and he hopes a “good education” and gaining a degree at the University of Canterbury to become an accountant would change that.

“That is my main goal; to work for the good of my family. That’s what my mum taught me. I’ve got five siblings at home. My parents work really hard.”

Timaru Tongan Society general manager Sina Latu said her community was often left out of the conversation.

The Electoral Commission told RNZ Pacific it was working alongside Pacific leaders and churches, yet Latu said she had not heard a word from them.

“They haven’t approached our Tongan Society or our churches, I think it really shows how we are not heard because we are down south.

Pasifika aren’t just in South Auckland, “they need to reach out everywhere, not just in the big cities. It’s not good enough,” she said.

Encouraging young ones
“We ourselves are trying to encourage young ones to enroll to vote but if we didn’t do that then the majority of them wouldn’t vote.”

Penieli Latu moved to New Zealand from Tonga in 2000 and has never voted until now.

“I turned 50 this year, I am happy to have finally enrolled to vote. I can’t wait to do two ticks.”

Latu wants the next government to make sure the Ministry for Pacific Peoples stays.

For him their language weeks foster a deep sense of Pacific pride and belonging — especially for Pasifika in the South Island.

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

The University of Auckland is to bestow a posthumous honorary doctorate on the late Tongan academic, author and sociologist Professor ‘Epeli Hau’ofa.

Hau’ofa was described at the time of his death by The Sydney Morning Herald as an “inspirational writer, satirist and scholar  . . . . truly a man of the Pacific, one of the region’s leading writers who promoted a positive vision of Oceanian culture and history”.

Tongan academic Dr Melanaite Taumoefolau said the university would honour Professor Hau’ofa at a graduation ceremony at the Fale Pasifika on Saturday, October 14.

• READ MORE:  ‘Epeli Hau’ofa – We mourn your passing
• Other ‘Epeli Hau’ofa reports

The ceremony will be held from 10am to midday followed by lunch.

Dr Taumoefolau said there would be a small kava circle with Dr Malakai Koloamatangi and Professor ‘Okusi Māhina and a few others.

It is expected there will be about 100-150 guests, mostly Tongan academics and family from the community.

The ceremony will begin with a prayer, followed by speakers who are expected to include  Tongan poet and academic Konai Thaman and Sione Tu’itahi.

This will be followed by foaki e mata’itohí, then entertainment from the TAUA Tongan students Association. Sione Tu’itahi will be MC.

‘Extraordinary vision’
Hauʻofa was born in Papua New Guinea to Tongan missionary parents. He went to school in PNG, Tonga and Fiji and then attended the University of New England and the Australian National University (ANU) in Australia and McGill University in Canada.

He graduated from the ANU with a PhD in social anthropology.

He taught at the University of Papua New Guinea and was a research fellow at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. From 1978 to 1981 he was keeper of the palace records in his role as Deputy Private Secretary to King Tupou IV.

While in Tonga, he and his wife Barbara edited the literary magazine Faikava. He became the first director of USP’s Rural Development Centre, based in Tonga, in 1981.

He taught sociology at USP in Suva, eventually becoming head of the Department of Sociology.

In 1997, Hauʻofa founded the university’s Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture. Through the centre he was mentor to a new generation of artists, sculptors, dancers and musicians at the USP in Suva.

Hau’ofa was a noted writer. His books included Mekeo: Inequality and Ambivalence in a Village Society, based on his PhD thesis, a novel, Kisses in the Nederends and probably his best known work, Tales of the Tikongs, a lively satire of contemporary South Pacific life, featuring multinational experts, religious fanatics, con men, villagers and corrupt politicians.

Hauʻofa died in Suva on 11 January 2009. At the time of his death, an academic colleague said: “His vision and person were extraordinary.”

Dr Philip Cass writes for Kaniva Tonga and is editor of Pacific Journalism Review. Republished with permission.

In his maiden speech to Parliament in 2020, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi told his fellow MPs:

You know what it feels like to have a pebble in your shoe? That will be my job here. A constant, annoying to those holding onto the colonial ways, a reminder and change agent for the recognition of our kahu Māori.

Three years later, most would agree that he and fellow co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have been just that — visible, critical, combative, prepared to be controversial.

The question in 2023, however, is how does the party build on its current platform, grow its base, and become more than a pebble in the shoe of mainstream politics?

Recent polls suggest Te Pāti Māori could win four seats in Parliament in October. But its future doesn’t necessarily lie in formally joining either a government coalition or opposition bloc, even if this were an option.

The National Party has already ruled out working with the party in government. And Te Pāti Māori has indicated partnership with either major party is not a priority.

Such are the challenges for a political party based on kaupapa Māori (incorporating the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values of Māori society) in a Westminster-style parliamentary system.

Focusing on Māori values
These tensions have existed since 2004, when then-Labour MP Tariana Turia and co-leader Pita Sharples established Te Pāti Māori in protest against Labour’s Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Under that law, overturned in 2011, the Crown was made owner of much of New Zealand’s coastline. Turia and others argued the government was confiscating land and ignoring Māori customary ownership rights.

As a kaupapa Māori party, Te Pāti Māori bases its policies and constitution on tikanga (Māori values), while advocating for mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga. That is, Māori self-determination and sovereignty, as defined by the Māori version of te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi.

A tikanga-based constitution has helped shape policies advocating for Māori rights. But it has also, at times, sat at odds with the rules of Parliament.

Waititi, for example, called pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II “distasteful”. He also refused to wear a tie, breaching parliamentary dress codes.

Between left and right
Over the years, the party’s Māori-centred policies have enabled its leaders to move between left and right wing alliances.

Under the original leadership of Turia and Sharples, Te Pāti Māori joined with the centre-right National Party to form governments in 2008, 2011 and 2014. This was a change from traditional Māori voting patterns that had long favoured Labour.

During it’s time in coalition with National, Te Pāti Māori helped influence a number of important decisions. This included finally signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the development of Whanau Ora (a Māori health initiative emphasising family and community as decision makers), and repealing the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

However, internal fighting over the decision to align with National led to the resignation of the Te Tai Tokerau MP at the time, Hone Harawira. Harawira later formed the Mana Party.

The relationship with National proved unsustainable when Labour won back all the Māori electorates at the 2017 election. Notably, Labour’s Tāmati Coffey beat te Pāti Māori co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell in the Waiariki electorate.

Rebuilding Te Pāti Māori
Waiariki was front and centre again in the 2020 election, where despite Labour’s general dominance across the Māori electorates, new Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi reclaimed the seat. The party also managed to win enough of the party vote to bring co-leader Ngarewa-Packer into Parliament with him.

Sitting in opposition this time, the current party leaders have been vocal across a range of issues. The party has called for the banning of seabed mining, removing taxes for low-income earners, higher taxes on wealth, and lowering the superannuation age for Māori.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Some policies, such as 2020’s “Whānau Build” have caused discomfort. Aimed largely at addressing the housing crisis, Whānau Build identified immigration as the root of Māori homelessness.

It was a sentiment more often associated with the extreme right, and the party has since apologised for that part of the policy.

Contesting more seats in 2023
Those bumps and missteps notwithstanding, recent polls show just how competitive Te Pāti Māori has become in the Māori electorates.

Ex-Labour MP Meka Whaitiri — an experienced politician who has held the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti electorate since 2013 but left to join Te Pāti Māori this year — is in a tight race to regain her seat against new Labour candidate Cushla Tangaere-Manuel.

Co-leader Ngarewa-Packer is also running a close race against Labour candidate Soraya Peke-Mason for the Te Tai Hauāuru electorate — a Labour stronghold.

But Te Pāti Māori has also shifted from its previous focus on the Māori electorates, with Merepeka Raukawa-Tait standing in the Rotorua general electorate.

The Māori Electoral Option legislation, which came into effect this year, now allows Māori voters to change more easily between electoral rolls. In future, Te Pāti Māori may find it can best to serve Māori by standing candidates in general electorates.

Broader social change across Aotearoa New Zealand has also likely been an important contributor to the success of Te Pāti Māori, with greater understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tikanga and te reo Māori among voters.

Indeed, the current party vision of an “Aotearoa Hou” (New Aotearoa), includes reference to tangata tiriti, a phrase being popularised to refer to non-Māori who seek to honour partnerships based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

According to the most recent polling, Te Pāti Māori may not be the deciding factor in who gets to form the next government come October.

But the party’s resilience and growth after it’s electoral disappointments in 2017 and 2020 show an ability to rebuild. In doing so, it is carving out it’s place in New Zealand’s political landscape.

And if Te Pāti Māori is not the kingmaker in 2023, it is still on the path to influence — and potentially decide — elections in the not-too-distant future.

Annie Te One is lecturer in Māori Studies at Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Last year Joelle Holland invested all of the money she had saved for a home deposit and put it into a baby product business called Hawaiiki Pēpi.

The sole focus of Hawaiiki Pēpi is to teach Māori children to be proud of their culture and language.

Hawaiiki Pēpi has already reached more than $100,000 in sales, but most importantly for its owner, it has delivered on its promise to encourage and normalise all things Māori.

• READ MORE: Indigenous languages empowerment
• Other Māori Language Week reports

“I don’t have any experience in business at all. But what I do have is a passion for my culture and the revitalisation of our language,” she says.

“This venture was a way for me to express that and show people how beautiful Māori can be.”

Holland (Tainui, Tūhoe, Ngāti Whātua) came up with the idea after giving birth to her children Ivy-āio, three, and Ryda Hawaiiki, one.

The online business that Holland manages and runs from her home, creates Māori-designed products such as blankets for babies.

Proud to be Māori
“When my eldest child was in my puku, I was trying to find baby products that showed that we were proud to be Māori. There weren’t any at the time. That’s how the idea of Hawaiiki Pēpi came about,” she says.

With the support of her partner Tayllis, Holland decided to take a risk and enter the competitive baby industry.

To prepare for her very first start up, Holland took business courses, conducted her own research and did 18 months of development before launching Hawaiiki Pēpi at the end of last year.

“The aim is to enhance identity, te reo Māori and whakapapa. We are hoping to wrap our pēpi in their culture from birth so they can gain a sense of who they are, creating strong, confident and unapologetically proud Māori.”

Holland grew up in Auckland and went to kohanga reo and kura kaupapa before spending her high school years boarding at St Joseph’s Māori Girls College in Napier.

She says that language is the key connection to one’s culture. It was through learning te reo Māori from birth that instilled in her a strong sense of cultural identity. It has motivated her in all of the important life decisions that she has made.

‘Struggled through teenage years’
“I struggled throughout my teenage years. I was trying to find my purpose. I was searching for who I was, where I came from and where I belonged.

“I realised that the strong connection I had to my tupuna and my people was through the language. Everything has reverted back to te reo Māori and it has always been an anchor in my life.”

Holland went to Masey University to qualify to teach Māori in schools, juggling study, with taking care of two children under three, and starting a new business.

This year, she completed her degree in the Bachelor of Teaching and Learning Kura Kaupapa Māori programme. The qualification has allowed Holland to add another powerful tool in her life that nurtures Māoritanga in the younger generation and contributes to the revitalisation of te reo Māori.

“I loved my studies. Every aspect of the degree was immersed in te reo Māori, from our essays, presentations to our speeches. Although I grew up speaking Māori, I realised there is still so much more to learn,” she says.

For now, Holland will be focusing on growing her business and raising her children before embarking on a career as a teacher.

“My end goal is to encourage all tamariki to be proud of their Māoritanga, encourage them to speak their language and stand tall.”

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

TE WIKI O TE RĒO MĀORI: By Aroha Awarau

Christina Dawa Kutsmana Thomas is on a mission to save her indigenous language from extinction. There are only eight people from her reservation in the state of Nevada who are fluent in Numu Yadooana — Northern Paiute, and they’re aged 70+.

“I feel like I’m under immense pressure. If I don’t do this, then who will? My people have become assimilated into modern life and we have to face the harsh reality that few people speak our language,” she says.

“It’s harder for my people to have a language renaissance because there are so many different tribes in America — 574. That’s 574 completely different languages, cultures, and histories.”

• READ MORE: Indigenous languages empowerment
• Other Māori Language Week reports

Thomas has spent the last eight months in New Zealand as a US Fullbright Scholar, attending kohanga reo, kura kaupapa, and classes at the University of Auckland, to observe and understand how te reo is being taught.

It’s been an eye-opening experience compared to how indigenous languages are treated in the US, she says.

“It’s hard for people to find time to learn our language, it’s a struggle to get people to attend community classes or seek it out on their own. We also don’t have resources, books, or a strong curriculum that ensures fluency for new language speakers.

“I feel grounded being in Aotearoa because I can see the support and the love for te reo and Māori culture, and it gives me the reassurance that I can do this.”

Growing up not speaking
Thomas grew up on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Wadsworth, Nevada. Although it was a close-knit community, their Native language was discouraged from being spoken at home.

“My grandmother’s first language was Paiute, but she didn’t speak it to her own children, and discouraged my great-grandma to teach it to my mom. I then in turn grew up not speaking.

“At this time, Native people in the US were discouraged to speak their language and were trying to blend in with society in order to save their children from ridicule and racist remarks.”

Thomas was in her 20s and attending the University of Nevada in Reno when she came across an elder from her tribe who was teaching Paiute language classes at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.

“I grew up on a reservation and I knew my tribal affiliations but I did not know my history or the language. I started going to language classes and caught on quickly.”

Driving force
She was encouraged to take one-on-one lessons and found a new passion. Thomas has since been a teacher of the Paiute language in public high schools, a language consultant, and instructor for her tribe. She was the driving force behind the Paiute language being established as the first Indigenous language course at the University of Nevada.

For the past decade, Thomas has also been involved in Native arts and language regeneration projects. She was set to study to become an orthodontist, but her passion for language revitalisation and her culture made her change careers.

She enrolled to study to earn a PhD in Native American Studies at the University of California in the city of Davis.

She spent two weeks in New Zealand in 2018 as an undergraduate student conducting research on te reo, visiting language nests, primary, secondary, and tertiary schools.

In 2019, Christina returned to present her research at the University of Waikato for the Native American Indigenous Studies Association yearly international conference. She vowed then that she would be back for an extended period to focus and observe further about language regeneration.

Thomas returned to Aotearoa in February 2023 and will be flying home at the end of this month.

“New Zealand is known for its revitalisation of the te reo Māori. I had previously made connections here, so I knew that whānau would be able to help place me into schools and spaces for me to observe and learn.”

20 percent “native speakers”
Until World War II, most Māori spoke their te reo as their first language. But by the 1980s, fewer than 20 percent of Māori spoke the language well enough to be classed as native speakers.

In response, Māori leaders initiated Māori language recovery-programs such as the kōhanga reo movement, which started in 1982 and immersed infants in Māori from infancy to school age.

In 1989, official support was given for kura kaupapa Māori-primary and secondary Māori-language immersion schools.

The Māori Language Act 1987 was passed as a response to the Waitangi Tribunal finding that the Māori language was a taonga, a treasure or valued possession, under the Treaty of Waitangi and the Act gave te reo Māori official language status.

