Theme 6 'Stirrers'

Anyone who challenges the status quo, whether Māori or non-Māori, is portrayed as a troublemaker who misleads others and causes tension for their own political ends.
 
Cues
Stirrer, radical, activist, protestor, malcontents, terrorists, bleeding heart liberals, mountains out of molehills, ‘haters and wreckers’.
 
Examples
  • “…shouting and insults from a bunch of parasitical, snouts-deep-in-the-public-trough, Maori malcontents..” Bob Jones, Straight Talking about the Race Crisis, North & South, February 1988
Assumptions
  • Race relations are good and it is stirrers who disturb things.
  • Stirrers are a tiny minority whose opinions are not widely held even within Māoridom.
  • Stirrers are not really interested in the issues they raise but use them as vehicles for their own power and control.
Effects
  • Distracts attention from the substance of the grievance by focusing on supposed disruption or aggression of the protestors
  • Portrays the issues the stirrers raise as extreme, unacceptable or trivial.
  • Hides the support and respect Māori have for tino rangatiratanga leadership.
  • Attempts to divide Māori from each other.
  • Sidelines and suppresses any Pākehā support for tino rangatiratanga.
Alternatives
  • Acknowledge the historical context and range of Māori voices on the issue or grievance.
  • Explore the foundations and Māori accounts of history on the issue.
  • Focus on those who advocate for racism, such as talkback and TV shock jocks, politicians and others.
  • “Stirrers” have been behind every advance in social justice, including the 40-hour week, the minimum wage, advocacy for te reo Māori, women’s suffrage (right to vote).
  • Tino rangatiratanga and Treaty-based processes work in many organisations and are legitimate viewpoints.
 
Download all 14 themes in a booklet (landscape A4 pages)