I’m sure by now you’ve had enough of Treaty principles and segregation between Maori and non-Maori but the fact of the matter is that NZ still remains a socially segregated nation.
An underlying race issue has gutted this land since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and without a doubt it continues to be the foremost suspect of mass conflict between cultures in New Zealand. It’s a battle that Maori are endeavouring to struggle to succeed in: for fair representation at local and national levels of government. The Auckland super-city council is the perfect example.
No way in God’s name was John Key going to let a powerful MP of his deluded government, like Rodney Hide, go in favour of separate Maori seats on the super council.
From a non-Maori perspective, the “radical endeavours” by the Maori Party is perceived as both power-hungry and greedy. This is never their agenda but is merely a form of protest to have representation at this level for the values of the Maori people AND non-Maori people alike. The idea of “second-tier” seats is both a “toothless substitute”, as pointed out by Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples, and preposterous as it tramples on mana whenua (the authority of the local iwi), who clearly are not entitled to any legislative decisions made with regards to the Auckland region.
Indeed as Dr Sharples pointed out in his interview with Paul Henry http://bit.ly/4z6d2G, the statistics are not in favour of Maori, who are rarely elected to district councils throughout this so-called nation. Maori are but a minority, as we know, but the values in which many Maori candidates stand for, reflects a majority of the time the well being of the people and the environment. I stand my ground when I say this, as Maori have held in high regard the well being of the land and all peoples of New Zealand. I say to Maori, if it is not by force then it is by democracy. Bind together and stand for the values of all peoples of New Zealand.
I riro atu te mana o kiri mangu a te runga rawa, engari a toona wa katahi ano ka whakahokia.
Nicole Bremner from TVNZ cites her experience of the hikoi by Ngati Whatua onto Auckland City http://bit.ly/zEKfI
Tim Watkin also writes in his blog how the idea of a super council is failing to appeal to the Auckland public http://bit.ly/nNXgR
I like the way you say "radical endeavors", put it in quotation marks like you are taking the piss. Can't blame us for labeling a lot of Maori endeavors as radical though - Tame Iti anyone? Self governance anyone? That's a pretty radical idea. Maybe you should write a blog on what the Maori really think of Tame Iti as the media portray him as a heralded Maori icon in NZ, maybe that's why everything gets labelled as radical? Nice blog though, you've persuaded me.
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Treaty issues are seriously complex to fathom. Yes, people (including Maori) see Maori and self-governance as "wooaaaah, you're nuts!" I'm just putting the topic (self-governance, race issues and treaty issues) out there into a public forum where people are confined to revolving their discussions around materialistic things like money and music etc. For those of you that read this blog you'll understand my "thinking outside the box" point of view. Well I hope you do! lol
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So I read the blog, saw the point, and agree that it's wrong for the asumption to be made that because Maori want the treaty to be upheld they are nuts and should just get over the past. I think it's one of those things that's always going to be an issue, and, with National in government, it's probably one that we will be hearing alot about over the next few years.
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ReplyDeleteI really think that in order to have a fair election process that everyone should have the same opportunities not be given seats because of what colour you are. I understand that there have bee wrongs in the past but this is teaching New Zealanders that you can get more than others because of your ethnicity. Just because you are a certain ethnicity doesn’t necessarily mean you will do a better job because effectiveness of leadership is to do with skill and experience not ethnicity.
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