Ae Marika!

A column published in the Northland Age

By Hone Harawira

MP for Tai Tokerau

24 August 2010

To comment on this column please go to my website www.hone.co.nz

I lost a very good friend last week – Te Miringa “Milton” Hohaia – a true leader within the tino rangatiratanga movement and a passionate believer in the reo.

Milton was a powerful advocate for Maori land rights in Taranaki, one of the original leaders of the Motunui claim to the Waitangi Tribunal in 1978, and ensured that the important role played by Parihaka was never forgotten during the Taranaki land claims process.

He was an artist in his own right, a really strong supporter of Maori art generally, and well known for running wananga throughout Taranaki on environmental issues, the seas, the lands, the maunga, the people, and Taranaki reo.

Milton was also dedicated to restoring the history and the pride in his home village of Parihaka, and will be remembered as the man who set up the Parihaka Peace Festival in 2005, which has been held every year since.

I’ve been attending the Festival every year to support the kaupapa and to support the bro’ and I’ll miss seeing him and feeling the energy and the intensity and the passion that he always brought to everything that he did.

Haere atu ra bruddah … a tona wa ka tutaki ano ki tera tua o te arai.

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ACT dumping their deputy leader and having her pulled as a Minister of Government, has turned into a real mess. I make no comment on the issue, except to say that I have always found Heather Roy to be a hard-working, intelligent advocate for the things she believed in, and as a current member of the Territorials, was an ideal person to hold the portfolio of Associate Minister of Defence. Whatever the outcome, I hope she comes out of this OK.

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Attended a fundraiser last week where they auctioned two bottles of wine, one signed by PM John Key and the other signed by me. John Key’s sold for $270 and mine sold for $275, but the real funny thing is that a Maori guy bought John key’s one and a Pakeha fullah bought mine!!

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And one more story on the “mixed marriages” issue – and one I really, really like because it speaks of many of the relationships I know of all round the Tai Tokerau.

“My Mother tells the story of when she first brought my Pakeha Father home to meet her whanau. My Grandfather told him to get lost and told my Mother off for bringing that 'white man' into his house. He tested my Father for a long time while he and Mum were seeing each other including trying to pick a fight with him. My Father was a peaceful and loving man. He was good to my Mother accepting and loving both her and her whanau (Despite all the goings on).

Eventually my Grandfather came to see this and just before Dad and Mum got married he told Dad he was far too good for my Mother and he should ‘Run for the hills, as fast as you can man!’

My Father is now buried in our whanau urupa right next to my Grandparents and had the biggest tangi ever held up there. He touched the lives of so many of our iwi. He fixed their cars, helped them move house, mowed our urupa, helped build our Marae and so on and so on. The whole whanau came to love and respect him very much.”

Again folks – enjoy those you love, and treasure the moments you have with them – ‘cause when they’re gone, they’re gone forever,

ENDS

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