tent embassy

noun

A semipermanent encampment set up as the focal point of a protest, particularly with regard to the rights of indigenous people.

Meanings

nountent embassy (plural tent embassies)

plural tent embassies

  1. AustraliaA semipermanent encampment set up as the focal point of a protest, particularly with regard to the rights of indigenous people.

    Māori started to demand that the Treaty be honoured. The rise of Nga TamaToa (the young warriors), tent embassies in Parliament grounds, and other forms of protest pushed the agenda.

    2003, Janine Hayward, Local Government and the Treaty of Waitangi, Oxford University Press, page 25
    3 more examples

    1985, Jens Brøsted, Jens Dahl (editors), Native Power: The Quest for Autonomy and Nationhood of Indigenous Peoples, Scandinavian University Press, page 55, Outstanding examples of this genre of moral opposition are the tent embassies erected at different times in Washington, Canberra, Ottawa, Oslo and other capital cities.

    In Australia and New Zealand tent embassies were set up inside the grounds of their respective Parliaments; in Hawai′i, the island of Kaho′olawe was occupied by activists protesting against its use by the us Navy for bombing practice.

    2005, Jeffrey Sissons, First Peoples: Indigenous Cultures and Their Futures, UK: Reaktion Books, page 72

    It took many attention-grabbing forms: freedom rides, land marches, tent embassies, blockades, sieges, stand-offs, demonstrations, lobbying, denunciations, and funereal silences, even filibustering.

    2011, P. G. McHugh, Aboriginal Title: The Modern Jurisprudence of Tribal Land Rights, Oxford University Press, page 61
Cite this entry
APA

tent embassy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tent%20embassy

MLA

“tent embassy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tent%20embassy. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tent embassy,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tent%20embassy.

Source: tent embassy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.