LISTEN: A Māori Zionist’s take on Indigeneity
- Allied Voices for Israel (AVI)
- Mar 22
- 2 min read
Dr. Sheree Trotter, head of the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem, joins us on Episode 13 of the Common Voices podcast
Click on the above graphic to listen to Episode 13 of Common Voices!
In this week's instalment of the Common Voices podcast, Host and Allied Voices for Israel (AVI) Founder and Executive Director Daniel Koren sits down with Dr. Sheree Trotter – a writer and historian in New Zealand of Te Arawa iwi origin.
Koren and Trotter, who heads the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem (IEJ), have an important discussion regarding the intersection of indigenous identity, Jewish history, and current global political narratives. AVI and IEJ have collaborated a number of times over the past few years.
Their discussion explores the concept of aika, a Māori term meaning “to keep the fires burning.” This concept is used as a metaphor for the Jewish people's continuous presence, sovereignty, and indigenous connection to the Land of Israel, even through periods of exile and dispersion.
Click the above still to watch an excerpt from our conversation with Dr. Sheree Trotter
In the above excerpt from the episode, Dr. Trotter recounts the motivation and context behind forming a platform to address narratives surrounding Israel.
By 2016, she observed a “false narrative” taking hold of her people. This realization led her to explore the need for a platform to educate others and correct this narrative from the perspective of indigenous supporters of Israel.
In New Zealand, this narrative developed over several decades through the influence of local activist communities.
Dr. Trotter reveals that these Māori activist groups formed connections with international causes and movements, specifically: the black consciousness movement, the “anti-apartheid” movement, and a Soviet and Arab alliance.
To listen to Episode 13: A Māori Zionist's take on Indigeneity, please click here.
To watch the episode on YouTube, please click here.
Click on the above graphic to listen to our previous episode with Iranian-canadian Journalist, Negar Mojtahedi
In our last episode of Common Voices, we sat down with Negar Mojtahedi – a journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Vancouver who specializes in human rights and Iranian issues.
Negar speaks to a significant gap in coverage between Western mainstream media and independent sources, largely because international outlets lack the direct ground connections held by networks like Iran International.
Koren and Negar also dive into the catastrophic and tragic scale of violence in the region, the difficulty of getting non-Iranians to understand the extent of the brutality at the hands of the Ayatollah, the misinformation and propaganda consistently spouted by the regime, how the Jewish community and other allies can display solidarity and take action outside of Iran, and what the future holds for a potentially free Iran.
To listen to Episode 12: 'People can smell death inside Iran’ - a Canadian-Iranian Journalist’s Perspective, please click here.
To watch the episode on Youtube, please click here.
Comments