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Every life matters

Anne Daniels, President
NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa

In a world where calls for a ceasefire are debated while innocent people continue to die – and those who try to help, the aid workers, nurses, doctors and more, die alongside them – what does it mean to us, so far away on the other side of the world?

What does it mean when we are told that weapons are made and delivered by the same regimes that call for a ceasefire. You have to wonder which side is up. War cannot happen if there are no weapons, and there are other ways to settle disputes.

Every life matters.

The struggle to respect, protect and support life belongs to all of us. This is fundamental to us as health professionals. We all have our own struggles but in this country we are expected to ‘harden up’ and get on with it.

Mike King (comedian and founder of I am Hope’ foundation) thinks otherwise. His sincere hope is that Kiwi “stop pretending we have our shit together”. He further says that having a suicidal thought doesn’t make you mentally ill, it makes you human. If you haven’t left your house at least once in your life thinking ‘what’s the point’ then you need to get out of the marshmallow you’re living in.”

Why? Because we are failing our children. Our children are our future. Suicide is the third leading death category for our kids aged 28 days to 24 years (one in five of our mokopuna, but much worse for our 15- to 19-year-olds and young men). Serious thoughts of suicide and attempted suicide occur more often in areas of high deprivation and under the current government, deprivation is set to grow. This is avoidable, unfair, and unjust. This is a major issue, and it belongs to all of us.

Yet, right now, in a bid to cut costs and honour the election promise of tax cuts, the current Government is slashing and burning the Suicide Prevention Office, set up to work with the many public health and community groups working towards eliminating suicide.

It’s also proposing downgrading the drug-checking services function leading to a loss of people working in mental health and addictions. Further, the national telehealth service is struggling to recruit enough qualified clinical staff to operate the 24/7 phone lines for triaging people with mental health problems, while also supporting police and ambulance services. In the next four weeks, more than half the shifts are understaffed. Why? Poor pay and conditions.

National promised pre-election that there would be no cuts to front line health services. Yeah, right. The currently proposed cuts will end the lives of our most vulnerable. Yet this Government is ignoring the facts. It is cheaper to prevent harm than to try and fix it when it happens. We cannot stand by in silence. We must act.

Mike King’s patai (question) is, will we climb out of our marshmallows, rise up (Maranga Mai!) and be counted? Will we take off our masks and be more vulnerable in front of our kids, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll be able to take off their masks and reach out and ask for help before something tragic happens.

Jess Glynne reminds us all: “Don’t be so hard on yourself, no. Learn to forgive, learn to let go. Everyone trips, everyone falls. So don’t be so hard on yourself, no.”

We need to start talking to each other, and our children – today. If you need to talk – free call or text 1737 any time or Lifeline – 0800 543 354.

If your need NZNO help call 0800 28 38 48.


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IQNs not the long-term solution

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

There has been some media focus recently on Internationally Qualified Nurses (IQNs) being exploited by recruitment agencies taking advantage of monetary incentives offered by the Government.

These agencies are bringing IQNs into the country without first securing them employment  which leads me to reiterate what I’ve been saying in the media. We uphold the importance of ethical recruitment. We have serious concerns about the recruitment agencies that are incentivised to flood Aotearoa with nurses, particularly from India. These nurses are often unable to be employed despite completing New Zealand’s competency assessment programme and holding NZ practising certificates (APCs).

That many recent IQNs are not being employed is through no fault of their own. IQNs are not always professionally or culturally suitable for employment in positions where local experience is required. It puts a strain on the system with training, culturalisation and finding effective support for them once they’re in jobs. The levels of support required to upskill them costs too much, so often they’re left to drown in the deep end.

It has been revealed to me recently that these agencies are also exploiting loopholes in the system to bring nurses into Aotearoa via the UK’s National Health Service. If not already illegal this kind of activity should surely be shut off as it is in my opinion tantamount to fraud.

This cannot continue and Te Whatu Ora has recently assured us that the $10,000 incentive to agencies has been closed But will the funding now be diverted to growing our own workforce where it should have been in the first place?

It’s time we realised IQNs are not the solution to the nursing shortage in Aotearoa even in the short term. Our focus should be on strategies to attract New Zealanders rather than IQNs to take up nursing study with the aim of building a strong workforce that is culturally competent and responsive.

