Waatea News Column: Peaceful protest is our only hope (and Māori can teach us that)
I’m comparing the ugly scenes at the Posie Parker protest over the weekend and the anti-co-governance protest in Orewa the week earlier.
At the Orewa protest, Māori activists peacefully sang and protested and corrected the deeply offensive rhetoric of Julian Batchelor who is touring the country and attempting to sell some conspiracy that Māori are taking over the country.
By peacefully protesting issues as highly controversial as Co-Governance, the protestors managed to win over those who were watching on.
Their protest had mana and it conquered the angry rhetoric.
That isn’t what happened at the Albert Park protest. Whatever one may feel about Posie Parker, she did not deserve to be assaulted, threatened and intimidated.
Most of New Zealand was surprised and taken aback by how violent the protest became and questioned why attacking a woman and chasing her off stage was a win for Democracy.
Posie Parker has said some terrible things about a vulnerable community, but so has Julian Batchelor.
Peaceful protest isn’t about changing the minds of the angry preacher preaching division, peaceful protest is about changing the minds of everyone else who is watching.
We have much to learn from peaceful Māori protest in this country in times as politically polarised and charged as this.
First published on Waatea News.
What B/S. You say “By peacefully protesting issues as highly controversial as Co-Governance, the protestors managed to win over those who were watching on.” How do you know that was the effect of the protestors? Its the majority that weren’t watching on that need to be won over.
Agree , also think the police did a much better job in orewa ,
Sorry Scott, you got that wrong. The police didnt do a much better job in Orewa. They just quite simply did their job which they quite clearly didnt in Albert Park.