Aroha Not Hōhā on Parliament Lawn
Last Saturday, Common Grace Aotearoa and Rev. Scottie Reeve held a peaceful demonstration on Parliament lawn, standing against the rhetoric of the Stop Co-Governance Tour.
Over 30 clergy and 70 lay people arrived at the Cathedral on Saturday morning. After a briefing from Kate Day and Alex Johnston from Common Grace, they set up a sound system at parliament and sang waiata led by Rev. Hamish Dobbie.
The mood was peaceful, hopeful, and positive, with speeches from Māmari Stephens and Kate Scarlet (Community Law), Andrew Judd (former mayor of New Plymouth), and our own Bishop Justin. All three spoke to the beauty and importance of Co-Governance, with Bishop Justin acknowledging that we have had a co-governance model in the Anglican Church’s Tikanga Toru structure since 1992.
Organiser Rev. Scottie Reeve said: “We are really proud of our church standing up like this. Our Anglican whakapapa has an amazing history of non-violent resistance in moments like the 1981 tour and the 1998 Hikoi of Hope.
“It was heartwarming to see so many people - both clergy and lay - stand out in the rain and the wind to spread a message of hope and acceptance that challenged the message of Stop Co-Governance without resorting to dehumanising the people opposing us.”
The Stop Co-Governance tour has been traveling throughout Aotearoa New Zealand spreading false information about the treaty, alongside saying that there is “something wrong with Māori” and that “only assimilation will work.”
The peaceful demonstration aimed to meet the SCG march on parliament and to ask our brothers and sisters in Christ to reconsider their position.
Partway through the protest the group was joined by 300 activists from Pōneke Anti-Fascist. While their philosophy and methods were somewhat different to the non-violent kaupapa set down by Common Grace, there was still enormous unity and an opportunity to lift up Jesus as our great hope for peace and reconciliation. The event was significantly more peaceful than other recent demonstrations have been.
