FROM THE EDITOR

Aotearoa New Zealand has a proud history of protest. Suffrage; Dame Whina Cooper leading the hikoi in 1975; Bastion Point, 1978; Waitangi; the 1981 Springbok Tour; homosexual law reform; anti-nukes; Black Lives Matter, climate change. There is a photo on my wall, by the late, great Marti Friedlander, of the anti-apartheid protest movement that began in the 1960s. A placard says, “I’m all white, Jack,” subverting a classic Kiwi refrain. The protesters, photographed at Myers Park in 1960, look super-fly, their placards witty, their countenance and resolve solid. Their message clear.

And now there is the protest in our capital.

What do they want? The answer is not easily captured on a single placard, that’s for sure. It is, you could say, a grab-bag of gripes. Some protest supporters have reportedly stood outside a pharmacy nearest the grounds and encouraged people to go in, unmasked, to shoplift. Dick move. S*** has literally and figuratively been thrown. This is not the way to capture hearts and minds and at times it’s made my blood (black, not red, apparently due to being vaccinated) boil.

At this distance, it seems like a feral festival of utter confusion. BYO grievance. Who are these people? Amanda Saxton decided to see for herself. So, she slung her hammock, camped out, and talked to everyone from conspiracy theorists and wounded antimandate souls to kids with pet chickens. It’s a dynamic situation. By the time you read this who knows what might have happened down there. But insight is timeless and this is a fascinating insight into “life on the ground”.