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ABSTRACT
The Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific movement (NFIP) developed a grassroots regionalism in opposition to nuclear colonialism in the Pacific. This article concerns Māori interactions with other Indigenous Pacific peoples within the NFIP movement from 1980–5, and what this meant for the Pacific as a conceptual and political region. Voyaging back across the Pacific, Māori drew on whakapapa, identified cultural commonalities, and parallel colonial legacies between themselves and other Pacific peoples. They saw a shared Pacific struggle: that between Indigenous and colonizer. While this was contentious to some, this article argues that it allowed Pacific peoples to draw upon an alternative network of political action outside formal politics or peace and humanitarian discourses.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Pacific Peoples Anti-Nuclear Action Committee (PPANAC) newsletter, July–Aug. 1983, ‘Eph-B-NUCLEAR. [Ephemera of quarto size relating to nuclear weapons, nuclear power, anti-nuclear protests]’, Eph-B-NUCLEAR-1983/1984, Alexander Turnbull Library (hereinafter ATL), National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātaruanga o Aotearoa.
2 ‘When I got to the conference however I noticed that I was the only delegate from the whole of the Pacific. I decided therefore (and I hope people will excuse my doing so) to present a statement to the conference on behalf of the whole of the Pacific’. PPANAC newsletter, July–Aug. 1983.
3 PPANAC was formed on Hiroshima Day 6 Aug. 1980. Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1982, Personal collection of George Armstrong (hereinafter Armstrong Collection).
4 The Ōtepoti-based Te Whanau a Matariki hosted corresponding Te Hui Oranga o te Moana nui a Kiwa for Te Wai Pounamu.
5 Literary critic Chadwick Allen locates Māori writing and activism within an intellectual campaign to ‘seize control of the symbolic and metaphoric meanings of indigenous “blood”, “land” and “memory” at the level of the global’. This campaign to develop what he calls ‘indigenous theory’ constituted a ‘framework of survival and equality, dignity and pride’ for contemporary Indigenous peoples: a way of defining global Indigeneity on acceptable terms, to the ends of social justice and self-determination. Chadwick Allen, Trans-Indigenous: Methodologies for Global Native Literary Studies (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012), 113.
6 Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1984, Armstrong Collection.
7 For Pacific-centred synoptic works see, e.g., Stewart Firth and Karen Von Strokirch, ‘A Nuclear Pacific’, in The Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders, ed. D. Denoon, M. Meleisea, S. Firth, J. Linnekin, and K. Nero (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997); Teresia Teaiwa, ‘Bikinis and Other S/Pacific N/Oceans’, The Contemporary Pacific 6, no. 1 (1994); Stewart Firth, Nuclear Playground (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1987). For Māori protest, see Aroha Harris Hikoi, Forty Years of Māori Protest (Wellington: Huia, 2004); Ranginui Walker, Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou – Struggle Without End (Auckland: Penguin, 1990).
8 A sustained historical study into transnational Māori protest comes from Linda Johnson, whose 2015 PhD thesis explores how Māori opened ‘space’ within various international venues, ranging from the Pan-Pacific Women’s Association and the World Council of Indigenous Peoples to the United Nations and indeed the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific. Linda Johnson, Māori Activism Across Borders, 1950s–1980s (PhD thesis, Massey University, 2015).
9 Ranginui Walker, e.g., spoke before the International Friendship league. Johnson, Māori Activism Across Borders, 327.
10 Hilda Halkyard-Harawira wrote an essay on the origins of PPANAC, an essay she believed was lost until its rediscovery in early 2023. Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, ‘Te Puawaitanga o PPANAC, 1980–1990’, unpublished essay.
11 For the peace movement and the Rainbow Warrior, see Michael Szabo, Making Waves: The Greenpeace New Zealand Story (Auckland: Reed, 1991); Frank Zelko, Make it a Green Peace! The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013); David Robie, Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior (Auckland: Lindon, 1986). For state responses, see Malcolm Templeton, Standing Upright Here: New Zealand in the Nuclear Age 1945–1990 (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2006); David Lange, Nuclear Free: The New Zealand Way (Wellington: Penguin, 1990); Ramesh Thakur, In Defence of New Zealand: Foreign Policy Choices in the Nuclear Age (Wellington: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1984). A notable exception is Maire Leadbeater, Peace, Power and Politics: How New Zealand Became Nuclear-Free (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2013). Leadbeater is sympathetic and dedicates one chapter to the NFIP movement, however the analysis concerns New Zealand and progress towards anti-nuclearism necessarily, rather than in-depth discussions about Māori perspectives and Aotearoa’s place in the Pacific.