“I’d love to see everything that has been accomplished here in Aotearoa happen back home in my community,” Thomas says.

“My dream after I complete my PhD is to go home and open our very own kohanga reo.”

Thomas says what she has observed in New Zealand has been invaluable and will carry with her for the rest of her life.

“I’ve seen how teachers and kura are working towards Māori-based learning, by, with and for Māori.”

Trans-indigenous connection
“There’s a trans-indigenous connection. Our language is connected to our land and our ancestors by our songs, languages and stories. The beliefs we have as Indigenous people are connected and similar in so many ways.”

Throughout this journey, Thomas has brought her seven-year-old son, Jace Naki’e, along for the experience.

“I was really excited for him to be able to go to school here and have this experience. He loves kapa haka and learning about Māori culture. He’s also been able to share his culture in return.”

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

RNZ Pacific

France is upping its “cultural diplomacy” in the Pacific with the launch of its free French language classes for Fijian journalists and social innovators.

The French Embassy in Suva said the fully-funded “landmark initiative” would “foster linguistic and cultural ties between France and Fiji”.

“This initiative reflects France’s commitment to education, collaboration and cultural diplomacy,” it said.

• READ MORE: Other France in the Pacific reports

There are 300 million French speakers across five continents, and the International Organisation of La Francophone consists of 88 countries.

The free language classes “recognises Fiji’s unique position in the Pacific and aims to align it to the broader Francophone community”.

“Fiji’s geographical location positions it near a nexus of Francophone influence in the Pacific.”

According to the embassy, there are around 500 French speakers in Fiji and France aims to increase that number,” a spokesperson said.

“Neighbouring New Caledonia, a French overseas collectivity, and Vanuatu, a Francophone nation, represent strong regional ties to French culture and language,” it said.

“Wallis and Futuna, a French territory, further illustrates the deep connections in the area. These connections highlight the importance of strengthening the Francophone presence in Fiji, aligning with shared interests, historical bonds, and common values.

“This initiative is a bridge-building exercise in the vein of the new era of Franco-Fijian collaboration.”

Offer hard to knock back
The Fiji Times business reporter Aisha Azeemah said the embassy’s offer to learn French was hard to turn down because of her passion to learn new languages, adding “this way we’ll at least have a reporter or two that’s able to better engage with and publicise the long-standing and ever-growing bond between Fiji and France”.

A member of the Social Innovators group of the French Embassy to Fiji, Temesia Tuicaumia, said: “The hearts of the Fijians chosen for this cohort will see the wider picture, which is that this is only the beginning for many Fijians to comprehend our French family through language, and that it is a bridge of hope, understanding, and many ties.”

The embassy said France, as a Pacific nation, sees these classes as a natural extension of the existing affinities and relationships with Fiji, underscoring France’s commitment to positive social change and innovation.

Embassy chargée d’affaires Laurence Brattin-Nerrière said the embassy was eager to see the success that the initiative would bring and strengthening the relationships between the two nations.

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

Papua New Guinea’s literacy rate stands at 63.4 percent — the lowest in the Pacific — with the government planning for it to reach 70 percent by 2027, an official says.

Career Trackers chief executive Ellenor Lutikoe told the National Content Conference in Port Moresby that according to the medium-term development goal, the literacy rate should reach 70 percent by 2027.

She highlighted three skills lacking in the workforce:

READ MORE: Illiteracy: A growing concern in PNG

• Basic English skills;
• Basic business skills including digital literacy; and
• Relevant and practical working knowledge related to the role they apply for.

“Personally, I strongly believe that literacy is the foundation for an individual,” she said.

In 2000, PNG had a literacy rate of 57.34 percent, in 2010 the rate increased by 4.26 percent to 61.6 percent and today it was 63.4 percent — an increase of 1.8 percent.

It needs to increase by 6.6 percent to reach the 2027 target of 70 percent.

On-the-job training
Lutikoe said one of the ways to address these challenges was through on-the-job training programmes offered by companies, including Career Trackers.

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) chief executive officer Darren Yorio agreed that one way of addressing such challenges faced by employees was through literacy programmes.

Yorio said many parts of PNG faced many social issues because illiteracy had continued to delay the progress of national development.

He said the literacy rate was low compared to other Pacific island countries, and the government must work with other players to address the issue.

“If there is a serious area we need to address, it is the issue of illiteracy. It is important that we maintain that level of rigorous focus on partnership to effectively continue the progress of development,” he said.

Dr Kilala Devette-Chee, a senior research fellow and programme leader of the Education Research Programme at the National Research Institute, said PNG could reduce its high illiteracy rate by implementing the strategies recommended in her research report “Illiteracy: A growing concern in Papua New Guinea“.

“The literacy level in different parts of PNG has continued to be a matter of national concern,” she said.

“Although the government has taken a number of measures to improve literacy in the country, more and more students who are dropping out of school are either semi-literate or illiterate.”

The strategies included:

• Reviewing the provision of free education to allow more children to attend school;
• Developing awareness on the importance of education;
• Encouraging night classes for working people ;and
• Re-establishing school libraries to promote a culture of reading.

According to Dr Devette-Chee’s study, the root causes of the poor literacy outcomes include weak teaching skills and knowledge, diverse languages, frequent teacher and student absenteeism’ and lack of appropriate reading books and teaching support materials.

The Outcome-Based Education (OBE) which promoted the use of vernacular languages in elementary schools with a transition period to English in Grade 3 failed a lot of students due to improper implementation of the programme.

Joy Olali and Max Oraka are reporters with The National newspaper. Republished with permission.

A new language app developed for Gagana Samoa — the Samoan language — has been launched in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Samoa Capital Radio in Wellington, the oldest Samoan radio station in Aotearoa, is behind the production and development of the app.

Samoa’s Acting High Commissioner to New Zealand, Robert Niko Aiono, said it would help to bridge the gap for people wanting to learn more about the language.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific languages reports

“They’ve made this app available and it caters for a lot of Samoans who are born in New Zealand,” he said.

“Not only in New Zealand but everywhere else in the world.”

With Samoan being the third-most spoken language in New Zealand, Samoa Capital Radio initially thought language classes delivered on Zoom was the best way to draw in learners.

However, it was decided developing an app would be better as it was a tool that can be accessed anywhere, any time.

‘Labour of love’
Work on the software began in January and according to the radio station’s social media manager, Murray Faivalu, it was a “labour of love”.

“We started to get a team together; get an advisory panel to advise us because no one can claim that they’ve got the knowledge of everything in terms of the Samoan language,” Faivalu said.

“We had two lecturers from the National University of Samoa, one of them being Dr Niusila Eteuati who was able to bring an academic perspective to the language; we got one of the teachers from Samoa who’s teaching the language and the Language Commission.”

Faivalu said he hopes the app helps users overcome their shyness when trying to converse or pray in Samoan.

“We’ve got a big population of people who associate as Samoans and a lot of them are young,” he said.

“A lot of them may know some Samoan but being able to speak it is a whole different thing.

“Some of the young ones get embarrassed when they go up to do the prayer at family gatherings.”

Basic language
The app covers the most basic of the Samoan language — from the spelling, grammar, placement of macrons and glottal stops. Audio is also built in so users can hear how words are meant to be pronounced.

“When you read Samoan on its own, you lose the meaning of it — so unless you have those glottal stops, the macrons, you won’t get the actual meaning of what you’re trying to say.”

At the launch, Pacific Peoples Minister Barbara Edmonds shared how she became distant from speaking Samoan.

“Like many of our families who crossed the Pacific Ocean to come to New Zealand, we too had many families come to stay with us, and my cousins came to live with us.

“My cousins, who could only really speak Samoan, became quickly frustrated when they went to school, and they started giving other kids beatings because they couldn’t understand what they were saying,” Edmonds said.

“So what my dad said to us was, we needed to speak English more, so we could help teach our cousins how to speak English. So unfortunately as time progressed, Gagana Samoa came less and less out of my mouth.

Youngest and fastest growing
“With the Samoan population being one of the youngest and fastest growing [in New Zealand], it’s clear that we need to do everything we can to support the next generation to understand and use our language.”

School student Ti’eti’e Frost is eager to improve his Samoan speaking skills, especially as he is the only member of his family who has yet to master the language.

“Sometimes I’ll be speaking Samoan and there will be people who grew up speaking it who will make a joke about my Samoan,” he said.

“Right now, I feel like I’m 60 percent with my Samoan, but hopefully by using this app I get to 100 percent.”

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

• The app is now available to download.

A new edition of the Okinawan Journal of Island Studies features social justice island activism, including a case study of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Pacific Media Centre, in what the editors say brings a sense of “urgency” in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion in scholarship.

In the editorial, the co-editors — Tiara R. Na’puti, Marina Karides, Ayano Ginoza, Evangelia Papoutsaki — describe this special issue of the journal as being guided by feminist methods of collaboration.

They say their call for research on social justice island activism has brought forth an issue that centres on the perspectives of Indigenous islanders and women.

• READ MORE: Other Okinawan Journal of Island Studies articles

“Our collection contains disciplinary and interdisciplinary research papers, a range of contributions in our forum section (essays, curated conversations, reflection pieces, and photo essays), and book reviews centred on island activist events and activities organised locally, nationally, or globally,” the editorial says.

“We are particularly pleased with our forum section; its development offers alternative forms of scholarship that combine elements of research, activism, and reflection.

“Our editorial objective has been to make visible diverse approaches for conceptualising island activisms as a category of analysis.

‘Complexity and nuance’
“The selections of writing here offer complexity and nuance as to how activism shapes and is shaped by island eco-cultures and islanders’ lives.”

The co-editors argue that “activisms encompass multiple ways that people engage in social change, including art, poetry, photographs, spoken word, language revitalisation, education, farming, building, cultural events, protests, and other activities locally and through larger networks or movements”.

Thus this edition of OJIS brings together island activisms that “inform, negotiate, and resist geopolitical designations” often applied to them.

Geographically, the islands featured in papers include Papua New Guinea, Prince Edward Island, and the island groups of Kanaky, Okinawa, and Fiji.

Among the articles, Meghan Forsyth’s ‘La langue vient de la musique’: Acadian song, language transmission, and cultural sustainability on Prince Edward Island engagingly examines the “sonic activism” of the Francophone community in Canada’s Prince Edward Island.

“Also focused on visibility and access, David Robie’s article ‘Voice of the Voiceless’: The Pacific Media Centre as a case study of academic and research advocacy and activism substantiates the need for bringing forward journalistic attention to the Pacific,” says the editorial.

Dr Robie emphasises the need for critical and social justice perspectives in addressing the socio-political struggles in Fiji and environmental justice in the Pacific broadly, say the co-editors.

In the article My words have power: The role of Yuri women in addressing sorcery violence in Simbu province of Papua New Guinea, Dick Witne Bomai shares the progress of the Yuri Alaiku Kuikane Association (YAKA) in advocacy and peacebuilding.

In ‘La Pause Décoloniale’: Women decolonising Kanaky one episode at a time, Anaïs Duong-Pedica, “provides a discussion of French settler colonialism and the challenges around formal decolonisation processes in Kanaky”.

Inclusive feminist thinking
The article engages with “women’s political activism and collaborative practice” of the podcast and radio show La Pause Décoloniale.

The co-editors say the edition’s forum section is a result of “inclusive feminist thinking to make space for a range of approaches combining scholarship and activism”.

They comment that the “abundance of submissions to this section demonstrates the desire for academic outlets that stray from traditional models of scholarship”.

“Feminist and Indigenous scholar-activists seem especially inclined towards alternative avenues for expressing and sharing their research,” the coeditors add.

Eight books are reviewed, including New Zealand’s Peace Action: Struggles for a Decolonised and Demilitarised Oceania and East Asia, edited by Valerie Morse.

• The full OJIS edition

When New Zealand’s opposition National Party’s transport spokesperson, Simeon Brown, questioned the logic of bilingual traffic signs, he seemed to echo his leader Christopher Luxon’s earlier misgivings about the now prevalent use of te reo Māori in government departments.

Genuine concern or political signalling in an election year? After all, Luxon himself has expressed interest in learning te reo, and also encouraged its use when he was CEO of Air New Zealand.

He even sought to trademark “Kia Ora” as the title of the airline’s in-flight magazine.

• READ MORE: Bilingual road signs in Aotearoa New Zealand would tell us where we are as a nation
• You can’t speak what you can’t hear’ – how Māori and Pacific sports stars are helping revitalise vulnerable languages
• Putting Aotearoa on the map: New Zealand has changed its name before, why not again?

And for his part, Brown has no problem with Māori place names on road signs. His concern is that important messaging about safety or directions should be readily understood. “Signs need to be clear,” he said.

“We all speak English, and they should be in English.” Adding more words, he believes, is simply confusing.

It’s important to take Brown at his word, then, with a new selection of proposed bilingual signs now out for public consultation. Given the National Party’s enthusiastic embrace of AI to generate pre-election advertising imagery, one obvious place to start is with ChatGPT, which tells us:

Bilingual traffic signs, which display information in two or more languages, are generally not considered a driver hazard. In fact, bilingual signage is often implemented to improve safety and ensure that drivers of different language backgrounds can understand and follow the traffic regulations.

ChatGPT also suggests that by providing information about speed limits, directions and warnings, bilingual traffic signs “accommodate diverse communities and promote road safety for all drivers”.

‘They should be in English’: National to ditch te reo Māori traffic signs https://t.co/7FGYyQDrPu

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) May 26, 2023

Safety and culture
With mounting concern over AI’s potential existential threat to human survival, however, it’s probably best we don’t take the bot’s word for it.

Fortunately, government transport agency Waka Kotahi has already examined the use of bilingual traffic signs in 19 countries across the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Its 2021 report states:

The use of bilingual traffic signage is common around the world and considered “standard” in the European Union. Culture, safety and commerce appear to be the primary impetuses behind bilingual signage.

Given Brown’s explicit preference for the use of English, it’s instructive that in the UK itself, the Welsh, Ulster Scots and Scots Gaelic languages appear alongside English on road signs in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

More to the point, on the basis of the evidence it reviewed, Waka Kotahi concluded that — providing other important design considerations are attended to — bilingual traffic signs can both improve safety and respond to cultural aspirations:

In regions of Aotearoa New Zealand where people of Māori descent are over-represented in vehicle crash statistics, or where they represent a large proportion of the local population, bilingual traffic signage may impart benefits in terms of reducing harm on our road network.

‘One people’
Politically, however, the problem with a debate over bilingual road signs is that it quickly becomes another skirmish in the culture wars — echoing the common catchcry of those opposed to greater biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand: “We are one people”.

It’s a loaded phrase, originally attributed to the Crown’s representative Lieutenant Governor William Hobson, who supposedly said “he iwi tahi tātou” (we are one people) at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

Whether or not he said any such thing is up for debate. William Colenso, who was at Waitangi on the day and who reported Hobson’s words, thought he had.

