PRESS RELEASES
Karanga Tangaroa – FOR IMMEDIATE USE
On Thursday the 17th of November, the Pacific Panthers in solidarity with Auckland Peace Action’s Week of Peace, will
protest the arrival of Naval military vessels in the Waitemata Harbour.
Pacific Panthers ‘Karanga Tangaroa’, will call out to Tangaroa in a spirit of resistance against those that use our
island homes to wage wars and against the co-option of our sacred deity Tangaroa for militarism.
At Mission Bay, we will karanga ki Tangaroa – call out to Tangaroa, prior to the launching of the Peace Flotilla.
Using indigenous calls and actions of the Pacific, we will create a speaking circle for the sharing of Pacific voices,
in the forms of Haka, waiata, dance, drumming, and spoken word.
We seek to make the essence of Tangaroa known, and in doing so, we speak to the violation of our lands, our waters and
against our peoples.
Pacific Nations have long been affected by colonial and military occupation. The Philippines and Indigenous peoples in
Hawaii and Guam have carried a burden of destruction to their lands to make space for US military bases.
Keala Kelly, Kanaka Maoli ( Hawaiian ) activist and filmmaker says that , “The damage to Pacific peoples, any Indigenous
peoples, is profound, as it goes far beyond what is done to the land we come from, which our Creation stories tell us we
are related to. We are generationally damaged spiritually, psychologically, and ultimately physically by this particular
form of colonial violence.
When our land is used to practice murder of other peoples in their homelands, it compounds our own experience under the
boot of empire. It makes us complicit in crimes against humanity, crimes perpetrated usually against other peoples of
colour and worse, crimes against women and children.”
Aotearoa is a Pacific nation, and Pacific Panthers are calling for Māori and Pacific peoples , to stand in solidarity
against militarism in our Pacific.
Karanga Tangaroa will provide a means for those who disagree with the arms trade, and militarism to make a stand
against the destruction of war, to come together in peace to celebrate Tangaroa with our tikanga, our culture.
Pacific Panthers believe that peace and justice in our Pacific will not be achieved until Indigenous Sovereignty and the
respect of the sacredness of our land and ocean environments is realised.[ENDS]