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Above is a "letter to the Motu" from incarcerated Maori Activist Tame Iti. See translation below. See also... Over 700 Hundred March Against Police Suppression for a report on yesterday's Rotorua demonstration against the police's terror raids and arrests of last week.

TRANSLATION:

To the nation

I direct my gaze towards my sacred mountains – Taiarahia, Maungapohatu, Tongariro and Taupiri. I look towards my river Waikato – at every bend a taniwha.

To the high chief King Heitia, to the families, subtribes, the mother, to my connections with Waikato and Te Arawa

To the families, subtribes and tribes throughout the land from Cape Reinga to Murihiku (Stewart Island), to the Maori MPs, greetings to you all. The dark cloud over the Urewera has covered the ancient garments of Hinepokohurangi (the mist maiden – traditional tribal ancestor for Tuhoe). The gnashing teeth are gnawing at the limited powers of the authority of Tuhoe and the Maori people.

Guns and laws have arrived to terrify the Tuhoe people, their mana motuhake (sovereignty) and that of all Maori.

To my relations the high chiefs of Waikato and Tuwharetoa, to all families and subtribes everywhere, to the Maori MPs and to the workers of the world – remain on the path of support and assistance to the Tuhoe people of the Urewera and of all Maori.

Mauri ora (the spirit of life)

By – Tame Wairere Iti
From the territory of Manaipoto - Waikeria

Ends

Urewera Raids: 'Operation 8' Trials Begin Today

Annemarie Thorby of the October 15 Solidarity Group: Over four years ago in New Zealand, on October 15th 2007, more than 300 police carried out dawn raids on scores of houses.

That was the day more than 60 homes up and down the country were raided, 17 people arrested and the Tuhoe community of Ruatoki, a small rural town in the Te Urewera region of the Bay of Plenty was locked down... More>>