Tame Iti

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Tāme Iti (b c.1952) is a Tūhoe Māori activist who is known for publicity stunts protesting policies of the New Zealand government.

1 Early life
2 Current activity
3 Firearms charge
4 External links

[edit] Early life

Tame Iti was born on a train near Rotorua, and raised by his whāngai "grandparents" on a farm near Ruatoki in the Urewera area of New Zealand. At the age of 10, he was forbidden to speak Māori at school. On leaving school, he chose 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, and he was 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 been a radio DJ, 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, (and has been arrested for illegally taking endangered species), and adopted unusual protest techniques, such as setting up a tent on parliament lawn 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.

[edit] Current activity

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

Tame Iti's tendency 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 also wore a mohawk. To the public, Iti is best known for his moko and his habit of baring his buttocks at protests.

[edit] 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 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) and his defence was 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".

Iti was convicted on both charges and fined. He 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[1].

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 over turned his convictions for unlawfully possessing a firearm. While recognising events occured 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. Sykes said her client had "been vindicated" by the decision. She criticised media coverage of the shooting overshadowing the claim before the Waitangi Tribunal, and "of the enormous atrocities inflicted on Tuhoe during the 1860s". The Court of Appeal described Iti's protest as a "a foolhardy enterprise" and warned him not to attempt anything similar again. [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]