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Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira[1] is a New Zealand Māori activist and former parliamentarian. He was elected to the Parliament of New Zealand for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in the 2005 general election as the Māori Party candidate. His resignation caused the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, held on 25 June 2011, which he won with a majority of 1117. As Leader of the Mana Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau, he sat on the front bench in the New Zealand House of Representatives until losing the seat in the 2014 general election.
His mother is a prominent Māori activist. Harawira played a role in Treaty of Waitangi issues, Māori language revitalisation, land occupations, and Māori broadcasting. In 1979 Harawira was part of He Taua, which confronted drunk University of Auckland engineering students who performed a parody of the "Ka Mate" haka with obscenities painted on their bodies. The group including Harawira assaulted them with baseball bats and hoses, resulting in several broken bones.[8] In 2009 when he and his wife revisited the School of Engineering Harawira said "When people refuse to do what's right, at the end of the day you step in, do what you've got to do." He was a key participant in He Taua, the 1981 Springbok tour protests, and the 2004 foreshore and seabed hikoi, the last of which led to him entering Parliament.
Below is a press release written by Hone Harawira about his point of view on the state housing issue.
On the the people of Glen Innes – Harawira
On the the people of Glen Innes – Harawira
Posted on October 12, 2012 by admin in Hone Harawira, Press Releases
Like hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders I was also raised in a state house but it wasn’t till I grew up that I truly appreciated the commitment that government used to make to ensuring that every family had a decent home to live in.Those days are sadly gone.
For some time now I have watched the Minister of Housing, Phil Heatley, make disparaging remarks about the poor and bad jokes about evicting them from their homes, including his National Party colleagues making raucous comments about the folks at Glen Innes.
I have watched the people of Glen Innes torn apart by a deliberate government strategy to evict families who have grown up, married and had children and mokopuna there over the past 40 years.
I have seen people in despair over the broken promises and the flat out lies from government ministers and their officials who promised them they “would never have to leave”.
I have seen a community grow in strength as they learned to defend themselves.
I have watched government try to break that spirit with a massive police presence, truck-trailers, tow trucks, contractors and a massive wage bill, week after week, as they pull homes out of Glen Innes so that government can sell the land to their property developer friends who will build homes that nobody in GI can afford to rent.
And yet through all that I see by their actions, the love that the people of GI have for their neighbours, their friends and their community, and the support they get from all over Auckland.
Last night I heard young people describe the police brutality of the previous week; I saw three young women perched for hours on a house roof to stop its removal; I saw kaumatua and kuia trying to stop the police from arresting peaceful protesters; I saw Pacific Islanders standing alongside their Maori cousins; and I saw journalists and council workers and students and musicians and grandmothers and teachers standing together to defend the rights of the poor.
And today I ask that we recognise them for their efforts and send the community of Glen Innes and their supporters all the support we can.
ENDS
For more information please contact Malcolm Mulholland on 027 765 6380.
Hone will appear in Auckland District Court on Wednesday 17th October to face a charge of “Failing to remove a vehicle from a road”.
- See more at: http://mana.net.nz/2012/10/on-the-the-people-of-glen-innes-harawira/#sthash.BJOu2f6E.dpuf
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