People around the world were moved by Maipi- Clarke’s youth and decisive leadership, as well as the emotional power of haka being used with its traditional intention – to challenge. It coincided with other acts of global indigenous resistance: only a week earlier, Aboriginal senator Lidia Thorpe confronted King Charles as he visited Australia, calling the crown out for atrocities committed against Aboriginal people. In October, members of the Lenape nation rode horses through midtown Manhattan to protest their mistreatment and erasure. Members of Lenape also stood with Māori in protests against the Treaty Principles Bill outside the New Zealand embassy in New York. The mutual support demonstrated that, despite living in increasingly cold and divisive times, there are still people who understand that the world needs indigenous voices and leadership in solidarity with one another, for the betterment of everyone.
“Don’t be scared,” said Maipi-Clarke during an electoral debate in 2023, “because the kōhanga reo generation are here and we have a huge movement and a huge wave of us coming through.” The term refers to a generation of Māori who, thanks to the work of language revitalisation activists in the 70s and 80s, have been able to grow up with our language. As a result, we are unapologetic with an unprecedented sense of self.
“Young Māori today are highly motivated, self-aware, and unwavering in their place in the world,” says activist and artist Tāme Iti. “They are infiltrating spaces and proving themselves in ways we could only dream of when we were their age.” Maipi-Clarke is part of this wave of rangatahi Māori (Māori youth) who are realising their ancestors’ dreams and leading Aotearoa through some of its most politically turbulent times.
The week after the haka, Aotearoa experienced its largest protest in history, with up to 100,000 people marching on parliament to protest the bill. I flew down from Tāmaki-Makarau (Auckland) to Te Whanganui a Tara (Wellington) to join the hikoi, taking an early morning flight packed with people stuffing flags and placards into overhead compartments. The entire city was flooded with black, white and red – the colours of Tino Rangatiratanga, meaning self-determination. People of all ages, races and backgrounds were there to support. Young children were held up high on the shoulders of their parents. We chanted, “Kawhaiwhai Tonu Matou! Ake. Ake Ake!” (“For as long as it takes, we will fight, forever and ever.”)
Up on the parliament grounds, Maipi-Clarke spoke: “This march is about us, walking, marching, side by side, generation by generation. This bill divides us as a country; the Treaty unites us, all ages, all races. The world is watching us, te iwi Māori, whatever we do next. All indigenous people are relying on us.”
“I feel fine about being labelled provocative. That has always been the point” – Tāme Iti, artist and activist
That weekend, Māori DJ Lady Shaka brought Boiler Room to Tāmaki-Makarau. “I hope we continue to break boundaries and show our [children] how special it is to be Māori,” she says. “Our reo is more than just a language; it’s the window to our soul.” Māori DJs from across the motu (islands) played sets as people danced and vogued beneath Tino flags and Toitū Te Tiriti (honour the treaty) banners, dripping in pounamu, feather and bone. The night full of celebrating rangatahi invoked a speech given a year earlier by the late Māori King Tūheitia, when the new government began its attacks on Māori rights: “The best protest we can make right now is being Māori,” he said. “Be who we are. Live our values. Speak our reo… Just be Māori. Be Māori all day, every day. We are here. We are strong.”
Celebrated Māori artist and activist Tāme Iti once had a reputation in New Zealand as public enemy number one. He began his life’s work in activism as a child, protesting his headmaster’s demand that no Māori should be spoken in school by continuing to speak it. As a young man, he joined Ngā Tamatoa, a group of university-educated urban Māori who were active in protests such as the 1975 Land March. They set up the Māori embassy outside parliament to protest indigenous people being treated like foreigners on their own land. In 1994, during a meeting between Tūhoe leaders and representatives of the government, the representatives sat themselves on an elevated stage. Iti dragged a ladder into the meeting and climbed it in order to speak to them kanohi ki te kanohi – eye to eye – reminding the government they were not above Māori and must deal with them as equals. In 2005, he shot at the Union Jack on a New Zealand flag.
Iti became famous for this sort of political theatre, and in 2007, he was investigated under the Terrorism Suppression Act. Armed police raided a settlement in Te Urewera, arrested 18 Māori and then charged Iti with belonging to a ‘criminal group’. (He was never convicted.)
I ask Iti how it felt being labelled a provocateur, and what he thought about attitudes towards him changing over time. “I’ve never really worried about how people feel about me,” he says. “I feel fine about being labelled provocative. That has always been the point. We have a whakatauki [proverb], ‘Ka warea te ware, ka ārea te rangatira, hongihongi te whewheia, hongihongi te manehurangi, kei au te rangatiratanga,’ that roughly translates to, ‘Ignorance is the oppressor, vigilance the liberator, smell the challenges and embrace the possibilities.’ I’ve seen some shit, let me show you.”
Today, Iti is focused on his painting, acting and performance art. “The things that I do are provoking a response – he whakatumatuma – and that response comes in all shapes and sizes,” he says. “That’s why I like art. It has the power to change you instantly, sometimes without you even knowing why.”
Hair MATT BENNS at CLM, make-up KATIE MELODY ROGERS, models LADY SHAKA, TŪROA-ROBERT REWETI-SALMON, HOTUMAUEA SOUL-REINE TE HAU BARRETT, TĀME ITI, BRAYDEN LECOMTE, MALACHI EDMONDS, TAMA TAITUA, MARERE WILLIAMS, MERLE TAIATINI, MICHAELA TAIATINI, ASTARTE IMAN, CYPRIS AFAKASI, ANGEL KAMETA, PARIS BAILEY, IRĀ TĀHANA-DAWSON, JARROD TUA, LEILAH ROSER, NICOLE HUNT, PIPIANA HEMI, AROHA YATES-SMITH, KAHU SMITH, WAERENGA SMITH, MANAAKI WHAREMATE BENNS, LUCA WHAREMATE-BENNS, YAYA MARTIN, TATIAHNA HAUHOHEPA, TITIHUIA KAVA, MESSIAH TE RANGI, set design TE ARIKI ALISTAIR TANIWHA, photographic assistant CLARA JANE, styling assistants DARLENE PARK, ALEXIA BARRITT, JONAS HARRIS, ASHTON JONES-FRAME, production LOUPE AGENCY, production manager TYSON CAMPBELL, cultural consultant TYSON CAMPBELL, casting TIHEI CASTING, casting consultant LUCIA FARRON-DIAMANTIS, special thanks ANA SCOTNEY, TŪĪ MATIRA RANAPIRI-RANSFIELD, WAIRERE ITI, ANGELA BEVAN, TOM GOULD, HANA-RĀWHITI MAIPI-CLARKE, TĀME ITI
This story features in the spring 2025 issue of Dazed, which is on sale internationally on 6 March 2025. Buy a copy of the magazine here.
