By Hone Harawira
Paul Holmes' column in Saturday's Weekend Herald was a nasty article from somebody who must have known it would hurt a lot of people. It was mean and mean-spirited. It was deliberately offensive and uncaring, and though he might claim that it was written to spark debate, at the end of the day it was just mean and nasty.
The way he writes it, Maori have no right to protest on Waitangi Day. We should be full of happy, happy, joy, joy.
"You know what I mean Hori - like back in the 60s when you Maoris were all so happy! Remember? When you could all play the guitar, and you all sang in such beautiful harmony, and smiled a lot, and drove trucks and bulldozers, and nobody talked about the Treaty, and none of you ever complained about anything. Why can't you be like that again?"
Well ... the world has moved on quite a bit since those days, but one thing that hasn't changed that much is protest, and in case you didn't know it Mr Holmes, Maori have been protesting at Waitangi for quite some time.
Yes, there were protests at Waitangi this year, but did you know Mr Holmes, that there were protests at Waitangi in 1840 ... before they even signed the Treaty!
What? What on earth could they have had to protest about back then, I hear you say?
Well, a lot of our tupuna seriously doubted that the Governor and his cronies could be trusted, that's why. Ring a bell, Mr Holmes?
And quite a lot of them thought that Pakeha just wanted to steal our land.
And they didn't think a treaty would stop untrustworthy Pakeha traders from pushing gut-rot alcohol into Maori communities.
And they didn't think a treaty could make dirty, stinking, Pakeha whalers, sailors, thieves and brigands wash more than three times a year.
And some of my tupuna didn't like the nasty way that early Europeans treated Maori kids - you know, telling them to get out of the way, telling them to shut up, hitting them ...
And some of them were protesting because they thought that Pakeha only wanted a treaty to stall for time while they brought their military in to steal what they couldn't get honestly. Ring a bell Mr Holmes?
You see Mr Holmes, back in 1840, Maori owned the whole of Aotearoa, and although life wasn't exactly a bunch of roses, we had strong and vibrant societies dotted all round the country, until you guys introduced the gun, the Bible and the pox of course, and wreaked havoc and devastation like we'd never seen before.
So perhaps you can understand, Mr Holmes, that 172 years ago Maori weren't exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of signing a deal with an empire that had already signed and broken treaties all around the world.
But we did, and the record suggests that our tupuna did so for all the right reasons - to protect their lands and their forests and their rivers and their resources, and to provide a solid future for their mokopuna.
But things didn't quite work out that way did they? That's why we have a Treaty settlement process, with all its flaws and its failings and expectations, on both sides.
But Mr Holmes, did you know that iwi must accept that their Treaty settlements are full and final even though they're not even allowed to claim land that was actually stolen?
And can you explain why the Government is okay bailing out a failed (Pakeha) finance company down south to the tune of $1.7 billion, but doesn't want to pay Maori more than $1.4 billion for 63 million acres of dubiously acquired land and resources worth tens of billions of dollars?
When you stack the facts up like that, it's not hard to see that there's not a lot to make Maori want to smile and clap is there Mr Holmes?
And yes, life isn't just about the Treaty (even though your article was all about Waitangi Day).
Maori are also part of the broader fabric of our society. But did you know Mr Holmes, that in terms of health, welfare, education, employment, housing and justice, Maori statistics are still worse than everyone else in the country?
Not exactly something to wave pom-poms at is it? Those are just the facts Mr Holmes, but Waitangi Day is more than just facts.
So I'd also like you to know that along with a whole lot of other people (Maori and Pakeha), I enjoy going to Waitangi every year.
I enjoy the company, I enjoy the politics (both the Maori stuff and the Pakeha stuff), I enjoy the banter, I enjoy the people (both Maori and Pakeha), I enjoy having the kuia tell me they love me even when they're telling me off, I enjoy watching the kids playing sport, I enjoy the kapa haka groups, I enjoy the kai, I enjoy the march up to the top marae, I enjoy the church service, I enjoy seeing people I haven't seen in a while, I enjoy the occasion ... and yes Mr Holmes, I even enjoy the protest, because protest is every bit a part of Waitangi as anything else.