We are aware of the harmful effects of international nurse recruitment which according to the International Council of Nurses some associations in poorer and developing countries equated with a form of neo-colonialism. IQNs are needed in their home countries as much as they are here, and this is another reason why more effort and resources need to be put into growing our own workforce.

The Government now needs to consolidate the situation with the existing number of IQNs in the country to ensure they get jobs along with appropriate training and support and this means we need to freeze the recruitment of IQNs and discourage recruitment agencies from bringing them out.
It needs to divert any possible funding into broadening the number of nursing students and then training them, keeping them, and giving them good jobs afterwards. That would be the long-term solution to this nursing crisis.


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Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

Anne Daniels, President
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

Treasury recently stated that our health system will either need to be cut back or taxes will need to be raised to fund it.

I thought……WHAT? Didn’t the new coalition government promise no cuts to the front line? Aotearoa has an ageing population and levels of inequality where many cannot enjoy the opportunities of living in a wealthy country. The poem What will matter (abridged) by Michael Josephson suggests we all need to….

Live a life that matters
Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

And so we all should. But what happens when the very government that shapes the environment in which we live and work makes every day an ever-increasing struggle where our individual and collective choices are being dismantled and everything, we have fought so hard for, including the structures that protect you at work” are being torn apart?

My recent blog on injustice identified similar issues. So why are we involved in this escalating struggle with our current government? One commentator recently said the coalition government has taken a match to the hopes and dreams of Māori (and Tauiwi), resulting in a bonfire that is burning them down as quickly as possible without using due process and without remorse.

Our government’s processes, behaviours and policies must be called into question. The role of government and its officials is to serve the public interest with ethical awareness and ethical actions, and to act for the common good. These ideals seem to have been thrown out the window along with both the baby and the bathwater without any concern to the harm that may land on those standing below.

What does it mean for us as NZNO members and for those we care for?

Politics and governmental decision-making affect us all in terms of funding, resources, and our ability to do our jobs to the professional standards we must uphold. Further it has the potential to increase our current struggles, the lack of nurses, poor work-life balance, the lack of protection from accountants whose only bottom line is the dollar.

OUR bottom line must be the provision of safe, evidenced-based care, where and when it’s needed, going forward. Only then will we realise a healthy nation instead of an increasingly sick one.

So, we must “Maranga Mai!” – Rise up together all the while remembering…

If in our hearts we do not yield,
We will overcome.


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It’s about life

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

On 28 February CTU’s youth wing, Stand Up, organised a protest at Parliament against the Government’s all-out assault on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Taiao, and workers. Of all the powerful kōrero from that rally, one stuck out prominently because of its strength and its relevance. It came from Action Station director Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tuwharetoa) who hit home exactly what the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora means.

“Te Aka Whai Ora was about life,” she said.

It was about the simple but horrifying fact that Māori die seven years younger than Pākehā. All Te Aka Whai Ora was intended to do was find ways to close that gap so our mokopuna get seven more years with their kaumātua; So we can have seven more years to keep deepening our reo and tikanga; So we can have seven more years living with Ranginui above us, Papatūānuku beneath us, and growing in the universe that our tūpuna fought so hard to deliver us into.

We know in health that equity literally is the difference between living and dying. How can they justify this, knowing that it means people dying too young? This Government intentionally attacks any policy or structure that aims to create equity because they maintain their power through racism and division. And if that means death so be it. They will continue to trample on Māori and as they do they will blame us for the outcomes of the injustice they have created.

But they won’t just blame Māori. They’ll blame women for not being able to earn enough. They’ll blame young people for not being able to keep a job. They’ll blame nurses for not being able to keep up with the demands of tangata whaiora. They’ll use their power and control to try to convince us all that we are responsible of our own exploitation and oppression. Or, of course, they’ll wheel out their favourite tactic: saying that the real reason workers have no power is because Māori are trying to take it.

Yet more and more, people are understanding that this is not the case. The Toitū Te Tiriti movement has seen unprecedented shows of solidarity from Pākehā and tauiwi because people are seeing the restoration of tino rangatiratanga not as a threat, but simply as a matter of justice and equity. As Angela Davis said, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” People are standing up and saying they do not accept the idea that Māori are powerless on their own land. They do not accept that Māori will die seven years before Pākehā. And they will not accept the erosion of workers’ rights, nor the destruction of the earth.