But Colenso’s account was published 50 years after the events in question (and just nine years before he died aged 89).

Either way, the assertion has since come to be favoured by those to whom the notion of cultural homogeneity appeals. It’s a common response to the increasing public visibility of te ao Māori (the Māori world).

But being “one people” means other things become singular too: one law, one science, one language, one system. In other words, a non-Māori system, the one many of us take for granted as simply the way things are.

Any suggestion that system might incorporate or coexist with aspects of other systems — indeed might benefit from them — tends to come up against the kind of resistance we see to such things as bilingual road signs.

Fretful sleepers
The discomfort many New Zealanders still feel with the use of te reo Māori in public settings brings to mind Bill Pearson’s famous 1952 essay, Fretful Sleepers.

In it, Pearson reflects on the anxiety that can seep unbidden into the lives of those who would like to live in a “wishfully untroubled world”, but who nonetheless sense things are not quite right out here on the margins of the globe.

Pearson lived in a very different New Zealand. But he had his finger on the same fear and defensiveness that can cause people to fret about the little things (like bilingual signs) when there are so many more consequential things to disrupt our sleep.

Anyway, Simeon Brown and his fellow fretful sleepers appear to be on the wrong side of history. Evidence suggests most New Zealanders would like to see more te reo Māori in their lives, not less.

Two-thirds would like te reo taught as a core subject in primary schools, and 56 percent think “signage should be in both te reo Māori and English”.

If the experience in other parts of the world is anything to go by, bilingual signage will be just another milestone on the road a majority seem happy to be on.

Dr Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey University.  This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

New Zealand’s Māori Party co-leader says the opposition National Party should go back to school if it thinks including te reo Māori on road signs is confusing.

In a transport meeting yesterday in Bay of Plenty, National’s spokesperson Simeon Brown said introducing the language to road signs would make them “more confusing” and they “should all be English”.

On Monday, Waka Kotahi said its He Tohu Huarahi Māori Bilingual Traffic Signs programme was going out for public consultation.

• READ MORE: Other Te Reo Māori reports

If successful, the programme would include te reo Māori in motorway and expressway signs, destination signs, public and active transport signs, walking and cycling signs, general advisory and warning signs.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said having the language included on road signs will help those in the process of learning te reo.

“This is an environment where there’s more non-Māori learning reo than we ever had in the history of Aotearoa. It’s important that we embrace our nation hood, including our indigenous people and our language.”

“We spent a long time trying to make sure we don’t lose our language, so having our culture in our roads is not just about helping those who are fluent Māori speakers, but so those who are in our education system learning reo can see it reflected around our environment.”

‘Make an effort’
She said Brown should go back to school if he thought te reo Māori on road signs was confusing.

“It’s never too hard to understand the official languages of Aotearoa. Whether it will be making an effort to understand te reo or sign language, for example.

“These are all a critical part of our nation and if he [Simeon Brown] needs to go back to school or take some time off Parliament to be able to understand our language so be it.”

There had been Māori traffic signs, Māori names, in this nation for a very long time, Ngarewa-Packer said.

“I’m not so sure why he [Simeon Brown] is so confused now.”

The Te Pāti Māori co-leader said Brown’s comments were separatist.

“I think it’s a real ignorant alarmist way to be politicking.”

“Twenty percent of our population is Māori. If we see a large [political] party basically trying to ignore 20 percent of this population, then can we expect them to do that to the rest of our multiculture, diversity and languages that we see coming forward in Aotearoa?”

She said most New Zealanders would enjoy seeing multilingual road signs.

“I think we are a mature and sophisticated country and generally, most of us, actually really enjoy not only seeing our indigenous language but also other languages.

“[Not having bilingual signs] It’s an attempt to take us backwards that I don’t think many are going to tolerate.”

‘They should be filling pot holes’ – National
National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown said Waka Kotahi should be filling pot holes instead of looking into including te reo Māori in road signage around the country.

“NZTA should be focusing primarally in fixing the pot holes on our roads and they shouldn’t be distracted by changing signage up and down our country.”

“Most New Zealanders want to see our roads fixed, it’s their number one priority.”

Brown said the National Party was open to bilingual information, but only when it came to place names signage.

“When it comes to critically important safety information the signage needs to be clear and understandable for people in our road, most of whom who speak English.”

“It’s important to keep the balance right between place names, which we are very open for bilingual signage, and critical safety signs where is really important people understand what the sign is saying,” he said.

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

Many different arguments for and against the Voice to Parliament have been heard in the lead-up to this year’s referendum in Australia. This has included some media and politicians drawing comparisons between the Voice and South Africa’s apartheid regime.

Cory Bernardi, a Sky News commentator, argued, for instance, that by implementing the Voice, “we’re effectively announcing an apartheid-type state, where some citizens have more legal rights or more rights in general than others”.

As legal scholar Bede Harris has pointed out, it’s quite clear Bernardi doesn’t understand apartheid. He said,

How the Voice could be described as creating such a system is unfathomable.

• READ MORE: Australians should be wary of scare stories comparing the Voice with New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal
• Sam Frost knows nothing about segregation: white settlers co-opting terms used to oppress

Comparisons to apartheid
Apartheid was a system of racial segregation implemented by the South African government to control and restrict the lives of the non-white populations, and to stop them from voting.

During apartheid, non-white people could not freely visit the same beaches, live in the same neighbourhoods, attend the same schools or queue in the same lines as white people. My wife recalls her white parents being questioned by police after visiting the home of a Black colleague.

The proposed Voice will ensure First Nations peoples have their views heard by Parliament.

It won’t have the power to stop people swimming at the same beaches or living, studying or shopping together. It won’t stop interracial marriages as the apartheid regime did. It doesn’t give anybody extra political rights.

It simply provides First Nations people, who have previously had no say in developing the country’s system of government, with an opportunity to participate in a way that many say is meaningful and respectful.

Apartheid and the Voice are polar opposites. The Voice is a path towards democratic participation, while apartheid eliminated any opportunity for this.

Evoking emotional responses, like Bernardi attempted to do, can inspire people to quickly align with a political cause that moderation and reason might not encourage. This means opinions may be formed from limited understanding and misinformation.

“Whether you vote yes or no in the coming referendum, your choice deserves respect.” #CharlesSturtUni constitutional law expert has challenged claims made by a SKY TV host likening the proposed Voice to Parliament to an apartheid-type state.https://t.co/EePzMcIksO

— Charles Sturt University (@CharlesSturtUni) May 9, 2023

Misinformation doesn’t stop at apartheid comparisons
The Institute of Public Affairs, a conservative lobby group, has published a “research” paper claiming the Voice would be like New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal and be able to veto decisions of the Parliament.

The truth is the tribunal is not a “Maori Voice to Parliament”. It can’t veto Parliament.

The Waitangi Tribunal is a permanent commission of inquiry. It is chaired by a judge and has Māori and non-Māori membership. Its job is to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The tribunal’s task is an independent search for truth. When it upholds a claim, its recommended remedies become the subject of political negotiation between government and claimants.

The Voice in Australia would make representations to Parliament. This is also not a veto. A veto is to stop Parliament making a law.

We need to raise the quality of debate
Unlike the apartheid and Waitangi arguments, many objections to the Voice are grounded in fact.

Making representations to Parliament and the government is a standard and necessary democratic practice. There are already many ways of doing this, but in the judgment of the First Nations’ people who developed the Voice proposal, a constitutionally enshrined Voice would be a better way of making these representations.

Many people disagree with this judgment. The National Party argues a Voice won’t actually improve people’s lives.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe says she speaks for a Black Sovereignty movement when she advocates for a treaty to come first. The argument is that without a treaty, the system of government isn’t morally legitimate.

Other people support the Voice in principle but think it will have too much power; others think it won’t have enough.

Thinking about honest differences of opinion helps us to understand and critique a proposal for what it is, rather than what it is not. Our vote then stands a better chance of reflecting what we really think.

Lies can mask people’s real reasons for holding a particular point of view. When people’s true reasons can’t be scrutinised and tested, it prevents an honest exchange of ideas.

Collective wisdom can’t emerge, and the final decision doesn’t demonstrate each voter’s full reflection on other perspectives.

Altering the Constitution is very serious, and deliberately difficult to do. Whatever the referendum’s outcome, confidence in our collective judgment is more likely when truth and reason inform our debate.

In my recently published book, Indigeneity, Culture and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, I argue the Voice could contribute to a more just and democratic system of government through ensuring decision-making is informed by what First Nations’ people want and why.

Informed, also, by deep knowledge of what works and why.

People may agree or disagree. But one thing is clear: deliberate misinformation doesn’t make a counter argument. It diminishes democracy.

Dr Dominic O’Sullivan,  adjunct professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and professor of political science, Charles Sturt University.  This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Rotuman people and communities in Aotearoa New Zealand launched their Rotuman Language Week 2023 celebrations yesterday.

The event by the NZ Rotuman Collective began with a blessing and service at the Kingsland Rotuman Methodist Church — where the congregation began more than 30 years ago — and will showcase the language and culture of Rotuma.

“Each day of the week has been allocated a different theme with the elders, youth, children, community and religious leaders hosting their days,” said chairperson Rachael Mario.

• READ MORE: Other Rotuman reports

In addition to language and culture, the Rotuman Language Collective also focuses on key social justice areas that communities need more awareness about. These issues being presented at the NZ Rotuman Community Centre in Mt Roskill and other venues include:

• Te Tirirti o Waitangi presentation (Monday, May 8, 7.30am)
• Dawn Raids and Pasifika people’s advocacy for social justice (Tuesday, May 9, 7.30am)
• Health and wellbeing with Hula Fit exercise (Wednesday, May 10, 10.30am, 11.30am)
• Seniors lunch and storytelling (on Wednesday, May 10, 12 noon)
• Home ownership workshop (Wednesday, May 10, 7pm)
• Art classes for wellness (Thursday, May 11, 4pm)
• Serving our communities by continuing weekly distribution of food parcels (Friday, May, 12, 7pm)
• Education Hub launch (Friday, May 12, 7.30pm)
• Rotuman cultural show and community engagement (Saturday, May 13, Kingsland Trinity Methodist Church, 5.30pm)
• Mother’s Day acknowledging mothers and family (Sunday, May 14, 2pm)

“It is extremely important for our migrant communities to connect with Māori as people of this land, and be aware of colonisation and displacement,” Mario said.

‘Understanding colonisation‘
“This will also help Rotuman people understand our own colonisation by the British and Fiji.”

The Rotuman Language Week, a New Zealand-led initiative started in 2018 by the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group Incorporated (ARFGI), has now grown to include many groups across the world.

The feature event will be on Rotuma Day, including the Rotuman Showcase with a traditional dance and fashion show.

This will be followed by Community Engagement with chief guest MP Teanau Tuiono, Green Party spokesperson for Pacific peoples.

This year is also the continuation of the UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages, making this Language Week even more important.

The theme for this year’s Language Week is: “Vetḁkia ‘os Fäega ma Ag fak hanua” (Sustaining our language and culture).

Rotuman people are a separate ethnic group with their own distinct Polynesian language, culture, and identity.

‘Untouched paradise’
Rotuma is described by commentators as an “untouched paradise” with some of the world’s most pristine and beautiful beaches.

“Language is what makes us who we are, and is part of our culture and identity,” Mario said. “And it is our duty to preserve this invaluable taonga”.

The group hopes the week’s activities will help bring people together, and showcase Rotuman culture.

“We invite everyone to join us and celebrate being Rotuman,” Mario said.

“It has not been easy for our community to keep our language alive in Aotearoa.”

“We pay tribute to our elders and leaders, who for the last 40 years, have continued to celebrate our culture in New Zealand, and for helping keep our customs and traditions relevant.”

Rotuma consists of the island of Rotuma and its nearby islets, and is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 500 kms north of Fiji, and 500 kms west of the French-ruled territory of Wallis and Futuna.

Rotuma was annexed by the British on 13 May 1881 (“Rotuma Day”). Although Rotuma is its own “nation”, it is currently administered by Fiji as a dependency.

The Rotuman language is listed on the UNESCO List of Endangered Languages as “Definitely endangered”.

• Full Rotuman Language Week programme details on Facebook and at the Rotuma website.

The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel laureate and tireless campaigner against South African apartheid, once observed: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

For decades, the BBC’s editorial policy in reporting on Israel and Palestine has consistently chosen the side of the oppressor — and all too often, not even by adopting the impartiality the corporation claims as the bedrock of its journalism.

Instead, the British state broadcaster regularly chooses language and terminology whose effect is to deceive its audience. And it compounds such journalistic malpractice by omitting vital pieces of context when that extra information would present Israel in a bad light.

• READ MORE:  Israeli forces attack worshippers in Al-Aqsa Mosque raid
• Jonathan Cook’s independent website and blog

BBC bias — which entails knee-jerk echoing of the British establishment’s support for Israel as a highly militarised ally projecting Western interests into the oil-rich Middle East – was starkly on show once again this week as the broadcaster reported on the violence at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Social media was full of videos showing heavily armed Israeli police storming the mosque complex during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Police could be seen pushing peaceful Muslim worshippers, including elderly men, off their prayer mats and forcing them to leave the site. In other scenes, police were filmed beating worshippers inside a darkened Al-Aqsa, while women could be heard screaming in protest.

What is wrong with the British state broadcaster’s approach — and much of the rest of the Western media’s — is distilled in one short BBC headline: “Clashes erupt at contested holy site.”

Into a sentence of just six words, the BBC manages to cram three bogusly “neutral” words, whose function is not to illuminate or even to report, but to trick the audience, as Tutu warned, into siding with the oppressor.

Furious backlash
Though video of the beatings was later included on the BBC’s website and the headline changed after a furious online backlash, none of the sense of unprovoked, brutal Israeli state violence, or its malevolent rationale, was captured by the BBC’s reporting.

To call al-Aqsa a ‘contested holy site’, as the BBC does, is simply to repeat a propaganda talking point from Israel, the oppressor state, and dress it up as neutral reporting

The “clashes” at al-Aqsa, in the BBC’s telling, presume a violent encounter between two groups: Palestinians, described by Israel and echoed by the BBC as “agitators”, on one side; and Israeli forces of law and order on the other.

That is the context, according to the BBC, for why unarmed Palestinians at worship need to be beaten. And that message is reinforced by the broadcaster’s description of the seizure of hundreds of Palestinians at worship as “arrests” — as though an unwelcome, occupying, belligerent security force present on another people’s land is neutrally and equitably upholding the law.

“Erupt” continues the theme. It suggests the “clashes” are a natural force, like an earthquake or volcano, over which Israeli police presumably have little, if any, control. They must simply deal with the eruption to bring it to an end.

And the reference to the “contested” holy site of Al-Aqsa provides a spurious context legitimising Israeli state violence: police need to be at Al-Aqsa because their job is to restore calm by keeping the two sides “contesting” the site from harming each other or damaging the holy site itself.

