Case Study 1: Ihumātao (2019-2020)
Protect Ihumātao
When the Fletchers housing development threatened sacred land at Ihumātao, the SOUL group (Save Our Unique Landscape) didn't just protest on the land—they occupied the internet.
The Strategy: They used Instagram and Facebook to invite thousands of people to come "stand on the land". It turned a local issue into a national event.
Case Study 2: School Strike 4 Climate (2019)
170,000 Strong
On September 27, 2019, 170,000 New Zealanders marched for climate action. It was the biggest protest in NZ history.
The Strategy: This was organised almost entirely by high school students using group chats, social media, and Google Docs.
Analysis: Digital + Physical
Both movements succeeded because they didn't stay online. They used digital tools to get physical results.
| Digital Step | Physical Outcome |
|---|---|
| Sharing photos of the land | People fell in love with a place they'd never visited |
| Creating a biological "event" page | Government couldn't ignore the numbers in the street |
It's Your Turn
You have a cause. You have the tools. How will you create change?
Use the Digital Campaign Planner to map out your own movement for a cause you care about (e.g., Better school lunches, Local playgrounds, Mental health awareness).
Open Campaign Planner →📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students examine how digital technologies and social media are used as tools of activism — exploring power, participation, and the hīkoi tradition of Māori resistance to understand how communities organise for change in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Can analyse how digital tools amplify or suppress activist voices, applying a tino rangatiratanga lens
- ✅ Identifies algorithmic bias and explains its impact on Māori, Pasifika, and marginalised communities
- ✅ Designs or evaluates a digital campaign using tikanga principles of manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Use familiar social media examples as an entry point; provide a structured campaign analysis template. Extension tasks include researching Te Mana Raraunga, analysing algorithmic amplification data, or designing a full digital activism strategy.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach vocabulary (activism, algorithm, participation, sovereignty) with visual examples; use real NZ case studies to ground abstract concepts in accessible contexts.
Inclusion: Offer multiple formats for campaign design (visual, written, oral pitch); neurodiverse learners benefit from clear step-by-step planning frameworks and structured peer feedback protocols.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Hīkoi as the embodied tradition of collective action — digital activism as its contemporary form. Tikanga in digital spaces: protocols for respectful online engagement. Tino rangatiratanga frames the right to self-determined participation. Kaitiakitanga extends to protecting whānau and community data online.
Prior knowledge: Basic social media literacy; awareness of New Zealand social and political issues.
Curriculum alignment
- Digital Technologies — Level 4: Understand how digital technologies are used to create and share information, and the social implications of their use.
- Social Sciences — Level 4: Understand how people participate individually and collectively in response to community challenges.