Parihaka Day
Remembering the events of November 5 at Parihaka
I thought I would publish an extra article this week because tomorrow is November 5th. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand fireworks will light up the sky as many celebrate Guy Fawkes. Increasingly, another event in the history of this land of Aotearoa New Zealand is also remembered on the same day.
This is an article I wrote back in 2013. I thought it worthwhile to republish it here and make it freely available so we have the chance to contemplate this as we go about our lives tomorrow.
Dear reader,
Many people know the name of Gandhi and another inspired by him, Martin Luther King Jr. They’re men who have popularised the movement of non-violent resistance in today’s world and with it, they changed their nations; Gandhi in India and MLK in the United States. They demonstrated the strength of refusing to take up arms and use violence against one’s enemy. Little known outside of some circles in New Zealand is that before these men there was Te Whiti and the Māori stand at Parihaka – the story of non-violent resistance against power enforced through arms in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s a part of our national identity though it’s a story not often told in Pakeha (non-Māori) circles.
It’s understood that Te Whiti (influenced by his time with Christian missionaries) and the movement at Parihaka inspired Gandhi and helped shape his approach to conflict. What stood out about Parihaka was the refusal to use violence in an effort to resist the colonial government of the time and their desire to take land that rightfully belonged to the local Māori iwi.
In the 1860s, 20 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the government of the time had engaged in land confiscations. The confiscations were taking place as the government was exerting its authority over Māori that it deemed to be rebellious.
Whilst the government argued that the confiscations were about maintaining law and order, it’s hard to see it as anything other than an opportunistic land grab for the purpose of settlement building to accommodate the influx of immigrants that were pouring in during the colonisation of Aotearoa New Zealand.
In opposition to this Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi, two Māori Chiefs and spiritual leaders (prophets), established Parihaka in 1866 on land in Taranaki that had been confiscated by the government. Parihaka quickly became a large village with over 2000 people as many Māori from confiscated land converged on the place. It was well known at that time for being industrious, clean and self sufficient – a model village.
With the increase in settler numbers and the subsequent increase in the desire for farmland, the government started to push to sell the land they had confiscated in Taranaki, and eventually aimed to use force to take the land Parihaka was on. Te Whiti and his followers responded with some non-violent campaigns aimed at exerting their rights over the land in the area.
It became a question of mana (authority, respect, honour) and the only way the government could see to maintain its own mana and destroy Te Whiti’s was through force. To cut a long story short, on November 5th, 1881, government troops were sent in to squash Parihaka, arrest dissidents, disperse the people (many of whom were already displaced from their previous homes and lands) and take the land.
Government troops were met and blocked by 200 singing children and lines of older girls skipping. Once they got past the children they encountered over 2500 Māori sitting in the center of the village at the Marae (for those reading this not from Aotearoa New Zealand, the Marae is the heart of the village). Over the ensuing few weeks Te Whiti and Tohu were arrested, the people were dispersed and Parihaka was destroyed. Te Whiti’s meeting house was demolished and the timber strewn across the grounds of the Marae to desecrate it.
The soldiers destroyed the village, treasures were stolen, and rape has been mentioned as well. The remarkable thing is that what would have taken a couple of days had the Māori of Parihaka taken up arms, took weeks because of the way they responded.
Te Whiti’s establishment of non-violent resistance acts as a model for how we can confront conflict. It also offers Aotearoa New Zealand a touch-point to celebrate who we are as peoples brought together without ignoring the pain of conflict that will still be very real for those who trace their history back through the many injustices that litter our history.
Compensation has since been made for that tragic bit of our history, but whilst the tragedy of Parihaka needs to be remembered, in the actions of Te Whiti and Māori who followed him at Parihaka, we have a model for our place in the world.
We pride ourselves in our troops being used as peace-keepers and ‘rebuilders’ where they are deployed in international conflict. How true this is will always be an open question, but the fact that we take pride in that ideal says something about us.
We pride ourselves in our stand against nuclear arms. We pride ourselves in our historical protection of the planet through non-violent resistance, and we pride ourselves in our generous giving in the fight against poverty and injustice. Parihaka, whether we know the story or not, is part of our DNA.
There is much complexity in the reality of who and what we are as a nation, and some of it is dark, but we have ideals that align with the Māori response to government force at Parihaka.
November 5th, the day those troops entered to destroy Parihaka and were greeted by singing and skipping children gives us a day to remember peace and those who lead it even when the outcomes seem hopeless. It calls us to recognise the destructive reality of armed conflict and to hold up those who have shown a different way.
It’s a day where we get to look internally and cheer on those who non-violently uphold justice and ‘fight’ for a better way. Where Waitangi Day gives the nation a continued chance to enter into the tough dialogues that still need to take place, Parihaka Day, with all its complexity, offers us a chance to contemplate our identity and greater ideals. This is not a cheap, idealistic contemplation, but one that recognises the difficulty of working for peace when much rages against it.
Parihaka, in the form it took in those days, may have been destroyed even though the resistance there continued for a number of years with varying reports of what Parihaka turned into, but ultimately Te Whiti’s actions on November 5th 1881 won because justice always wins in the end. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’
The establishment, on November 5th, of an official, annual commemoration day for the historical events at Parihaka and all that it stood for is something I wholeheartedly support. November 5th should become Parihaka Day.
As always, if prayer is something in your life, please pray for me, and pray for the good of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Aroha nui,
Frank