The 2023 New Zealand elections have arguably been the most racialised in our nation’s history. - Tina Ngata

The myth of the violent, brutish, immature, dependent warrior race is one such tool, used to hold up the structure of colonisation. It does this by legitimising the need for a parent state to oversee us, correct us, and dominate us. The truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as a genetic disposition towards warfare and violence. There is no “warrior gene”. Conflict was, as with all peoples, just one dimension of our complex reality.

While every New Zealand election is customarily (and also unacceptably) characterised by race-baiting politics and the throwing of whānau Māori under the colonial bus for the sake of majority votes, this year we’ve seen multiple lines crossed that indicate a mainstreaming of extreme, violent anti-Māori rhetoric.

The trope of the savage indigenous man is one that is capitalised upon by media and state in a way that is harmful and diminishing.