About the event
For two years now (2020 and 2022), Te Tiriti-based futures + Anti-racism has been an innovative (inter)national, online and offline, Te Tiriti-based, anti-racism and decolonisation event in Aotearoa.
Due to Covid interruptions, the event ran entirely online for 10 days. It finished with a post-graduate PechaKucha marathon of short interactive talks from students pushing the boundaries in anti-racism internationally.
Webinar topics include institutional racism and anti-racism, decolonisation, building Te Tiriti-based futures and transforming our constitution. Overseas presenters also discussed lessons for Aotearoa from their experiences with these issues.
In the coming months, the open-access webinars will be posted online, where they will become permanent resources for anti-racist activism and Te Tiriti education.
Read our Community code - promoting participation, keeping each other safe.
About the organising team
The organisers are a group of tauiwi and Māori with experience in activism, research and community development.
Heather Came
Dr Heather Came is a seventh generation Pākehā New Zealander who grew up on Ngātiwai land. She has worked for 30 years in public health and has a long involvement in social justice activism. Heather is a founding member and co-chair of STIR: Stop Institutional Racism, the Radical Sewing Circle and affiliated to Tāmaki Tiriti Workers. She embraces life as an activist scholar and in 2023 set up Heather Came & Associates a consultancy specialising in pursuing racial justice. She has prepared expert evidence for the WAI 2575 health kaupapa Waitangi Tribunal claims and has led shadow reports to United Nations human rights committees around institutional racism. Her research focuses on critical policy analysis, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, anti-racism and institutional racism. In 2021 she was joint winner of Kāhui Hauora Tūmatanui Public Health Champion Award for her lifetime contribution to public health. In 2022 Heather was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to Māori, education and health.
Ngaire Rae
Ngaire Rae is a 6th generation Pākehā New Zealander, with English and Scottish ancestry. Ngaire lives with her family in Whangārei and grew up in the seaside village of Waipu Cove. For the last 25 years Ngaire has worked in health promotion throughout Tai Tokerau with her mahi focusing on community development, housing, and child and youth health. She recently left full time work to do her PhD at AUT focusing on learning about Te Tiriti based anti-racism praxis from Pākehā allies during Aotearoa health system reforms. Ngaire is a member of STIR and Network Waitangi Whangārei.
Stephen Blyth
Stephen is Pākeka New Zealand living in Kāpiti. Over the past 30 years he has developed a deep understanding of what it takes to get the message out. Stephen has worked as a writer, advisor, project manager, webmaster, trainer and communications professional for a wide range of good causes. After roles with Community Research and NZ Drug Foundation, Stephen is currently Principal Communications Advisor for Te Hiringa Mahara. As the volunteer tech lead, he is helping to run the third Tirtiti Based Futures + Anti-racism online conference for the third time 2024. When not at a keyboard you'll find Stephen gardening or imploring his family to go for a bush walk. More at: Pushing the Limits (https://pushingthelimits.substack.com/).
Kate Matheson
Kate is a Pākehā New Zealander. She was born in Zimbabwe (post-independence) and moved as a child to Te Tairāwhiti where she was raised and nurtured by the people of Ngāti Porou. Kate now lives in Te Tai Tokerau and works for Northland's Public Health Unit. She is completing a Masters in Public Health focusing on “peace, justice and equity as prerequisites to health” as stated in the WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.
Eridani Baker
Ko Aoraki te Mauka, ko Waitaki te awa, ko Uenuku te ware tipuna, ko Kāti Hāteatea ko Ngāti Ruahikihiki te hapū, ko Kāi Tahu te iwi, Ko Eridani tōku ikoa.
I am passionate about decolonisation, with a focus on decolonisation within pedagogy and in relationship structure. I am studying at AUT towards being a psychotherapist. I am passionate about highlighting the value of a te ao Māori view and in making mental health more accessible to Māori.
Whakawhanaungatanga is important to me, I enjoy making connections with others.
Mikey Brenndorfer
Mikey is a Pākehā migrant from Treaty 3 land of the Wabigoon First Nation in Ontario, Canada. Mikey has been involved in grass roots activism for several decades, with a focus on anti-racism, anti-war, and climate change activism. Mikey currently works as a Matanga Tapuhi / Nurse Practitioner in Youth Health for Te Puna Manawa in Tāmaki Makaurau. Mikey is a member of STIR, and is a member of the executive committe for OraTaiao: the New Zealand Health and Climate Council.
Our 10 days together is a time to learn, share and support each other. We have crafted this community code to facilitate open and respectful communication.
We are curious, open and respectful
This is a space to learn, share and grow together while showing respect for one another.
We make generous assumptions
We practice a default assumption that others are good, capable and worthy of compassion. We offer the benefit of the doubt.
Confidentiality - take the lessons, leave the details.
If an example is communicated in a specific space, we don’t share it beyond that group without express permission from the person who shared it. It can be as simple as asking “ can I share that example with others?”
One person, one mic
When we meet on the platform one person speaks at a time.
We speak from our own experience
We make sure we’re not generalizing to entire groups of people or presuming anything about someone else’s experience. We speak with “I” statements and questions (I believe, I wonder, I struggle with, etc).
No-one knows everything; together we know a lot
We practice being humble and looking for what we have to learn from each person in the room. We share what we know, as well as our questions, so that others may learn from us. We’re building, not selling.
Make space, take space
If we usually speak out and share often, this is an invitation to take the opportunity to “move up” and listen more deeply instead. On the flip side, if we tend to like to be in the background, and not share as often, then take the chance to “move up” and be heard.
We can’t be articulate all the time
As much as we may wish we could! We can feel hesitant to participate in a workshop or meeting for fear of “messing up” or stumbling over our words. We want everyone to feel comfortable participating, even if we don’t feel we have the perfect words to express our thoughts.
We don’t take ourselves too seriously
We laugh with ourselves and find joy being together.