The Platform: The Radical Legacy of the Polynesian Panthers

by Melani Anae

‘Fifty years ago the Polynesian Panther Party began to shine a light on racism and oppressive systems, and we made small changes. But these small changes were and are so much greater than the sum of their parts; they are writ large by the liberating education some of us are still involved in and the snowballing effect it has.’

In a book that is both deeply personal and highly political, Melani Anae recalls the radical activism of Auckland’s Polynesian Panthers. In solidarity with the US Black Panther Party, the Polynesian Panthers was founded in response to the racist treatment of Pacific Islanders in the era of the Dawn Raids. Central to the group’s philosophy was a three-point ‘platform’ of peaceful resistance, Pacific empowerment and educating New Zealand about persistent and systemic racism.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

Paperback

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[xenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

feeding kids, helping them with homework, teaching them about injustice through rap — fuck yea (see dawn raid for one of the historical reasons the polynesian panthers organised). am less sold on their movement from a revolutionary organisation to a professional voicebox of assimilation.

i agree that it's important to affirm ethnicity (in an age where the grounds of our social being are fragmented by commodity consumption and globalised production), but i don't think becoming integrated as a professional, and raising that up as the image of success, is an emancipatory praxis. that's gentrification of the mind, the reduction of cultural practices to ethnic decor atop a capitalist framework. we should never measure the success of our children, friends, family and comrades on how many awards, grants or prestigious jobs they've attained.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overview of the Dawn Raids and development of political and cultural consciousness in 1970s Aotearoa/New Zealand. Well structured and informative.