User:Pakoire/WikiProject: Tiriti Workers' Movement

An emerging project to draw together publicly available information about the Tiriti Workers' movement in Aotearoa New Zealand using Wikipedia and Wikidata. 'Tiriti Workers' movement' is made up of people and organisations sharing and advancing understanding about Te Tiriti o Waitangi (also known as The Treaty of Waitangi).

Project lead: Lisa Maule

Preamble

Te Tiriti o Waitangi was a treaty signed between the colonising British empire in 1840 and leaders (Rangatira) of the Indigenous nations of Aotearoa New Zealand (Māori). Since the signing there has been misunderstanding about Te Tiriti often enabled by people representing the Crown. A growing awareness by Pākehā people (white people of New Zealand) that ‘race-relations’ in Aotearoa were not considered ‘peachy’ by Māori went alongside broader awareness and activism of social movements of the 50s and 60s. This included union movements, workers rights, feminism, queer rights, civil rights, nuclear free considerations and environmental concerns.

Awareness of social inequity drew many Pākehā to support Māori and Indigenous rights social movements. The message from Māori especially the 1960s was ‘speak to your own people, that is how you can help us’. From this came the Tiriti workers’ movement. Things like workshops were organised about the history of New Zealand to fill in the education missing from schools and Te Tiriti O Waitangi was often where learning was centred. Events, activities and actions to support understanding about past, present and future Aotearoa with a decolonised point of view were undertaken by Māori and Tangata Tiriti (Tauiwi).

The Tiriti workers’ movement is well understood by people who have been part of it, the workers, but is not well known about in a wider consciousness, even by non-Maori people who want to be 'good' Treaty partners and might have done some decolonising work or Te Tiriti o Waitangi education. The people and organisations within the movement have had a significant impact on New Zealand society. In the past the movement was very nationally connected but it became vulcanised. Information about the movement and people within it is expected to be publicly available and Wikipedia and Wikidata is proposed in this project as a place to draw it together.

Purpose

To make more visible the Tiriti Workers’ Movement
To enable links between parts of the movement and modelling of the data to make some cool graphs and stuff

Participants

DRAFT

Project leader(s)

Lisa Maule <to be added: (positionality statement)> - interested person and Wikipedian

Expertise supporter(s)

Dani Pickering (positionality statement / PHD)

Goals

Create a Wikiproject
Map key notable people and organisation and add them to Wikidata
- learn to model these items in the process
- be able to share this learning
Identify subjects for new and improved Wikipedia articles and build a community to work on these
New and improved Wikipedia articles to get a DYK listing on the main page of Wikipedia to increase visibility
Add to Wikipedia a section about Tiriti Workers’ Movement and the history of Treaty of Waitangi education in the Treaty of Waitangi article (there were 210,975 pageviews of this article in the past 12 months)

Example of people and organisations for Wikidata

People:

Mitzi Nairn Q124499859

Jen Margaret (Groundwork: Facilitating Change founder and current workplace) Q124333862

Organisations:

Auckland Workers' Educational Association Q124334122
Groundwork: Facilitating Change
Network Waitangi Otautahi
Network Waitangi Whangarei
Peace Movement Aotearoa
Tangata Tiriti – Treaty People
Tauiwi Solutions
Treaty Education
Treaty Resource Centre
Tāmaki Treaty Workers
Waikato Anti-Racism
Kawanatanga Network

Current action & timeline

Stage One:

Project lead Lisa Maule is working with Dani Pickering on developing a list of approximately 20 notable people and 20 notable organisations who are significant to the movement. Lisa will then develop this into a Wikidata project and get support and learning of how best to model this data.

Research and relationship development is needed around data sovereignty, privacy for activists, and ensuring that whiteness is not centred and POC Tangata Tiriti workers and Tangata Whenua workers are invited to be part of the project. The goal of the Tiriti Workers’ Movement must be the goal of the project, (to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi).

COMPLETE BY: 30 Poutū-te-rangi (March) 2024

Next steps & timeline

Apply for funding to extend the project

COMPLETE BY: 15 Paenga-whāwhā (April) 2024?

Stage Two:

Wikipedia and use of the Wikidata entered

Outcomes

Wikidata item created for the project:
Mitzi Nairn and promotion and outreach in relation to this article.