A short report from the 2008 Christian Anarchist hui
Tena koutou e te whanau
For those of you who read my post inviting you all to attend the 2008 South Pacific Christian Anarchist hui down in Akaroa over the weekend of 11-13 April and thought, oh my goodness what a crazy concept, I would never attend anything like that, you may be interested to know that our short gathering covered many of the kaupapa that are close to the hearts of JustWiki readers.
A short summary:
- we were hosted by Ngati Tarewa, a hapu o Ngai Tahu, at their beautiful marae Onuku, sheltered beside the beautiful Akaroa harbour. They shared their stories with us as we sat and slept within their whare tupuna. It was a fantastic space for a gathering of people intent on exploring and debating issues together
- we brought and gathered and shared ‘free food’ with each other, to cater our Hui. 40+ participants were very well feed for 2 & 1/2 days on beautiful dumpster foods and garden/preserving cupboard produce. About three teams did 3 separate dives in Christchurch and Tauranga before our event, which supplied 95 percent of our kai. It was fantastic and a real conversion experience for those amongst us not experienced at the quality of free food available after hours in our local supermarket dumpsters
- the hui was organised and led by women, with gender perspectives and discussions a high priority on the programme. We heard about Greenham Commons Women’s Peace Camp in the 1980s and feminist approaches to anti-militarism and war, discussed the roles of women in communities and what whanau means to us, and had a workshop about ‘deep masculinity’. It was a very empowering hui for all the women present, many of whom had never been asked to lead a workshop at a conference before, despite having years of experience in christian, anarchist, activist or community settings.
- we were a diverse and united group. Across the gathering there were 6 Australians involved in ‘intentional christian community’, and more than 30 New Zealanders, who included people attached to the christian church, people living in intentional christian community, people involved in secular activist and pacifist work and ‘regular anarchists’. We shared openly and honestly with each other, and all felt connected with common beliefs and visions for our world. It was awesome.
So to anyone who missed out on this year’s gathering but would like to connect with this growing network of people interested in the connections between Christianity and Anarchism, feel free to log on to our website, http://anz.jesusradicals.com/ and plan to visit Melbourne for the SPCA Hui 09, next year.
Kia tau te rangimarie o te Atua ki a koutou
na, Jo Cameron
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