POATA: SEEING BEYOND THE HORIZON By Tama Te Kapua Poata; edited by Prue Poata (Wellington: Steele Roberts, 2012)
Reviewed by Shomi Yoon
Tama Te Kapua Poata [Ngāti Porou; 1936 – 2005] was born in Tokomaru Bay, on the East Coast. He represents the generation of Māori who migrated into the cities, and continued on to become leaders and fighters in the vanguard of the working class. He was part of all the key struggles of the ‘Māori renaissance’ of the 60s and 70s. He saw the struggle for socialism as synonymous with the struggle for Māori sovereignty.
Poata’s memoir is filled with anecdotes, poems, stories, photos, old newsletters from the struggle and campaigns that he was involved in and led over three decades. As a communist, he was on the front lines of and often the face of struggles that shaped New Zealand from the industrial struggles of the 60s…
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