Source: Bloody Sāmoan Art Studio
On Saturday 28 December, a protest will be held outside the Devonport naval base to commemorate the 95th anniversary of Aso Pogisā – Black Saturday.
Saturday 28 December, 1929, the New Zealand Military Police fired a Lewis machine gun into a peaceful crowd parading through the streets of Apia with the return of exiled Mau members. The incident resulted in the death of 11 Sāmoans, among them the leader of the Mau, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III.
The Mau was a non-violent movement for Sāmoan independence from colonial rule in the early 20th century.
In October 2024, the HMNZS Manawanui ran aground on the south coast of Upolu, Sāmoa. Over the last four months, more than 200,000 litres of diesel have polluted the Moana and damaged the reef, significantly impacting the lives of villagers in Tafitoala and Safata.
While in Sāmoa for CHOGM, Christopher Luxon refused to meet with the affected villagers and barely eked out an insincere apology for the incident or offered relief or recompense for the damage.
After three and a half months, a barge has finally arrived in Sāmoa with equipment to safely extract the fuel tanks from HMNZS Manawanui.
Artist and organiser Michel Mulipola says, “The protest action today wasn’t only to commemorate and remember the lives lost on Aso Pogisā, the Mau movement, and the historical acts of violence the New Zealand government has enacted against Sāmoans but also to highlight the responsibility this current government and navy have for the environmental and societal impacts of the Manawanui shipwreck.”
Ia manuia,
Michel Mulipola
Bloody Sāmoan Art Studio