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Source: ONE News -
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Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has spoken out against the Foreshore and Seabed Act at the Parihaka Peace Festival.
Harawira said the acts that happened at Parihaka 150 years ago were not a thing of the past.
The speech comes after a controversial email he sent out last year using expletives and racially charged language, which nearly ended his membership to the Maori Party.
The festival kicked off officially on Friday night, with revellers dancing the night away to some of New Zealand's biggest music acts.
Away from the stage though, Hone Harawira told his audience what happened at Parihaka pa continues today, with the likes of the Foreshore and Seabed Act.
"When I talk about us having been, our lands being raped and us being ripped off, it doesn't mean it happened way back then. It still happens today. Yep there's a move to repeal that act, but it hasn't been repealed yet," Harawira said.
But for well-known community leader and Black Power life member Dennis O'Reilly the real battle today is the fight against the drug P.
He says it is important the way the whole community comes together to fight the battle against the drug.
The Parihaka Peace Festival commemorates Te Whiti o Rongomai and Toha Kakahi and the peaceful resistance movement they started at Parihaka pa, in the shadow of Mt Taranaki/Egmont during the Maori land wars.
Both men ended up wrongly incarcerated - even their pa was destroyed.
But a 150 years on, Parihaka local Rangi Te Rangitaakengaia says the festival is about remembering their actions.
"It was them that tried to get the people back together and that's what we're trying to do today& no matter who or what you are, what nationality& we're bringing people back together."