Waitangi Day is our National Day Mr Holmes. It is rightly commemorated in many different ways in many different parts of the country, but it was at Waitangi that a group of people chose to sign a Treaty that was to be the foundation of our nation, and it is to Waitangi that we rightly return every year to see how well we're doing.
It's not always going to be strawberries and cream, but it will always be a part of who we are.
Maybe I'll see you up there next year, Mr Holmes.
* MP Hone Harawira is the leader of the Mana Party.
Comments
If you don't fight, you lose
i have admired hone harawira as a positive voice and symbol for his people, the traditional owners of aotearoa, the maori. hone has a voice that none of our previous or present aboriginal members of federal parliament would ever be allowed to have. his commentary clearly shows that despite the waitangi treaty they have and the non-treaty that we aborigines have, the outcomes are very very similar.
the real truth of the matter is that in both instances traditional lands were invaded and the aftermath of that invasion has led to the same end for our respective peoples.
the expected celebration by the non-maori/aboriginal of waitangi day and australia day leaves us with the bad taste of invasion and defeat (however it is defined it is still a defeat) and there is little to celebrate about that.
with my admittedly limited knowledge of the waitangi treaty i do at least understand that there are in fact two treaties, the invaders' one and a maori one in language that was produced a couple of years after the first. the first treaty i believe was signed by some maori chiefs but not all. the two treaties have different conclusions. the first favours the invaders whilst the second affirms the true sovereignty of the maori. these differences have led to much protestation from both sides about which treaty is, in fact and law, the dominant treaty.
what i'm getting to in a roundabout way is that every waitangi day there are ongoing protests by maori peoples relative to the points made above. except for a march in brisbane and melbourne and perhaps a small one in sydney, most of our mobs either attend a day of celebration of our music and musicians or watch the tv. we have been historically lobotomised as to what the day really means. it is the celebration of the day this land was invaded 224 years ago and the ongoing genocide. why? the federal government of this country is never going to change that infamous day just because we ask for it. they will give us nothing but their assimilationist policies whilst they continue to take our lands from us, in the nt especially.
i watched the closing the gap report by pm gillard and opposition leader abbot this morning and was impressed with neither. gillard stated that the task was far from completion and needed greater sums of tax-payers dollars to be further wasted, but she stressed the good that would come from the forced acquisition of nt aboriginal land and housing. this she proudly opined would open the lands to mining and that would allow for the natives to make a quid! i see little of the aborigines of wa or qld in making a quid from the mining taking place on their lands. more secret english that will mean whatever the politicians want it to mean.
abbot for his part thanked both noel pearson and warren mundine for their work in educating our mobs to assimilate and move on. he argued for bean-counters to track aborigines in their communities as to who goes to school or not and who is looking for work or not. and to report either weekly or fortnightly to the politicians so they can make even more draconian changes to the intervention.
nothing has changed in their attitudes nor in their methods.
which brings us back to my argument that to wrest justice from them we must continue our protests. nothing is more important than to fight for justice and equality without assimilation. we still own our lands. our lands were never ceded nor was any treaty in force. our lands, along with our resources, are stolen. every bit of this country is stolen and we must continue to let that fact be known at every opportunity. and we must continue to fight for it.
invasion day this year was most successfully protested against at the 40th anniversary of the tent embassy. that message of protest went all over australia and the world. we put our case very strongly and even the fracas at the cafe with rangarella and abbot could not diminish our role of protest for sovereignty, treaties and social justice.
my future protests against invasion day i hope to do it at the tent. our tent. one cannot do protest by laying on the grass and listening to dan sultan or archie roach. that time is for celebration only when we have forced governments to make positive changes on our behalf.
