Why are so many People Wearing Red Berets on the Hikoi?

Following yesterday's post on Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke: why are so many wearing (red) berets on the Hikoi? 

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke

A hīkoi is a walk or march, and especially a protest march, in New Zealand. The word comes from the Te Reo Māori language, and often implies a long journey taking many days or weeks.

This month, a hīkoi opposing the Treaty Principles Bill occurred. An estimated 42,000 people took part in the hīkoi, taking nine days to reach the parliament grounds of Wellington, with some groups beginning in the Far North and Bluff (in the far South). The Māori Queen Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō joined the protests in Wellington. Coinciding with the march was an online petition opposing the bill that received over 200,000 signatures.

Northland teenager Chelsea Reti marched with the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti from the beginning and before reaching Wellington, her mum decided it was the right time to send down a red beret.

"When we choose to put something on our head where we know it is going to be seen there is a significance behind it and there was significance behind why I wore a red beret," she said.

Chelsea Reti 

Countless other mostly young wāhine (women) donned a red beret for the march. It's a pōtae (hat) steeped in history and symbolism for the Māori rights movement and other freedom movements overseas stretching back decades.

Chelsea says her mum remembered berets worn by Māori activists in the past. She also took inspiration from 22-year-old Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, who often wears berets on significant occasions. Maipi-Clarke's great-aunt Hana Te Hemara wore a beret when she brought a te reo Māori language petition to Parliament in 1972.

Dr Bobby Luke Campbell, a senior fashion lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, said the Polynesian Panthers popularised the beret as a freedom symbol in New Zealand in the mid-1970s, spurred by protests against the Dawn Raids. While hats are a Western symbol, they have been widely adopted and reimagined as a symbol for Māori.