Polynesian Panthers Provocation

LI: To evaluate (form an opinion) the text and respond to provocation.

A provocation is a purposeful action meant to bring out lawful or political topics with the desired caused to make someone angry or upset in mental, physical or emotional form. In short, a provocation is an action taken with desire to cause others to have strong feelings about a topic or issue. However, our DLO was not created for the purpose of making others angry but to share our opinion on the events of the 1970s, respectfully.

In 1970, the New Zealand government sent armed police officers and dog squads to the homes of Polynesian people. They had batons and megaphones and would brutally force people without a current work visa out of their own houses and deport them back to their country of birth.

In response, a group called the “Polynesian Panthers” were formed. The Polynesian Panthers were a group of university students protesting against the Dawn Raids and the rights for Social Injustice. ‘Power to the oppressed’. The authorities who were meant to keep New Zealand a safe place had permission to abuse their power in order to kick Pasifikan’s out of their homes.

With this in mind, we think that our Government today (Labour) does not need to apologize for the actions of the past Government (National) not only because they are separate parties but also because Jacinda Ardern and her party is not at fault for the racist actions taken by National. However, we think that the current leader of National (Judith Collins) and the National Party members of today should be the one to issue an apology on behalf of those responsible for these events.

This is because she is the head of National which is the party who were the cause of the Dawn Raids and deportation of polynesian people. However, they do need to issue an apology publicly as it can potentially fix the open wounds that remain today. The apology should be proposed by the correct party members as a sign of empathy and remorse.