Some events in history are of such significance that people talk about “before” and “ after”. 9/11 was one of those events. For the first time, war was declared on a largely unknown and stateless enemy – a terrorist network – and upon terror itself.
In our own country, the Terrorism Suppression Act (ff2002) provided a vehicle for New Zealand to fulfil its obligations under international law to seek to prevent terrorism.
Few of us gave this a lot of thought at the time. New Zealand was simply doing what other nations were doing as America and its allies waged their war on terror.
But this changed on 15 October 2007. On that day, armed police conducted a series of raids around the country under the aegis of the Terrorism Suppression Act to apprehend an alleged terrorist network. The biggest raid focused on the small settlement of Rua-toki in the Urewera, home to the Tuhoe iwi.
For Tuhoe people, the raids evoked bitter memories of a peaceful religious settlement at Maungapohatu being raided by police in 1916. Its leader, Rua Kenana, was arrested on charges of sedition; his son and one of his followers were killed. Whilst Rua was an advocate of Maori self-government (Tuhoe had not signed up to the Treaty of Waitangi), he was opposed to war. Prior to his arrest he had invited a Minister of the Crown to visit the community at Maungapohatu to see for himself its peaceful nature. The invitation was not taken up.
This region, its history and its people are of special significance to the Presbyterian Church. The history of Presbyterian mission among Maori is centred there. The missionary J G Laughton developed a strong friendship with Rua, which brought together the followers of Ringatu, Iharaira and Presbyterian faiths. The men shared a commitment to Maori education, and collaborated on the establishment of a school at Maungapohatu in 1918. Tuhoe conferred rangatira (chief) status on Laughton and, at Rua’s behest, Laughton conducted Rua’s funeral service in 1937. Laughton's vision of a marae base for the mission culminated in the official opening of Te Maungarongo meeting house at Ohope in 1947. It is here that Te Aka Puaho is based.
In 2007, in a moving ceremony at Maungapohatu, mission land belonging to the Presbyterian Church was gifted back to the Tamakaimoana hapu. Local iwi spoke of how they knew of no other similar gesture in New Zealand where land had been simply returned, without lengthy negotiations or payment.
Interestingly, the Rev Wayne Te Kaawa’s grandmother was married to Rua’s son and witnessed his killing. Wayne is the director of Te Wananga a Rangi, which trains Amorangi ministers. The day after the Rua-toki raid, he wrote an open letter to the Presbyterian Church, appealing for support for the traumatised community at Rua-toki and urging assistance in protesting the actions of the police to the government. Wayne was not condoning any alleged breaking of the law, but was concerned that the police raids had cfaught up many innocent people, including children, who were subjected to a siege upon their community by heavily armed police dressed in riot gear.
Seventeen months on, although a small number of prosecutions are before the courts for firearms offences, no evidence has surfaced in relation to the terrorist allegations, and prosecutions under the terms of the Terrorism Suppression Act have been ruled out by the Solicitor General.
One of the primary effects of the Terrorism Suppression Act is to allow the Government to designate groups and people as terrorists. One can understand the need for this in the wake of 9/11. There is a risk, however, that power granted under the Act might be used to suppress criticism, criminalise legitimate protest groups, or justify the excessive use of force by police and the military. We see this happening in other parts of the world. Did that same risk become reality in Rua-toki? Time will tell.
With Barack Obama’s election, one senses a significant mood change in American politics that is already having a ripple effect throughout the world. One commentator described it in terms of the politics of fear, borne of 9/11, giving way to the politics of hope. Hope is a Gospel category. It’s early days of course, but wouldn’t it be great if we really were able to move out of the shadow of 9/11?
Grace and peace to you all.