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Mau movement

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=20

Mau leaders and Tupua = Tamasese=20 Lealofi III in front of the octagonal Mau office in Vaimoso village, = near Apia, 1929. = On the=20 building is the sign, Samoa mo Samoa (Samoa for Samoa), the Mau = motto.=20 (Photograph by Alfred John = Tattersall)

=20

Women of the Mau movement circa = 1930

The Mau was a non-violent = movement for Samoan = independence=20 from colonial=20 rule during the early 1900s. The word 'Mau' means 'opinion' or = 'testimony'=20 denoting 'firm strength' in Samoan. The = motto for=20 the Mau were the words Samoa mo Samoa (Samoa for Samoa).

The movement had its beginnings on the island of Savai'i with the = Mau a=20 Pule resistance in the early 1900s with widespread support = throughout the=20 country by the late 1920s.^[1]=20 As the movement grew, leadership came under the country's chiefly elite, = the=20 customary matai leaders = entrenched=20 in Samoan tradition and fa'a Samoa.[= 2]=20 The Mau included women who supported the national organisation through=20 leadership and organisation as well as taking part in marches. = Supporters wore a=20 Mau uniform of a navy blue lavalava with a = white stripe=20 which was later banned by the colonial administration.^[=
3]

The Mau movement culminated on 28 December 1929 in the streets of the = capital=20 Apia, = when the New=20 Zealand military police fired on a peaceful procession, turning the = day into=20 violence and the event to become known as Black Saturday. Up to 11 = Samoans were=20 killed, including Mau leader and high chief Tupua = Tamasese=20 Lealofi III with many others wounded. One New Zealand constable was = also=20 killed.^[4]

The Mau movement eventually led to the political independence of = Samoa in=20 1962.

1 History=20
- 1.1 Influenza=20 epidemic=20
- 1.2 Mau=20 leadership=20
- 1.3 Civil=20 disobedience=20
- 1.4 Black = Saturday,=20 1929
2 Moving towards=20 independence=20
3 1962=20 independence=20
- 3.1 New Zealand = apology to=20 Samoa
= 4 An American = Samoa=20 Mau=20
5 Contemporary=20 influences=20
6 See = also=20
7 References=20
8 Further = reading=20
9 External = links=20

[edit]=20 History

=20

Lauaki = Namulauulu=20 Mamoe

Broadly, the history of the Mau movement can be seen as beginning in = the=20 1800s with European contact and the advent of Western powers, Britain, United=20 States and Germany, vying for = control of=20 the Pacific nation. The country became German Samoa = (1900=E2=80=931914)=20 followed by New Zealand = colonial rule=20 during which the Mau gathered national support.

=E2=80=9C The Mau was a revolt of Old Samoa against foreign=20 domination, and, therefore, originated in the nineteenth = century.=20 Samoan author and Professor Albert = Wendt.[= 2] =E2=80=9D

A key event occurred in 1908, in a dispute between the German colonial = administration=20 and the Malo o Samoa, or Samoan Council of Chiefs, over the = establishment=20 of a copra business=20 owned and controlled by native Samoans.

The dispute led to the eventual formation of a resistance movement = called=20 Mau a Pule on Savai'i by Lauaki = Namulauulu=20 Mamoe, one of the Samoan leaders from Safotulafai who = was deposed=20 by the German Governor of Samoa, Wilhelm Solf. As = well as=20 deposing members of the Malo o Samoa, Solf called in two German = warships=20 as a show of strength. Faced with this demonstration of military force, = and with=20 the movement divided, Lauaki surrendered, and resistance faded. In 1909, = Lauaki=20 and the other senior leaders of the Mau a Pule were exiled to the = German=20 colonies in the Marianas (North West = Pacific)=20 where they were to stay until 1914, when New Zealand took over Samoa as = part of=20 its Empire duties at the outbreak of World War One. Many of those exiled = died=20 before returning to Samoa. Lauaki died enroute back to Samoa in = 1915.

