On this day, 12 February 1978, in New Zealand/Aotearoa 250 Māori Tainui Awhiro people and allies occupied the Raglan golf course, preventing games being played. The course had been built on the site of an Indigenous burial ground which was seized by the government during World War I. Later, the tribal occupants were evicted, their homes and graves destroyed and the land sold to private developers.
Eva Rickard, both a member of the golf club and the tribe, was a key organiser of protests which began in 1972 when the club planned to expand and destroy more burial grounds. At the occupation, Tainui Awhiro religious leaders held a ceremony and danced a traditional haka welcome. But by the afternoon, the police began making arrests. They violently arrested Rickard, permanently injuring her wrist, and 17 others.
In response, a prominent member of the Te Matakite land rights group, Ben Matthews, played a round of golf on Parliament’s front lawn in front of television cameras. Eventually, the Prime Minister phoned Rickard and offered to sell the land back to the tribe, but Rickard rejected the offer, arguing that the government never paid for the land in the first place.
Direct action by Māori people continued, until 1983 when the government gave in and returned the land, which is now home to a community centre open to all.
*
For this and hundreds of other stories, check out our book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, available here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-bookhttps://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1919316818253459/?type=3
A young man seeks vengence for the death of his teacher.
Fist of Fury[a] is a 1972 Hong Kong action martial arts film written and directed by Lo Wei, produced by Raymond Chow, and starring Bruce Lee in his second major role after The Big Boss (1971). Lee, who was also the film’s action choreographer, plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, who fights to defend the honor of the Chinese in the face of foreign aggression, and to bring to justice those responsible for his master’s death.
The film was produced by the Orange Sky Golden Harvest film production company, still in its infancy at the time, and it was Lee’s second kung fu film. The film touched on sensitive issues surrounding Japanese colonialism, and featured fairly realistic fight choreography for its time. It differs from other films in the genre for its historical and social references, especially to Japanese imperialism.
In the cultures of the ancient world, there was no need for designations such as LGBTQ+ because there was no difference noted between what is now defined as “homosexual” and “heterosexual” relationships. There was no “us” and “them” dichotomy to encourage such labels; there was only “us” and whoever one chose to love was one’s own business.
Battle of Leuctra: the Spartans led by Cleombrotus I were decisively defeated by the Boetian League led by Epaminondas. The Theban victory shattered Sparta’s immense influence over the Greek peninsula.
The Indo-European languages are a family of related languages that today are widely spoken in the Americas, Europe, and also Western and Southern Asia. Just as languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian are all descended from Latin, Indo-European languages are believed to derive fr…
A map illustrating the location of notable towns and the distribution of rulers and heroes as mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, retelling the final year of the Achaean (Ancient Greek) War against the city of Troy in western Anatolia. The Trojan War is variously dated sometime between 1135 BCE and 1330 BCE.
![c-2-0-h-2-5-n-3-o:
“ Fist of Fury (1972), dir. Wei Lo
A young man seeks vengence for the death of his teacher.
Fist of Fury[a] is a 1972 Hong Kong action martial arts film written and directed by Lo Wei, produced by Raymond Chow, and starring Bruce...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/75a570857256da93fd6aef854db46ce0/2f11f388bd95f6e0-0a/s250x400/fb64202bd57cf52ade557e0479ab76cd1ef6475f.gifv)