The BBC buttresses this idea by uncritically citing an Israeli police statement accusing Palestinians of being at Al-Aqsa to “disrupt public order and desecrate the mosque”.

Palestinians are thus accused of desecrating their own holy site simply by worshipping there — rather than the desecration committed by Israeli police in storming al-Aqsa and violently disrupting worship.

The History of Al-Aqsa Mosque.  Video: Middle East Eye

Israeli provocateurs
The BBC’s framing should be obviously preposterous to any rookie journalist in Jerusalem. It assumes that Israeli police are arbiters or mediators at Al-Aqsa, dispassionately enforcing law and order at a Muslim place of worship, rather than the truth: that for decades, the job of Israeli police has been to act as provocateurs, dispatched by a self-declared Jewish state, to undermine the long-established status quo of Muslim control over Al-Aqsa.

Events were repeated for a second night this week when police again raided Al-Aqsa, firing rubber bullets and tear gas as thousands of Palestinians were at prayer. US statements calling for “calm” and “de-escalation” adopted the same bogus evenhandedness as the BBC.

The mosque site is not “contested”, except in the imagination of Jewish religious extremists, some of them in the Israeli government, and the most craven kind of journalists.

True, there are believed to be the remains of two long-destroyed Jewish temples somewhere underneath the raised mount where al-Aqsa is built. According to Jewish religious tradition, the Western Wall — credited with being a retaining wall for one of the disappeared temples – is a place of worship for Jews.

But under that same Jewish rabbinical tradition, the plaza where Al-Aqsa is sited is strictly off-limits to Jews. The idea of Al-Aqsa complex as being “contested” is purely an invention of the Israeli state — now backed by a few extremist settler rabbis — that exploits this supposed “dispute” as the pretext to assert Jewish sovereignty over a critically important piece of occupied Palestinian territory.

Israel’s goal — not Judaism’s — is to strip Palestinians of their most cherished national symbol, the foundation of their religious and emotional attachment to the land of their ancestors, and transfer that symbol to a state claiming to exclusively represent the Jewish people.

To call Al-Aqsa a “contested holy site”, as the BBC does, is simply to repeat a propaganda talking point from Israel, the oppressor state, and dress it up as neutral reporting.

‘Equal rights’ at Al-Aqsa
The reality is that there would have been no “clashes”, no “eruption” and no “contest” had Israeli police not chosen to storm Al-Aqsa while Palestinians were worshipping there during the holiest time of the year.

This is not a ‘clash’. It is not a ‘conflict’. Those supposedly ‘neutral’ terms conceal what is really happening: apartheid and ethnic cleansing

There would have been no “clashes” were Israeli police not aggressively enforcing a permanent occupation of Palestinian land in Jerusalem, which has encroached ever more firmly on Muslim access to, and control over, the mosque complex.

There would have been no “clashes” were Israeli police not taking orders from the latest – and most extreme – of a series of police ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir, who does not even bother to hide his view that Al-Aqsa must be under absolute Jewish sovereignty.

There would have been no “clashes” had Israeli police not been actively assisting Jewish religious settlers and bigots to create facts on the ground over many years — facts to bolster an evolving Israeli political agenda that seeks “equal rights” at Al-Aqsa for Jewish extremists, modelled on a similar takeover by settlers of the historic Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

And there would have been no “clashes” if Palestinians were not fully aware that, over many years, a tiny, fringe Jewish settler movement plotting to blow up Al-Aqsa Mosque to build a Third Temple in its place has steadily grown, flourishing under the sponsorship of Israeli politicians and ever more sympathetic Israeli media coverage.

Cover story for violence
Along with the Israeli army, the paramilitary Israeli police are the main vehicle for the violent subjugation of Palestinians, as the Israeli state and its settler emissaries dispossess Palestinians, driving them into ever smaller enclaves.

This is not a “clash”. It is not a “conflict”. Those supposedly “neutral” terms conceal what is really happening: apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Just as there is a consistent, discernible pattern to Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, there is a parallel, discernible pattern in the Western media’s misleading reporting on Israel and Palestine.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are being systematically dispossessed by Israel of their homes and farmlands so they can be herded into overcrowded, resource-starved cities.

Palestinians in Gaza have been dispossessed of their access to the outside world, and even to other Palestinians, by an Israeli siege that encages them in an overcrowded, resourced-starved coastal enclave.

And in the Old City of Jerusalem, Palestinians are being progressively dispossessed by Israel of access to, and control over, their central religious resource: Al-Aqsa Mosque. Their strongest source of religious and emotional attachment to Jerusalem is being actively stolen from them.

To describe as “clashes” any of these violent state processes — carefully calibrated by Israel so they can be rationalised to outsiders as a “security response” — is to commit the very journalistic sin Tutu warned of. In fact, it is not just to side with the oppressor, but to intensify the oppression; to help provide the cover story for it.

That point was made this week by Francesca Albanese, the UN expert on Israel’s occupation. She noted in a tweet about the BBC’s reporting of the Al-Aqsa violence: “Misleading media coverage contributes to enabling Israel’s unchecked occupation & must also be condemned/accounted for.”

Bad journalism
There can be reasons for bad journalism. Reporters are human and make mistakes, and they can use language unthinkingly, especially when they are under pressure or events are unexpected.

It is an editorial choice that keeps the BBC skewing its reporting in the same direction: making Israel look like a judicious actor pursuing lawful, rational goals

But that is not the problem faced by those covering Israel and Palestine. Events can be fast-moving, but they are rarely new or unpredictable. The reporter’s task should be to explain and clarify the changing forms of the same, endlessly repeating central story: of Israel’s ongoing dispossession and oppression of Palestinians, and of Palestinian resistance.

The challenge is to make sense of Israel’s variations on a theme, whether it is dispossessing Palestinians through illegal settlement-building and expansion; army-backed settler attacks; building walls and cages for Palestinians; arbitrary arrests and night raids; the murder of Palestinians, including children and prominent figures; house demolitions; resource theft; humiliation; fostering a sense of hopelessness; or desecrating holy sites.

No one, least of all BBC reporters, should have been taken by surprise by this week’s events at Al-Aqsa.

The Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, when Al-Aqsa is at the heart of Islamic observance for Palestinians, coincided this year with the Jewish Passover holiday, as it did last year.

Passover is when Jewish religious extremists hope to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex to make animal sacrifices, recreating some imagined golden age in Judaism. Those extremists tried again this year, as they do every year — except this year, they had a police minister in Ben Gvir, leader of the fascist Jewish Power party, who is privately sympathetic to their cause.

Violent settler and army attacks on Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank, especially during the autumn olive harvest, are a staple of news reporting from the region, as is the intermittent bombing of Gaza or snipers shooting Palestinians protesting their mass incarceration by Israel.

It is an endless series of repetitions that the BBC has had decades to make sense of and find better ways to report.

It is not journalistic error or failure that is the problem. It is an editorial choice that keeps the British state broadcaster skewing its reporting in the same direction: making Israel look like a judicious actor pursuing lawful, rational goals, while Palestinian resistance is presented as tantrum-like behaviour, driven by uncontrollable, unintelligible urges that reflect hostility towards Jews rather than towards an oppressor Israeli state.

Tail of a mouse
Archbishop Tutu expanded on his point about siding with the oppressor. He added: “If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

This week, a conversation between Ben Gvir, the far-right, virulently anti-Arab police minister, and his police chief, Kobi Shabtai, was leaked to Israel’s Channel 12 News. Shabtai reportedly told Ben Gvir about his theory of the “Arab mind”, noting: “They murder each other. It’s in their nature. That’s the mentality of the Arabs.”

This conclusion — convenient for a police force that has abjectly failed to solve crimes within Palestinian communities — implies that the Arab mind is so deranged, so bloodthirsty, that brutal repression of the kind seen at Al-Aqsa is all police can do to keep a bare minimum of control.

Ben Gvir, meanwhile, believes a new “national guard” — a private militia he was recently promised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — can help him to crush Palestinian resistance. Settler street thugs, his political allies, will finally be able to put on uniforms and have official licence for their anti-Arab violence.

This is the real context — the one that cannot be acknowledged by the BBC or other Western outlets — for the police storming of Al-Aqsa complex this week. It is the same context underpinning settlement expansion, night raids, checkpoints, the siege of Gaza, the murder of Palestinian journalists, and much, much more.

Jewish supremacism undergirds every Israeli state action towards Palestinians, tacitly approved by Western states and their media in the service of advancing Western colonialism in the oil-rich Middle East.

The BBC’s coverage this week, as in previous months and years, was not neutral, or even accurate. It was, as Tutu warned, a confidence trick — one meant to lull audiences into accepting Israeli violence as always justified, and Palestinian resistance as always abhorrent.

Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His website and blog can be found at www.jonathan-cook.net. This article was first published at Middle East Eye and is republished with the permission of the author.

Words matter when telling the story of West Papua’s continuing struggle for independence.

Recently, New Zealand media carried reports of the kidnapping of a New Zealand pilot by a militant West Papuan group allied to the independence struggle.

Phillip Mehrtens, a pilot for Susi Air, was abducted by independence fighters from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, at a remote highlands airstrip on February 7.

• READ MORE: Indonesian security forces attack West Papuan rebels holding NZ pilot
• Other NZ pilot hostage reports

He is still a hostage in spite of an attack by Indonesian forces on his kidnappers last week.

Unfortunately, the language used by mainstream media reports has been falling into line with Indonesian government depictions of the Free Papua Movement.

While The Guardian and Al Jazeera referred to them as “independence fighters,” they also used the term rebels.

So did RNZ and Reuters, which also used the word “separatists”. “Independence fighters” or “freedom fighters” should have been the preferred terms.

We do not condone violent action, but the West Papuans are fighting for their freedom from decades of brutal Indonesian occupation. They deserve recognition for what they are, not what Indonesia deems them to be.

Dr Philip Cass is convenor of the Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission in Auckland and editor of Whāia te Tika newsletter.

An increased appetite to learn te reo Māori among members and staff from different parts of the Parliamentary system means the work of Parliament’s Māori Language Service is in demand more than ever.

Compared to several years ago there’s now also significantly more acknowledgement of and referral to Māori customs and protocols at Parliament. This is part of the reason why Nga Ratonga Reo Māori recently changed its name to Nga Ratonga Ao Māori, opening up the service’s scope to more than just the language.

“We’re asked for advice on a lot of things — very often — a few a day, several a week, from all parts of the Parliamentary Service and the Office of the Clerk, and they could be reo related, marae related, tikanga related, etc,” says Maika Te Amo, the man who heads the five-person unit.

“I still see my main role as supporting the House with Māori language services, primarily simultaneous interpretation of all sittings of the House and also sittings of the Māori Affairs Select Committee, at every sitting, but also any other committee that requests simultaneous interpretation.

“The other thing is translation — and that can be anything from communications through the Parliamentary Engagement team that go out on the website or the social media channels. A heavy part of our load comes from the Māori Affairs Select Committee — all of their reports are bilingual, so we translate all of those as well.”

From 1868 until 1920 Parliament had interpreters in the House. Then, for most of last century, Parliament didn’t even employ an interpreter to support MPs who spoke in Māori.

It wasn’t until this century, with the reintroduction of interpreters and Māori language services, that te reo began to flow significantly in the chamber again.

People who follow the action in the debating chamber these days will be familiar with numerous MPs fluently using te reo in speeches. If you’re watching the debate on Parliament TV you may see other MPs listening-in via an earpiece.

That is made possible because of simultaneous interpretation by Te Amo and his colleagues.

It is not only Māori MPs who use te reo in the chamber. Many MPs regularly pepper their speeches with the language, or use Māori for all their formal phrasings (e.g. asking for a supplementary question during Question Time).

Furthermore, Te Amo says there is a lot of interest in using the language among staff of the Parliamentary Service and the Office of the Clerk.

There’s also ample evidence that Māori language and practices are being used throughout the Parliamentary system. In the annual reviews where government agencies front before various select committees to give a report on how their year has gone, their representatives often introduce themselves and give closing statements in te reo.

“There is an enormous hunger among our colleagues for the language and everything associated with the language, tikanga and traditional practices, traditional perspectives, metaphors, that kind of thing, and that is very encouraging,” says Te Amo.

“We’re a small team, so we will continue to do our best to support our colleagues with various different learning opportunities.”

Pacific challenge
The struggle to preserve Indigenous language and promote its use in Parliament is an acute challenge in the Pacific Islands.

This much was clear when Maika Te Amo gave the keynote speech at the Australasian and Pacific Hansard Editors Association conference at New Zealand’s Parliament in January. His speech left an impression on other delegates such as Papaterai William, the subeditor of debates in the Cook Islands.

“One statement I enjoyed when Maika was talking says ‘if the language is no more, the Māori people are no more’. Now I can actually rephrase that our Cook Islands people ‘if the language is no more, the Cook Islands Māori are no more’,” he said.

“Nowadays people are speaking English, and not many people are speaking our language, which is the Cook Islands Māori. We’re talking about a language that will fade in the future.

“That is one thing that we are wanting to retain to make sure that it is maintained properly, that it is taught properly, because language revitalisation I believe is important going forward for our Hansard department.”

William tipped his hat to Tonga where in Parliament, unlike in the Cook Islands, proceedings are captured strictly in the Indigenous language, which he said helped keep the language alive for future generations.

Tonga’s Hansard editor, Susanna Heti Lui, was also at the conference, where she explained that the Kingdom’s Parliament felt the need to preserve and revive their Tongan language.

“Our language is the official language that is used in Parliament. That is compared to the government, it uses English as the official language used in the workplace,” she said.

Language must be active to stay alive
Te Amo points out that informal settings at Parliament are also opportunities for growth in the use of te reo, “where people can just bring whatever reo they’ve got and just speak that”.

“What I also hear a lot from members is that they’d also like to increase their knowledge and fluency in the language, and it’s very difficult to find ways of doing that which fit with their schedules which are absolutely hectic of course.

“One thing I’d love to see is members in particular being more comfortable with using their reo in the cafeteria or when you’re breezing through the halls,” he said.

“The only other things really is I wish our team of five was a team of 50 so we could offer to our colleagues everything that they’re asking for, as opposed to having to prioritise.”

RNZ’s The House — parliamentary legislation, issues and insights — is made with funding from Parliament. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Radio Australia was conceived at the beginning of the Second World War out of Canberra’s desire to counter Japanese propaganda in the Pacific. More than 70 years later its rebirth is being driven by a similarly urgent need to counter propaganda, this time from China.

Set up within the towering framework of the ABC, Radio Australia was, and remains, an institution with a lively multilingual culture of its own. Sometimes it has thrived and sometimes, especially in recent decades, it has struggled as political priorities and media fashions waxed and waned within the ABC and the wider world.

Phil Kafcaloudes, an accomplished journalist, author and media educator who hosted Radio Australia’s popular breakfast show for nine years, was commissioned by the ABC to write the service’s story for the corporation’s 90th-anniversary celebrations. The result is a nicely illustrated and comprehensively footnoted new book, Australia Calling: The ABC Radio Australia Story, which uses the original name of the service for its title. (With appropriate good manners, Kafcaloudes acknowledges previous accounts of the Radio Australia story, by Peter Lucas in 1964 and Errol Hodge in 1995.)

