Viral Video: A video of a stunning speech delivered by a New Zealand Member of Parliament has gone viral. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, New Zealand’s youngest MP in 170 years, is only 21 years old. In October of last year, she was elected to Parliament, unseating incumbent Nanaia Mahuta, one of the country’s most senior and respected MPs, who had represented the Hauraki-Waikato constituency since 2008.
Advocacy for Indigenous Rights
Maipi-Clarke, a Maori, has been working for the rights of New Zealand’s indigenous tribes. Taitimu Maipi, her grandpa, is a member of the Maori activist group Nga Tamatoa. Maipi-Clarke made a vow to her electorate in the impassioned address delivered last month. “I will die for you… but I will also live for you,” she declared, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Address to Maori Youth
“To the tamariki Maori who have been sitting in the back of their classroom their whole life, whakama, waiting generations longing to learn their native tongue, to the tamariki who haven’t been to their pepeha yet, it is waiting for you with open arms,” she further said. “Never fit in. You are perfect. You are the perfect fit.”
Maori Community Garden
The 21-year-old is from Huntly, a small town between Auckland and Hamilton, where she operates a Maori community garden that teaches children about horticulture using the lunar calendar of the community. According to the custodian, she does not regard herself as a politician, but as a custodian of Maori language, and she believes that the voice of the Maori’s new generation needs to be heard.
Taking It Personally
“I was given some advice before making it into Parliament, to not take anything personally … Well, I can’t help but take everything personally that has been said in this Chamber,” she said in her speech. “In only a couple of weeks … this Government has attacked my whole world … Health, taiao (environment), wai (water), whenua (land), natural resources, Maori wards, reo (language), tamariki, and the right of me and you to be in this country under Te Tiriti,” Maipi-Clarke further said. “To every person that is watching from home… this isn’t my moment, this is yours,” the MP said towards the end of her speech. Maipi-Clarke has 20,000 Instagram followers and another 18,500 on TikTok.
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