12 Herbs is an Aotearoa-based reggae group founded in 1979. Herbs had four hit anti-nuclear songs, including French Letter, which spent 11 weeks on the charts. Although its line-up has constantly varied, Herbs has featured Māori, Samoans, Tongans, Cook Islands, and Pākehā members.
13 These points are made more fully in Marco de Jong, ‘Ki te la Pacific! Get out of the Pacific!’: Anti-Nuclear and Independence Activism in Pacific New Zealand, 1970–1985’ (MA thesis, University of Auckland, 2018). See, also, Nicky Hager, ‘The Battle For and Against New Zealand’s Nuclear Free Policy – A Secret History’ (Michael King Memorial Lecture, University of Otago, 7 Sept. 2023).
14 PPANAC Newsletter, 11 Aug. 1985, ‘Papers relating to conferences on nuclear disarmament in the Pacific (54)’, Wilkes, Owen, 1940–2005: Papers, 2005-338-020, ATL.
15 Mary X. Mitchell, writing on nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, employs lessons learnt from Indigenous medical history in ‘the environmental archive’. The implication is that historians should be cautious when using environmental data collected at the expense of Indigenous communities, or under hegemonic frames that obscure Indigenous knowledges. Mary X Mitchell, ‘History, Ethics, and the Environmental Archive’, Somatosphere (2017).
16 Tahu Kukutai and Melinda Webber, ‘Ka Pū Te Ruha, Ka Hao Te Rangatahi: Māori Identities in the Twenty-first Century’, in A Land of Milk and Honey? Making Sense of Aotearoa New Zealand, ed. A. Bell, V. Elizabeth, T. McIntosh, and M. Wynyard (Auckland: Auckland University Press 2017), 82.
17 See, also, Alice Te Punga Somerville, Once Were Pacific: Māori Connections to Oceania (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012), 11; Tracey McIntosh, ‘Hibiscus in the Flax Bush: The Māori-Pacific Island Interface’, in Tangata O Te Moana Nui: The Evolving Identities of Pacific People in Aotearoa/New Zealand, ed. Cluny Macpherson, Paul Spoonley, and Melanie Anae (Palmerston North: Dunmore, 2001), 143.
18 Amelia Rokotuivuna, ‘Foreword’ (Nuclear Free Pacific and Independence Movement Conference, Ponape, 1978). Her reflections in 1990 can be found in Amelia Rokotuivuna, ‘suggestions in response to the circulated letter’, 2005-338-020, ATL.
19 Owen Wilkes, Conference Report, Feb. 1988, 2005-338-020, ATL.
20 David Robie, ‘Anatomy of a Hijack’, New Zealand Monthly Review, Dec. 1990, 16.
21 These debates played out during the Sixth NFIP Conference in Aotearoa in 1990. See, e.g., Susie Newborn, ‘Fiji – A Contentious Issue’, in For Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific: 6th NFIP Conference Aotearoa 1990 (Auckland: PCRC, 1990), 98; Roy H. Smith, The Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement After Mururoa (London: Taurus, 1997), 146, 167–8; Nic Maclellan, pers. comm., 19 Nov. 2022.
22 To the author’s knowledge there has been no interpersonal resolution to these events. While it is not his place to pass judgement or suggest how redress should occur, such tensions hang over a younger generation that has come to study the NFIP movement and build their own solidarities. Vanessa Griffen, ‘Comment and support for statements by A. Rokotuivuna to NFIP Co-ordinating Committee’, 2005-338-020, ATL.
23 Halkyard-Harawira, ‘Te Puawaitanga o PPANAC 1980–1990’.
24 Damon Salesa, ‘The Pacific in Indigenous Time’, in Pacific Histories: Land, Ocean, People, ed. Alison Bashford and David Armitage (London: Bloomsbury, 2014), 31–50.
25 Tracey Banivanua Mar, Decolonisation and the Pacific, Indigenous Globalisation and the Ends of Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
26 Salesa, ‘The Pacific in Indigenous Time’, 31.
27 Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, interviewed for Maire Leadbeater, Peace Power and Politics: How New Zealand Became Nuclear-Free (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2013), 63–6.
28 Ibid.
29 Harris, Hikoi, 107.
30 Johnson, Māori Activism Across Borders, 15.
31 Ibid., 16.
32 Halkyard-Harawira, ‘Te Puawaitanga o PPANAC.’
33 Titewhai Harawira attended the 1975 Nuclear Free Pacific conference in Suva, the only Māori representative amongst the 11-member New Zealand delegation.
