Radicals

Television (Full Length) – 1997

This 1997 Inside New Zealand documentary looks at the evolution of modern Māori political activism, from young 70s rebels Ngā Tamatoa, to Te Kawariki's protest at Waitangi Day in 1995. Directed by Paora Maxwell, it is framed around interviews with key figures (Syd Jackson, Hone Harawira, Ken Mair, Mike Smith, Annette Sykes, Eva Rickard, Joe Hawke). The interviewees explore events, and the kaupapa behind their activism, from thoughts on sovereignty, and the Treaty of Waitangi, through to symbolism (tree felling, land marches) and being kaitiaki of the environment.

They couldn’t find it … and the Government had bureaucrats running around like rats in a cage trying to find The Treaty document. In the end they found it, I think, in a building in Auckland, and it had been attacked by rodents. The rats had gnawed at it to such an extent that the original document had almost been destroyed. That underlined for us the status of the Treaty at that time...
– Syd Jackson on the place of The Treaty during Nga Tama Toa's 70s activism