Freedom Dreaming of Abolition in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Pacific Perspective on Tiriti-based Abolition Constitutionalism

Abstract

The global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in May 2020 led to an unprecedented reckoning with the racism within Aotearoa New Zealand’s police and prison systems. For Pacific peoples, this led to reflections on the racism of the police during the dawn raids of the 1970s and the racist police violence that Pacific peoples and Māori continue to face today. Notably, when the state apologised for the dawn raids in August 2021, it failed to acknowledge, let alone make amends for, this ongoing racist violence. Therefore, as a Pacific abolitionist legal scholar, in this article I argue that Pacific peoples and wider society in Aotearoa New Zealand must hold the state to account for the inherent racism of not only the police, but prisons as well. Specifically, I argue that we must ‘freedom dream’ ( Kelley 2002 , np) of police and prison abolition by supporting calls by Māori and other criminal justice advocates to achieve abolition through constitutional transformation premised on honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi. In making this argument, I draw on Black American abolitionist legal scholar Dorothy Roberts’ concept of ‘abolition constitutionalism’, which challenges abolitionists to grapple with whether abolition can be achieved within existing constitutional frameworks ( Roberts 2019 , 122). Accordingly, I offer a Pacific perspective on Tiriti-based abolition constitutionalism which further develops the case for why abolition cannot be achieved within current constitutional arrangements within which te Tiriti o Waitangi has long been, and will continue to be, undermined by Parliament.

Māori Sovereignty or Death

“…Indigenous and diaspora communities' attempts to assert positive distinctiveness under the assimilative pressure of the white settler state can take Fascist forms, for example, in right-wing fundamentalist religious institutions such as Destiny Church -similar to US mega-churches that espouse prosperity -and Hindutva (see Dutta, 2021). Yet, there is revolutionary potential in Indigenous Pacific and migrant-Māori solidarities (see Asafo, 2022;Fu & Azarmandi, 2023;Tuiono & Dutta, 2019). governments colluded to oppose, co-opt, and undermine the nuclear-free movement in order to preserve their ANZUS security interests (Indigenous Pacific Uprising, 2022).…”

Inequality Beyond the Wall: The Effects of Incarceration on Long-Term Earnings and Employment

“…Nevertheless, the brief analysis of outcomes for Pacific people has identified worsening outcomes for this community after incarceration. The Pacific population in Aotearoa New Zealand has already been identified as a group experiencing significant socioeconomic inequalities and often subject to punitive measures, including high levels of police violence and high imprisonment rates (Asafo, 2022). Therefore, the findings of this study indicate the need for further research to better understand the economic outcomes of formerly incarcerated Pacific people.…”