34 Chadwick Allen, Trans-Indigenous, 113.
35 New Streets–South Auckland, Two Cities. Directed by Neil Roberts. TVNZ, New Zealand, 1982.
36 New Streets–South Auckland, Two Cities.
37 Named ‘Te Wai Hono a Kupe’, PPANAC shared the office with its sister organization the ‘Waitangi Action Committee’, PPANAC newsletter, Aug. 1985, Serials, ATL.
38 PPANAC Newsletter, Mar. 1983, Eph-B-NUCLEAR-1983/1984, ATL.
39 PPANAC Newsletter, Sept. 1983, Eph-B-NUCLEAR-1983/1984, ATL.
40 Otara’s youth provided ‘Some Maori Thoughts on Peace’, Te Hui Oranga o te Moananui a Kiwa 1985, Armstrong Collection.
41 Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1985; reprinted in Wendy Harrex and Diane Quin, Peace is More than the Absence of War (Auckland: New Women’s Press, 1986).
42 The hui were technically hosted by the umbrella organization Te Reo Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa, but I have retained PPANAC, who spearheaded the organization, here to avoid confusion. Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1984, Armstrong Collection.
43 PCRC was the secretariat for the NFIP movement, founded in Hawaiʻi after the 1980 Nuclear Free Pacific conference, but relocated to Auckland under the directorship of Tongan activist Lopeti Senituli in 1987.
44 PPANAC newsletter, Sept. 1983, Eph-B-NUCLEAR-1983/1984, ATL.
45 Hirini Kaa, pers. comm., 20 Nov. 2017.
46 Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1982, Armstrong Collection.
47 Specifically, the organizing committee consisted of (among others) Ripeka Evans, Pat Hohepa, Hone Harawira, James Pasene, Wally Te Ua.
48 Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1982.
49 Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa, 1984.
50 George Armstrong and Maire Leadbeater, pers. comm., Aug. 2017.
51 The Māori delegation, representing the groups PPANAC, Māori Network, Waitangi Action Committee, Te Amorangi, Hui Tane, Tu Te Kia, and Mana Wahine consisted of: Mei Heremaia, Ripeka Evans, Huhana Tuhaka, Cheryl Thompson, Grace Robertson, Aperira Papuni, Ngaire Te Hira, Adrienne Browne, Les Howe, Parata Hawke, and Sharon Hawke. NFIP Conference Report (Auckland: PCRC, 1983).
52 PPANAC newsletter, July 1985, Eph-B-NUCLEAR-1983/1984, ATL.
53 PPANAC newsletter, July 1985.
54 Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa, 1984.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 ‘Solidarity for Kanak Independence’, Craccum, University of Auckland Student Magazine, 27 Mar. 1984.
60 Susanna’s time in New Zealand was sponsored by CORSO. PPANAC newsletter, Dec. 1983, Eph-B-NUCLEAR-1983/1984, ATL.
61 Hone Willis, pers. comm., 9 June 2017.
62 Salesa, ‘The Pacific in Indigenous Time’, 44–5.
63 Vijay Naidu, Eric Waddell, and Epeli Hau‘ofa, A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands (Suva: School of Social and Economic Development, The University of the South Pacific, 1993), 7.
64 Kahoʻolawe Access, excerpt from the PCRC steering committee Aotearoa/Australia report May 1984, reprinted in Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1985, Armstrong Collection.
65 Te Hui Oranga o Te Moananui a Kiwa 1985.
66 ‘2 Maoris to Moruroa: 2 Maoris are taking part in the fleet to Mororua. Ranga o Te Aupouri has already left on the Alliance; and Tihema Galvin of Te Arawa will be leaving on Greenpeace Vega’. PPANAC Action Alert Aug. 1985, Eph-B-NUCLEAR-1983/1984, ATL.
67 Hotu Painu. Directed by Pita Turei. Paradise Films, [television], 1988.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 Te Hui Oranga o te Moananui a Kiwa 1985.
71 Te Hui Oranga o te Moananui a Kiwa 1985.
72 ‘The only solution is to get independence for Polynesia as soon as possible. Because as long as Polynesia is called French Polynesia, France will continue its nuclear tests. The sooner we have our independence the sooner France and its nuclear tests will be gone’. Charlie Ching, interviewed for A Nuclear Free Pacific/Niuklia Fri Pasifik. Directed by Lesley Stevens. Pacific Stories Partnership, New Zealand, 1988.
73 Hotu Painu.
74 Halkyard-Harawira, ‘Te Puawaitanga o PPANAC 1980–1990’.
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Marco de Jong
Marco de Jong – Faculty of History, University of Oxford, UK.[email protected]