[edit]=20 Influenza = epidemic

=20

SS Talune in Port Chalmers graving dock in = New Zealand=20 c. 1890s

The Samoan independence movement would not gain strength again until = after New=20 Zealand forces, unopposed by the German rulers, annexed Western=20 Samoa in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. = Military rule=20 continued after the war ended, and in 1919, some 7,500 Samoans, around = 22 per=20 cent of the population died during an influenza epidemic. = It was=20 already known that Samoans were susceptible to the smallest European = diseases as=20 they had never encountered them before. When the ship SS Talune = arrived in Apia=20 with its crew and passengers obviously sick with influenza, they were = allowed to=20 dock by the New Zealanders.

Two days later the first deaths were reported. No attempt was made by = the New=20 Zealand administrators to quell or contain the spread and after one week = it had=20 spread through the whole of Samoa. Whole families were killed, with such = alarming speed that corpses lay around for weeks without being buried. = They were=20 either thrown in mass graves or left in houses which were torched. = However, in=20 American Samoa where quarantine precaution measures had been adequately = taken=20 there were no deaths. Upon learning of the current situation in Western = Samoa=20 the American Governor offered help to Colonel Logan who was in charge, = Logan was=20 British born and hated Americans. He destroyed the telegram and cut off = any=20 other contact to American Samoa. The Americans had a large medical team = who=20 could have saved many lives.

This catastrophic event was to lay a new foundation for discontent = with an=20 administration already perceived as incompetent and dishonest by many = Samoans.=20 The clumsy handling of Samoa's governance, the slow and deliberate = erosion of=20 traditional Samoan social structures by successive administrators and a = general=20 failure to understand and respect Samoan culture also sowed the seeds = for a=20 revitalised resistance to colonial rule. Logan was replaced by Colonel = Robert=20 Tate.

[edit]=20 Mau leadership

=20

Mau prisoners being transported in the capital Apia

The groundswell of support among Samoans for the Mau came from the = leadership=20 of Samoan matai, the = heads of=20 families in Samoa's traditional socio-political structure. Family and = chiefly=20 title connections, a central part of Samoan culture, were used to = harness=20 support. The success of the Mau in gathering national support showed = that=20 fa'a Samoa was still strong ^[=
2]=20 despite colonialism.

Samoans of mixed parentage, facing discrimination from both cultures = but with=20 the advantage of cross-cultural knowledge, also played a key role in the = new=20 movement.

Olaf = Frederick=20 Nelson, one of the leaders of the new Mau movement, was a successful = merchant of mixed Swedish and Samoan = heritage.=20 Nelson was the richest man in Samoa at the time and well-travelled. He = was=20 frustrated by the colonial administration's exclusion of native and = part-Samoans=20 from governance. Notably, he was one of many who had lost a child to the = influenza epidemic of 1919 in addition to his mother, sister, only = brother, and=20 sister in-law. Although classified as a European he considered himself = Samoan=20 "by birth blood and sentiment."

In 1926, Nelson visited Wellington to lobby = the New=20 Zealand government on the issue of increased self-rule. During his = visit, the=20 Minister for External Affairs, William = Nosworthy,=20 promised to visit Samoa to investigate. When Nosworthy postponed his = trip,=20 Nelson organised two public meetings in Apia, which were attended by = hundreds,=20 and The Samoan League, or O le Mau, was formed.

=20

New Zealand sailors removing the white strip from = lava-lava, the=20 Mau uniform, circa 1930

The Mau published the Samoa Guardian newspaper as a mouthpiece = for the=20 movement. To demonstrate the extent of popular support for the Mau, = Nelson=20 organised a sports meeting for movement members on the King's Birthday, = in=20 parallel with the official event, and held a well-attended ball at his = home on=20 the same night. Movement members had begun to engage in acts of = noncooperation:=20 neglecting the compulsory weekly search for the rhinoceros = beetle,=20 enemy of the coconut palm, thereby=20 threatening the lucrative copra industry.

In 1927, alarmed at the growing strength of the Mau, George=20 Richardson, the administrator of Samoa, changed the law to allow the = deportation of Europeans or part-Europeans charged with fomenting = unrest. This=20 action was presumably taken on the assumption that the growing movement = was=20 merely a product of self-interested Europeans agitating the native = Samoans.

