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#IdleNoMore – an Aotearoa perspective | Marama Davidson
Originally Posted on Te Wharepora Hou
Just my own personal ‘what’s on top for me right now’ rant.
1. Ongoing abuse of indigenous peoples by coloniser Canada on that Great Turtle land.
We know this here.
2. Ongoing resistance by those indigenous nations to maintain their sovereignty and responsibility over their lands and peoples.
We know this here.
3. Canadian colonising government and Bill C45 – latest smack in the face that again oversteps indigenous authority over their lands.
We know this here.
4. Four wahine of that land stand to protect our earth Mama against slaughter and for indigenous authority. So begins Idle No More.
We have seen such stands here.
5. Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat Nation begins a hunger strike until Prime Minister Harper agrees to meet with indigenous leaders properly.
We have seen sacrifice here.
6. Today on day 24 of Chief Spence’s commitment, Harper agrees to meet with ‘First Nation Leaders’. We celebrate that for Chief Spence and her peoples. Her solid stand is inspiring, but we are also wary. Because we have seen how those in power do not like to share it.
We know how that works here.
Any opportunity to shine an internationally strong and bright torch on the same issues that our people here on the ground have been fighting for generations, is an opportunity worth pouring my own energy into.
A big mihi to our people fighting extraction industries to protect our whenua and our wai. A big mihi to our people revitalising our reo rangatira. A big mihi to our people trying to restore our struggling whanau to their tupuna base which nurtures our mokopuna as the taonga they are. A big mihi to Tuhoe resistance. A big mihi to our gardeners, our songwriters, our poets, our performing artists. A big mihi to our ahi kaa back home on all our marae, keeping it warm for us to go back to. A big mihi to our kuia and koro who walked the back of our Mama to parliament, who took the beatings for speaking their Mama tonguee, who showed us we have never been idle.
I am livid. I am proud. I am hoha. I am inspired. I am powerless. I am brave. I am angry. I’ am thankful. I feel ripped off. I have aggression in me. I am also in love – with my people here, gone and yet to arrive.
Time for a better planet. Idle No More.
Marama Davidson (Ngapuhi/Te Rarawa/Ngati Porou peoples)
#idlenomore
(Image sourced by TangataWhenua.com from here.)
Lania
March 14, 2013 at 3:47 pm
I just think you are amazing! Thank you for sharing xo
Nikolasa
January 5, 2013 at 11:14 pm
Kia ora Marama for this. <3
Marama Davidson
January 7, 2013 at 11:18 am
Kia ora Nikolasa for sharing!
Sue Abel
February 20, 2013 at 10:42 am
Kia ora Marama
I heard your interview about this on the Chris Laidlaw show. You were so great. Congratulations. Anyone who missed it can go to http://www.radionz.co.nz/search/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=marama