Source: Radio New Zealand
A Pākehā leader working to mobilise tangata Tiriti support for Te Tiriti o Waitangi, says last year’s hīkoi revealed the power of collective action and aroha.
A year on from one of the largest protest movements in Aotearoa’s recent history, the sense of kotahitanga (unity) that filled the streets during Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti still lingers for many who took part.
Rebecca Sinclair, co-founder of the Pākehā Project, an organisation of tangata Tiriti leaders who run programmes and workshops for Pākehā, told RNZ one of the most moving aspects of the hīkoi was seeing so many Pākehā and Tauiwi marching alongside Māori.
“The real difference now, compared to ten years ago or so … is that those Tauiwi and Pākehā aren’t just showing up to be seen,” she said.
“They’re showing up because they really believe in this. They want this, not just for Māori, but for themselves.”
She said many non-Māori are beginning to understand that honouring Te Tiriti benefits everyone.
“There’s a real sense of, ‘this is what’s better for all of us if we move towards it’.”
“So many more people understand that this is at the root of our collective well-being. It’s pretty amazing – and we see that in our Pākehā Project people as well.”
She said through any mention of the hīkoi, she was “totally transported back.”
“For me, it was that real sense of what it felt like to be in kotahitanga (unity).”
“Not even the outcome or whatever anyone thought the message was. It was about the experience of being there, all of us there for this common purpose, and for each other.”
A taste of kotahitanga
Sinclair was among hundreds of volunteers supporting the hīkoi through Wellington in 2024, helping to run manaaki stations offering water, kai, and powerbanks to participants as it made its way to Parliament.
“I was feeling intense love, feeling the kotahitanga – like this is the Aotearoa that we actually deserve,” she told RNZ at the time.
“If people could just come down and feel what it feels like, they would see why it’s so incredible to be supporting this kaupapa.”
Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti began with a dawn karakia at Te Rerenga Wairua on 10 November 2024, marking the start of a nationwide movement opposing the government’s Treaty Principles Bill and other policies impacting Māori.
Thousands of people – Māori and non-Māori – joined the protest as it travelled the length of the motu.
Sinclair said what stood out to her the most was the feeling of collective strength.
“It was every moment – being there near the beginning, watching as it took two hours for people to pass us, bumping into people I knew, giving out water and kai – it just felt so beautiful,” she said.
“Then when we went and sat down at the park afterwards, it was this amazing feeling of real love. That kind of agape love for everyone.”
RNZ / Layla Bailey-McDowell
She said the hīkoi offered a glimpse of what Aotearoa could be like when people stand together.
“This was a taste of what we could have if we could just understand that this is the future of Aotearoa right there.
“My daughter said she wants something like that again because she’s never felt anything like it before.
“That sense of wanting that feeling again, is what’s so powerful about it,” she said.
The nine day hīkoi also reminded her what real power looked like.
“It showed me that power is so much more than top-down wealth or manipulation or force. For power to be exerted on us, we have to give it away,” she said.
“What kotahitanga gives us is a taste of what it feels like not to give that power away, but to explore that power together.”
The experience echoed the energy felt each year at Waitangi, she said.
“The more people can experience that, the more they’re intrinsically motivated to keep going with it.”
Over the past year, a series of government policies have sparked debate about Te Tiriti o Waitangi – including the Treaty Principles Bill, the Regulatory Standards Bill, and changes to the education curriculum.
These shifts had only reinforced the importance of tangata Tiriti stepping up, Sinclair said.
“We’ve got to be part of this, and we’ve got to see the ways that dominant colonial power is working, and that it’s actually working against everyone,” she said.
“People are starting to see that this sort of colonial power isn’t about looking after everyone… it’s not even about looking after white people.
“When authoritarian behaviour starts to appear, there’s going to be a backlash, and that’s what we’re seeing now – a reaction of coming together.”
The government’s recent decision to remove Te Tiriti from legislation and protections has had unintended consequences and that she has seen an uptake of Pākehā wanting to know more about Te Tiriti, she said.
“The Treaty Principles Bill has made so many people understand Te Tiriti in a way they didn’t before.”
“[The government] don’t realise the reaction they’ve provoked. They fear the stuff they don’t understand – people power, kotahitanga, manaakitanga. They fear care, love, togetherness and that’s why they’re trying to get rid of them. That tells us those are exactly the things we have to keep doing.”
RNZ / Layla Bailey-McDowell
Building a community of tangata Tiriti
The Pākehā Project, which Sinclair co-founded in 2019 alongside Louise Marra (Tūhoe), runs workshops and leadership programmes to help Pākehā understand Te Tiriti and their role as tangata Tiriti.
Interest in their kaupapa has grown rapidly, even as funding remains a challenge, she said.
“We just finished the last retreat for our leadership programme in Tāmaki.
“It’s beautiful to see what happens when people start to feel what it might be like to operate in a different way – to think collectively, without judgement or superiority. It’s about trying to genuinely operate from a different paradigm.”
That included learning new ways of relating to one another, she said.
“One thing that stuck with me is that Pākehā need to learn to love each other. We’re not used to that – not used to loving each other in public,” she said.
“It might sound strange when we’re talking about resistance, but if we can’t be with each other in that way, how are we going to be with anybody else?”
Self-compassion was also key to sustainable change, she said.
“You can’t have accountability without compassion otherwise it becomes self-flagellation.”
“Everyone’s feeling overwhelmed by what’s going on, so it’s even more important to look after each other.”
‘The Pākehā Project’ Co-Founder, Rebecca Sinclair is excited about the increasing diversity in decolonisation spaces, and more Pākehā stepping up to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Supplied / The Pākehā Project
Despite the political climate, with ructions within Te Pāti Māori, Sinclair said she felt hopeful about the growing number of groups across the motu working to uphold Te Tiriti.
“There are so many cool groups popping up now doing this mahi not just us, but all over the place.
“It reminds me how much bigger it is than us.”
The spirit of connection was what would sustain the movement, she said.
“As painful as some moments are, rupture is part of our ways of growing. Maybe we just have to hold firm and understand we’re holding that around each other,” she said.
Her message to those continuing the kaupapa was to “look after each other”.
“We so need each other. Kotahitanga, aroha those are so important. We cannot do this alone.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand