Talking Point

Hawke’s Bay Today 28 Nov, 2015

I haven’t been part of a protest, rally or march since I was 18 back in ’92. That was the year of the first student loans and all over the country we took to the streets to demand a ‘free’ education, as we lapped at our lattes and spent our student allowance on cheap wine. Before that I’d tip toed around the edges of political activity from a fairly early age: I was two at Bastian Point, in ’81 it was the battle over rugby, when I was 8 I stood in front of bulldozers to protect an historic church, ’84 was marked by the Queen Street riots.

There were dawn raids and freezing works closures, land wars, think big and rogernomics, there was nuclear free and the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, and it all required action. There were rallies and marches and peaceful sit-ins every other week in every corner of the country. Some people had placards stored in the boots of their station wagons, ready to go at any time: “Bring Back Buck” appeared at every protest. I dreamed of having my own loud hailer; my nursery rhymes began “What do we want…? When do we want it….?”

Around that same time German architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser came to New Zealand and as a gift to his new home he drew us a flag. It was a political statement aimed at care for the environment. In his design manifesto for the flag he says:

THE FLAG SYMBOLIZES OLD AND NEW, HISTORY AND PROGRESS AT THE SAME TIME. THIS FLAG SYMBOLIZES PEACE, BUT NOT WEAKNESS, BUT THE STRENGTH OF CREATION MOVING FORWARD IN A COURAGEOUS ENGAGEMENT. AT A MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY WITH INCREASING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN NEW ZEALAND GIVES AN EXAMPLE TO THE WORLD BECAUSE THIS FLAG REPRESENTS PEACE WITH NATURE, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN HARMONY WITH NATURE. IT IS THE SIGN OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THIS EVERLASTING POWERFUL ALLY.

All that (and more) in the rational for a flag design! In the ’80s everything was political. Everyone wore badges and put bumper stickers on their cars; t-shirts had statements not slogans. Tea towels were political! The Huddertwasser flag was ever present in my childhood.

And then somewhere around the turn of the millennium I grew up – and I gave up. I put away my placards and my protest songs.

I still took notice: I had robust conversations, I chose biodegradable and fair trade over ease and convenience, I read No Logo and saw The Inconvenient Truth, I am fairly au fait with the TPPA, but comfort crept in and I stayed away from marches. It’s so much easier to be political in the safety of your own home.

Then I had kids and they are now the ages I was when I was at my most politically active (7, 10, 12). When they’re my age will they have the luxury of being political in their actions but only in a private low-key way? It’s hard to think about their long term future on this planet because it’s not too much of a leap to see them as parents, and then as grandparents, to imagine their mokopuna and the world those children will be born into. What will our climate be like in 2050?

This coming weekend I’m taking my kids to the People’s Climate March in Hastings. It’s part of a world-wide weekend of demonstration ahead of the Paris Climate Talks in December. It’s a wake-up call to our leaders to put the climate at the top of their priority list: to halve carbon emissions by 2030; to invest in renewable energy options. Across social media the catch-cry is #EarthToParis.

I want my kids to grow up in a happy, contented, stable nest, but I also want them to care for others, for animals, for the planet, and more than that I want them to know that they can use their voices to tell the people around them what is important to them, that their empathy can be vocalised and actioned, and their actions can be powerful and can inspire others to speak up too. I want them to understand “COURAGEOUS ENGAGEMENT”.

I will not lead my children into protest to make up the numbers or add the cute-factor. I will brief them first, and if they don’t agree with the cause they can stay home. But as much as teaching them to eat with a knife and fork and remember their Ps and Qs is my job, so too is showing them that there is a world beyond their front door and it needs brave advocates, vocal supporters, it’s needs placards and banners, and people’s marches. And they need to know that as denizens of this planet their voices matter, that apathy is not an option, that they have the power to make change.