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War Museum Steps Up To Telling The Truth

"The Auckland War Memorial Museum's move to a Te Tiriti-centred approach is about telling the truth of New Zealand's history. It is the right thing to do. It can't stay a dusty old colonial museum that repeats false myths about the glory of war," said Valerie Morse member of Peace Action Wellington.

"The Museum is right to recognise that it needs to change with the times - and change with the communities of Tāmaki Makaurau. It needs to be relevant to people's experiences, not a static institution that guards artefacts in glass boxes."

"There are some politicians who want to turn the museum into a battleground for their war against Māori rights. It is disgusting and
pathetic that they are invoking dead soldiers to try to bolster their
case to keep the Museum as a stronghold for colonial tales about New Zealand's involvement in war."

"If we want to honour soldiers who died in combat we would commit to never again sending our sons and daughters to fight and die in pointless imperial wars like World War 1. We wouldn't sugarcoat the experience of war in heroic museum displays. We would tell the truth about the horrors of war. We would also tell the truth about all those who profited from those wars and the mass murder they entailed."

"All over the world, museums are engaged in processes of decolonisation and modernisation including the return of stolen and looted artefacts, working directly alongside communities to tell their stories, and confronting their own roles in dangerous colonial myth-making."

"Aucklanders should be thrilled to have a museum that is shifting into
being an exciting place for curiosity and learning inspired by compelling onsite, offsite and online experiences."

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