Rawiri Waititi will be taking part in the Cambridge Union Presidential Debate in the UK this Friday, at 7am NZ Time. Founded in 1815, the Cambridge Union is the oldest continuously running debating society in the world. Rawiri will be one of a small handful of Aotearoa MPs, including Georgina Beyer and Helen Clark, to have addressed the Cambridge Union.

The topic of Friday’s debate is “the Commonwealth Still Serves a Purpose, which Rawiri will be opposing alongside Jonty Yin, and a student speaker.

The proposition side will consist of the Rt. Hon. Andrew Mitchell MP (Minister of State for Development and Africa in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), Shailesh Vara MP (Conservative MP for Northwest Cambridgeshire), and the outgoing Cambridge Union president James Appiah.

Te Pāti Māori will be livestreaming the full debate across all our social media platforms at 7am tomorrow.

“The Commonwealth was built on the stolen wealth and blood of indigenous nations. It is the throne from which the Crown maintains white supremacy globally” said Rawiri Waititi.

“The British Crown has reigned war upon every continent on earth and has inherited power through theft and genocide. It continues to be in illegal occupation of hundreds of indigenous nations throughout the world, directly and through its successor colonial governments.

“The British Crown is a thief, a murderer, and a coward heavy under the weight of its oppression. It is a war bonnet for those indigenous nations who've encountered it. It cannot be worn by the moral or the brave, it would break them both. No single piece of jewellery has ever represented so much murder and pain.

“The legacy of this Crown has been genocidal. King Charles is now the figurehead of the world’s largest, longest, and most politically supported terrorist organisation.

“The one thing all Commonwealth nations have in common with each other is our oppressor. We will no longer be defined on their terms” Waititi said.

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