This struggle concerns all of us. You must understand that this Government will continue to do all in its power to dismantle everything we have fought so hard for, including the structures that protect you at work. If you see the injustice and cannot accept this reality, then you have a role to play. Together we have the power to change the world. We simply must take the next step and show true leadership, unlike those in Parliament. That means getting organised, talking with each other, and taking our struggle to the streets.


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(In)Justice

Anne Daniels, President
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
― Martin Luther King Jr

Last year, I had the privilege of attending most of the NZNO Regional Council Conventions. During the day we discussed member engagement and what motivates members to get involved by going to meetings, rallies, protests, and taking on an advocacy role such as being a delegate, or health and safety representative. The answer was anger at injustice. Anger overcomes fear. Anger motivates a person to find out how to right the wrong. Anger motivates a person to become part of the solution through action.

Justice assumes that society has a responsibility to treat people fairly. Society confirms concepts of justice in its legal frameworks. There is an inter-relationship between law and justice, which means that one does not automatically override the other. Laws are modified over time, and it’s thought that when they are applied, justice is increased.

But does it? What if the law is unjust? What if there is no law to provide justice? Right now, in New Zealand, laws are being repealed and changed which will result in injustice in our society and lead to an increase in poor health outcomes for those we care for. So, what do we do about it?

It is said there is power in the people to create change. The history of protests shows this to be true. The Kia Ora incident (1984) is an example of one person starting an action, and seeing it finish with the power of the people behind her. Naida Glavish, a telephone operator was instructed to stop using “Kia ora” when greeting callers. Glavish refused and was stood down, with the whole affair attracting much public interest. She was later given back her job when the Postmaster General, who initially supported the Kia ora ban, changed his mind, and persuaded the Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to overturn the prohibition. This incident was considered key in the movement to revitalise the Māori language. The power of the people overcame the injustice.

On Waitangi Day 2024, I was asked to attend a hikoi in Dunedin to protest against the current Government’s policy to review te Tiriti o Waitangi, our country’s 180-year-old founding document, which will “unravel decades of indigenous progress” I have attended and led many protests in my time, but this hikoi was the first where there were so many people participating, I could not see the end of the march. The power of the people was palpable. Māori and non-Māori came together to fight injustice. I knew that this was just the beginning. Justice will be served.

So, it must be for NZNO members. Exhaustion, fear professional and personal responsibilities cannot hold us back from standing together and acting against the injustices perpetuated against us and those we care for. Inaction perpetuates injustice and consequent suffering, negates change, and is done to us, without us. We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. Every member everywhere must heed the call of our Maranga Mai! Strategic Plan 2023-2025, and act locally, regionally, nationally. Together we stand, divided we fall. We cannot wait for ‘someone else’ to do it for us. Each one of us has the power to make a difference. But we have unstoppable power when we act together in “unionity”.

NZNO represents more than 60,000 members. Together, we are a power to be reckoned with. This year the Membership Committee (made up of regional council representatives) will work with other NZNO groups to reach out to ask every nurse, everywhere to raise their voice and do the mahi. This year we will fight the injustice of being told to do more with less, putting ourselves and our patients at risk. Nurse-patient ratio legislation will protect us from these injustices but together we will have to fight on the picket lines, and in the halls of power. Marvin Gaye sang “Picket lines and picket signs/Don’t punish me with brutality/Talk to me, so you can see/Oh, what’s going on.” I will see you all there, Every nurse, everywhere.


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Toitū Te Tiriti

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

Across our history there have been many hikoi, each one as significant as the next. These shows of kotahitanga and peaceful action were used to raise issues and promote dialogue as partners in te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The Coalition Government’s current priority to “review The Treaty of Waitangi” and Māori policy has sparked a new wave of kotahitanga action. Responding to these concerns over Government policies related to Māori, Kingi Tuheitia called for a hui-a-motu to unify the nation. This was held late last month and with thousands of Māori and non-Māori in attendance and represented another significant milestone in our history.