The overseas service’s nadir came in 2014 after the election of the Abbott government. At the time, Inside Story’s Pacific correspondent Nic Maclellan described in devastating detail the impact in the region of the eighty redundancies brought on by the government’s decision to remove the Australia Network, a kind of TV counterpart to Radio Australia, from the ABC. The network had controversially been merged with key elements of Radio Australia to create ABC International.

Among the casualties was the legendary ABC broadcaster Sean Dorney, known and loved throughout the Pacific. Programmes for Asia were axed, as was much specialist Pacific reporting, with English-language coverage to be sourced from the ABC’s general news department.

The ABC’s full-time team in the Pacific was reduced to a journalist in Port Moresby and another (if it counts) in New Zealand. Australia’s newspapers had already withdrawn their correspondents from the region, and online-only media hadn’t filled the gap. Where once, in 1948, Radio Australia had helped beam a signal to the moon, the countries of our own region now seemed even more remote.

Despite the steady erosion of the service over decades, though, Kafcaloudes’s book has a happy ending of sorts. Its final chapter, titled “Rebirth: Pivoting to the Pacific,” tells how Radio Australia benefited from the Morrison government’s “Pacific Step-Up,” launched in response to China’s campaign to build regional connections. Steps to rebuild Radio Australia’s capacities have since been enhanced by substantial new funding from the Albanese government.

Placing listeners at scene
When current affairs radio is at its most effective, it places listeners at the scene. Kafcaloudes tells of being on air when a listener in Timor-Leste called to tell of an assassination attempt on José Ramos-Horta and Xanana Gusmão.

“Radio Australia instantly changed its scheduling to broadcast live for three hours so locals would know whether their leaders were still alive.”

But, as Kafcaloudes explains, “for all the good work, global connections and breaking news stories, the truth is, for many Australian politicians there was little electoral capacity in a service that a domestic audience did not hear.” Thus the abrupt funding reverses and the constant tinkering.

Former ABC journalist and manager Geoff Heriot describes how, during a challenging phase for the ABC about 25 years ago, managing director Brian Johns’s desire to defend the ABC meant that, “if necessary, you could cut off limbs.” And Radio Australia was the limb that often seemed most remote from the core.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Kafcaloudes says, the service “was often at or near the top of the polls as the world’s best.” Many listeners, especially in China and elsewhere in East Asia, testified to having learned English from listening to Radio Australia.

Its popularity in Asia and the Pacific was boosted by the fact that it broadcast from a similar time zone, which meant its morning shows, for instance, were heard during listeners’ mornings. In 1968 alone, the station received 250,000 letters from people tuning in around the region.

For decades, broadcasts were via shortwave, the only way of covering vast distances at the time. But the ABC turned off that medium for good in 2017, so Radio Australia now communicates via 24-hour FM stations across the Pacific and via satellite, live stream, on-demand audio, podcasts, the ABC Listen app, and Facebook and Twitter.

New audiences emerging
With new audiences emerging in different places, the geography of Radio Australia’s languages have changed too. As the use of French in the former colonies in Indochina declined, for instance, new French-speaking audiences developed in the Pacific colonies of New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

One of the continuities of Radio Australia is the quality and connectedness of its broadcasters. Most of them come from the countries to which they broadcast, and together they have evolved into a remarkable cadre who could and should be invited by policymakers and diplomats to help Australia steer and deepen its relations with our neighbours.

Kafcaloudes rightly stresses the importance of that first prewar step, when Robert Menzies, “a man who believed he was British to the bootstraps, despite being born and bred in country Victoria,” decided “Australians needed to speak to the world with their own voice.”

How best to do this has frequently been disputed. In a 1962 ministerial briefing, the Department of External Affairs argued that Radio Australia’s broadcasts “should not be noticeably at variance with the broad objectives of Australian foreign policy” — an instruction that John Gorton, the relevant minister, declined to issue publicly.

Tensions have inevitably resulted from the desire of the service’s funder, the federal government, to see its own policies and perceptions prioritised. Resisting such pressure has required greater stamina and skill at Radio Australia than at the ABC’s domestic services, which can count more readily on influential defenders.

Kafcaloudes says it was Mark Scott, who headed the ABC a dozen years ago, who linked Radio Australia with American academic/diplomat Joseph Nye’s idea of “soft power.” Then and now, this was a seductive phrase for politicians. It also became a familiar part of the case for restoring, consolidating or increasing funding, while underlining the familiar, nagging challenge for the station’s “content providers” of choosing between projecting that kind of power on Canberra’s behalf and dealing with stories that might well be perceived as “negative” for the Australian government.

Of course, the conventional public-interest answer to that dilemma is that fearless journalism is itself the ultimate expression of soft power by an open, democratic polity. But not everyone sees it that way.

Public broadcasting ethos
The public broadcasting ethos of the station’s internationally sourced staff has meanwhile stayed impressively intact. Kafcaloudes introduces one of them at the end of each chapter, letting them speak directly of how they came to arrive at Radio Australia and their experiences working there.

Running Radio Australia has been complicated for decades by its being bundled, unbundled and bundled again with television services that have sometimes been run by the ABC and sometimes by commercial stations. Technologies have of course become fluid in recent years, freeing content from former constraints. So too has the badging — the service is now “ABC Radio Australia,” which morphs online into “ABC Pacific.”

Radio Australia continues to broadcast in Mandarin, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Khmer, French, Burmese and Tok Pisin (the Melanesian pidgin language spoken widely in PNG and readily understood in Vanuatu and, slightly less so, in Solomon Islands), as well as in English.

Dedicated, high-quality journalism remains the core constant of an institution whose story, chronicled so well by Kafcaloudes, parallels in many ways Australia’s on-again, off-again, on-again engagement with our region.

• Australia Calling: The ABC Radio Australia Story, By Phil Kafcaloudes, ABC Books, 224 pages. ISBN: 9780646852430. This review was first published by Inside Story and is republished on Asia Pacific Report with permission and in collaboration with Pacific Journalism Review.

Twenty four Pacific peoples have been recognised in the 2023 New Year’s honours.

A former Premier of Niue, Young Vivian, leads the list of distinguished Pacific peoples in the list.

Vivian has been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to Niue.

• READ MORE: The full NZ New Year honours list

Fiji-born Dr Api Talemaitoga, a familiar face to Pacific communities during the height of covid-19 in Aotearoa, has been acknowledged for his decades of service in the medical sector.

The first Pacific priest ordained in Rome in 1990, Father Paulo Filoialii of Samoa, has been recognised for services to the Pacific community.

Also on the honours list is Lisa Taouma, the producer and director of Coconet TV, the largest pool of Pacific content on screen in New Zealand.

And the lead singer of the popular band Ardijah, Betty-Anne Monga, has been recognised for services to music.

‘Better things will come’: Niue’s Young Vivian
Young Vivian started his career as a teacher in New Zealand.

He went to a British school based on an English system. He failed English and was told to leave because enrolments were backed up.

He said he “begged the education officer” to stay so he was sent to Northland College and was “very happy” there.

Community members say he has been instrumental in fostering a love for Vagahau Niue, or Niue language, as a respected elder.

Speaking to RNZ Pacific reporter Lydia Lewis in 2022, at the launch of the Niue language app in Auckland, Vivian said:

“A language is a key to your culture and your tradition. It gives you that spiritual strength of who you are and you are able to face the world,” he said.

“That’s very, very important to a small nation like Niue who has a population of only 2500 people, but here in Australia and New Zealand it’s 80,000.”

When he went home to Niue, he was “dissatisfied”.

“I want to be fully independent, but I could see signs that people were not acceptable to that so I gave up, only then we can be real Niueans,” Vivian said.

His message to Pacific leaders is to believe in themselves.

“They must depend on themselves and God, they have everything in their homes, they need guts, stickability and determination, small as they are, they can stand up to it.”

He encourages the next generation to go back to basics.

“You have to depend on literally what you’ve got,” he said.

‘Profound privilege’: Dr Api
Dr Api Talemaitoga has been acknowledged for his decades-long work in the medical sector.

“I see it as a profound privilege, I have this knowledge about health and I find it a real pleasure to do it.”

More than three decades in the job after graduating in 1986, he has a deep sense of pride for the next generation.

“I was really fortunate to be given the opportunity to give the graduation address at the University of Otago for medical students,” he said.

“To see the highest number of Pasifika medical students walk across the stage was really emotional.

“I can happily retire now that I see this new generation of young people, enthusiastic, bright, diverse and they are the ones that will carry on the load in the future.”

Dr Talemaitoga always has a smile on his face and an infectious laugh, he is incredibly hard to get hold of because he is always helping his patients.

When asked how he keeps his charisma day in day out, he said:

“I am not superhuman, some days are just dreadful and you come home feeling really disillusioned and what’s the point of all of this when you see three or four people in a row heading for dialysis,” he said.

“Then you have days where you make a difference to one person out of the 25 or 30 you see that day.

“They feel really encouraged that you’ve been able for the first time to explain their condition to them … you can’t put it in words, it’s such an amazing feeling.”

‘This is for you, not me’: Father Paulo
The first Pacific Priest ordained in Rome in 1990 – Father Paulo Sagato Filoialii is dedicating his medal to the community he has served for decades, that has in turn backed him.

“I want to offer this medal for the Pacific Island people, this is for you, not for me. This medal I will receive is for all of you and I thank you all for your prayers, for your love and your support, God bless you all,” he said.

Father Paulo has contributed his time to the Catholic community in Christchurch and Ashburton.

Upon Father Filoialii being ordained, the Samoan Mass was performed for the first time in the Vatican, resulting in Pope John Paul II decreeing that the Samoan Mass can now be performed anywhere in the world.

‘Proud’: The Coconet TV’s Lisa Taouma
Pioneering Pasifika producer and director Lisa Taouma paved the way for Pacific peoples in media.

She created the ground-breaking site The Coconet TV which is the largest pool of Pacific content on screen in Aotearoa.

On top of that she made the Polyfest series, the long-standing Pacific youth series Fresh, five award-winning documentaries, the feature film Teine Sa and two short films.

Taouma believes you are only as good as the people you bring through.

“I’m proud of having brought Pacific stories to the fore around the world, I am proud of having brought Pacific people with me into that space, that is what I am most proud of,” She said.

Taouma said it was awesome that more indigenous people were being recognised globally.

While she is humbled to receive the honour, she admits not accepting it crossed her mind.

“I felt quite conflicted at the start, you know there are problems with the idea of empire and how Pacific people have been treated under the history of the British Empire,” she said.

“At the same time, it is really important to stand in this space as a Pacific woman and to have more Pacific people recognised by the Crown if you like.

“This is a system that is hopefully more reflective of Aotearoa and where we stand now.”

‘I never looked back’: Sully Paea
Niuean youth-worker Sully Paea has dedicated his life to working with youth, founding the East Tamaki Youth and Resource Centre between the late 1970s and 1986.

Paea said he was lost. He battled alcoholism and pushed through a diagnosis of depression. He had a violent criminal career until he met his wife which changed him completely.

He has dedicated his life to working with youth, founding the East Tamaki Youth and Resource Centre between the late 1970s and 1986.

After 40 years serving the community, he has never looked back

‘We’re getting there as people’: Tafilau Nina Kirifi-Alai
Tafilau Nina Kirifi-Alai has been honoured for her great services to Pacific Development.

Kirifi-Alai has been the Pacific manager of Otago University for more than 20 years.

She has assisted scholarships of Pacific students and has led developments for the University of Otago to support Pacific tertiary institutions in the region.

“Seeing Pasifika communities graduating from university has been rewarding,” she said.

“To see all those colours in the garments and all those families and all that, was like oh yeah we are getting there, we’re getting there as a people. This is why we left our homes to seek greater opportunities, education wise and work wise, and I actually believe that education is the key.”

‘Knowing your culture, knowing your roots’: Rosanna Raymond
Activism is what paved the road for multidisciplinary artist and curator Rosanna Raymond.

Her work has taken her to China, Australia and Britain, where she has built an awareness of Pacific art and fashion.

She draws on her strong cultural bond to artefacts that were taken from their original land and are now displayed in museums throughout the world.

She made a huge written contribution by co-publishing Pasifika Styles: Artists inside the Museum in 2008 and was Honorary Research Associate at the Department of Anthropology and Institute of Archaeology at University College, London.

She said moving forward whilst staying true to several of her roots was what led her to where she was today.

The full list of Pasifika in the New Year’s Honours list are:

To be Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
The honourable Mititaiagimene Young Vivian, former Premier of Niue – For services to Niue.

To be Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
Nathan Edward Fa’avae – For services to adventure racing, outdoor education and the Pacific community

David Rodney Fane – For services to the performing arts

Dr Apisalome Sikaidoka Talemaitoga – For services to health and the Pacific community

Lisa-Jane Taouma – For services to Pacific arts and the screen industry

To be Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
Father Paulo Sagato Filoialii – For services to the Pacific community

Sefita ‘Alofi Hao’uli – For services to Tongan and Pacific communities

Lakiloko Tepae Keakea – For services to Tuvaluan art

Marilyn Rhonda Kohlhase – For services to Pacific arts and education

Felorini Ruta McKenzie – For services to Pacific education

Betty-Anne Maryrose Monga – For services to music

Sullivan Luao Paea – For services to youth

Rosanna Marie Raymond – For services to Pacific art

The Queen’s Service Medal:
Kinaua Bauriri Ewels – For services to the Kiribati community

Galumalemana Fetaiaimauso Marion Galumalemana – For services to the Pacific community

Hana Melania Halalele – For services to Pacific health

Teurukura Tia Kekena – For services to the Cook Islands and Pacific communities

Nanai Pati Muaau – For services to Pacific health

Lomia Kaipati Semaia Naniseni – For services to the Tokelau community

Ma’a Brian Sagala – For services to Pacific communities

Mamaitaloa Sagapolutele – For services to education and the Pacific community

Honorary:
Tofilau Nina Kirifi-Alai – For services to education and the Pacific community

Tuifa’asisina Kasileta Maria Lafaele – For services to Pacific health

Nemai Divuluki Vucago – For services to Fijian and Pacific communities

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

A ni-Vanuatu and Melanesian advocate in New Zealand says the country’s Pacific ministry has overlooked Melanesian communities in its language strategy.

In an opinion piece in E-Tagata, Leina Isno said from the consultation to the launch the 10-year Pacific Languages Strategy was a “major cultural blunder’.

The government’s Pacific Languages Strategy, launched in September, has lacked input from other Melanesian groups except Fiji.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC: Leino Isno on Melanesian languages
• Other Melanesian language and culture reports

Isno said she understood that bigger Pacific groups such as Tonga and Samoa had been the pioneers of language revitalisation in New Zealand, but said the ministry needed to be across all Pacific groups.

