Threats and abuse hurled at Kiwi business after rebranding with te reo Māori name
Friday, 24 September 2021
A road transport organisation in Aotearoa has faced abuse, threats and racism after announcing a rebranding featuring te reo Māori.
On September 15, the Road Transport Forum announced its new title, Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand, as a way to “embrace the mood and culture of Aotearoa”, chief executive Nick Leggett said.
But when the name change was announced on social media, Leggett said the organisation was bombarded with angry and aggressive comments.
They accused the organisation of turning “woke”, “rubbish” and a “PC joke”. The more racist and offensive comments had been deleted from the page, Leggett said.
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He was shocked at the backlash.
“I didn’t think it was a controversial move in any way, and I was surprised by the nasty, threatening and racist language used.”
The negative feedback had been “distressing”, and showed a side of Aotearoa he didn’t like.
“It exposed that underbelly of the country of people who for some reason feel threatened by the use of te reo Māori language. There’s no place in Aotearoa for the racist and vile comments we’ve seen spilled on social media.”
Leggett said he only read a few, as they were so vile.
“What I did see, however, was pretty abusive and insulting.”
In response to the commenters, Leggett said, “How does this threaten you? What are you worried about?”
Te reo Māori tutor Anton Matthews wasn’t surprised to hear about the backlash.
“I see it all the time on my own social media posts about te reo Māori, and I’ve learned to just ignore it.
”I think a lot of people who aren’t engaging in discussions about te reo don’t realise that there are people out here in Aotearoa like this, but I do believe they are the minority in our country.”
Leggett said the organisation’s new name was represented in both te reo Māori and English.
”Māori drivers make up about 20 per cent of our workforce, and we wanted to signal that the industry is open to a more diverse workforce.”
Translators who worked with the organisation said Ia Ara Aotearoa could be translated to “each and every road of Aotearoa”.
The word ‘Ia’ is also translated as a vessel or vein, but can also mean to flow.
Hineihaea Murphy, director of Haemata, a Māori education and language company, said a company or organisation’s name, much like a person’s, was about identity, and there was nothing wrong with that.
”If a company or organisation feels that having a Māori name better conveys its identity, what it values and what it’s about, and it’s an authentic expression of their identity, I’m not sure what is wrong with that?”
Murphy said it was a “real shame” anyone had to be exposed to backlash due to using Māori language.
In the past few years, a number of high-profile organisations in Aotearoa have re-branded themselves to include a Māori name.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency rearranged its logo in 2019, so Waka Kotahi was mentioned before NZ Transport Agency.
Waka Kotahi said the logo change was a way to give more prominence to the te reo Māori name, to help ensure the language was more visible across the country.
In 2017, Child, Youth and Family was rebranded to Oranga Tamariki, and in 2019, Kāinga Ora replaced Housing New Zealand.
Insurance Council of New Zealand added Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa to its name this year, along with the Retirement Commission which updated its name to Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission.
In 2020 one of the country's biggest telecommunications companies, Vodafone, changed its banners at the top of user’s phones from “Vodafone NZ” to “VF Aotearoa”.
At the time, Vodafone spokeswoman Nicky Preston said it wanted to demonstrate its ongoing support for te reo.
After that, one customer tweeted that they didn’t appreciate the message, describing it as a “woke virtue-signal”.
They added that their country was called New Zealand and said they would switch provider if the message remained.
The tweets drew a strong reaction from other social media users, with 2degrees and Spark backing Vodafone.
Matthews felt “generally positive” about organisations using te reo Māori names, as long as they were doing it for the right reasons.
”If it’s being done to embrace the language or help normalise it in our everyday lives, I’m all for it.
”I’d just caution organisations to make sure they talk to someone who knows the language well before choosing a name – don’t just consult Google Translate for it.”
Matthews said companies could speak to local iwi, schools, universities, or even their own whānau within their organisations who may know the language well.
For te reo Māori to become a more widely spoken language, Matthews said it needed to be normalised and seen in everyday places.
“We need to be seeing it in supermarkets, on labels, in cafés, and I’m all for anyone trying to lift the status of the language.”
In terms of online racist or abusive comments, Matthews said the best thing to do was call it out and tell the commenter it’s unacceptable.
”It doesn’t have to be an argument, it’s enough to say ‘that’s unacceptable. Give nothing to racism.’”
In helping the Māori language to flourish, Matthews said there needed to be participation from the public at every level.
“Just using a couple of words a day is enough, we don’t all need to be fluent speakers, just keep it alive.
“Even just changing a name helps. Stick with it and ignore the nay-sayers.”