In reality, however, the Mau was built upon the traditional forms of = Samoan=20 political organisation. In each village that joined the movement, a = committee=20 was formed, consisting of the chiefs and "talking men". These committees = formed=20 the basic element of an alternative system of governance, and the = tendency of=20 Samoans to unite under traditional leadership meant that by the mid- to = late=20 1920s, around 85% of the Samoan population was involved in open = resistance.

Following another visit to New Zealand to petition the Government, = Nelson was=20 exiled from Samoa along with two other part-European Mau leaders. The = petition,=20 which lead to the formation of a joint select committee to investigate = the=20 situation in Samoa, quoted an ancient Samoan proverb: "We are moved by = love, but=20 never driven by intimidation."

[edit]=20 Civil = disobedience

Tax=20 resistance
Part of=20 the = Taxation=20 series
Core=20 topics History = of=20 tax resistance=20 Conscientious=20 objection to military taxation Religious=20 Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act Tax=20 resisters
Media An Act = of=20 Conscience Thorea= u's=20 Civil Disobedience Clericis=20 laicos The=20 Cold War and the Income Tax
Organizations Addiopizzo All=20 Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation Anti-Poll Tax = Unions Association=20 of Real Estate Taxpayers Irish=20 National Land League National=20 Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund National=20 War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee Northern=20 California War Tax ResistancePagal = Panthis Peacemakers=20 Wom= en's=20 Tax Resistance League
Campaigns Revolt = of=20 the va-nu-pieds Re= volt=20 of the papier timbr=C3=A9 = No=20 taxation without representation War of = the=20 Regulation Gasp=C3=A9e=20 Affair Whiskey=20 Rebellion Fries's=20 Rebellion Tithe = War Rebecca = Riots Hut Tax = War of=20 1898 Vyborg = Manifesto=20 Cham= paran=20 and Kheda Satyagraha Poplar = Rates=20 Rebellion Mau = movement Salt=20 Satyagraha Poujadism Beit=20 Sahour Poll Tax=20 Riots
Related topics Civil=20 disobedience Conscientiou= s=20 objection Divestment Economic=20 secession Nonviolent=20 resistance =E2=80=9CRend= er unto=20 Caesar...=E2=80=9D=20 Tax=20 avoidance and tax evasion Tax=20 protesters Taxation = as=20 slavery Taxation = as=20 theft
v =E2=80=A2 d =E2=80=A2 e

The Mau remained true to this sentiment, and despite the exile of = Nelson,=20 continued to use civil = disobedience to=20 oppose the New Zealand administration. They boycotted imported products, = refused=20 to pay taxes and formed their own "police force", picketing stores in = Apia to=20 prevent the payment of customs to the authorities. Village committees=20 established by the administration ceased to meet and government = officials were=20 ignored when they went on tour. Births and deaths went unregistered. = Coconuts=20 went unharvested, and the banana plantations were neglected.

As the select committee was forced to admit, "a very substantial = proportion=20 of Samoans had joined the Mau, a number quite sufficient, if they = determined to=20 resist and thwart the activities of the Administration, to paralyse the=20 functions of government."

Richardson sent a warship and a 70-strong force of marines to quell = the=20 largely non-violent resistance. 400 Mau members were arrested, but = others=20 responded by giving themselves up in such numbers that there were = insufficient=20 jail cells to detain them all, and the prisoners came and went as they = pleased.=20 One group of prisoners found themselves in a three-sided "cell" which = faced the=20 ocean, and were able to swim away to tend to their gardens and visit = their=20 families.

With his attempt at repression turning to ridicule, Richard offered = pardons=20 to all those arrested; however, arrestees demanded to be dealt with by = the=20 court, and then refused to enter pleas to demonstrate their rejection of = the=20 court's jurisdiction.

[edit]=20 Black Saturday,=20 1929

=20

Mau demonstration in Apia, 1929

The new administrator, Stephen=20 Allen, replaced the marines with a special force of New Zealand = police, and=20 began to target the leaders of the movement.

Tupua = Tamasese=20 Lealofi III, who had led the movement following the exile of Nelson, = was=20 arrested for non-payment of taxes and imprisoned for six months.

