Word: maori
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Sundance. Better yet, as far as movie distributors go, Torontonians seem predisposed to standing ovations, open weeping and laughter. It was the first two that tipped Berney off to the potential of Whale Rider when he attended Toronto for Newmarket in 2002. A movie about a 12-year-old Maori girl doesn't scream box-office gold, but after Toronto crowds leapt to their feet for the film, Newmarket bought it, and Whale Rider went on to earn a respectable $20 million at the U.S. box office as well as an Oscar nomination for its young star, Keisha Castle-Hughes...
...Both gangs have a predominantly Maori membership and conduct initiation ceremonies in which potential members or "prospects" must prove themselves. The tests range from the revolting-drinking urine from a gumboot is one of the milder ordeals described by former members-to the criminal, such as committing a specific crime, being bashed by the whole gang or serving time in jail. Prospects are often required to serve a stint as the gang's errand...
...Once admitted, members are "patched," with the right to flaunt the gang's emblem on clothes or in fearsome tattoos on faces, shoulders and bodies. Sociologist Jarrod Gilbert says the latter practice grew out of a combination of jailhouse tattoos and traditional Maori moko. "They would be the only street gangs in the world to tattoo a patch onto their face," he says. Members tell of one Mongrel Mob initiate whose enthusiasm so exceeded his intelligence that he used a mirror while tattooing the gang's name across his own face-backward...
...show appreciation or enthusiasm, and use their hands to make the silhouette of a bulldog, the totem in the middle of their patch. Some wear German World War II helmets and use the expression Sieg Heil! as a mark of approval. Black Power members, who claim closer ties to Maori culture, always wear blue, salute each other with a clenched fist and like to cry "Yo, f___in' yo!" Researchers believe the gangs were formed when Maori people moved into cities, away from their village culture. "Groups of young men founded gangs as a replacement for the loss of family...
...Asian financial crisis had put a dent in timber prices, contributing to the investors’ financial woes. According to the initial purchase agreement, Harvard owns cutting rights in the forest, but the government retains ownership of the land, which is expected to eventually be ceded to Maori Indian tribes. The timber is grown on a managed basis with the express purpose of cutting it down to sell for profit. “HMC is pleased to have the New Zealand Superannuation Fund join our Kaingaroa partnership,” Harvard spokesman John D. Longbrake wrote in an e-mail...