{"id":58797,"date":"2023-03-21T20:18:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T19:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=58797"},"modified":"2024-12-16T18:34:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T17:34:23","slug":"deep-sea-mining-quack-pirihi-we-cant-be-maori-without-the-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/58797\/deep-sea-mining-quack-pirihi-we-cant-be-maori-without-the-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We can’t be M\u0101ori without the ocean’ \u2014 Quack Pirihi, Pacific activist against deep sea mining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My name is  Quack Pirihi. I am an Aotearoa (New Zealand) activist and campaigner who is part of the Pacific delegation attending the International Seabed Authority (ISA) conference this week in Kingston, Jamaica. I am of Ng\u0101puhi, Ng\u0101ti Wai, Ngati Porou, Ng\u0101ti Whatua o Kaipara whakapapa (heritage) and traveled to the ISA with a group of Pacific activists onboard Greenpeace\u2019s ship, the Arctic Sunrise. I’m here to speak about the stakes for Indigenous people if deep sea mining begins. <\/p>\n\n

I was guided to be where I am, in this moment \u2014 by my tupuna (ancestors). Through the journeys I\u2019ve been through from pepi (baby), to tamariki (child), to rangatahi (youth and young adult), to who I am today \u2014 is all in guidance and a natural process for us, as M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a9 Martin Katz \/ Greenpeace <\/div> \u00a9 Martin Katz \/ Greenpeace” alt=”Pacific activist Quack Pirihi with the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, also known as the national M\u0101ori flag, onboard the Arctic Sunrise heading to the ISA in Jamaica.
\u00a9 Martin Katz \/ Greenpeace <\/div> \u00a9 Martin Katz \/ Greenpeace” class=”wp-image-58802″ width=”736″ height=”491″\/>
Pacific activist Quack Pirihi with the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, also known as the national M\u0101ori flag, onboard the Arctic Sunrise heading to the ISA in Jamaica.
\u00a9 Martin Katz \/ Greenpeace <\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

I\u2019m here to learn, grow, and stand in solidarity with Pacific voices, and Indigenous voices heading to the International Seabed Authority Council Meeting. I\u2019m here to break down boundaries between complicated places and the people they insist on keeping out. It\u2019s our birth right to be here, and the birth right of our people to be included. I\u2019m here to have a presence in these international spaces. I\u2019m here to be a shit stirrer. I\u2019m here to practice playful and intentional protest, and I\u2019m here to be guarded and guided. We deserve to be in the room.<\/p>\n\n

Without karakia (prayer) and the karanga (a call or summon) from the land that you stand on, you are not manuhiri (guest), you are an intruder. If you don\u2019t adhere to the practice of the Pacific, you are both undermining the mana (power or authority) of the people and you\u2019re putting yourself in danger. <\/p>\n\n

\"MYAS
Kingston, Jamaica \u2013 The 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority starts on 16th March with world delegates gathering in Kingston, Jamaica less than two weeks after the Global Ocean Treaty was agreed at the United Nations.
\u00a9 Gladstone Taylor \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Papat\u016b\u0101nuku (Earth mother) shows us that they know how to cleanse themselves of mamae (hurt or pain). They know cyclones will wash away homes and they know the extent of flooding. Papat\u016b\u0101nuku knows the scale that deep sea mining will have on themselves. Papatuanuku will still remain, but our livelihood, our connection with the whenua (land), can and will change drastically if things continue to be ignored. <\/p>\n\n

You can\u2019t karanga (sacred call) to an empty marae (meeting grounds) and you can\u2019t mihi to a broken moana. We can\u2019t be M\u0101ori without the moana (ocean), we are not M\u0101ori without the moana! <\/p>\n\n

Our stake is our karakia. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Our stake is our hononga ki te whenua. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Hoki mai te moana. Hoki mai te whenua. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Our stake is our cultural place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Our stake is our connection to the land.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Give back our ocean. Give back our land.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Separate from deep sea mining, we are bearing the impacts of colonisation and as we continue to heal, we continue to see high incarceration rates, high results of mental illness, with abuse through drugs and alcohol and violence, the failure of our education system and health system, deep sea mining will push our people further away from thriving in iwi (tribe), hap\u016b (sub tribe), wh\u0101nau (family). <\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s prolonging our ability to heal, it\u2019s sending us on a voyage far away from liberation, it’s translating our culture into words we can not understand. Our rangatahi (young person or young adult) already have to learn about the trauma of their parents and grandparents, let this not be another thing that we have to pass onto them, our descendants. <\/p>\n\n

Let us pass on our beautiful stories, our whakapapa (genealogy), our rongoa (traditional M\u0101ori healing), not more horror. Let this be a chance to tell stories with aroha and peace. This is our rangatiratanga (right to exercise authority), this is our mana motuhake (self determination), and we’ll never push that aside. <\/p>\n\n

We can not be pushed aside.<\/p>\n\n

Guest authors work with Greenpeace to share their personal experiences and perspectives and are responsible for their own content.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Quack Pirihi. I am an Aotearoa (New Zealand) activist and campaigner who is part of the Pacific delegation attending the International Seabed Authority (ISA) conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":58802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[85],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-58797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ships","tag-oceans","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58797"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58826,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58797\/revisions\/58826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58797"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=58797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}