Maori Party Celebrates 20th Year Of Being Nuke Fre
te-pati-maori
Fri Jun 08 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Maori Party Celebrates 20th Year Of Being Nuke Fre
Friday, 8 June 2007, 1:30 pm
Press Release: The Maori Party
Dr Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia,
Co-leaders of the Maori Party
Maori Party Celebrates 20th Year of being Nuke Free
The Maori Party today paid tribute to the courage and conviction of New Zealanders who were determined to make Aotearoa nuke free.
"The anniversary of the New Zealand Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Disarmament and Arms Control Act, passed twenty years ago today on 8 June 1987; is a day this whole nation should celebrate" said Tariana Turia.
"We remember the awesome contribution made by so many New Zealanders - whether it be in Greenpeace; CND; peace groups, nuke-free workshops, students singing peace songs, or selling nuclear free badges at school fairs or market days" said Tariana Turia. "The National Council of Women fired off anti-nuke submissions to Government back in the 70s; Maori and Pasifika peoples joined together to combat the effects of colonialism and nuclear militarism in the Pacific People's Anti-Nuclear Action Committee".
"We honour the legacy of the late Rt Hon David Lange which is epitomised in the Nuclear Free legislation" said Dr Sharples. "And we also know that the movement to oppose the threat of nuclear devastation was rooted in the homes and halls right across New Zealand communities".
"We were thinking about the legendary lyrics of the Pacific reggae sound of Herbs" said Dr Sharples. "Their hit songs - 'No Nukes' 'Nuclear waste' and their 1982 hit 'French letter' questioning French nuclear testing in the South Pacific, carried our anti-nuclear stand across the world via the soundwaves"
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"Or there's the 'icon' poet - Hone Tuwhare" said Dr Sharples. "His use of the 'monstrous sun', the 'radiant ball', in his poem,"No Ordinary Sun" brought home the reality of nuclear explosions, way back in the 1960s"
"In the art world, Aupouri artist, Ralph Hotere, demonstrated the impact of the sinking of the Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, in 1985 with his work, Black Rainbow; or his Polaris series relating to the nuclear warhead Polaris".
"Within my electorate of Te Tai Hauauru, I remember the street theatre of Debra Bustin, with her infamous papier mâché Reagan and Muldoon masks in The Nuclear Horror Show" said Mrs Turia.
"And of course there were the silent protests, such as that by artist Robyn Kahukiwa, who turned down opportunities to go to New Caledonia because of the French colonial treatment of the Kanakies and the nuclear testing at Mururoa" said Mrs Turia.
"The Maori Party is proud to stand by these expressions of the people; and advocate to maintain a Nuclear Free Aotearoa" said Dr Sharples.
"We are committed to a vision for world peace, for upholding and protecting the connections between peoples, their environments and their belief systems" said Dr Sharples. "Being Nuke Free is part of that vision - and importantly, it reaches out across the Pacific, throughout the world, to send a signal about promoting a peaceful world in which we are all safe".
The Lyrics of French Letter included:
Nuclear mis energy, nuclear, nuclear, free yo yo yo yo yo
Is there nothing at all who can appease your greed,
Could you please leave the air we breath
Why is it something we've done
You all seem to forget
About nuclear fallout and the long term effects
ENDS
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