Waitangi Day is expected to be one of action and unity like no other. This year a rōpu of Māori nurses will be travelling to Waitangi to send the wero that colonisation is a social determinant of health. It is not by choice that we are over-represented in poor health outcomes; it is a construct of colonisation and legislation. We will challenge legislation that continues to enable racist funding that sees our Māori and Iwi provider nurses being paid significantly less – and data and statistics that continuously report our negative health with little action. Not one more policy should be developed without Māori. 

This kaupapa is important for all New Zealanders, not just Māori, because if we have even one community in need that is neglected by this Government, it undermines the entire nation. We all need to stick together to oppose David Seymour’s proposed Treaties bill.

In the photo: Whina Cooper seen here on the Auckland bridge was joined by thousands in her land hikoi to Parliament in 1975.

Here are some other significant historical hikoi that took place in the recent past:

On 13 October 1975 Whina Cooper led the land march to Parliament. Along the way on her journey, she was joined by others until approximately 5000 people arrived at Parliament to present a petition signed by 60,000 people to Prime Minister Bill Rowling protesting the continual loss of Māori land through sales or confiscation. Her message was “not one more acre”.

This represented a significant milestone in Māori history forever captured in the famous photo as Whina and her mokopuna start their journey from the country gravel road to the smoothly paved steps of Parliament. The moment was symbolic as the journey was long, unknown challenges, but with an unwavering determination and action of tino rangatiratanga which galvanised Māori and non-Māori alike.

The Foreshore and Seabed Hikoi in April 2004 began in Northland. As they marched the support increased until they arrived in Wellington on 5 May 2004. The hikoi was against proposed legislation to vest ownership of New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed to the Crown a breach to Te Tiriti of Waitangi.

The hikoi on 29 July 2019 called for a halt to Oranga Tamariki removing tamariki from whānau and Iwi. And removal of Oranga Tamariki legislation which entrenched and enabled such violent and traumatic uplift of a newborn baby from Hastings Hospital.  As we saw in the Hastings baby uplift case.

Unity is strength! Toitū Te Tiriti!! Uphold the Treaty.


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Get up, stand up. Don’t give up the fight!

Anne Daniels, President
NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa

Late in 2023 NZNO CE Paul Goulter outlined NZNO’s priorities for 2024. First and foremost is achieving Pay Parity for nurses working outside of Te Whatu Ora. Consequently, on 8 December NZNO raised a Pay Equity claim for Primary Health Care members involving more than 500 employers. We are standing up and fighting the roadblocks in our way.

Heading into 2024, the NZNO Board has prioritised member health and safety. Paul Goulter recently said, “We need to ensure that nurses and health care workers work in safe workplaces and that they are unafraid to press for their rights.” Specifically, we will be standing up and fighting for our right to safe staffing through legislated nurse-to-patient ratios underpinned by CCDM.

Health and safety is everyone’s business, including Government, employer and employee. The Government’s job is to provide legislation and policy. A guiding principle of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is that workers and others need to be given the highest level of protection possible from workplace risks.

Employers and employees need to uphold legislation and standards in practice. The employer must engage with the workers and enable them to identify and manage risks (physical or mental) in the workplace. Employers must “ensure there are sufficient health care and support workers on duty at all times to provide culturally and clinically safe services” (Health and Disability services (safety) standard 2.3.1). But we all know that is not happening.

Research tells us that appropriate levels of nurse staffing is critical to patient safety. The CCDM system matches staff resources to patient care need supporting a better working environment but is yet to be fully funded or implemented after 20 years of asking.

The lack of Government or employer commitment is telling – every time a nurse writes an unsafe staffing incident report. My request to Te Whatu Ora and the Ministry of Health to provide numbers around reports of unsafe staffing over the last five years was declined because “it would take too long and too much resource” to provide me with an answer.

Te Whatu Ora is required to “follow the National Adverse Event Reporting Policy for internal and external reporting… to reduce preventable harm (HDSS 2.2.4). Therefore, Te Whatu Ora and the government are legally required to resource data collection and reporting. We will not let this go.

Health and safety representatives (HSRs) around the country have consistently reported unsafe staffing, met with managers and escalated their concerns. HSRs have submitted increasing numbers of Provisional Notices of Improvement to WorkSafe over the last three years but an external review found there are “some instances of known harm where WorkSafe appears to be taking little or no intervention” (Pennington, 2023). This is why we need nurse patient ratio legislation to fund and implement safe staffing (and CCDM) across the whole health sector.

