Eru cleverly screws the scrum before Toitū Te Aroha protest
Eru Kapa-Kingi, the man who destroyed the Māori Party and made it almost impossible for a Labour + Green + MP Government from forming, is out today trying to stage his come back with his latest Toitu Te Tiriti branding exercise.
I have written previously this is a do or die moment for Eru and his Toitu Te Tiriti movement.
Under 2,000 will be doom, over 5,000 is a win, over 10,000 the rest of us should go home as commentators because we are cooked.
If he can gain momentum after destroying any chance of electing a genuinely progressive Government, it will mean the next generation have zero interest in solutions and only want disruption, there’s no politics except street thuggery after that.
The problem for Eru is that his desire to air dirty laundry in front of the Marae and his decision to put his ego ahead of the waka has destroyed the Māori Party and its difficult to see what his rationalisation for ongoing activism is, ‘Let’s fight the Government I’ve just enabled” isn’t much of a catch cry for change is it?
I’ve written previously that Eru mistook last year’s incredible turn out against ACT’s race baiting Treaty Principles Referendum as a personal endorsement of him and his definition of Tikanga. He and his followers wanted to take Te Pati Māori in a very Tikanga direction when the Leadership wanted to evolve away from an Opposition Party into a trusted supply and confidence partner.
That the leadership decided to embark upon a reset rather than Eru’s pure temple Tikanga direction is what caused the rebellion with Doc and Mariameno that Eru launched with his scathing attack.
So attempting to regain populist favour after making any change of Government almost impossible would take an ego the size of the North Island, luckily Eru seems to have that.
Eru has cleverly screwed the scrum on today’s protest by framing it as an attack on Brian Tamaki who is also staging a racist protest at the same time. Eru has hijacked the weekly Palestinian protests…
The Daily Blog
…while appealing to the Trans community to bolster numbers. That Oriini is appearing alongside someone who has previously wounded the Māori Party’s chances just highlights how dysfunctional the Māori Party have become.
If violence breaks out between Tamaiki and Eru’s crowd, there will be enormous questions over how the Māori Party, through Oriini’s appearance, are responsible.
There is a lot on the line for everyone here, Eru, Oriini, Toitu Te Tiriti and Bishop Brian Tamaki.
Meanwhile, Sean Plunkett, Don Brash, Mike Hosking, David Seymour, Winston Peters and Chris Luxon are laughing all the way to the ballot box, thanking their Gods for Eru who is a gift that just keeps giving.
It sounds like this Eru guy is much less influential than anyone thinks. The above article suggests his knowledge of Tikanga is that it is inherently oppositional/adversarial, which would turn it into an oxymoron by pakeha standards. Then in reading his Scoop statements, he seems to say is it generally supportive of all things in their place, as it can only ever be. Does not compute. A cultural group can behave poorly, wrongly, and emphasise those wrong acts and be painted as a stereotype because of it. But if the representatives and leaders of any culture chose to emphasise correct thought and action, whenever possible, bop. bam. bing. we get the true nature of the culture. That said, there must be far more hope for TPM re-emerging really quite quickly from this speed bump than people realise. If this rally today is really an olive branch, then someone get JT down there to patch things up! No body is asking for perfection. Just quit ya fighting so we can vote for you.
Let’s not refer to Eru as clever as the damage he is causing is an act of egotistical spite. You have the screw part right – he is a screw loose! Are we convinced he is not being funded and encouraged by the RW? How one man can be allowed to make this impact is bizarre to me, so instead let’s ridicule him. Can’t Labour / Greens put their most suitable candidates into the shaky TPM seats? Time to radically think outside the square so TPM voters have a better, more fruitful option and outcome. Am I doing a ‘Luxon wishful thinking’ here? As for Tamaki, he is now a total loser so who cares what he says or does. If he breaks the rules, and his mob crosses the harbour bridge, he should be arrested, tried and gaoled! He & Hannah are the ultimate CON-COUPLE – their day is fast approaching!