On 28 December 1929 =E2=80=93 which would be know thereafter as = "Black Saturday" =E2=80=93New=20 Zealand military police fired upon a peaceful demonstration which had = assembled=20 to welcome home A.G.=20 Smyth, a European movement leader returning to Samoa after a two = year exile.=20 Reports of the massacre are sketchy because the official cover-up for = the=20 incident was so effective. Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III had rushed to the = front of=20 the crowd and turned to face his people, he called for peace from them = because=20 some were throwing stones at the police. With his back to the police = calling for=20 peace he was shot in the back, another Samoan who rushed to help him was = shot in=20 both legs while cradling his head. Another who had attempted to shield = his body=20 from the bullets was shot. 2 more rushing to help were killed before = they could=20 reach him.

=20

New Zealand police in Samoa during the Mau=20 movement

Shooting stopped at around 6.30 am. 8 had died 3 would later die and = about 50=20 were wounded. One policeman had also been killed from a single blow to = his=20 head.

Among the wounded were terrified women and children who had fled to a = market=20 place for cover from New Zealand police firing from the verandah of the = station,=20 one of them wielding a Lewis machinegun.

As he lay dying, Tamesese III made this statement to his = followers;

My blood has been spilt for Samoa.I am proud to give it. Do not = dream of=20 avenging it, as it was spilt in peace. If I die, peace must be = maintained at any=20 price.

Following the massacre, male Mau members fled to the mountains, the=20 traditional retreat of those defeated in war. The resistance continued = by other=20 means, with the emergence of a women's Mau to continue the councils, = parades and=20 symbolic protests that the men now could not. For the women's movement, = even the=20 game of cricket=20 represented an act of defiance inviting official harassment.

=20

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III lying in state at = Vaimoso village,=20 1930.

The day after his funeral his village was raided by New Zealand = military=20 police, they ransacked houses including those of the Tamasese's mourning = widow=20 and children. Colonel Allen requested reinforcements from New Zealand = after he=20 claimed 2000 Mau had caused a riot. On 12 January 1930 the Royal New = Zealand=20 Navy flagship Dunedin brought marines to hunt down members of The = Mau.=20 The Mau who were fully committed to Passive Resistance easily slipped = through=20 the jungle, the marines were slow because they were carrying too much = weaponry=20 and didn't know the bush like The Mau. The Mau no longer trusted New = Zealand=20 police, this fear only got worse after a 16 year old un-armed Samoan was = shot=20 and killed while running away from a marine, whose excuse he thought the = boy was=20 going to throw a stone was accepted as an adequate defence and no = charges were=20 laid.

A truce was declared on the 12th of March 1930, after another child = was=20 killed by New Zealand marines who were now suffering heat exhaustion and = tropical infections. The male Mau members returned to their homes, on = the=20 condition that they retain their right to engage in non-cooperation. = Meanwhile,=20 Nelson and other exiled leaders continued to lobby the New Zealand = Government=20 and communicate their progress to the Mau. In 1931, news of the growing=20 resistance to the British rule of India reached many = Samoan=20 villages.

[edit]=20 Moving = towards=20 independence

=20

High chief Mata'afa=20 Faumuina Fiame Mulinu'u I, a leader of the Mau who became President = of the=20 Mau following Tamasese's death, circa 1930.

The Mau movement had not gone unnoticed by the population of New = Zealand, and=20 the treatment of Samoans at the hands of the administration had become a = contentious issue in some New Zealand electorates during the 1929 = election. 1936=20 marked a turning point for Samoa, with the election of a Labour=20 Government in New Zealand and the subsequent relaxation of = repression by the=20 Samoan administration. Under the new Government, there was slow movement = towards=20 greater involvement of Samoans in the administration of their own = country.

[edit]=20 1962 = independence

When Western Samoa finally gained its independence in 1962, Tupua = Tamasese=20 Meaole, son of the Mau movement leader, became its first co-head of = state with=20 Malietoa = Tanumafili=20 II.

Fiame=20 Mata'afa Faumuina Mulinu=E2=80=99u II (1921=E2=80=931975), the son = of another high chief and=20 Mau leader Mata'afa=20 Faumuina Fiame Mulinu'u I, became the first Prime = Minister of=20 Samoa.