“I feel that despite the strategy being comprehensive and really well laid out, I felt that it was lacking in diversity,” she said.

“When you talk about the Pacific, you talk about the real true representation of what the sub-regions mean and so in a document as such you need to include the other sub-regions so that it’s a true representation of the document.”

There are nine Pacific languages identified in the strategy with three key objectives, one of them being to recognise the value of Pacific languages across Aotearoa.

However, West Papuan advocate and student Laurens Ikinia said the strategy only seemed to value the Pacific languages that were most spoken.

“One of the arguments is that it focuses on the numbers of speakers of the language who are currently living in Aotearoa New Zealand but as a Pacific islander you cannot ignore other fanau,” he said.

Government supports Melanesian communities, says minister
However, Minister Aupito William Sio said the Ministry for Pacific Peoples (MPP) had given more than NZ$260,000 to the Melanesian communities to support their language initiatives.

He added that it was the first time the government had delivered such a strategy and that all Pacific communities should refer to it to determine what actions they needed to take before they approached the ministry.

“It’s no good standing outside the tent and throwing stones – you’ve got to engage and now with the Pacific languages strategy you have the opportunity, develop your actions, engage with the Ministry for Pacific Peoples so that the ministry can continue to fund the initiatives that they see as important for their communities.”

Isno said it was the ministry’s responsibility to understand the communities needs.

“The minister had mentioned that the communities need to organise ourselves better,” she said.

“There has been the lack of the ministry recognising the needs of smaller communities to work better with them by providing key focus people so we can better our relationship.”

• The nine Pacific languages recognised in New Zealand are Cook Islands Māori, Fijian, Kiribati, Niuean, Rotuman, Samoan, Tokelauan, Tongan and Tuvaluan.

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

Concerns are being raised about the future survival of the iTaukei (Fijian) language as a threat of extinction looms despite its everyday use among its people.

A language and culture scholar in Fiji, Dr Paul Geraghty, said a growing generational gap within the iTaukei language had been detected and caused concern.

Dr Geraghty said the extent of knowledge of iTaukei vocabulary and its diversity through the different dialects had reduced significantly over the years.

• READ MORE:  The origins of the Fijian language – Dr Paul Geraghty
• Other Pacific language reports

“Young people of today, especially in urban areas, do not speak as well as their parents or grandparents. They don’t have the same vocabulary knowledge, so that is something to be concerned about,” he said.

“People are losing their distinctiveness. The language is becoming what I would call standard Fijian or Fijian of the urban centres.”

Dr Geraghty added that the loss of richness within the iTaukei language was rooted in Fiji’s long colonial history.

“The peculiar colonial history that we have is to a large extent to blame not only for the loss of indigenous languages in Fiji or the reduction of the knowledge of Fijian language but also perceptions are an essential thing.”

New Zealand’s influence on Fijian education
Dr Geraghty explained that until 1930 all education was in the vernacular, either iTaukei, Hindi (Fiji’s second largest spoken language) or Rotuman, until it was no longer sustainable and colonial law makers began to look to the region for assistance.

“The New Zealand government began teaching in Fiji, and its education system was not inclusive towards teaching Māori, which is not the case today. But that culture was brought across to Fiji and children were punished for speaking in their native languages.”

The lasting impacts of this event were still actively practised in Fiji, added Dr Geraghty.

“We look up to English as a superior language and make jokes about people who don’t speak English well. That is not funny — English people don’t make jokes about people who can’t speak French. The most important thing in a child’s education is learning to speak their language well.”

Dr Geraghty has advocated the importance of incorporating native language into the education system as a scholar of language.

History has always been a leading guide to the future, and learning not to repeat the past, is what linguists advise.

Importance of sustaining iTaukei language
Dr Geraghty said that multilingualism was vital for a child’s education as it stimulated the mind and opened many other possibilities.

“Bilingualism and multilingualism — speaking two or more languages should be encouraged as it will increase the beauty of diversity in the world and our knowledge of this world and our position in it.”

A call for the Fijian Ministry of Education to act now and implement the compulsory learning of iTaukei and Hindi in schools was paramount.

Dr Geraghty added while the Fijian government and universities had started incorporating vernacular into the curriculum, more needed to be done.

Fijian Language Week celebration

The Fijian community has launched a week-long celebration of the Fijian language, traditions and culture with events across Aotearoa.

The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, marked Macawa ni Vosa Vakaviti — Fijian Language Week, welcoming this year’s theme of nurture, preserve and sustain the Fijian language.

Aupito acknowledged the enduring strength and sustainability of Vosa Vakaviti and its importance as the Fijian community navigated its recovery from the covid-19 pandemic.

“Fiji has been hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic and climate change’s ever-increasing impacts,” he said.

“Yet, while it faces a road to recovery, the Fijian people can always rely on their language, traditions and values to sustain them.

“Now more than ever, the Fiji language, culture, and identity is important to uphold both in Aotearoa and Fiji.”

Aupito said the Fijian community in Aotearoa, New Zealand, should be applauded for their tireless efforts in advocating for and strengthening Vosa Vakaviti.

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

Two radio stations linked to the French Pacific’s decolonisation movements want to co-operate to lift the use of indigenous languages.

The heads of Radio Tefana in French Polynesia and Radio Djiido in New Caledonia said this was in line with the United Nations declaring the next 10 years as the decade of vernacular languages.

Tahiti Nui TV quoted a member of Radio Djiido, Kengy Wiwale-Hauata, saying New Caledonia had 30 local languages and they were all honoured on the radio every day.

• READ MORE: Temaru hits back over probe in pro-independence Radio Tefana case

The two stations plan to expand co-operation in the region, considering partnerships with Wallis and Futuna, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji.

The two stations were set up in the 1980s when the pro-independence movements were led by Oscar Temaru and the late Jean-Marie Tjibaou respectively. Both broadcast on the frequency 97.4FM.

Radio Tefana is threatened with closure because of a US$1 million fine imposed three years ago when Temaru, mayor of Faa’a and a former President of French Polynesia, was handed a suspended prison sentence over the station’s funding arrangement.

The conviction has been appealed but a hearing of the case has been deferred for a fifth time until next year.

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

Rachael Mario isn’t just any woman, she is special in that she hails from the idyllic South Pacific island of Rotuma.

And it is her love for social work which she hopes will propel her and her Roskill Community Voice and City Vision team onto the Mt Roskill board.

It is also the first time a Pasifika person has decided to stand for the Puketapapa Local Board in Mt Roskill, in the current Auckland local government elections that began today.

• READ MORE:  Mayoral debate cancelled after candidate withdraws from race
• Rotuman social justice advocate puts key bid for Roskill Community Voice

Having lived in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland for 33 years has given her a perspective on social justice and diversity for Auckland.

Much of that comes from time spent at the Whānau Community Hub in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill where her and her team do a sterling job in running different programmes for the good folk of Roskill.

For instance, every first Wednesday of the month they host a free seniors lunch, and it not just for Rotumans but for the diverse group of seniors who reside in Mt Roskill and who yearn for company and a “good old talanoa”.

Quite apart from that, Mario and her team would be out delivering groceries to the needy, or holding health and well-being, financial literacy and language classes for children.

Community doubles
That the community doubles as the Rotuman-Fijian Centre is a testament to her 30+ plus years of marriage to Auckland Fiji human rights advocate Nik Naidu and former journalist, who she met in Fiji when he was a budding radio personality at FM96 in Suva.

When you first meet Rachael Mario she greets you with big smile and utters charming Noa’ia (the Rotuman language greeting) and then she inquires about you with an inquisitive mind just to see how things are going for you.

As Mario explains, the Hub isn’t just for Rotumans but is used by a plethora of other groups, including the Moana-Pasifika Seniors. It is also home to the recently formed Asia-Pacific Media Network (APMN), which publishes the Pacific Journalism Review at the behest of founder Professor David Robie.

With such a diverse bunch using the Whānau Community Hub it is small wonder that Mario would branch out and try to incorporate more diversity in her already busy lifestyle.

That is why the chair of the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Inc. is now standing for her local Puketapapa Local Board in Mt Roskill.

But that has not been without social injustice challenges that her community has faced for many years.

Lack of language funding
Included in those is the housing crisis in Auckland but much closer to her heart was the lack of funding provided to Rotuman language programmes which was given a cold shoulder by local boards.

“The biggest challenge, which isn’t fair, is the discrimination against the Rotuman Community. The Ministry of Pacific Peoples choose to run a different language week against our community-led Rotuman language week programme,” she says.

Other issues she lists are climate change and the environment which she says are huge for Auckland and wider New Zealand.

What also occupies her mind is the city centre, economic and cultural development, better outcomes for Māori, wastewater and storm water, transport and parks and communities.

In a nutshell, Rachael Mario is all things to all communities.

Voting ends on October 8.

• Three fellow candidates from the Fiji Collective contesting the local body elections are: Anne DEGIA-PALA (C&R – Communities and Residents) –  Whau Local Board candidate
• Ilango KRISHNAMOORTHY (Labour) – Manurewa-Papakura Ward councillor & Manurewa Local Board candidate
  Vincent NAIDU (Labour) – Waitakere Licensing Trust – Ward 4 (Henderson) candidate

It has been a day of celebration and reflection for those who delivered the Māori Language petition exactly 50 years ago.

The day kicked off with a dawn ceremony at the National Library where mana whenua blessed an exhibition created in its honour.

The exhibition, named Tōku Reo, Tōku Ohooho – My Language Is My Awakening, included the petition itself, photos and videos.

• READ MORE: Other reports on te reo Māori

Te Reo Māori Society member Dr Rob Pouwhare felt a mixture of emotions at the exhibition, including joy at how far the language had come.

“Things have advanced so quickly, so much is happening and I’m so thrilled that our kids are connecting with the language. Not just our kids, I see many New Zealand kids, Pākehā kids also connecting with the language,” Pouwhare said.

Māori Language Festival director Mere Boynton said it had been an emotional process.

“It is such a significant time for us and the petition is really the kaupapa, it’s essential, it’s the ngako of this hui ahurei and that’s the reason why mana whenua asked for a hui ahurei so that there was taonga that people could see,” Boynton said.

Contrasting scenes
Come midday there were contrasting scenes to what unfolded on the steps of Parliament in 1972, when the group including Ngā Tamatoa, Te Reo Māori society and Te Huinga Rangatahi, led by kaumātua Rev Hemi Potatau and Te Ouenuku Rene, delivered the 33,000-strong signed petition to MPs.

They were the champions from across the motu calling for the revitalisation of te reo Māori — and it was key moment in the reclamation.

But today — 50 years on — tino rangatiratanga flags flew on the forecourt, te reo Māori was heard throughout the crowd as thousands came together to reflect and remember the battle fought for the language.

Many in the crowd included kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa students — and other students and members of the public from near and far, young and old.

Those gathered on the stage and just in front included members of that ope that arrived there half a century with a goal — a goal to keep te reo Māori alive.

There were others of course who were not there — like the late like Hana Te Hemara who spearheaded the petition and its message — and those rangatira who led them but they were top of mind for all attending.

When RNZ asked Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Raki Paewhenua year 11 students Marara and Kahurangi what they would think now, their response was, “I think they would be proud”.

‘Long way to go’
“But we still have a long way to go,”

That was a key sentiment of the day — reflecting on how far Aotearoa has come in 50 years but how far there still is to go in the revitalisation and now increase of the use of te reo Māori.

Rawiri Paratene, who stood with his daughter and Greens co-Leader Marama Davidson, was touched by the event.

“I’m proud to be part of it and great to see heaps of my mates and see them on the stage and they’re all fluent,” Paratene said.

Davidson said: “We’re all proud of my pāpā, my nana who was the generation who were traumatised to lose our reo and her love for her tamariki lives in us still.

“I’m proud that my dad was part of an amazing group of rangatahi. I can’t believe they were 18-17”.

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke — a descendent of Hana Te Hemara, who handed over the petition — also spoke at the event.

Half a century later she had picked up the rakau and spoke of the wins Māori have had since then.

“Māori Health Authority, Māori wards, Matariki, kura kaupapa, kōhanga reo, Te Matatini. We’re even decolonising our blankets and chocolate,” Maipi-Clarke said.

‘Are you ready’ plea
She ended by asking the audience if they were ready.

“I’ll leave the decision with you whether you want to jump on our waka or not, because with or without you we will sail in both worlds.

“We’ve come so far but we’ve got so long to go. Let’s see what we can do in the next 50 years.”

Māori Language Commissioner Rawinia Higgins said it was up to the next generation to carry on strengthening the language.

“As much as we take for granted today the language and all the initiatives that have come out of the language, I think there’s so much more to do and it’s the young people,” Higgins said.

“So the young people brought this petition to parliament, it’s the young people who are here today celebrating that and hopefully find inspiration from all those unsung heroes.”

Supporters of te reo had come so far in that time — and those signatures had not gone to waste, she said.

She was encouraging rangatahi to speak with their grandparents about their fight to keep the language going with hopes it would be even stronger in another 50 years.

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

Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga, or Tongan Language Week, is under way with schools and community groups organising events throughout the country.

According to Statistics New Zealand, there are more than 82,000 people of Tongan heritage living in New Zealand, and there are concerns about younger generations of Kiwi-Tongans losing their mother tongue.

“A lot of our kids unfortunately don’t grow up in households where Tongan is spoken as a first language, and this is one of the goals of language week is to encourage our young people to learn about our language, to learn about our culture”, said Jenny Salesa, a Labour MP of Tongan heritage.

• READ MORE: Other reports on Pacific language weeks

“The majority of our Tongan people here in Aotearoa now, are born and raised here. I think over 60 or 70 percent.”

Salesa, who helps organise the annual event, said she haD heard during her public consultations that many young Kiwi-Tongans complainED of an identity crisis, and said language weeks were a temporary relief for many young Pasifika who felt culturally marginalised.

“Some of them say they would just like to be acknowledged as a Tongan and not just during language weeks where we encourage and acknowledge Tongan in their school,” she said.

“They would like their identity and their language to be acknowledged throughout the whole year and not just within one week.”

The theme for this year’s Tongan Language Week is Ke Tu’uloa ‘a e lea faka-Tonga ‘i Aotearoa or “Sustaining the Tonga Language in Aotearoa”.

It’s unpoetic compared to highly metaphorical themes in previous years, but the message reflects the primary purpose behind the event.

“Sadly, only 12 percent of Tongans under 15 speak the language in New Zealand. That’s a decline of 9 percent since 2006,” said the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, who officially launched the week at Otahuhu College, Auckland.

“Language week is the ideal time to revitalise lea fakatonga, and embrace our Tongan brothers and sister culture, values and traditions,” he said.

Annual Pasifika language weeks have been in place in New Zealand since 2010, and have been promoted aggressively by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

‘Speaking the language of your heritage strengthens self confidence’
Singing and dancing have been key components of Tongan Language Week. Traditional Tongan dances have been performed by Tongan and non-Tongan students in school assemblies throughout the country.

