Aotearoa New Zealand’s long, proud history of civil disobedience protest
New Zealand has a long, proud tradition of civil disobedience protest. It’s worth recalling some of it this week as public transport activists block roads and disrupt traffic with simple and effective protests in Wellington again this week.
Perhaps the first notable examples were Hōne Heke repeatedly chopping down the British flagpole at Kororāreka in the 1840s followed by the exiled Māori leader To Kooti commandeering a supply ship, the Rifleman, in the Chathams in 1868 to bring him and hundreds of supporters back the mainland.
Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi were the leaders of Taranaki iwi at Parihaka in campaigns to rip out surveyor pegs (on confiscated Māori land) and reclaim their stolen land by ploughing and sowing. When one group of resistors were arrested, other would take over the ploughs and when they were arrested yet more would take their place. It took a mass, military invasion of the peaceful settlement, arrest and imprisonment of its leaders along with rape and pillage to disrupt their fight for justice through civil disobedience.
Waikato and Tuhoe Māori refusal to fight for the Crown in the First World War included imprisonment in Mt Eden for some and a whakapohane delivered to Minister of Māori Affairs Maui Pomare. Pākeha were also at the forefront of civil disobedience against both world wars – the most celebrated case being that of Archibald Baxter (his small book “We will not cease” is important reading)
In 1951 it was illegal to provide support for families of watersiders locked out of work but this was openly and brazenly ignored as communities rallied around the workers and their families.
In the 1960s Ngā Tamatoa activists camped illegally on parliament’s lawn and in the 1970s Māori activists like Eva Rickard and Joe Hawke led ultimately successful civil disobedience protests at the Raglan golf course and at Takaparawha (Bastion Point) while Native Forest Action Council supporters climbed trees to save from chainsaws the last remnants of untouched native forest in the North Island at places like Pureora near Taumarunui. Thank heaven they did.
Even our government got into the spirit of international civil disobedience in 1973 by sending a New Zealand frigate, HMNZS Otago, with cabinet minister Fraser Coleman on board, into a French exclusion zone around Mururoa Atoll to protest French nuclear testing in the Pacific.
In 1981, 300 protestors stood their ground on rugby park Hamilton, disrupting the rugby and demanding the Springbok tour be cancelled.
The official policy of the anti-apartheid movement talked about “non-violent direct action and civil disobedience” against sporting links with apartheid South Africa. Motorways were blocked, buildings blockaded, meetings and rugby games disrupted – 1981 was a winter of non-stop civil disobedience.
In the 1980s small protest boats in their hundreds took to the waters of our harbours to confront US nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships and submarines and refused to comply with police and harbourmaster demands to clear the way for these merchants of death.
And think of the hundreds of times people have protested outside the law – even the hundreds of lycra-wearing cyclists who breached a police line two years ago to bike the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Civil disobedience protests in Aotearoa New Zealand for over 200 years or so have caused headaches for politicians and the police but most have been an important expression of strong public feeling and one way or another have led to significant and positive social and political change.
And so we come to April 2023 and civil disobedience protests to force governments to act in the interests of the future of the planet and its people rather than the short-term profits of the 1%. The Save Passenger Rail group behind the protests has a sensible, forward-looking proposal to help the country deal with the climate crisis we face – I take my hat off to them.
National Minister Simeon Brown, sounding like the deputy head prefect at a private school, is on the side of the 1% as he rails (forgive the pun) against the disruption and calls for tougher penalties against the protestors
“National has proposed legislation to introduce a new offence which will increase the penalty for people engaging in this behaviour to a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison, a fine of $20,000, or both”
Like all the petty politicians before him, Simeon Brown is a short-term populist on the wrong side of history. Brown would have opposed EVERY SINGLE ONE of the civil disobedience protests I have outlined above.
If you are one of the people stuck in a protest-induced traffic jam in Wellington this week; take a deep breath, remember our history and actively support the development of passenger rail throughout the country.
And to the climate change protestors blocking Wellington streets this week: Thank you.
Totally agree. I was in many of the actions described, plus numerous union strikes and pickets.
If frazzled commuters feel put out now, imagine how inconvenient total climate meltdown will be!
Thanks for your bravery against our government who has declined to act despite the seriousness of climate change facing not just Aotearoa but the whole country.
Many UK based protest outfits including Extinction Rebellion have dropped disruptive protests because pissing people off is not going to get the majority of people onside. It may get you noticed but for all the wrong reasons.
I am aware of Extinction Rebellions move but do tell me who the other ‘many’ are please Jack.
Protest action should be aimed at the people responsible for whatever injustice is occurring. It was in all of the examples you gave. Protest was directed toward the nuclear powered vessel not toward individuals with an American accent going about their lives. Glass was dropped on the field in Hamilton to stop the springboks not on a park to stop an under 9 game between Marist and Old Boys.
The rail protestors should be closing down the offices of the decision makers not attacking the general public going about their lawful business. Shame on them.
These protests target ordinary people, not the government, henceforth thee whole purpose of this type of protest is to undermine the protest movement over all. This is an extremely important point!
Protesting is one of the few tools we have to challenge power, but what a clever way to undermine this all important tool than to turn it back on to ourselves.
This form of protest is not an accident…like so many other people dividing tools that have cropped up in recent times…there’s a reason for this greater need to control the people….serious anti-people-like polices are coming down in the pike by 2030. Don’t believe me, well, what have we just being through…..
Protest action should be aimed at the people responsible for whatever injustice is occurring. It was in all of the examples you gave. Protest was directed toward the nuclear powered vessel not toward individuals with an American accent going about their lives. Glass was dropped on the field in Hamilton to stop the springboks not on a park to stop an under 9 game between Marist and Old Boys.
The rail protestors should be closing down the offices of the decision makers not attacking the general public going about their lawful business. Shame on them.
The official policy of the anti-apartheid movement talked about “non-violent direct action and civil disobedience” against sporting links with apartheid South Africa.
Odd then that my mates who lived in a street leading to Eden Park had his picket fence torn down by the protesters and used as weapons against the cops.
Andrew – get a grip – no protest movement is responsible for every person taking part. I totally supported and took part in non-violent direct action and civil disobedience in ’81. It was a movement not a corporation.
Civil disobedience. What it is called when liberal white middle class do it. Violence. What it is called when brown or white trash do it.
When I was 15, I was attacked by anti tour protesters, close to athletic park. I was visiting a friend on the day of a test match.
I knew who attacked me and kicked me in the head, but it was a middle class white man attending law school at Vic. There were witnesses so without question what happened.
But hey it’s just civil disobedience and a conviction would mean the end a career in law.
Meanwhile the fractured skill and brain injuries cost me a couple of years struggling to get my self back.
Not really the full story though. Of course someone should have been arrested and charged for this and given you knew the person’s name, did you lay a complaint, was the person charged? What was the outcome?
So the whole world stops because the ChooChoo Train Fetish Society think they have a point to prove?