Tame Iti

Tāme Iti (born c.1952) has become well-known in New Zealand as a Tūhoe Māori activist.

Early life

Born on a train near Rotorua, Tame Iti grew up with his grandparents in the custom known as whāngai (adoption within the same family) on a farm near Ruatoki in the Urewera area of New Zealand. At the age of 10, school authorities forbade him to speak Māori at school. [] On leaving school, he took up an apprenticeship in interior decorating in Christchurch.

As the Māori nationalist movement grew in New Zealand in the late 1960s and 1970s, Iti became involved. He protested against the Vietnam War and apartheid-era South Africa, and he became involved with Nga Tamatoa, a major Māori protest-group of the 1970s, from its early days. He joined the Communist Party of New Zealand, and went to China in 1973 during the cultural revolution. He has taken part in a number of land-occupations and held a "hikoi" to the New Zealand Parliament.

Iti has since worked as a radio DJ and as an artist; and has run a restaurant in Auckland serving traditional Māori food. [] Sponsored by the wealthy Gibbs family, Iti briefly set up an art-gallery on Auckland's Karangahape Road. He has also made money from fishing, (getting arrested for illegally taking endangered species), and adopted unusual protest-techniques, such as setting up a tent on the lawn at Parliament and purporting it to be the Māori embassy to New Zealand, serving 'eviction notices' on the owners of former Tuhoe land, and selling Tuhoe passports. He stood for Parliament as a candidate of Mana Māori in the 1996, 1999 and 2002 New Zealand general elections.

Current activity

As of 2006 Tūhoe employed Iti as a social-worker with expertise in combatting drug and alcohol addictions. He has three children, two of them adults.

Tame Iti's ability to court controversy has made him a common feature in New Zealand media, aided by his unusual appearance. Tame Iti has a full facial moko, which he described as "the face of the future" in New Zealand. During 2004 he wore a mohawk. The public arguably know Iti best for his moko and for his habit of performing whakapohane (baring his buttocks) at protests.

Firearms charge

On January 16 2005 during a powhiri (or greeting ceremony) which formed part of a Waitangi Tribunal hearing, Tāme Iti fired a shotgun into a New Zealand flag in close proximity to a large number of people, which he explained was an attempt to recreate the 1860s East Cape War: "We wanted them to feel the heat and smoke, and Tūhoe outrage and disgust at the way we have been treated for 200 years". The incident was filmed by television crews but initially ignored by police. The matter was however raised in parliament, one opposition MP asking "why Tāme Iti can brandish a firearm and gloat how he got away with threatening judges on the Waitangi Tribunal, without immediate arrest and prosecution".

New Zealand Police subsequently charged Iti with discharging a firearm in a public place. His trial occurred in June 2006. Tāme Iti elected to give evidence in Māori (his second language), stating that he was following Tūhoe custom of making noise with totara poles. Tūhoe Rangatira stated Iti had been disciplined by the tribe and protocol clarified to say discharge of a weapon in anger was always inappropriate (but stated was appropriate in honouring dead warriors, as in firing a volley over a grave). Judge Chris McGuire said "It was designed to intimidate unnecessarily and shock. It was a stunt, it was unlawful".

Judge McGuire convicted Iti on both charges and fined him. Iti attempted to sell the flag he shot on TradeMe auction site to pay the fine and his legal costs, but the sale - a violation of proceeds of crime legislation - was withdrawn. [ [http://www.tumeke.org TUMEKE! : Aotearoa | International | blog : nz blogosphere : New Zealand's current affairs & culture magazine ] ]

Iti lodged an appeal, in which his lawyer, Annette Sykes, argued that crown law did not stretch to the ceremonial area in front of a marae's wharenui. On April 4 2007, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand overturned his convictions for unlawfully possessing a firearm. While recognising events occurred in "a unique setting", the court did not agree with Sykes' submission about Crown law. However Justices Hammond, O'Regan and Wilson found that prosecutors failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Iti's actions caused "requisite harm", under Section 51 of the Arms Act. The Court of Appeal described Iti's protest as a "a foolhardy enterprise" and warned him not to attempt anything similar again. [cite news
first = Sophie
last = Hazelhurst
authorlink =
author =
coauthors =
title = Wrangle over firearm charges 'ridiculous' - Tame Iti
url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10432537
work = The New Zealand Herald
location = Auckland
pages =
page =
date = 2007-04-04
accessdate = 2008-07-01
quote = ] [cite news
first =
last =
authorlink =
author =
coauthors =
title = Tame Iti feels vindicated
url = http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=115198
work = Newstalk ZB
publisher =
date = 2007-04-04
accessdate = 2008-07-01
quote = ]

2007 terrorism raids

Iti figured among the at least 17 people arrested by police on 15 October 2007 in a series of raids under the Terrorism Suppression Act and the Firearms Act. [] []

References

External links

* [http://www.aotearoa.maori.nz/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2855 Iti goes to court] for firearms charges
* [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10127889 Interview] in " New Zealand Herald"
* [http://aotearoa.wellington.net.nz/he/tame.html "Mana" magazine 1995 article on Iti]
* [http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/770189 News-item, conviction]
* [http://www.theopenproject.net/tame-iti.htm Tame Iti, Feature: Co-Creator (the open project)]
* [http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411425/770189 TradeMe-founder Sam Morgan] speaks to TV1 about why he removed the flag from sale on TradeMe
* [http://www.aotearoa.maori.nz/forums/viewtopic.php?p=13149 The Ruatoki valley blazes] as Tuhoe stands tall — Indigimedia
* [http://www.aotearoa.maori.nz/forums/album_cat.php?cat_id=6 Images of Tāme Iti] shooting the flag
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE_lscS__0M Youtube: Tāme Iti on performing arts and culture]
* Harvey, Claire [http://www.bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=308688 "Tribe of terror"] , "The Bulletin", ACP Magazines.