Iwis Quotes

The Pākehā education system disregarded our culture; it disregarded our belief systems. I wanted whānau to experience learning that was embedded in who we are. Twenty years later, that seed grew into the iwi-based educational programme Te Puna Mātauranga.

It’s my whakapapa. My genealogy. My ancestors, my iwi, my whanau—my tribe and my family, the parts of it I want to think about—and my own journey.

Between these amorphous hacker groups and the PLA’s network professionals lies a murky middle layer whose shape, not surprisingly, is indistinct, but whose mission—information warfare (IW)—is not. In 1998 the PRC launched what may have been its first experiment with a cybermilitia: a forty-person unit in a state-owned enterprise in Datong City, Shanxi Province, which had a rich talent pool drawn from some twenty universities, institutes, and companies.48 Militias are neither official government cadres nor freelance hackers. They operate in ambiguous space, connected to one or another government office by a loose string. A twitch of a government finger tightens the string, either to restrain or direct an operation. The PLA has been actively creating IW militias since about 2002, recruiting from universities, research institutes, and commercial IT companies, especially telecom firms. Some accounts call these cadres an “active reserve,” comprising eight million network operators under direct state control.

The people of this land have always had a deep connection to the 'aina. They knew that the land was not something to be owned or exploited, but rather a living, breathing entity to be respected and cared for." (Kneubuhl 21)

Our history is written in the bones of our ancestors. They are the keepers of our stories, our traditions, our identity. And when we disturb their resting place, we disturb the very foundation of who we are." (Kneubuhl 44)

The bones are a reminder of our mortality, of the fleeting nature of life. But they are also a reminder of the immortality of the spirit, of the enduring legacy that we leave behind." (Kneubuhl 76)

For example, in 2004, following a lengthy dispute about discharging sewage wastewater into the Whanganui River, New Zealand’s Environment Court ruled that “one needs to understand the culture of the Whanganui River iwi [tribe] to realize how deeply engrained the saying ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au [I am the river, and the river is me] is to those who have connections to the river. Their spirituality is their ‘connectedness’ to the river. To take away part of the river is to take away part of the iwi. To desecrate the water is to desecrate the iwi. To pollute the water is to pollute the people.