Activism
His mother is a prominent Māori activist and Harawira himself played a role in Treaty of Waitangi issues, Māori language revitalisation, land occupations, and Māori broadcasting. In 1979 Harawira was part of He Taua, which confronted drunk University of Auckland engineering students who performed a parody of the "Ka Mate" haka with obscenities painted on their bodies. The group including Harawira assaulted them with baseball bats and hoses, resulting in several broken bones. In 2009 when he and his wife revisted the School of Engineering Harawira said "When people refuse to do what's right, at the end of the day you step in, do what you've got to do." He was a key participant in He Taua, the 1981 Springbok tour protests, and the 2004 foreshore and seabed hikoi, the last of which led to him entering Parliament.
Harawira's family continue to engage in activism, with his nephews Wikatana Popata and John Junior Popata protesting in 2009, 2010 and 2011 at Te Tii Marae during the Waitangi Day celebrations and Harawira has said he is proud of their actions. In 2009 they were convicted of assaulting Prime Minister John Key and sentenced to community service.
In October 2012, Harawira was arrested by police for failing to follow police instructions. Harawira was protesting in his car to stop the removal of state houses in Glen Innes and charged with failing to remove a vehicle following police instructions. In order to arrest Harawira, the police were required to smash a window in his car after "repeated instructions". The impact this arrest will have on his political career is uncertain.
Read more about this topic: Hone Harawira