Otahuhu College Tongan language teacher Tina Otunuku said traditional dances were performed by students at their school assembly on Tuesday. She said the cultural performances brought out the “mafana” or warmth of spirit.

“The highlight of the day was a performance from disabled and special needs children, and they did well. All the students joined in. We didn’t expect that to happen, it was incredible”, said Otunuku.

“Maintaining your lea fakatonga (Tongan) or Pacific language here in Aotearoa, helps you to value your culture and heritage which contributes to a positive self conscious. Knowing how to speak the language of your heritage, strengthens your self confidence.”

Otunuku said a common mistake made by immigrant parents in New Zealand was to discourage their immigrant children from speaking their native tongue in the belief it would improve their schooling.

“When students who are not yet fluent in English, switch to using English only, they are functioning at an intellectual level below their age. In this manner, it is likely to result in academic failure and this is what happens to a lot of Tongan students here.”

“You know students who learn English and continue to develop their mother tongue, have higher economic achievement in later years, than students who learn English at the expense of their native language.”

Tongan princess launching learning app
As part of the week, a Tongan language learning app is being launched at Parliament in Wellington on Saturday by Tongan Princess Angelika Lātūfuipeka.

Wellington Tongan Leaders Council President Taetuna’ula Tuinukuafe said the app is dedicated to teaching the Tongan language which will be made accessible worldwide.

Tuinukuafe said that while the app is intended for Tongan children who live overseas, it can be used by anyone who has an interest in learning the Tongan language.

“Our young people who are growing up here are not connected to our community and our culture. For the Tongan statistics more than half or 53 percent or so that are born here in New Zealand and they need to understand and learn the language and communicate with their fanau.”

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

On the 35th anniversary of te reo Māori becoming an official language, the Māori Language Commission is warning more work is needed to ensure its survival.

In 1987, a bill introduced by Koro Wetere was passed after years of campaigning — including the Māori language petition, the land marches and Ngā Tamatoa movements.

Until the late 1960s, the language was officially discouraged and tamariki faced corporal punishment for speaking their native tongue.

• READ MORE: Other Te Reo Māori reports

Broadcaster and educator Dr Haare Williams — on an RNZ panel about the language bill broadcast in 1986 — said it was crucial for the country that it survive.

“We should never underestimate the emotive power of the Māori language. The danger of loss is irretrievable and like the plague the danger is contagious,” Williams said.

“Should we lose the Māori language in this country, both Māori and Pākehā will be the losers and both will be guilty of allowing it to die.”

Thirty-five years later, Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori chief executive Ngahiwi Apanui is celebrating where te reo is at but also taking stock.

Demand for courses high
While demand for courses is through the roof and about 30 percent of people today consider themselves proficient in te reo Māori, it would still be classified as endangered.

Apanui said the goal of one million reo speakers by 2040 was still a long way off.

“Only 3000 teachers today to satisfy demand for kids going into Māori medium and for English medium, they need 30,000 teachers. So that kind of gives you an idea of the problem or the issue that we face,” Apanui said.

“The good thing is there’s unprecedented demand for te reo but the issue is what is the production line.”

That was evident in the disparities faced by the very language nests that are meant to help the reo flourish.

Kohanga and Kura Kaupapa were set up in the same wave in which Parliament acknowledged te reo Māori. But since their inception they have had to fight for funding, resources and acknowledgment.

Te Rūnanganui of Ngā Kura Kaupapa chair Rawiri Wright said if they were better resourced, successive governments would be closer to their own reo goals.

“There were more than 800 kōhanga reo, there are now 480 there or thereabouts and if Kura Kaupapa Māori had been properly and equitably resourced … we currently have 6500 students in kaupapa Māori but there should be closer to 10,000.”

inequities over the language
Wright said teaching the language runs deeper than just understanding what was being spoken.

“It’s not just about reo Māori, it’s about mātauranga Māori, tikangi Māori, Māori worldview, Māori face, belief, essence and just being Māori,” he said.

Ngahiwi Apanui said there were still inequities in accessing the language, and mainstream schools were important to addressing that.

“Not all Māori are in Māori medium … and often it’s socioeconomically related, if you look through South Auckland, for instance, you won’t find as many children coming out of families speaking te reo Māori as you would if you looked at the middle working class sector of society in Wellington,” Apanui said.

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

New Zealand’s Te Pāti Māori has handed over its petition — with 70,000 signatures — calling for the country to officially be named Aotearoa.

It is on our passports, on our money, and in our national anthem. But Aotearoa is not our official name, yet.

The petition was delivered to Parliament today. It calls to change the country’s official name to Aotearoa, and begin a process to restore te reo Māori names for all towns, cities, and places by 2026.

• READ MORE: Other te reo Māori reports

“Whether you’re for or against, the thing is everyone knows that Aotearoa is a legitimate name given to this country by Kupe — not by Governor Grey or any written book, this is well before any of those things,” Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said.

Te Reo fluency among Māori dropped from 90 percent in 1910 to 26 percent in 1950.

Today, just 20 percent of the Māori population speak it. That’s three percent of the whole country.

Waititi said the only way to restore the language was to make it visible in as many places as possible.

‘Pebble being dropped in the water’
“This is the pebble being dropped in the water, the initial pebble hitting the water. And what it’ll do, from now for many years to come, is those ripples will continue to get bigger and bigger.”

The petition now goes to a select committee, which will decide what to do next. Whether that was a bill or even a public referendum, it had already succeeded, Waititi said.

“It’s starting the dialogue, it’s building awareness. It has started a wananga across the country.”

National leader Christopher Luxon said changing the name was a constitutional issue.

“I think those are decisions for the New Zealand people, if there’s widespread support it should go to referendum and it should be a decision that they get to make. It’s not something the government makes,” he said.

But just last week Luxon posted a tribute in te reo Māori to kaumatua Joe Hawke, resulting in a tirade of anti-Māori remarks from National supporters.

Waititi brushed off any backlash the petition, and by extension he, received.

“If they’re getting their undies in a twist, that’s their undies, not my undies,” he said.

Time for a discussion
Government ministers said it was time for a discussion over changing the name, but were not actually committing to one.

“These things evolve over time, but it’s up to every New Zealander to be part of the debate,” Andrew Little said.

“I’m mindful that representatives from Ngāi Tahu have pointed out that Aotearoa tends to focus on the North Island, but that’s a debate that can rightly happen,” David Clark said.

Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall admitted she had not given it any thought.

“But I’m very comfortable having the country referred to as Aotearoa-New Zealand,” she said.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said it was not something the Labour caucus had discussed, while Michael Wood called for open-mindedness.

“I think any question like that needs to be worked through really carefully. It’s the name of our country, the identity of our country,” he said.

Labour’s Māori caucus divided
Labour’s Māori caucus was somewhat divided

“I think we should have a good conversation about it. I’ve personally got no problems with us using Aotearoa but it’s a question for the whole country,” Kelvin Davis said.

Minister of Māori Development Willie Jackson supported the use of Aotearoa, but said he had recently been travelling around the country, speaking to Māori communities, and changing the country’s name never came up.

“We have other kaupapa more important right now,” he said.

Peeni Henare believed the country was ready.

“I’m encouraging one and all to have a very mature debate over what I think is a pretty cool kaupapa,” he said.

Artist Hohepa Thompson, also known as Hori, backed the petition.

Hori’s Pledge response
Hori’s Pledge is a response to billboards popping up around the country saying “New Zealand, not Aotearoa”, funded by lobby group Hobson’s Pledge.

Thompson had been driving across Te Ika a Maui, with his own billboard in tow, to call for change.

He believed a hyphenated ‘Aotearoa-New Zealand’ would not go far enough.

“Māori have taken the backseat for many, many times. So when it comes to Aotearoa-New Zealand, let’s have this. Aotearoa, boom.”

The most positive conversations on his trip came from people who did not even know Pākehā history, he said.

“The only renaming that happened here was from that side. So we’re not trying to create ‘change’, were just re-instating what was already here.”

He pointed out a similar subject that took place recently.

Three years ago, some said a national holiday for Matariki would never happen. Later this month, it will be officially celebrated for the first time.

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

Celebrating Rotuman Language Week in Auckland’s Kingsland today took the form of colourful and thrilling cultural dances.

The dances were performed at the Trinity Methodist Church hall by members of the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group.

The group has sponsored a busy week of events, pleasing Rotuman community participants.

• READ MORE: ‘It’s never too late to reclaim this rich heritage’
• Rotuman Language Week
• Other Rotuman reports

The fellowship runs language classes in an effort to keep the culture alive.

Rotuman is listed as one of UNESCO’s endangered languages.

Rotuma is a Fijian-dependency island, but it is situated 500 km north of Suva and the island has its own distinct culture and language.

Less than 2000 Rotumans actually on Rotuma while about 10,000 live on the main islands of Fiji, and about 1000 live in Aotearoa New Zealand.

• The fellowship’s Rotuman Language Week programme

James “Jimmy” O’Dea (18 October 1935-27 November 2021) was a mighty activist, community organiser, family man, and working-class defender. He died in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland after a long, brave battle against prostate cancer. He was 86.

Friends, neighbours, and activists representing many historical struggles joined the O’Dea whanau at All Saints Chapel in Purewa Cemetery on December 4 for a celebration of Jimmy’s life.

Chapel orators narrated O’Dea’s life as a much-loved husband, father, grandfather, and uncle. Moreover, speakers gave rich, oral historical accounts of his service in the whakapapa of many struggles in Aotearoa and the world.

The speakers:
Kereama Pene:
Minister Kereama Pene of Ngati Whatua opened the service with a poignant reflection on O’Dea’s 62 years of service for Māori communities in Aotearoa. Pene spoke of Jimmy O’Dea’s close friendships with Whina Cooper and a generation of kuia and kaumatua who have all passed over. He said O’Dea attended many marae throughout the country over his long life.

Pat O’Dea:
His eldest son, Pat O’Dea, expanded upon Kereama Pene’s fine introductory comments. He spoke about his father arriving in Aotearoa in 1957. Patrick wove oral histories of his father’s long commitment to many struggles in Aotearoa.

Pat elaborated upon Jimmy O’Dea’s many years of work for Māori communities.

Pat O’Dea explained that his father first got involved in anti-racist activism for Māori in 1959 when Jimmy supported Dr Henry Bennett. This eminent doctor was refused a drink at the Papakura Hotel in South Auckland because he was Māori.

Pat O’Dea told stories concerning Jimmy O’Dea’s involvement in the Māori Land March of 1975.

The audience was told that Jimmy O’Dea drove the bus for the land march in 1975 — a bus Jimmy received from Ponsonby People’s Union leader Roger Fowler.

Pat O’Dea wove wonderful narratives concerning Jimmy’s role in the 1977 struggle at Takaparawhau (Bastion Point). He articulated rich oral histories regarding Jimmy’s close friendship with Takaparawhau leader Joe Hawke. Pat also spoke of the genesis of that struggle in his oration.

Pat O’Dea also spoke of his father’s long commitment to Moana (Pasifika) communities in Aotearoa. He told a wonderful story of how Jimmy O’Dea, and his Māori friend, Ann McDonald, both helped prevent a group of Tongan “overstayers” from being deported by NZ Police by boat during the Dawn Raids in the mid-1970s in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Narrating stories of his father’s long commitment to the CPNZ, the trade union movement, and the working class in Aotearoa, Pat O’Dea spoke of how Jimmy was hated by employers and union leaders alike because he always told the working-class people the truth!

Pat O’Dea narrated stories concerning Jimmy’s involvement in the anti-nuclear struggle in Aotearoa from 1962. Pat recounted the story of his father voyaging out into the ocean on a tin dinghy with outboard motor — protesting against the arrival of a US submarine making its way up Waitemata Harbour in 1979.

Pat also briefly addressed Jimmy’s long years of work with the Aotearoa front of the international struggle against Apartheid in South Africa.

Pat also highlighted Jimmy’s anti-racist labours as one landmark in his many contributions to activism.

Kevin O’Dea:
Jimmy’s son Kevin O’Dea joined the celebration by video link from Australia. He introduced the audience to his father as a wonderful family man who loved music and poetry. Kevin elaborated upon the aroha that conjoined Jimmy’s large, extended family. He read a poem for his father about the place of music in times of grief and healing.

Nanda Kumar:
Nanda Kumar spoke on behalf of Jimmy’s Indo-Fijian wife Sonya and the extended family. A niece of Sonya, Nanda talked of her Uncle Jimmy’s rich contributions to family life at Kupe Street in Takaparawhau.

Jimmy’s grandsons:
One of Pat O’Dea’s sons gave a profound mihi in te reo for his grandfather. He also read an Irish poem to honour Jimmy. This grandson said that the greatest lesson he learnt from his grandfather was that one should always defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Another of Jimmy’s grandsons gave a strong mihi. He told the story of travelling with his grandfather and learning how much Jimmy cared for people. This grandson performed a musical tribute for his grandfather on the flute.

Taiaha Hawke:
Taiaha Hawke of Ngati Whatua gave a noble oration concerning Takaparawhau. He informed guests of the close working relationship between his father Joe Hawke and Jimmy O’Dea as all three men fought for Takaparawhau in the middle 1970s. Taiaha told rich stories of the spirituality that underpinned that struggle — in words too precious to be recorded here. He affirmed his whanau’s commitment to working together with the O’Dea family on a project to honour Jimmy.

Alastair Crombie:
Alastair Crombie was Jimmy’s neighbour on Kupe Street, Takaparawhau, for 20 years. He told the audience of how he exchanged plates of food with the O’Dea’s — and how his empty plates were always returned heaped with wonderful Indian cooking from Sonya’s kitchen! Alistair shared stories of how his friendship with Jimmy transcended political differences.

Andy Gilhooly:
Jimmy’s friend Andy Gilhooly introduced the audience to James O’Dea’s early life in Ireland. He told the story of Jimmy’s early life of poverty as an orphan boy. Andy spoke of Jimmy’s natural brilliance in the Gaelic language at school: But Jimmy was unable to complete his schooling because of poverty. He talked of Jimmy’s love of the sea — and how O’Dea joined the Merchant Marine and sailed from Ireland to Australia and Aotearoa. Finally, Andy located Jimmy’s love for the oppressed in O’Dea’s Irish Catholic upbringing.

Stories about Jimmy after the funeral:
After the funeral, Roger Fowler told me that Jimmy was heavily involved in anti-Vietnam War activism in the 1960s and 1970s. He talked of Jimmy’s long years of work in the anti-apartheid struggle to free South Africa. Moreover, Roger spoke of Jimmy’s long commitment to the Palestinian cause. He also elaborated upon Jimmy’s dedication to his Irish homeland through work in support of the James Connolly Society.

Jimmy’s place in the whakapapa of struggles in Aotearoa:
I only knew Jimmy O’Dea as a friend and fellow activist (in SWO and beyond) for 26 years. The experts on Jimmy’s place in the wider whakapapa of struggles in Aotearoa between 1959-2021 are those who fought alongside him on many campaigns.

