Date: Friday 27th September 2019
Time: 5.15pm
Venue: University of Canterbury – Undercroft Seminar Room 101
Refreshments provided
If you would like to attend this event, please rsvp to pasifika@canterbury.ac.nz by Friday 13th September, however please note that numbers are limited so spaces may go quickly. Once you have RSVP’d, you will receive a calendar invite to confirm you attendance.
For more information on the exhibition and the producer please see below:
THE DAWN RAIDS – EDUCATE TO LIBERATE
In the mid-1970s, people from the Pacific Islands were targeted by the New Zealand Government and scapegoated for the economic crisis of the time. The Government introduced the practice of dawn raids, allowing police and immigration officials to break into the homes of Pacific Island people in the early hours of the morning and demand proof of residency, permits, and passports. This was a terrifying and humiliating experience for many people.
This exhibition gives a brief account of the dawn raids during the 1970s and the courageous activities of the Polynesian Panthers – a political group that emerged during these turbulent times. The Panthers fought against unfair treatment, injustice, and the oppression of Pacific Islanders in their fight for social justice, as they encouraged immigrant families across New Zealand to stand up for their human rights.
Powerful and insightful, The Dawn Raids – Educate to Liberate seeks to inform and educate others about a little-known event in New Zealand history.