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2009 Parihaka Peace Festival

Reflections on the Maori movements’ importance to Aotearoa and the world

By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward

The setting sun falls like a drop of melting gold out of a long white cloud settled above the skyline. Grass shimmers and flags rustle furiously atop of rolling hills; framing the setting of night. On the main stage the roots-rock-reggae band Kora stands motionless mid song: the spirit of Parihaka alive in their silence.

Humming at the foothills of Mt Taranaki, the fourth Parihaka Peace Festival is about much more than music. The annual international peace and music festival celebrates a significant event within NZ history, and is a reminder of the areas importance to our country. More than forty years before Gandhi practiced non-violence resistance to the British Empire, the Maori of Parihaka bore the brunt of wishing for peace. Parihaka’s spiritual leaders, Te Whiti O Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi, employed non-violent resistance to defend their land in 1881. The British sniggered at a compromise with the local tribes, and sent in the troops. Protesting Maori were sent into exile as slave labourers, many toiling to their deaths building roads near Dunedin.

As such, the Taranaki festival coincides with the region’s 125-year jubilee. These celebrations mark the year 1884, when the Maori were successfully forced from the region’s most fertile land. Celebrating the birth of passive resistance along with the illegal confiscations of land is a bitter irony. For today’s fruits not to be bitter, indeed for them to be jubilant in Taranaki, the deeds of the past must be acknowledged. But more than that, the idea of the Parihaka festival should be better supported by the people of the region. Parihaka symbolises the strength and unity of righteousness. A sentiment so widely acknowledged that pictures of Parihaka’s profits hang next to those of Martin Luther King at the King Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. This event is not successful because of big budgets and corporate hosts; volunteers and word of mouth ground it.

Parihaka marked the end of the land wars, but also the beginning of a movement which continues today. Eventually the Parihaka leadership returned, and now the festival attracts 12,000 mostly young people to its peace camp each year. The gathering is auspiciously devoid of the passionless, binge-drinking you encounter at other festivals. Children run riot here, their carefree and youthful spirit a signee of the event. Sustainability and the coupling of traditional knowledge with innovation give the festival its roots. An eco forum buzzes with activity next to the hangi area, as sure a sign as any of its prominence. Old stories are abounding for willing ears. Like the love torn relationship between Taranaki and Ruapehu, or Chinese vessels remembered long before Captain Cook.

Speakers address topics ranging from the foreshore and seabed to the modifying of smart drive washing machines to produce electricity from wind and water. Carvers transform large scattered boulders into art works. The festival is an array of elements that are all interconnected, politics, permaculture, flax and family.

Despite the howling winds of ranginui (the sky father) eventually closing the main stage, spirits were high and the music quality. Shrouded in smoke, Katchafire welcomed in the first night, followed on the second night by two very tight sets from Unity Pacific and Kora. Tigilau Ness, of Unity Pacific, brought everyone closer, closer still, to hear the old masters rhymes. Kora jammed some new material that gave fans hope of an album in the works. The concept of Koha drew crowds into Auntie Olive’s aromatic healing tent, which became booked out faster than the hangi tickets sold-out. Olive’s tent swayed and battled with the wind while the healers remained steadfast and stoic, reminiscent of past kin. The third day saw Wellington outfit Harbour City Electric as crowd pleasers on a smaller, more intimate main stage. With a powerful lead singer and solid melody they look set to be the next pretties flying out of the capital. Closing out, Cornerstone Roots sang to the festivals ideals with the song Mankiller, which deals with a potent subject.

Parihaka is no ivory tower. The oldest kaumatua warmly greets strangers. Canadians look on dumbfounded as large Maori men hongi, before they too test the waters. The festival mixes healing and warm eyes with a fierce independence extolled from army fatigued rastafarians and proudly worn Tuhoe t-shirts. The message is just that: we are all the people. The importance of Parihaka is the message of its prophet: the building of a movement of working, and knowledgeable people. The achievements and ideals of this movement need to be reinvigorated as we collectively face an unending war for resources, and worldwide recession.

Parihaka promotes the values of peace, sustainability and prosperity; this should be the future of our country and we should work to become an example to the world. From the lands that gave Michael Campbell the freedom to fly into histories pages, exists a yearning for freedom from the morass of economic empires – morass that ties us to consumption and to the stifling of our dreams.

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Jamie Melbourne-Hayward is a Wellington-based writer.

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