Hīkoi mō te Tiriti: Uprising of a new generation
All these images were taken on 11 November, 2024, the first day of the historic Hīkoi mō te Tiriti (‘March for the Treaty’).
The nine-day hīkoi, or protest march, set out at dawn from Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua, at the northern tip of New Zealand, and arrived at the steps of Parliament in Wellington nine days later.
I counted roughly 300 people at the start; when I left the hīkoi at Kawakawa, the number had swollen to at least 1000.
By the time the march reached Wellington, estimates for the number of people taking part ranged from 42,000 (police estimate, probably conservative) to as many as 100,000 (possibly overstated).
Whatever the number, it was one of the biggest protests in New Zealand history.
Hīkoi mō te Tiriti was also notable in that it heralded a generational shift in the Māori protest movement. Hīkoi veterans such as Hone Harawira and Rueben Taipari still took part, but the march was led by tech-savvy young activists such as 27-year-old Eru Kapa-Kingi. During a pōwhiri [formal welcome] at Te Kao the previous night, Harawira dubbed them “the Sunrise Generation”.
[Story continues below; click on the thumbnails to see the full-size images.]
So what was it about?
Put simply, the hīkoi was an expression of anger over what many marchers saw as a wave of government policies targeting Māori and winding back progress of previous decades. Those policies included a reduction of the use of te reo Māori (the Māori language) by government departments, the abolition of the newly formed Māori Health Authority and, in particular, the proposed Treaty Principles Bill.
The Bill’s authors say it seeks to restore the original intent of the Treaty of Waitangi, an agreement signed by Māori chiefs and the British Crown in 1840. Many Māori, on the other hand, say the Bill attempts to reinterpret the Treaty in ways that are unrelated to the original text, and erodes commitments made to their ancestors almost 200 years ago.
Hīkoi on this scale come around roughly once a generation and have in the past changed the course of New Zealand history.
The Land March of 1975, led by “Mother of the Nation” Dame Whina Cooper, opened the eyes of New Zealand’s Pākehā (European) majority to the injustices suffered by Māori. It also prompted the government to establish the Waitangi Tribunal, a permanent court of inquiry into Treaty breaches. Since then, 86 Treaty settlements have been reached with a total value of NZ$2.6 billion.
The Foreshore and Seabed Hīkoi of 2004 ushered in two new political movements, the Māori Party and later the Mana Party. The Māori Party in particular broke the Labour Party’s long stranglehold on Parliament’s Māori seats, forever changing New Zealand politics.
And what will be the legacy of Hīkoi mō te Tiriti? Only time will tell.
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The top image on this page, though far from technically perfect, has been one of my most successful to date. It has been published around the world including in Britain’s The Guardian, Australia’s ABC, and New Zealand’s RNZ.
