A selection of photographs recently added to the Julia Stuart Archive, together with extracts from the paper: The Hikoi of Hope; a confrontation of religious and political cultures mediated by the media. Julia Stuart, 1999.
‘The Hikoi began from fourteen different points in the three islands from which people walked a total of 4468 kilometres to Parliament in Wellington … Every stretch was covered by walkers except where safety dictated cycling or running … Most evenings the local community was invited to share their experience of poverty, hardship and what would make their situation better. Each diocese/hui amorangi took “the care of the Hikoi’ as it passed through their region. Bishops led throughout, joined by other church leaders in and near towns, and local people welcomed the Hikoi as it arrived and walked with it through their streets.’
The Hikoi was a profoundly spiritual experience … Hikoi songs made their way on to CD, tape and radio; visual images abound, diaries and stories continue to emerge. Spirituality also emerged in the telling and gathering of stories. People were asked to write their stories of pain and hope to be taken to Parliament, and these were place in kete as an offering. To carry the kete was to carry your neighbour’s burdens, and was a privilege.
The final day [October 1, 1998] was extraordinary. The weather, forecast grim, turned out brilliant. Media turned out in force, at last ….. TV that night was a microcosm of all that had been good, bad and ugly about the media. After comprehensive news coverage, political commentary, and thoughtful interview with two bishops, New Zealand’s highest-rating TV host joined forces with an ex-Prime Minister to denigrate, sneer and jeer live on air at a lone marcher.
… ‘The result [of the Hikoi] was that the media’s preconceptions about religion and the human institution the church were turned topsy-turvy. Suddenly church leaders were out of their buildings and on to the roads, they were showing the faces of the poor and the growing gap with the rich, they were confronting the powerful, mobilising people and giving them hope’.
[slideshow]