General Debate: Wednesday 27 June 2007; 4pm
Tariana Turia; Co-leader, Maori Party

Moral Panic and the Gangs

Tena koe Madam Speaker, tena tatou katoa.

In 1972, Stanley Cohen created a term to describe the media coverage of the Mods and the Rockers in Britain of the 1960s.
That concept, moral panic, is most frequently seen in the way in which crime statistics are manipulated and misconstrued in a peculiar blend of media hype and political opportunism.

In Aotearoa in the last few months, the gang culture has been targeted in the latest moral panic.

Rather than creating space for a discussion about how we care for our alienated and our ostracized; the nation has been embroiled in a fierce debate over how dangerously deviant, how socially threatening, indeed to condemn the intolerable presence of gangs in our community.

And this is not a new debate.

Indeed, nearly three decades ago, Jane Kelsey and Warren Young described 1979 as the ‘year of the gangs’ in their analysis – the gangs: Moral panic as social control.

A year which galvanised a string of subsequent strategies and reports. The 1979 Parliamentary Committee on Violent Offending. The 1981 Inquiry into Gangs (known as the Comber report) and the 1987 Commission chaired by Justice Sir Clinton Roper.

And here we go again. Except there is a difference.

Out of the Comber report grew the Group Employment Liaison Scheme (GELS) – a scheme which the now Minister of Maori Affairs is still remembered for, in terms of the influence and commitment that he had in pioneering a community development approach.

Whereas now – the consistent response to the challenge of the gangs is focused on the sharp end of social control.
The promulgation of a PR campaign promoting authoritarian regimes; an approach of retribution and vengeance. Ban the Patch! Banish gangsters from outside the CBD! Kick them out of town.

Madam Speaker, yesterday the Maori Party was honoured to host and welcome Professor Angela Davis, renown for her scholarship as Presidential chairperson for the African American and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California in Santa Cruz.

One of her leading statements is “we have to talk about liberating the minds as well as liberating society”.

And indeed, if we are truly seeking a revolution of the heart; a movement for change; the liberation of communities; we must respond to the call that is coming from gangs themselves, to find their own solutions.

What the moral panic creates, is a perception reinforced by the media, the police, the judiciary, politicians and Government departments, that gangs are completely out of control.

It becomes the key distraction from say rocketing interest rates; bureaucratic bumbling or insider trading.

Instead the energies of the community become focused on singling out gangs for censure. All that such tactics do, is to incite more resentment and rage from those who already feel positioned on the outskirts of society.

Any suggestions that gangs may come up with themselves are rejected; tarred with a brush that comes from the tactics of suppression. Supressing their own initiative – creating new walls – and refusing to talk about it.

We have to be open to the ideas of others outside of our own environment. The advice from Professor Davis to “talk about liberating the minds as well as liberating society” would be reflected in being prepared to listen to the ideas of the gangs about how they can change inter-generational habits.

What are the ideas they are thinking about, when they consider the future for their children? And what is their purpose for change?

And the key lies in getting the people engaged. Parekura Horomia knew that when he worked with the guys in the GELS schemes.

Rob Muldoon knew that when he looked for accommodation for gang members, or encouraged gangs to contract through work trusts. With the advice of key leaders such as Dame Whina Cooper and Sir Graham Latimer, he gave particular priority to working with Maori gang members, supporting initiatives to give them alternatives to turn their lives around.

These are but a few of the politicians and the political strategies that have been adopted in the past to overcome the moral panic of those times.

And we can do it again – we can liberate minds, we can liberate communities: and all it takes is the political will to make a difference in the lives of those people.

ENDS

© Scoop Media