In July 1997, the Samoa Constitution was amended to change the = country's name=20 to Samoa, and officially the Independent State of Samoa.^[5]

[edit]=20 New Zealand = apology to=20 Samoa

In 2002, Helen Clark, Prime = Minister=20 of New Zealand made an unprecedented move and apologised to Samoa for = New=20 Zealand's treatment of Samoans during the colonial era.^[6]=20 Clark made the apology in the capital Apia during the 40th = anniversary of=20 Samoa's independence. The apology covered the influenza epidemic of = 1918, the=20 shooting of unarmed Mau protesters by New Zealand police in 1929 and the = banishing of matai (chiefs) from their homes.^[7]

[edit]=20 An American Samoa=20 Mau

There was also an American Samoa Mau that took place in Tutuila in American Samoa = in the=20 1920s. This movement received a lot of press in the United States, both=20 favourable and unfavourable. The leader of the movement, Samuelu Ripley = of=20 Leone, Tutuila, was in effect exiled from American Samoa, when he was = barred by=20 the US Navy authorities from disembarking from a ship returning to = Pagopago from=20 California, and he was never allowed to return to his homeland. He = eventually=20 became the mayor of Richmond, California. The United States sent a = committee to=20 American Samoa in 1930, including US citizens from Hawai'i who=20 had a prominent role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian = kingdom and Queen=20 Lili'uokalani. Their report, favourable to the US position, had a=20 considerable influence on US policy, and the American Samoa Mau was = totally=20 suppressed by the US. Its influence however continued to be felt. Today = American=20 Samoa is on the United=20 Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

[edit]=20 Contemporary=20 influences

A Samoan hip hop group that was founded in 1990 by Kosmo, MC Kha Tha=20 Feelstyle Orator and DJ Rockit V. The Mau was named for the Mau = movement.=20 The motto of the group became the same as the motto of the Mau movement; = Samoa=20 Mo Samoa, or Samoa for Samoans. The Mau has now reformed as the group = Rough=20 Opinion. The group still carries the message of the Mau movement as = their=20 theme.^[8]

[edit]=20 See also

[edit]=20 References

^ = http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/samoa/rise-of-mau= =20
^ ^<=
I>a=20 ^<=
I>b=20 ^<=
I>c=20 [1]Guardians of the West by Albert Wendt.Retrieved = 21=20 February 2009=20
^<= /B>=20 Furnas, JC (2008). Anatomy of Paradise - Hawaii and the Islands of the = South=20 Seas. Read Books. p. 345. = ISBN 1443= 727679. http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=3DRSbeljsNFbsC&dq=3D= Mau+Samoa+uniform&lr=3D&source=3Dgbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved 21 February = 2010. =20
^=20 "New Zealand in=20 Samoa". New Zealand History Online. = http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/samoa. Retrieved 21 February = 2009. =20
^ = http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1842.htm=20
^ = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2025041.stm =
^ = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/tapu-misa/news/article.cfm?a_id=3D= 11&objectid=3D2044999=20
^=20 Henderson, April K. =E2=80=9CDancing Between Islands: Hip Hop and the = Samoan=20 Diaspora.=E2=80=9D In The Vinyl Ain=E2=80=99t Final: Hip Hop and the = Globalization of Black=20 Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 180-199. = London;=20 Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press

[edit]=20 Further = reading

Field, Michael J. (1984). Mau: Samoa's Struggle Against New = Zealand=20 Oppression. Reed Publishing. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1241230 =

[edit]=20 External links

=E2=80=98Guardians and Wards=E2=80=99 : (A study = of the origins, causes, and=20 the first two years of the Mau in Western Samoa.) by Albert Wendt=20
New Zealand in Samoa (NZHistory.net.nz)=20
NZ Prime Minister's apology & Samoa Prime Minister = reply=20
Album of Photographs of the Mau Uprising, 1930 - = 40 online=20 photographs by police officer F J Gleeson in National Library, = Wellington (go=20 to Timeframes)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.or= g/wiki/Mau_movement"

Categories: = History = of=20 Samoa | Commu= nity=20 organizing | Nonviolence=20 | Protest=20 tactics

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