A Call for a Welcome Home

“If you do try and come back I hope the Russians shoot your plane down, no survivors.”

There’s some really vile internet hate directed at Kiwis overseas from a few of our compatriots at home. It’s a peculiar type of xenophobia that is no more rabid or disturbing than what’s often directed at tauiwi people of colour in New Zealand, but it’s interesting in that it’s aimed at those of us overseas right now because we may want to return to our country.

Our Kiwi identity and shared culture is built from a legacy of travelers and explorers, going back one thousand years, and more, to when the ancestors of Māori left Hawaiki.

Our hero, Māui, took his brothers further than ever before and fished up new land for his people out of the sea. He traveled often. To slow the sun, or bring back fire. And finally, with the intent to vanquish death.

Māui is a hero because his exploits were always beneficial for the collective.

Adventurous spirits provided new lands and opportunities for their communities. Polynesian voyagers migrated throughout the world’s most vast ocean, sailing from safe harbours to unseen islands in front of summer storms.

Kupe, Toi, Toroa, Wairaka.

Tasman, Cook, Tupaia, Young Nick.

Whalers, traders, missionaries, and runaways.

Gold miners, soldiers, mail-order brides.

Refugees, migrant workers, immigrants, and ‘expats’.

All followed winding paths to a new home in a little bubble at the bottom of the ocean.

The exploration resulted in wealth, which was derived from land (often stolen), and labour (also often stolen), imagination (always collective), and cooperation (often coerced). This wealth was divided into unequal pieces; it sustained our ancestors to varying degrees. At least long enough for them to procreate.

And we all rubbed up against each other and created a culture that told kids, “go exploring”.

Over the last few decades the world reached such a point of interconnectedness you could literally go to Timbuktu.

Last year it had never been cheaper to fly away.

With our chic black passports, New Zealanders had the most far-reaching freedom of movement, and we made the most of it. We built solidarity internationally, exporting our unique antipodean perspectives and linking our motu with the rest of the world. We continue to contribute financially through taxes, interest payments on student loans, and remittances. Returnees and newcomers alike bring to Aotearoa fresh eyes and new languages, ideas, skills and commodities.

Now the crisis has struck, the gates are closing, and some of our compatriots feel the urge to pull the drawbridge up from behind them. A few express it through toxic commentary on the internet. That stings, but it has no real bite, tweets can’t stop us from returning.

A government imposed financial barrier could though.

Human beings need community to survive. Māui couldn’t have fished up Aotearoa without the labour of his brothers. Or caught the sun. He relied on the knowledge of others to find Mahuika and Hinenuitepō.

The love for our communities goes so deep that it can become a moat to keep out others. Our righteous anger over inequality and poverty is manipulated and directed towards groups that seem different to ours. Instead of towards the capitalist class who profit from workers’ labour, and the Earth’s resources, and hoard the wealth we all need and deserve.

The same interconnectedness that could take us to Timbuktu was again revealed by the quickness with which COVID-19 spread across the globe. We realised how linked the global community is and how deep into each other’s lives we could reach. This interconnectedness is built and maintained by us all. What we do affects each other, be it washing our hands, staying home, or wearing a mask. We are part of your community and our collective health depends on caring for each other.

Kiwis overseas include crew, marooned on a cruise ship for months on end. A mum with a sick baby, a lady with cancer, a lover that has to leave their partner, a child with anxiety. Primary school teachers, scientists, nurses, and everyone else that makes up society. Of the million Kiwis overseas there are thousands of restless people, many without jobs now, with visas expiring soon, and with nowhere to be.

Right now is the time for heroic exploits for the good of the collective. It’s not the adventurer needed in this moment, but you who have kept the home fires burning while we were away. We ask for you to stand with us in solidarity, share our collective wealth, and welcome us home.


Phoebe Carr (Ngāti Awa, Tūhoe) is a New Zealander based in Sweden and part of the group behind Team of 6 Million