Meanwhile HSRs are making a difference. In December 2023 alone, the Waikato District Nursing Service used health and safety process to gain an increase of eight RN FTE. The HSR said that after asking for years “the Executive now knows we mean business”.

Wellington ED HSRs working with the CCDM facilitator, identified a gap of 67 FTE through Trendcare data. Health and safety caught the attention of media repeatedly through actions taken by member HSRs, e.g. Auckland (Nico Woodward), Gisborne (Christine Warrender), Waikato (Janferie Dewar) where there are chronic failures to safely staff workplaces.

2024 will see us all “Get up, stand up. Stand up for our rights!” (Bob Marley and the Wailers).


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Toitu Te Tiriti

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere,
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the contract setting out rights and conditions for Māori and non-Māori to come, live and share the land. Te Tiriti has always been about honouring the agreement as we live and evolve as a country, sharing power.

As indigenous people across the world continue to fight for their rights and freedom, tangata whenua Māori struggle from the impact of colonisation. History is written to advantage the privileged. 

Legislation upon legislation was introduced to speed up the assimilation of Māori, especially within the health sector.

The Nurses’ Registration Act 1901 impacted on Māori tapuhi. Prior to the enforcement of the Act, tapuhi were providing care to communities using traditional Māori medicines travelling to wherever the communities needed help. Following the introduction of the Act Taphui were considered unskilled, not capable of providing care, and were branded illegal.

The assault of the 1907 Tōhunga Suppression Act was an intentional effort to suppress tohunga (Māori experts) by removing the use of rongoa (traditional medicines) and tikanga (traditional and spiritual health). Further legislation was passed to allow Māori nurses to train and go into the districts as “ambassadors” to enforce the use of western medicine.

Māori nurses who did train under the western medical model were further alienated when their name was entered on the registration. Māori nurses were discouraged from using their Māori names. Each Māori nurse was strongly encouraged to change her name to a more acceptable English version, or they were merely recorded as a number. Māori men, who once played an important role in childbirth, were not permitted to be nurses or midwives.

The process of colonisation entrenched intergenerational disparities in health and negatively impacted the outcomes for Māori across all sectors of society. The impact of these health inequalities reflected today in our shorter life expectancy, include reduced access to Primary Health Care, less treatment and greater risk of misdiagnosis and mistreatment – and all continue today. Such inequalities are unacceptable, unfair, and unjust in a developed country like Aotearoa New Zealand.

As a Māori health professional, it is soul destroying to have to enforce the policies and practice that continue to negatively impact on Māori health outcomes. As a Māori midwife, I saw the disadvantaged young mothers and whānau, and the policies that impose privilege to some and not to all. I could not be the observer, I wanted to be part of the change.

It is not fact that, “Māori are far better off now than what they were prior to the coming of the British” or that we bear the scars of histories abuse.

This talk and action by the new Government is tantamount to circling back and reenforcing colonisation. The time for Māori and non-Māori to rise up again has arrived.

The peaceful marches on 4 December gave renewed hope. Māori and non-Māori katoa sent a powerful message of unity and the aspiration for a te Tiriti future.

Kia kaha to a restful summer and enjoy spending time with whānau.


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Our leaders speak: Action speaks louder than words!

Anne Daniels, President
NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa

This week NZNO Te Whatu Ora delegates and members have been attending paid union meetings (previously known as ‘stop works’) around the country. What is our why?

We have fought and won Pay Equity for Te Whatu Ora members, but we need to maintain that equity in the context of continued high cost of living, high rents, interest rates and more. Fair pay is a strong incentive for successful recruitment and retention. And we all know we need more nurses/midwives/health care assistants so we can deliver safe and excellent care to those who need it, where and when they need it.

The research is unequivocal. Fewer nurses result in avoidable harm for our patients because we are the safety net of the health system. We are there, 24/7, but these days we are not there when we should be. Filling budgeted vacancies does not meet patient need.

It is our right to work in a safe environment with enough skilled, knowledgeable, and experienced nurses to provide care the way it should be done. It is the employer’s responsibility under the Health and Safety in Employment Act to provide a safe work environment and that means more nurses/midwives/healthcare assistants.

