Anger and Threats

A young Maori speaker told the audience that they would forget the Maori protest forum once they had returned to the library further up the hill. This obvious anger at the treatment of his fellow Maori people ended with him expressing some kind of threat - aimed at everybody yet at nobody in particular - a sort of if you continue to ignore us, you watch out what happens'.

It is probable that once he said that he effectively destroyed any credability or rapport which he had with the audience. In my mind, those few minutes were a minor tragedy for protest movement in general, in particular the Matakite movement.