Students called upon: Unite for Hīkoi
aut-maori-students-association
Fri May 15 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Students called upon: Unite for Hīkoi
Friday, 15 May 2009, 2:51 pm
Press Release: AUT Maori Students' Association
Press Release: AUT Maori Students’ Association
Students called upon: Unite for Hīkoi
AUT’s recently formed Māori Students’ Association is finalising plans for a student gathering on the morning of the Hīkoi, which is taking place on May 25 to protest the scrapping of Māori seats and the lack of student consultation regarding the proposed Auckland Council.
They are organising a starting point for students – a place to come together and join the Hīkoi as a unified group. They are calling all students – any age, colour and ethnicity – to meet in Albert Park at 10:30am, May 25.
At 11:00am the student group will leave Albert Park, joining those who Hīkoi from South Auckland as they come down Symonds Street.
The Hīkoi (march) is being organised by ‘Iwi Have Influence’ (IHI)
Groups will be making their way in from north, east, south and west Auckland, before converging at the bottom of Queen Street at 12:00pm. From there the Hīkoi will move peacefully up Queen Street to the Auckland Town Hall and Aotea Square.
Mane Tahere, president of the AUT Māori Students’ Association, says that by presenting a united front as students, government decision makers will know they are seriously concerned about the future of Auckland.
“We hope that by marching as students it will show we’re yet another sector of society that’s going to be affected by this government’s decisions,” he says.
“We’re standing up for the interests of both Māori, and students.”
By communicating with other tertiary institutions around Auckland, Tahere hopes the student contingent will number at least in the hundreds.
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“We’ve been in contact with all the tertiary institutions in and around Auckland, encouraging students from those institutions to come and join us and to make their feelings known.”
He says support outside of AUT and amongst non-Māori is growing by the day.
“A lot of the student clubs at AUT and the Auckland University Students’ Association (AUSA) have said they’re in full support of the Hīkoi and what we’re doing.
“The Hīkoi isn’t only for Māori. Anybody who disagrees with the new direction of Tamaki Makaurau, whether they’re Māori or not, is welcome to Hīkoi,” he says.
The Māori Students’ Association encourage all students to wear white as a sign of unity and peace.
Hīkoi as students
Albert Park, Auckland CBD
10:30am
May 25, 2009
ends
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