Shout It Out

Start with Blam Blam Blam’s ‘There is no depression in New Zealand’, which remains one of the great satirical anthems about life in New Zealand (‘We have no SIS, we have no secrets...’). The song was first performed in 1981, the year of the Springbok Tour to New Zealand.

The Tour remains one of most defining and divisive occurrences in the nation’s history. Accordingly, there is a lot to see and listen to. Here’s just a short selection. Start with this historical account of the tour from New Zealand History online (the section on ‘Impact’ is particularly useful, as it brings the Tour into the 21^st century). Patu!, Merata Mita’s 1983 film, is outstanding (it’s a full length documentary but you can watch it in five parts on the NZ on Screen website. Interestingly, mainstream cinemas refused to play Mita’s film, but it attracted acclaim at international film festivals. Try Revolution, is a more recent documentary about the Springbok Tour. Created in 2006 by Leanne Pooley, it is a sobering watch and emphasises the apartheid context in which the Tour took place.

For a disturbing account of what can happen to people who exercise their voice in this country, watch Children of the Revolution, which tells of what it is like to be a child of the women and men who have led public protests in Aotearoa New Zealand. (Best line: Tama Iti’s son, Toi: ‘Dad, dad, you said we were going to go to the movies!’, as off they went to another hui...).

For a view of a more recent protest event, take a look at this piece in The Guardian, where one of the co-creators of the 2017 Women’s March shares her anxiety that the march will not affect change.

Finally, some of you might recall when Mike Smith tried to fell the lone pine tree of Māungakiekie (One Tree Hill) in 1994. This RadioNZ item takes you to a short interview with Smith who shares his motivation and response to plans to plant a grove of trees in its place.