Representatives of the Te Tino Rangatiratanga and anti-apartheid struggles in Aotearoa have already paid tribute to Jimmy after he died. John Minto’s obituary for Jimmy is superlative.

The stories of Jimmy O’Dea in struggle in Aotearoa are borne living in the oral histories held by many good people — including Kevin O’Dea; Patrick O’Dea; the wider O’Dea whanau; Grant Brookes; Joe Carolan; Lynn Doherty & Roger Fowler; Roger Gummer; Hone Harawira; Joe Hawke; Taiaha Hawke; Bernie Hornfeck; Will ‘IIolahia; Barry & Anna Lee; John Minto; Tigilau Ness; Pania Newton; Len Parker; Kereama Pene; Delwyn Roberts; Oliver Sutherland; Annette Sykes; Alec Toleafoa; Joe Trinder, and many others.

Memories of Jimmy O’Dea are held in the hearts of many other ordinary folk — who, like Jimmy, and people mentioned above, helped build collective struggles and collective narratives of emancipation in Aotearoa and abroad.

Jimmy and Te Tiriti:
In conclusion, I feel Jimmy embodied the culture, history, language, and values of his Irish people. His life also pays testimony to the hope that Māori and Pakeha can come together as peoples under Te Tiriti.

Distinguished Ngati Kahu, Te Rarawa, and Ngati Whatua leader Margaret Mutu provides an insightful introduction to Māori understandings of Te Tiriti in her 2019 article, “‘To honour the treaty, we must first settle colonisation’ (Moana Jackson): the long road from colonial devastation to balance, peace and harmony”

I believe Jimmy upheld a vision of partnership outlined by Professor Mutu in the above article. As a Pakeha, Jimmy honoured his Māori Te Tiriti partner throughout his life in Aotearoa.

James “Jimmy” O’Dea upheld Māori Te Tino Rangatiratanga under Te Tiriti in his actions and words.

Perhaps Pakeha can find a model for partnership under Te Tiriti in Jimmy’s rich life — a model of partnership characterised by genuine power-sharing, mutual respect, and a commitment to working through legitimate differences with aroha and patience. When this occurs, there will be a place for Kiwis of all cultures in Aotearoa.

For me, Jimmy O’Dea’s lifelong contributions to a genuine, full partnership between Pakeha and Tangata Whenua under Te Tiriti constitute one of his greatest legacies for all living in Aotearoa.

The author, Tony Fala, thanks the O’Dea whanau for the warm invitation to attend Jimmy’s funeral. The author thanks Roger Fowler for his generous korero regarding Jimmy’s activism. This article only tells a small part of Jimmy’s story. Finally, Fala wishes to acknowledge the life and work of two of Jimmy O’Dea’s mighty comrades and contemporaries — Pakeha activists Len Parker and Bernie Hornfeck. Len served working-class, Māori, and Pacific communities for more than 60 years in Tamaki Makaurau. Bernie Hornfeck spent more than 60 years working as an activist, community organiser, and forestry worker.

“Grandma, can I say I’m ‘afakasi?”

I’m in the kitchen of my grandmother’s home on the North Shore, preparing for a video journalism piece on the Tongan tau’olunga.

“No, you’re palagi”, she says quietly, turning to fill up the kettle for a cup of tea.

“You don’t speak Tongan.”

• READ MORE: Tongan Language Week

She’s right, and it’s a blunt truth I’ve struggled with as I’ve tried to reconnect with my culture as an adult.

It’s a truth that makes me feel like I need to justify my Tongan-ness, and almost stopped me telling people my cultural heritage, or even applying for my current job.

But, it’s there, deep down.

Statistics NZ 2018 figures show just 40 percent of New Zealand-born Tongans can speak the language, that figure dwindling from 56 percent in 2006.

Hearing stories of my history, I can see where my own family has leaned away from some of their Tongan roots and done things the “palagi way” to access opportunities and get ahead.

​Back in the day

My grandmother, ‘Alieta Strong was born on 6th January 1934. Her mother was Louveve Tohi and she was the 6th child of 10 children. Her father was Robert Hurrell.

As a young woman, she made a vow that she would either marry a palagi or be a nun. Luckily for us grandchildren, she caught the eye of Michael Strong who was the manager at her work in Nuku’alofa, and they were married in St Paul’s Church in 1955.

I don’t mean any disrespect, but I’m not entirely sure if it was a love match. They had three children before moving to New Zealand in 1965, to a one-bedroom bach in Torbay.

My father, Gordon, remembers being the only dark-skinned boy at Torbay school when he arrived at the age of 9.

To settle into their new country, he and his siblings were only allowed to speak English at home, and only remembers a few words of Tongan now.

This attitude was still there in my youth, after many requests to learn the language or Tongan weaving and handicrafts, they were abandoned after first attempts.

My grandmother would make beautiful woven bags and hats to sell at the markets, using her own earnings to eventually purchase a car in New Zealand.

Childhood memories
My best memories of Tongan culture stem from my grandmother, and her home near Waiake beach, where she died in 2011.

She stayed connected to our family in the islands, going back to visit every year or so, and would often be picking someone up from the airport, and there always seemed to be a relative staying whenever we visited.

As a child, I remember when Telecom would do their special prices to call the islands, and Grandma would go through her black book, filled with her neat, precise handwriting.

She’d be on the phone for hours.

We’d pick up the phone downstairs and hear her and an Auntie gossiping away, followed by, “Oi! Get off the phone, you lot!” and we’d run away giggling.

Every January for her birthday we had an umu with a big puaka tunu on a spit roast.

There would be music and dancing and so much laughter.

Aunties would kiss my cheeks and uncles would bite my ear.

I’d scurry off with my cousins and we’d try to figure out how we were related, then give up and go running off to find more food or scab $2 from one of the rich uncles.

My Tongan memories are filled with music and colour, family, and food.

Pictures of my Grandma always showed her dressed beautifully, often with a grandchild in her arms, surrounded by family.

Present day
​Our household’s best effort for Tongan Language Week goes to my partner, who is an Englishman and doesn’t speak a lick of Tongan.

“Malo peto Khalia,” he says in a text, proudly repeating it when I walk in the door after a morning spent reading the news on 531pi, “malo peto”.

Although my nine-year-old chickened out of saying “Malo e lelei” in his class zoom, I can’t force him without leading by example, so I’ve signed up for online Tongan classes. They start in a few weeks with the Pasifika Education Centre.

As an adult, it is with great regret that I didn’t make more effort to learn the language, and converse with my Grandma in her mother tongue.

I am more familiar with words in Samoan and Te Reo, so the Tongan language seems more interrupted and punctuated than other flowing, vowel-heavy Pacific languages.

Being just under a quarter Tongan, I can pass for a regular Kiwi, and am aware of the privilege this has afforded me, but looking palagi doesn’t cancel out DNA.

So, I’d encourage my New Zealand-born non-speakers out there, it’s on you now. Speak to your aunties and cousins, hear their stories.

Tell them it’s OK to speak their island language around you. Sign up for some classes or learn some words or songs.

You can’t judge someone for where they are in their language journey, because everyone starts at different places, but the rest is up to you.

‘Ofa atu.

• In memory of my dear Grandma, Alieta Strong.
  

Republished from Pacific Media Network with the permission of the author.

The umbrella term Pacific Islander or Polynesian has been criticised as degrading and insensitive.

Researcher Dr Seini Taufa, who is a New Zealand-born Tongan, said the names were not indigenous terms and were insulting.

Dr Taufa is research lead for Moana Research and Senior Pacific Advisor for the Growing up in New Zealand Longitudinal Study.

• READ MORE: Royal Commission into Abuse in Care – Live stream

She has given evidence to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care’s Pacific inquiry being held in South Auckland.

Dr Taufa quoted author Albert Wendt:

”I am called a Pacific Islander when I arrive at Auckland Airport. Elsewhere I am Samoan.”

Dr Taufa said lumping everyone together robbed people of their true identity.

‘Constructed by palagi’
”We did not name ourselves Pacific Islanders, we did not name ourselves Polynesian. These are terms that were constructed by palagi within a colonial context.”

She said preconceived ideas around being called a Pacific Islander or Polynesian influenced the way Pacific people self identify.

”While the umbrella term Pacific is useful when making global comparisons, it’s futile when applied to actual people and groups of people who consider themselves not Pacific or Polynesian, but Samoan, Tongans, Fijians, Cook Islanders and so on.”

Dr Taufa said that in a New Zealand context Pacific people had been marked for as long as they had settled in Aotearoa whereby the Pacific embodiment was interpreted differently from context to context.

”On the rugby field and among the All Blacks, Pacific male bodies are celebrated. In a crime and punishment context, Pacific male bodies are associated with racist discourses of violence, rape, gangs, fear and danger,” she said.

”Pacific people thus construct their identities and live their lives at the intersection of positive histories, language and culture and negative and stereotypical ideas and beliefs produced by the dominant group.”

Dr Taufa said many abuse survivors experienced racism and discrimination first hand.

Told he wasn’t Samoan
“One young man asked about his ethnic background responded with Samoan, but was told by someone in authority that he wasn’t, as he was born in New Zealand.

”As a young boy who relates being Samoan to Christianity, to family and to his mother, he is forced to adopt an identity that doesn’t belong to him — a New Zealander — and, with it, the trauma of what he was exposed to in state care as a New Zealander.”

She said it spoke to the power held by a dominant group.

”To label another with little consideration of the detrimental nature of such actions.”

Dr Taufa said the importance of ones ethnicity should never be doubted.

”I hope that it raises questions amongst those in the system to be more cautious of how they record, how they document and the fact that it can and has, through our survivor voices, had an impact on their well being.”

Dr Taufa said there were inadequacies of ethnic classification and data collection in New Zealand, both past and present.

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

The number and quality of Pacific journalists are expected to rise in a never before seen collaboration between four major New Zealand media organisations.

NZ on Air has approved $2.4 million to fund 25 fully-paid journalism cadetships, with a minimum of five Pacific trainees and 10 Māori.

The Te Rito Journalism Project is fronted by Pacific Media Network (PMN), Māori Television, NZME and Newshub.

• READ MORE: Pacific journalists respond to new programme to get more Pasifika in the newsroom​

PMN chief executive Don Mann said this collaboration aligned with his organisation’s mandate to help train a pipeline of excellent Pacific broadcasters and multimedia journalists.

“Te Rito provides sustainability to PMN in provision of best-practice Pasifika multilingual journalism but, more importantly, it allows the network to play our part in rectifying the significant under-representation and imbalance within the journalism sector on behalf of the Pasifika community.”​

Māori Television head of news and current affairs Wena Harawira shares the same sentiment, hoping the partnership will address the critical shortage of reo Māori speaking journalists.

“It’s incredibly important that New Zealand’s journalism landscape is rich with Māori stories created by Māori, in te reo Māori, for everyone,” she said.

‘Ability to tell stories’
“The ability to tell stories and share perspectives is fundamentally shaped by language.”​

Emphasising how critical it is for journalists to bring their culture into newsrooms is the view of NZME head of cultural partnerships Lois Turei, who says: “Weaving aspects of their culture into their work will result in stories that are rich and multi-layered – that’s a powerful gift to newsrooms.”

The cadets will work across all four newsrooms for one year developing their skills in digital, audio, radio, video, television and print journalism. However, ​10 cadets will be based with Māori Television, and 15 with NZME.​

Newshub director of news Sarah Bristow said: “This will break down some of the barriers that are preventing young, diverse voices from being part of our media landscape.”

Te Rito will soon begin advertising for a kaihautū (programme manager) to begin the development phase of the project.

Four other trainers and an administrator will also be recruited and applications for cadets will open later this year with the training programme to run for one year from February 2022.​

NZ On Air head of journalism Raewyn Rasch (Ngāi Tahu/Kai Tahu) said: “Training is a vital part of the media landscape that has suffered through increasing financial pressures and by injecting resources back into this area, the Public Interest Journalism Fund will have a positive and long-lasting impact.”

“Pacific Studies” has been included in a raft of new proposed NCEA achievement standard subjects in New Zealand, now up for public consultation. It is proposed with Vagahau Niue and Gagana Tokelau as part of the government’s NCEA upcoming reforms — the biggest shakeup of the qualification.

The option of learning Pasifika histories has provided hope to students like i-Kiribati Naumi Teinabo (Maiana, Nikunau), who has never learnt a Pacific strand once in her social studies classes.

The Mahurangi College Year 13 who only this year started learning about New Zealand histories, said the social studies curriculum has not served Pasifika learners.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Pacific Studies proposed to be taught in NZ high schools (duration 3′:46″)

Auckland University Pacific studies scholar Hollyanna Ainea said: “It comes into a loss, sort of like identity, in like our place as Pasifika in New Zealand. So we’re focusing on more European history and stuff instead of what’s actually important to us.”

She said learning about the Mau movement in Year 12 helped form her identity as a tama’ita’i Samoa – that would later challenge an older, white male-dominated space in academia.

But she said should Pacific studies be offered in New Zealand schools, that teachers must be culturally competent.

“It also comes down to the different resources that teachers are offered as well because you know, they’re already time restricted and they’re also having to find different ways to educate students on different topics,” she said.

Willingness to research
“But it also comes down to their willingness to research and know how to handle these different conversations regarding Pasifika history, Māori history.

“There’s this massive disconnection between understanding how we as tagata o le moana or tagata o le whenua, perceive our oral histories, our connections with the land, connections with the sea and that also kind of contributes to our ignorance to how these different inequities have come about over time because even though these are events that have happened in the past, they still affect us today.”

Ainea said all students who enrolled in Pacific studies would use the learning everywhere they go, with everyone, every day.

She said Pasifika students would especially benefit from a subject that helped them grow in their identity.

Ben Curtis is a history teacher at De La Salle College with a predominantly Pasifika school roll.

He admitted as a Palagi man, his teaching was not founded in lived experience. However, he had only ever taught Māori and Pasifika topics, which he said was received better by his predominantly Pasifika students.

He said topics like the Dawn Raids and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, had been important in reminding students of where and who they come from.

Engagement of young people
“The engagement of young people when they learn about Māori history through a Māori context and worldview is a lot more powerful than learning history that’s really disconnected with any cultural identity that you know, New Zealanders have, and particularly Māori and Pacific students.”

With the help of some teachers, Teinabo recently began lunchtime tutorials for Pasifika students with a yearning to learn about their heritage.

The tutorials have proved a hit with small Pasifika student community. So far, they’ve discussed the destruction of Banaba and the Mau.

Teinabo said she would tell her Year 9-self that being i-Kiribati was nothing short of beautiful and was something to share with her classmates.

“Just remember myself as I am is enough… I should be able to appreciate and want to want to show my culture and be strong in my culture’.”

Pacific studies along with Vagahau Niue and Gagana Tokelau, are a number of proposed new subjects which form the government’s NCEA reform, the biggest shakeup of the qualification since it began in 2002.

Ākonga, kaiako and extended whānau can provide feedback through an online survey, which closes on August 11.

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