'Their fight today was our fight yesterday': Protestors call for peace in Palestine

A descendant of the secretary for the Mau movement says the plight of people in Gaza is comparable to the Samoan fight for independence.

Speaking to PMN News at a rally held by the Auckland Peace action group last Sunday, world-renowned comic artist Michel Mulipola says the Israel-Hamas war has some similarities to colonisation in the Pacific.

“Their fight today was our fight yesterday and so for me I feel like wearing the uniform of the Mau is only right,” he says.

Inspired by his great grandfather Mata'utia Karauna Solomona, Mulipola recreated the Mau ie lavalava for the march. Recognised for its white stripe across a purple cloth, it symbolises Samoa's independence almost a hundred years ago.

“I feel like more of us Samoans who believe in these causes and understand the solidarity - wearing the uniform of the Mau is a visual reminder of our fight, and how we get to fight for these people today,” Mulipola says.

“In these trying times with what’s happening in Palestine, what’s happening with Māori rights here in Aotearoa, I’m someone who wants to stand up and fight for their liberation.”

Suluafi Brianna Fruean [far right] recently returned to Auckland from COP28 in Dubai. Photo/Aleyna Martinez

As afternoon Christmas shoppers looked on, a number of Pacific people joined hundreds of others at Aotea Square in Auckland for the rally. Samoan climate warrior Suluafi Brianna Fruean was among those in attendance.

“We’re here just to show support and show solidarity with the people in Gaza and show that the people’s voice is loud and Israel’s currently losing the war of public opinion and I think that’s shifting and you can tell by the people here today,” she says.

Kim, Courtney and Danielle Meredith at Aotea Square before the march. Photo/Aleyna Martinez

Pacific author and poet Courtney Sina Meredith says that what we’re witnessing in the Israel-Hamas war is "genocide", a stance shared by many international experts.

“We’re really just devastated by the atrocities, especially seeing the lives of children being taken,” she says.

“I heard today [Sunday] that it’s the equivalent of 36 primary schools that have been killed in Gaza so we’re here in solidarity while we’re bearing witness to this genocide. This is something that we will not just let go, we will not be ignorant and we will not just brush it aside.”

Meredith says attending the protest with her whole family is the Pacific way, “coming with aiga is just the way that we move as a people, that’s how our communities roll”.

Georgia Rakei Hay [Left] and Vae Imeleta [Right] met for the first time at the protest on Sunday. Photo/Aleyna Martinez

Vae Imeleta, who joined the Islamic faith almost two years ago after reading the Quran, says being educated is important “and it’s a right for everyone”.

“Do your Googles. Talk to people, even today I connected with Georgia (fellow protestor) and she asked me questions. So just be connected, put yourself out there, talk to people, get to know and educate yourself. Don’t be ignorant about the world,” Imeleta says.

DJ Shaquille Wasasala aka Half Queen had just completed a world tour before the march in downtown Auckland. Photo/Aleyna Martinez

Another protestor at the march was Auckland DJ Shaquille Wasasala aka Half Queen who has just returned from a six month world tour where she debuted at the Glastonbury festival in the United Kingdom. She says there is a lot that weighs on her heart when it comes to the oppression of indigenous people.

“It’s an abomination to humanity that our leaders aren’t doing anything, they’re not leaders really in my opinion, all oppression is connected, none of us are free until all of us are free.”