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Ask That Mountain: The Story of Parihaka
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 4, 2011
This is one of those books that you don't sit and read from cover to cover, but dip in and out off for years. I suppose I've been reading it from 1995.
It is of special interest because there is my husband's family is very much part of the history of Taranaki. My son is named for James Livingston, who was President of the Republic of Hawera.
It is of special interest because there is my husband's family is very much part of the history of Taranaki. My son is named for James Livingston, who was President of the Republic of Hawera.
September 29, 2011
A great narrative history of home grown oppression in New Zealand. Gifted story telling outlines the complexities, the racism and the outright theft of Maori land in Taranaki by the government of the day. It is a compelling story of nonviolent resistance to injustice.
September 3, 2019
Such a sad story, where every page turns over another atrocity and even more sadness. Incredible to think that the European New Zealanders believed they were doing what was right in driving the Maori from their land. Highly recommended.
December 17, 2021
The seminal and classic work of NZ history, first published in 1975, that tells the story of Te Whiti, Tohu and their people's campaign of passive resistance against unjust (and, as it was called by some early commentators, unholy) actions and land acquisition (on a vast scale) in Taranaki.
The seat of this resistance was Parihaka.
Te Whiti was a prophetic figure who, through the accounts of scripture, developed the belief that God fights for and vindicates the oppressed and wronged (rather than being on the side of empire and greed). In the immediate aftermath of a period of great violence in NZ (the Land Wars), he chose a way of determined peace and believed that the day would come when, if he and his people held firm, God would restore what had been unjustly and unrighteously taken. Through collective care, Parihaka became a highly hospitable and prosperous place, where all who came without trickery were welcomed.
'Passive' may be a slight misnomer in some respects. The protest actions of Te Whiti, Tohu and their people were proactive in their implementation, though symbolic rather than aggressive in their intent. Most notably this involved the ploughing of, and the removal of fences from, unjustly confiscated land. These actions were clearly an annoyance and frustration to would-be powers and settled settler lives, and was met with largescale unjust imprisonment.
What Te Whiti witnessed in his own lifetime was not the fulfillment of the vision, but rather the continual whittling down of Māori land, the trampling of Parihaka (invaded by government and settler volunteer forces on 5 November 1881) and ill treatment of its people. But perhaps ultimately he will be right about God. Worldwide today there are many who hold to that theological tenet, and Parihaka (which still exists, by the way) is considered groundbreaking in the history of the ethic of passive resistance. Future luminaries of that ethic would include Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Important reading.
The seat of this resistance was Parihaka.
Te Whiti was a prophetic figure who, through the accounts of scripture, developed the belief that God fights for and vindicates the oppressed and wronged (rather than being on the side of empire and greed). In the immediate aftermath of a period of great violence in NZ (the Land Wars), he chose a way of determined peace and believed that the day would come when, if he and his people held firm, God would restore what had been unjustly and unrighteously taken. Through collective care, Parihaka became a highly hospitable and prosperous place, where all who came without trickery were welcomed.
'Passive' may be a slight misnomer in some respects. The protest actions of Te Whiti, Tohu and their people were proactive in their implementation, though symbolic rather than aggressive in their intent. Most notably this involved the ploughing of, and the removal of fences from, unjustly confiscated land. These actions were clearly an annoyance and frustration to would-be powers and settled settler lives, and was met with largescale unjust imprisonment.
What Te Whiti witnessed in his own lifetime was not the fulfillment of the vision, but rather the continual whittling down of Māori land, the trampling of Parihaka (invaded by government and settler volunteer forces on 5 November 1881) and ill treatment of its people. But perhaps ultimately he will be right about God. Worldwide today there are many who hold to that theological tenet, and Parihaka (which still exists, by the way) is considered groundbreaking in the history of the ethic of passive resistance. Future luminaries of that ethic would include Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Important reading.
January 11, 2023
Once I started this I could not put it down. It tells a story I had only ever heard in partial glimpses, at school, at work, in fiction and in music. Much to ponder, and much not to like about the treatment meted out to Taranaki Māori. An important outline of the story that sits behind much of my family.
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October 20, 2022Read in our book club. I really just dipped into it, having studied Parihaka at school, and growing up near the Maunga, I had the story in my background but not aware it was only one side until later.
September 11, 2018
this book should be read by all new zealand people .. uncomfortably recent.... and a look into new zealands not so old history.
September 10, 2021
A great introduction to this amazing part of New Zealand history.
Read
February 20, 2012unable to read for long. there's violent death, such casual killing, on every second page.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews