Lesson 5: Building Solidarity
From "Helping" to "Standing With": The Ethics of Action
Lesson Overview
Focus
Moving beyond "performative" support to real action.
Key Concept
Kotahitanga (Unity/Solidarity)
Outcome
Students create an ethical action plan.
🎥 Media Anchor (8 mins)
Video: Māori Stand with Standing Rock
- Where is the line between symbolic support and material solidarity in this example?
- What accountability commitments should accompany transnational allyship?
Karakia Timatanga | Cultural Opening
"He waka eke noa"
We are all in this waka together.
Solidarity is not about one group "saving" another. It is about paddling the waka together, in the same direction, with everyone knowing their role.
Phase 1: Charity vs. Allyship vs. Solidarity (15 mins)
🧭 The Spectrum of Support
Not all "helping" is helpful. We need to distinguish between these three approaches.
Charity
"I help you."
Often short-term. Can make the giver feel good but doesn't change the system. Power stays with the giver.
Top-DownAllyship
"I stand with you."
Using privilege to support others. Listening to those affected. Often individual actions.
RelationalSolidarity
"We fight together."
Shared risk. Collective action. Understanding that your freedom is tied to mine.
TransformationalDiscussion: Can you think of an example for each?
- Donating cans to a food bank? (Charity)
- Speaking up when someone makes a racist joke? (Allyship)
- Marching together to change a law that hurts both groups? (Solidarity)
Phase 2: Solidarity in Action (20 mins)
📜 Examples from History
Solidarity isn't new. Indigenous groups have long supported each other.
Springbok Tour Protests (NZ)
Māori and Pākehā united to stop the rugby tour in solidarity with Black South Africans living under Apartheid. "Waitangi to Soweto."
Standing Rock (USA)
Thousands of Indigenous flags from around the world (including Tino Rangatiratanga) flew at the camp to stop the oil pipeline. Māori lawyers traveled to support the legal fight.
Toitū Te Tiriti
Voices from across Aotearoa (all backgrounds) joining together to uphold the Treaty.
Phase 3: Spotting the 'Red Flags' (25 mins)
🚩 Saviourism vs. Support
Sometimes people try to help but end up centering themselves or causing harm. This is called "White Saviourism" or "Performative Activism."
⚠️ The Red Flags Checklist
- ❌ Taking a selfie with vulnerable children for likes.
- ❌ Speaking for a group instead of passing the mic.
- ❌ Helping only when the cameras are rolling.
- ❌ Assuming you know the solution without asking the locals.
✅ Green Flags (Ethical Action)
- ✅ "Nothing about us without us."
- ✅ Amplifying voices that are already there.
- ✅ Doing the unglamorous work (washing dishes, donating quietly).
- ✅ Checking your bias before acting.
Whakamutunga | Reflection
Question: Think of one cause you care about. What is one solidarity action (not just charity) you could take?
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi. (With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.)
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will investigate global indigenous solidarity movements through a historical lens, using whakapapa of resistance to trace how communities have organised across borders to assert tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake. This unit connects Aotearoa's struggle for sovereignty to broader international movements for indigenous rights and decolonisation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can analyse and compare perspectives from multiple indigenous resistance movements globally.
- ✅ I can explain how solidarity across difference has strengthened indigenous rights campaigns.
- ✅ I can evaluate the significance of international indigenous solidarity for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers for comparing movements. Entry-level tasks focus on identifying key events; extension tasks require evaluating the effectiveness of solidarity strategies and writing a persuasive historical argument.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key historical terms (sovereignty, solidarity, colonisation, decolonisation). Provide bilingual glossaries where available; allow discussion in home language first.
Inclusion: Use structured note-taking templates and chunked readings. Neurodiverse learners benefit from visual timelines and choice in how they demonstrate understanding — oral, visual, or written formats all valid. Ensure content is presented sensitively given the potential for personal connection to histories of dispossession.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Centre whakapapa as a methodology — tracing the genealogy of resistance ideas across cultures and time. Frame the hīkoi as both a political act and a cultural expression of rangatiratanga. Connect to the whakataukī: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
Prior knowledge: Best used after foundational study of colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi. Familiarity with basic historical inquiry skills is recommended.
Curriculum alignment
- Social Studies — Understanding: Students understand that historical and contemporary events reflect the perspectives and interests of those involved and their significance for different groups.
- Social Studies — Understanding: Students understand how the Treaty of Waitangi has shaped New Zealand society and the ongoing significance of indigenous rights.