December 09, 2022
Portage Crossing star celebrating indigenous unity
Niuean activist and reggae artist Tigilau Ness says he’s looking forward to bringing his Unity Pacific band back to Mangere Bridge for tomorrow’s 30th Portage Crossing.
Ness was part of an early crossing, which remembers the journey of the Tainui waka by land over the isthmus between the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours on its way to Kawhia.
He says it’s a great place to make the connections between Maori and the Pacific, and through reggae music with the African diaspora and with other indigenous struggles.
He’ll do his new song, We Are Palestinians.
“It’s written in the Bible about the Palestinian covenant – those people over there that call themselves the owners of that land, they’re not really. It’s the same as what’s happening here and in West Papua and in Australia. We stand in solidarity and they’ve got to stop killing the women and children,” Ness says.
The Portage Crossing starts at Okahu Bay early tomorrow morning, with family entertainment at Mangere Bridge Reserve kicking off at 11am.