[Sparklechick]

I saw the news this morning and heard that some maori from up north are doing a Hikoi (walk) from Northland to Wellington to protest the foreshore/seabed legislation. Well actually it is more of a drive than a walk but they do get out of their cars to create traffic chaos in Auckland; ie walking over the harbour bridge. Shouldn't they be walking around the foreshore rather than walking over a structure built by the Europeans?

When Ally from Breakfast asked the organiser why they were driving instead of walking, he told her that he didn't want to get into the semantics of it. If they could have got a jet and flown to Wellington they would have done that.

*shakes head*

Hikoi = walk

They should stop calling their protest a Hikoi if that's not what they're doing. Maybe they don't have a maori word for drive/walk.

[kall]

"Effectively Ally, what we will be doing is Hikoi'ing from the couch to the implausibly expensive looking 4WD outside, driving to somewhere, getting out and Hikoi'ing around to annoy the white man, then Hikoi back to the 4WD and on to the next place.

So, we will actually be doing many many Hikois."

[trogg]

I have to wonder how these professional protesters can afford to travel the length of the island.

For most of us it is difficult to take a week or two off work and then pay for petrol etc to travel while still paying our rent and other bills.
However, we have the usual suspects like Mike Smith (the One tree Hill chainsaw guy), Ken Mair (Motua Gardens) & Titewhai Harawira that manage to do this. Perhaps they have each won Lotto first division?


(And for the record, I have been involved in a couple of Peace marches, but only when they were in the weekend hence not at work. So this shouldn’t be taken as an anti protest posting but a ‘time & a place’ posting.)

[kall]

And we have already had the 'definition of Hikoi' posting.

As for that bloody Titewhai Hariwera...she's annoying.

*shakes head*

I'd say there aren't many other groups in this country that would have the protection (or gall) to ignore LTSA and the NZ Police's orders, and march across a bloody bridge, blocking traffic and creating a problem.

Bridges have a "natural frequency." When the wind blows or people cross the bridge at a rhythm that matches this frequency, the force can cause the bridge to vibrate. This phenomenon is called resonance, and the frequency is called resonant frequency. Soldiers are taught to march across a bridge out-of-step, so they won't create vibrations that tap into the bridge's resonant frequency. In extreme cases, the vibrations can cause a bridge to collapse, as happened when the driving force of the wind caused the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State in 1940.

[trogg]

Originally posted by kall@Apr 29 2004, 09:47 AM

Regarding bridges and their frequency, it could be worse....

LONDON (Reuters) - London's Millennium Bridge will reopen to the public without a wobble or a ceremony on Friday, the structure's engineers say.

Queen Elizabeth opened the 350-meter pedestrian bridge on June 10, 2000, but local authorities shut it down on June 12 after people walking across the bridge made it shake so much that some felt seasick.

[kall]

"KFC Restaurant owners up and down the North Island have been advised of when the Hikoi is coming through their area, in order to increase stocks."

[still_thinking]

Half the people at my work have "hikoi'd" in a bus to Wellington to participate tomorrow.

I guess that is the joy of being the white sheep at work (I work for the local Iwi - but I'm as white as they come)