T-shirt (Polynesian Panthers)

item details

NameT-shirt (Polynesian Panthers)

ProductionE.T. Designs & Screenprinting; printing firm; 2006; New Zealand
Cotton Force; manufacturer(s); China

ClassificationT-shirts

Materialscotton, printing ink

Materials Summary1) cotton - black and good quality; 2) printing ink - white and silver

Techniquesscreen printing

DimensionsOverall: 510mm (width), 670mm (length)

Registration NumberFE013709

Credit lineAcquired 2022

Overview

This t-shirt that has been screenprinted with the name and logo of the Polynesian Panthers Party (PPP), as well as with the date and sponsors of their 35th Anniversary, which occurred in Auckland on the 16th of June, 2006.

This is one of a limited edition of t-shirts that was commissioned in New Zealand to commemorate the group's anniversary, which marked 35 years since it's inception in inner-city Auckland by young disenfranchised Samoans, Tongans, Cook Islanders and Maori.

Grassroots activism

The PPP,began as the Polynesian Panthers Movement (PPM) in 1971 and was renamed as the PPP the following year to delineate the group's politicized 'new structure, tactics and whole new attitude' in relation to its work. The group was concerned with ensuring the overall welfare of Pacific and Maori people at a time when racism and discrimination against Pacific Islanders, both New Zealand-born and recent migrants, was on the rise.

For a decade, the PPP was out on the streets, supporting Maori protest movements, marching against the 1981 South African Springboks rugby tour, and protesting against the discrimination that was being inflicted on Pacific people. Outside these activities, the group's projects ranged from running homework centres, to helping elderly people with shopping and chores, to hiring buses for families to visit relatives in Paremoremo Prison.

As part of their work against social injustice, the PPP also educated Pacific people about their legal rights by running programmes and publishing a legal aid booklet called 'Your Rights', which they produced with the help of David Lange, a young lawyer who later became prime minister of New Zealand.

The movement's work in 'elevating Pacific people in the educational, philosophical, secular and spiritual spheres, thus removing their status in New Zealand society as second-rate citizens' continues till present day through the laws and policies that it helped establish. Its founding members, who still consider themselves Polynesian Panthers, continue to initiate social change for Pacific peoples through their various professions.

Acquisition history

The donor of this t-shirt, Will 'Ilolahia, was one the movement's founders .