In May this year, two thirds of surveyed Te Whatu Ora staff reported they don’t have the time, people, budget, or facilities to do their job well. This state-of-affairs has been going on for far too long.

More than 20 years have passed since NZNO started campaigning for nurse patient ratios. On the back of members calls for safe staffing, an NZNO remit proposed by myself and co-written with Grant Brookes to explore how we could get legislated nurse patient ratios over the line starting 2020, is now seeing fruition through our Maranga Mai! campaign.

It is envisaged that a fit for purpose CCDM (Care Capacity Demand Management), designed to match the demand safely and consistently for services and care required by patients with the resources required to provide that care, will be the tool that is enforced under the legislation. This is necessary as DHBs and now Te Whatu Ora have failed to act on their legislated and employer responsibilities to keep us safe at work.

As we speak, the right to strike under the Health and Safety in Employments Act is being contested in court. And our patients suffer. We need to make Te Whatu Ora, and every nurse/midwife/health care assistant/kaiāwhina employer, live up to their own set of rules and policies. This campaign will make that happen.

But it is not just about us. These issues affect Te Whatu Ora members, Primary Health Care, Aged Care and the funded sectors. These areas still have not achieved full equity in pay or conditions.

Maranga Mai! asks us all to rise up together. A show of strength and numbers is pivotal to making this happen. Successful campaigns use the power of the people to keep the pressure on until we win.

Every NZNO member, everywhere must achieve Pay Equity and equitable conditions of work. We need to demonstrate that we are prepared, willing, and able to take action to advocate and influence the Government and employers to achieve these goals. That means action by us all, backing each other up by turning up and doing the mahi. Every NZNO member has a responsibility to stand up and act in solidarity wherever the action is taking place.

As Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sang…

Well, I know what’s right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I stand my ground and I won’t back down.


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Seeds

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO

At a recent conference speakers talked about the waves of pandemics not isolated to viruses, communicable or non-communicable diseases. They also talked about the pandemics of economic disadvantage, declining social and labour markets; pandemics of hate and war for control and resources. All of these are underlined by power and greed, with the highly calculated weaponisation of racism, xenophobia and bigotry to divide people and concentrate more power and wealth in the hands of the few.

We see this on full display in Palestine where one of the largest military powers in the world, backed by the US, is committing alleged ethnic cleansing and displacing millions of indigenous people living in what the UN has described as the world’s largest open-air prison. And why is Israel doing this? If the ‘war’ is really about driving out Hamas, then why displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians? This is and always was about claiming more land and resources.

As the genocide in Palestine continues to escalate, my thoughts are with the thousands who have been slaughtered, and the hundreds of thousands displaced in the last month. It would be difficult for many of us to appreciate the indescribably harrowing and traumatic experience of those people, and especially of the Palestinian health workers dealing with mass death and injury under siege.

It’s sickening to see the violent invasion of al-Shifa Hospital where more than 3000 doctors, nurses and civilians have been sheltering. Seeing these images, it’s clear to me that there’s no symmetry of power, and it reminds me of the events of our own history in Aotearoa.

I think of the violent displacement of our people by the British so that settlers could have more land and resources. I think of Parihaka, where 1600 British soldiers arrested hundreds of peaceful protesters trying to protect their own whenua from unlawful occupation. I think of the purposeful erosion of our legal, political, cultural and economic institutions over the past 250 years, and the violence that our resistance is met with. I see the similarities between our fight for tino rangatiratanga and mana Motuhake, and the struggle for Palestinian liberation.

There’s a growing call globally for a ceasefire and an enduring solution that recognises the Palestinian state. There are also calls for Israel to be held accountable for war crimes. Among those countries calling for justice, it should be noted, is South Africa who intimately understands the injustice from their own history of apartheid.

Palestinians often say: “justice is the seed, peace is the flower”. We know that those in power will play on our fears and make us believe that justice is impossible and peace unreachable. But as unionists and health workers, we know that those in power rarely have the people’s best interests at heart. So, we must critically analyse their motives and interests, and listen to the dreams of the Palestinian people. When we do, it is clear to see that with global solidarity, justice is possible, and so too is peace.