GUEST BLOG: Nick Rockel – A Hole In The River

There’s a hole in the river where her memory lies
From the land of the living to the air and sky
She was coming to see him, but something changed her mind
Drove her down to the river
There is no return

Songwriters: Neil Finn/Eddie Rayner

The king is dead; long live the queen!

Yesterday was a momentous day as Aotearoa farewelled the late King Tuheitia. An event unlike the historic milestones we see overseas involving kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers.

The pageantry rich with tradition, the ceremony rare and yet somehow familiar. It was different, though, because it was ours. Whether Māori or Pakeha, we know the landscapes, the river, and the mountains. The people are so clearly ‘us’.

I watched the television coverage as the crowd swayed and sang in unison and felt overwhelmed with emotion.

The contrast between this gathering of so many in love and respect with the sorry racism of our government felt too much. The chasm in dignity between the people and the small-minded populism we see from the coalition felt immense.

Events were reaching fever pitch, and there was an incredible intensity of emotion as the party containing the new monarch was welcomed so ferociously. Then there she was, calm at the centre of the maelstrom, the new monarch, the Queen.

The faces on the screen nodding, smiling, some with tears. That emotion that had reached an almost unbearable tension evaporated into waves of positivity until the new ruler sat beside her father, and there was silence. Then a voice, “Queenie”.

The disgust I’d felt gave way to a sense of hope. This young woman was the future, not the desires of those who wish to return to a time when their own privilege was unquestioned.

It was a stunning day with blue skies and sunshine to greet the mourners arriving in their thousands in cars, some on horseback, to the marae or to line the streets and bridges for a glimpse of the King on his final voyage.

I don’t know what it was like elsewhere, but the coverage from TVNZ was outstanding. I was struck by Maiki Sherman speaking te Reo so beautifully, and how sad it was that this was the first time I could recall hearing it.

It made me angry to think here is this intelligent young Māori reporter who can be so very good and yet often seems constrained on the evening news as to what she can say and how she can say it. Can’t have that switchboard lighting up to the horror of the pearl clutchers who expect TV1 to dilute news that makes their party look bad.

My friend Lathee commented, “Towards the end of the news I saw the four TV reporters. Two of them spoke Māori as well as the woman who did the news tonight. I was crying because it reminded me of that saying, something like ‘no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come’.

The government can do its darndest to stop te reo and Maori progress, but change is happening. The young want an NZ culture that pays homage to two strong and quite different cultures, and that is NZ’s future. Even if I won’t see that, my grandchildren will.”

If you missed the coverage yesterday, you can check out the offering from Stuff here:

Inevitably some saw the announcement, as they have the events of the last week, as an opportunity to post things mocking and belittling, unable to share in the joy and sorrow of those watching. Their emotions undeveloped beyond hate and anger.

In response to my tweets on the announcement of the new monarch and the events of the day, those devoid of empathy or decorum vented their impotent fury.

David messaged me, “I can hardly believe some of the comments on Twitter to your post about the new Queen. These people are off the charts, racists and misogynists to the core. Twitter has become an appalling place for people to attack other people and get away with it.”

I replied, “I hadn’t even looked, I don’t really read the comments on Twitter. Will have to see if any are worth writing about.”

Having looked at them, I’m not going to share them; they aren’t worthy of your attention. Although apparently, people like Chris Penk and Paula Bennett, who follow many of the most abusive accounts, find them irresistible.

Outside of Twitter, in the Guardian, Annette Sykes said of the new Queen, “She’s inspiring, the revitalisation and reclamation of our language has been a 40 year journey for most of us and she epitomises that, it is her first language, she speaks it with ease. Political, economic and social wellbeing for our people is at the heart of what she wants and in many ways she is like her grandmother, who was adored by the nation.”

“We’ve all watched her grow up, she’s very humble, I’ve watched her mature into this woman who has this thirst for authentic knowledge and brings this into the modern world. She’s someone who wears Gucci, and she wears moko kauae. She is leading us into uncharted and turbulent waters, and she will do it with aplomb.”

What footsteps she follows from her father and grandmother. Their example of humble leadership and a desire to bring people together. I feel tremendously optimistic that Queen Nga Wai Hono i te po Paki will follow them in that and provide leadership to her people at a time when Aotearoa cries out for a leader to unite us.

“Nick Rockel is a left wing writer who spent far too long working in IT and now writes “Nick’s Kōrero”. An almost daily substack of political satire, news, and views, from Aotearoa New Zealand. He lives in West Auckland, and has 5 kids, 2 dogs, and 1 wife. He Substacks here.