Small town resistance: Whāingaroa / Raglan
New Zealand communities are uniting against divisive policies
On Friday afternoon Whāingaroa locals gathered in the centre of town to stand with the three midwives, 12 teachers and other mandated workers who had been stood down this week.
This wasn’t an anti-vax campaign. Vaccinated and unvaccinated were shoulder to shoulder with the midwives that had delivered their babies and the fire fighters that had rescued them in emergencies.
This was a stand against the most unjust policies government has enacted in modern times.
Shontell Mita with her midwife Larissa Grande who delivered baby Kauri seven months ago. Larissa has spent the last decade delivering babies but this week laid down her vocation in order to stay true to her principle, the guiding principle of all midwives, of informed choice.
Whāingaroa has a history of resistance. In 1978 tangata whenua occupied land taken by the crown during the second world war and subsequently turned into a Golf Course. Tainui Awhiro activist Eva Rickard and other iwi members were disparaged, shamed and eventually arrested in a long struggle to reclaim these ancestral lands, but their fight for this expression of sovereignty was ultimately successful. The land was returned to Tainui Awhiro and the Whāingaroa occupation helped carve the way for land reform across New Zealand.
Despite media portrayal it’s not just fringe folk who are standing against the government’s divisive policies. Early Friday morning residents had awoken to a new sign on their doorstep, one that echoed the stickers that had been circulating on the high street for weeks. Raglan Business Chamber shared the new sign on their social media, thanking the person that put it up.
Business owners here understand how social bonds work. For decades the local community has fought corporate interests taking up high street space in order to support Whāingaroa owned business. The high street here is unique in the country in its lack of Subways and fast food chains. Locals have rallied to keep it local, knowing that communities thrive best this way.
In turn, many of the business owners here recognise that mandates and vaccine passports are not policies that help a community to thrive. As the Raglan Business Chamber said yesterday, “Unity is our super power in this time.”
Locals know you don’t have to be an anti-vaxxer to be opposed to mandates. Dr Robin Youngson is a resident committed to vaccination but deeply concerned about the mandates. He says that not only are “vaccine mandates causing serious community conflict, polarisation and trauma” but that they are also not evidence-based. In a recent video Robin highlights the studies that explain why mandates are not supported by science.
This week Whāingaroa stepped out in unity to declare that mandates hurt everyone. Every empathetic encounter builds community. Every small business owner that upholds non-discrimination strengthens their high street. Every person that speaks out against these divisive policies creates the future we want to live in. Every act of resistance counts.
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5 Ways Your Town Can Resist Mandates and Vaccine Passports
1- Get visible. Use signage and stickers to raise awareness about the unethical and unscientific nature of mandates.
2- Begin a local directory so you can support the shops and businesses that are refusing to discriminate.
3- Organise a vigil to publicly stand by mandated workers
4- Begin a “Contact your MP” campaign. Have as many locals as possible connect with your Member of Parliament with the reasons you are opposed to mandates.
5- Keep the hope alive. Begin a local telegram group specifically around opposing these divisive polices. Right now it might feel impossible but things can change from moment to moment. Even the introduction of anti-gen testing could mean these mandates might be lifted. And in the mean time you will be deepening community and being a living example of unity.
Please leave a comment if your town could be featured in this series, Small Town Resistance.
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Families Against Mandates are a collective of vaccinated and unvaccinated people demanding the mandates get reversed. Find us on Facebook or Telegram.
We should ask our insurance companies to pressure the government to not mandate firefighters. Everyone loses when we don't have a full crew. Well, we all lose when we don't have enough nurses, doctors and teachers as well.
We may be small pebbles but together we can cause an avalanche and put an end to this mindless discrimination.