BLAST FROM THE PAST

He Taua - The Haka Party

Recently while doing an essay for sociology I did an array of research on Maori gangs and the sociological theories on why they emerged. It's interesting to see that 30 years ago, the media still interpret news to what the hegemonic of society deem as newsworthy. Its also interesting to see that 30 years on, this has not changed.

I'm guessing many of you have been told the story on The Haka Party? An incident where a group of engineering students devised a yearly event in which they dressed up in Maori attire and pranced around while making a mockery of the haka.

Ranginui Walker wrote a book that has newspaper clippings from those dates in question. He remembers the chant that the engineering students cheered as they celebrated:

Ka Mate! Ka Mate!

Hori! Hori!

I got the pox from

Hori! Hori!

In addition to this obscene performance Walker reports that their bodies were painted with obscene sexist slogans and caricatures of penis and testicles - Some of the obscenities included:

Root more! Drink More!

I fu@k chooks!

I am a cu@t watcher!

Absolutely disgusting if you ask me!! Anyway, to cut a long story short, a group of young Maori and Pacific Islanders took a stand for the respect that the Maori Haka deserved and took the law into their own hands by physically dealing with the engineering students that later cost them periodic detention.

My anguish is over the media that reported on this event - Headlines in the Star (1/5/79) stated: Gang Rampage at Varsity - it later went on to describe how the students were bashed during a haka practise for capping week.

Another report by the NZ herald (2/5/1979) features - Attack on Students Condemned which also goes on to state that the haka performed by these students made Maori uneasy. (making out it was a normal haka)

Both of these newspaper articles neglect to report on why it made Maori uneasy. They neglected to tell the public how disgraceful they were acting and how they were disrespecting the culture as a whole by vast displays of sexual connotations that had nothing to do with the haka itself let alone the culture.

A similar case of recent was the news with regards to protesting within Auckland University - Although facts differ quite significantly, the fact remains is that media focused on the person who was arrested and made a point in saying that he was not a student. In effect, this took the main focus of radicalism off the students and blame was then placed on those who were not students here.

Both of these cases tell me that media are willing to push the blame of any form of radicalism, racism or violence onto those other than university students. After all, they can't portray Auckland University Students in a negative frame as it is their parents who are the mainstream of society.

This only proves that hegemony plays a very important role in how the media portray their views to the public. For example, the Maori and Pacific Islanders involved in the incident were not a gang as we see gangs today. They were apart of a radical movement which emerged out of sociological disparities and retaliation against a crook government who blatantly ignored Te Tiriti O Waitangi. Media are the ones who labelled them a "Gang" and did this to exaggerate a story in order for public to have condemning thoughts, but also to create a sense of fear when there actually wasn't one. This was also another way for them to display the "wild Maori!"

Although I do not condone to violence and the other side of this story is that race relations was about to intervene before this came to a crashing holt, it is in my opinion that the engineering students got off lightly. How I wish I was a university student of the 70's!!

The Haka Party story is still told today and is used as case law for first year law students. Truly a story that could be told for generations to come!

Isn't it funny that 30 years down the track that this image of Maori has not changed? What would you have done if you were a student here in the 70's?