October 15th Solidarity - Remember the state terror raids

Friday, 08 August 2008, Stuff

Exchanging hongi with politicians is necessary because it is important to know your enemy, Tuhoe activist Tame Iti says.

Yesterday, Mr Iti made it clear that while he had refused to hongi with politicians in the past to make a political point, the ritual had its virtues when dealing with enemies.

He said all politicians fell into that category, no matter what party, because of the Government's history of Maori abuse.

"You hongi your enemy because it's better to have eye-to-eye contact with them – to know their shape, their form, their smell and their thinking."

Politicians constantly require new insults to hurl at each other and Mr Iti provided fresh ammunition when he exchanged hongi with Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen last week.

The occasion was the signing at Parliament of negotiation ground rules for a settlement of Tuhoe's claim to the Waitangi Tribunal.

The incident sparked outrage among National politicians, who pointed out Labour had vilified their leader John Key for exchanging hongi with Mr Iti at Waitangi Day celebrations.

Firearms charges levelled at Mr Iti following last October's so-called terror raids in Ruatoki, Whakatane and other parts of the country had rendered him even more pariah-like than usual at the time.

Dr Cullen said then: "On the one hand we had the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, a leader of international stature; on the other hand we had Mr Key, whose proudest moment of 2008 so far is to hongi with Tame Iti."

However, Mr Iti said his hongi with Dr Cullen was much more complex, despite the latter being a politician and, therefore, an enemy.

It followed a long period of resistance on the part of Tuhoe, which had led, at least in the short-term, to rongo (resolution).

The hongi followed a formal powhiri where the Crown acknowledged Tuhoe grievances and promised to negotiate a settlement that would put matters right.

"The media look at the Cullen hongi, but they don't understand the process that got us to there. The Government and Tuhoe reached the place of rongo – we both agreed – and that was the end of a process.

"That was a big step for the Government to agree so now we are starting to talk. They are no longer deaf and blind."

Hongi was entirely appropriate after such progress.

The ancient greeting, where each party presses their nose and forehead together and shares the other's breath, marks the point at which a person is accepted by the host people.

Mr Iti said you could draw parallels with the immigration process. After speeches by hosts and visitors on a marae that established the visitors' credentials and the hosts' willingness to accept them, both sides exchanged hongi. The act was like the stamp of approval in a passport at the end of the immigration process.

"But it's not just a ritual – it's a deep and meaningful way of sussing someone out and a most beautiful way of making contact with people you don't know," Mr Iti said.

Pakeha sometimes found the process awkward.

"They bang foreheads on noses; they stare at you. They want to know whether to give one press, two, or three.

"They can get so nervous they end up bumping their forehead on yours and it turns into a head butt."

Mr Iti said some people attempted a simultaneous handshake but they were better to grasp the other person's shoulder. Another mistake was for men to, instead, kiss a woman.

In 1972 he refused to hongi the then Maori Affairs Minister Duncan McIntyre during a protest against use of Maori servicemen in wars overseas and the lack of te reo Maori in schools.

"Afterward we just put our hands behind our backs and would not hongi him. We wanted to see some improvement first."

He first exchanged hongi with Prime Minister Helen Clark "many years ago", when she was a conservation minister at the opening of a departmental building at Taneatua.