Prisons work if the goal is to create precarious social environments or if the aim is to keep communities colonised, dehumanised and marginalised. There is no mana in the Prison System, and as New Zealand’s incarcerated population is more than 10,000, are we really okay with being a Punitive-Colonial State?
Tāngata Whenua did not have the institution of prisons in the past, whakapapa and tikanga guided our social environments. Nevertheless the Prison System has and still does trample the mana of Iwi Māori, with more than half the incarcerated population being Māori. The mass incarceration of Tāngata Whenua continues the intergenerational trauma of colonisation.
Racial Equity Aotearoa supports No Pride in Prisons, and their ‘10,000 Too Many’ campaign.
“E tū whānau whānui, let’s stand up, let’s speak out, and let’s take hold of our mana. It’s clear the Government would rather lock our whānau up, then strengthen community cohesion and rangatiratanga. 10,000 people are 10,000 too many.”
REA stands in solidarity with No Pride In Prisons, and echoes the invite for whānau to march against mass incarceration on February 11th, 12pm, down Queen Street in Auckland.
Let us, the people, be the champions for decarceration and meaningful decolonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand.
