effect of protesting on new zealand society
People of New Zealand were affected by this tour as their moral viewpoints polarised the nation to the extent to mob hysteria and violence. People at the time were very opinionated on the issue. Before the tour there was a strong majority of people who wanted the tour to go ahead, however, by the end of the tour the majority of the people were anti-tour. This was significant as each and every New Zealander contributed to the effect of this tour. The fact that the tour went ahead also had a huge impact on New Zealand's reputation. This was proven when 30 countries boycotted the Montreal Olympic Games because New Zealand had attended it. There was even the possibility of New Zealand being excluded from the Commonwealth.
People's lives were deeply effected by the 1981 Springbok Tour. Almost everybody was effected by the protesting as over 200 demonstrations took place across 28 town centres and over 200 people were arrested. Many more were injured and 12 were even imprisoned for over a year, awaiting court hearings. People such as Donna Awatere-Huata were beaten by police and she is well known today for her role as an anti-tour protesters. Not only did the Police's role physically affect the protesters but it also attracted unwanted attention and publicity. No further official tour to, or by, South Africa occurred until the collapse of apartheid in 1990.
After the 1981 tour, the anti-apartheid movement dissipated. However, many of the protesters who had become radicalised due to the tour took up the anti-nuclear issue as the new focus of protest as well as other groups like the Maori Renaissance movement and Liberation groups. This was of particular significance in how New Zealand society has been shaped today due to the actions of groups such as Greenpeace and human rights groups. Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the Springbok Tour and it is a stark reminder of how the government and the people can clash on key issues that involve them.
People's lives were deeply effected by the 1981 Springbok Tour. Almost everybody was effected by the protesting as over 200 demonstrations took place across 28 town centres and over 200 people were arrested. Many more were injured and 12 were even imprisoned for over a year, awaiting court hearings. People such as Donna Awatere-Huata were beaten by police and she is well known today for her role as an anti-tour protesters. Not only did the Police's role physically affect the protesters but it also attracted unwanted attention and publicity. No further official tour to, or by, South Africa occurred until the collapse of apartheid in 1990.
After the 1981 tour, the anti-apartheid movement dissipated. However, many of the protesters who had become radicalised due to the tour took up the anti-nuclear issue as the new focus of protest as well as other groups like the Maori Renaissance movement and Liberation groups. This was of particular significance in how New Zealand society has been shaped today due to the actions of groups such as Greenpeace and human rights groups. Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the Springbok Tour and it is a stark reminder of how the government and the people can clash on key issues that involve them.
key ideas
The 1981 Springbok tour had a range of social, political and economic consequences that subsequently impacted on the lives of New Zealanders and New Zealand society making it a significant historical event. The violent clashes between tour supporters and protesters caused even more fury between the two groups. The rift was not just about sport or rugby, but about differences in opinion of issues on an international scale. The issue of sports and politics not mixing had been central to the pro-tour argument. Doug Rollerson, the All Black first-five in 1981, was adamant that the tour should have gone ahead. Reflecting on the tour in 2006, he believed it was important to 'get them over here' and show them a multiracial society living in relative harmony. Above all, it was important to beat them, almost as a way of confirming apartheid was wrong. In his own way he was confirming that sport and politics really did mix — whether people liked it or not. Racial issues in New Zealand were brought to light, with increased activism by Maori leading to Waitangi Tribunal action over grievances that had intensified since 1840. Along with Maori Pakeha New Zealanders also used the protest momentum from the 1981 tour and launched that enthusiasm to homosexual rights and anti-nuclear movements. The economic effect of the tour was not as widespread as the social and political consequences but had an impact nonetheless. The fact that the government spent over $2.7million shows how desperate they were to gain the support of pro-tour supporters, which they believed would translate into electoral success. espite using the tour to his advantage in the short-term, Robert Muldoon dug his own grave for the 1984 general election, suffering a landslide loss to David Lange's Labour government. Lange took a more radical approach to underlying problems that the world was facing. He directed New Zealand to be a country that leads by example. Lange took the forefront of many disputes, such as, the anti-nuclear protesting where Lange, under the influence of the New Zealand public, did not allow US military Nuclear ships to dock in New Zealand's ports.