for too long our people have been treated as third class citizens and assimilation will never change that. only by raising our strong voices and our clenched fists will we lift ourselves up to be the equals of non-aboriginal australians and their governments.
neither above nor below.........but fully equal.
that old adage that 'if you don't fight, you lose' has never been so true.
hone and our brothers and sisters across the ditch know this well and so to must we.
fkj
ray jackson
president
indigenous social justice association
isja01@internode.on.net
(m) 0450 651 063
(p) 02 9318 0947
address 1303/200 pitt street waterloo 2017
www.isja.org.au
we live and work on the stolen lands of the gadigal people.
sovereignty treaty social justice
"All liars" headed for the "lake of fire and brimstone"
it's wonderful to have read such wise truths by Hone and Ray, men with their eyes truly open.
"White men/women speak with forked tongue", seems these liars do not yet comprehend that the God they claim that they worship and "follow", is the same God that says that "all liars" will have their part in the "lake of fire and brimstone".
Gee ! that means they are either ignorant to these facts or "again" they are just lying, either way their fate is foretold and assured if you believe in the "All" mighty.
For now we can only watch them go to their graves then their judgement. Separate from them and their ways otherwise we will catch their fleas, follow them and we will share their condemnation.
Simply put, their treaties are not worth the paper they are printed on, their justice is a farce, their rule is violent ,warmongers, wolves in sheeps clothing.....
Re: "All liars" headed for the "lake of fire and brimstone"
White man never ate anyone judgement day for natives might not be as good as you think.
Let the people that have not sinned cast the first stone.
Tell me the Maori's we not warmongers
Gee ! that means they are either ignorant to the facts or "again" they are just lying, either way their fate is foretold and assured if you believe in the "All" mighty.
Let's get together and solve these problems
"You see Mr Holmes, back in 1840, Maori owned the whole of Aotearoa, and although life wasn't exactly a bunch of roses, we had strong and vibrant societies dotted all round the country, until you guys introduced the gun, the Bible and the pox of course, and wreaked havoc and devastation like we'd never seen before."
This country wasn't formed inside a bubble. The gun is just a technological upgrade from the sword, which is up from the spear, up from the club - ignoring things in-between. The technology standard doesn't change the fact that the purpose of these instruments is to kill and make war. Their function does not follow form.
Maori were already proficient makers of weapons and innovators in war. Technology happens. We know that, because Maori invented the hill fort settlement called the Pā, with it's unique system of palisades that became the precursor to trench warfare in WW1. Technology isn't the problem. It can help us. Who knows, maybe if NZ was left in isolation for a few more centuries they would have discovered all this in their own way. In the meantime, perhaps Harawira should write his columns without the aid of keyboards and forgo the internet as a medium, since technology is obviously his enemy.
As for the Bible, Harawira should condemn the old way of implementation of church as an institution of social control, rather than the Good Book itself. Fast-forward from Victorian non-separated church & state and I think anyone would agree that freedom of religion is a good idea. Ideas don't form inside bubbles, despite what the cartoons tell you. You can't chain an idea to the wall any more than you can imply that Aotearoa existed in a sacrosanct dimension of Earth, impenetrable for all-time to outside influences and information.
Harawira's statement is disappointing to all Maori Christians for whom the Bible is their source of wisdom.
Next, the pox. Again, no bubble. Viruses and disease affect those emigrating and being emigrated upon with equally negative results. Consider Bali belly, the bane of travelers to the Indonesian island who's bodies aren't used to coping with E. coli pathogens prevalent in the water. Or the fact that outsiders traveling to Africa need to pack their suitcases with malaria tablets because they do not have the same resistance as the locals.
As for wreaking havoc and devastation, welcome to being a member of the human race. Havoc and devastation already existed in New Zealand before Paheka arrived. The Moriori knew that well. Perhaps this clash of culture intensified it temporarily, but history moves forwards, not backwards. Again, fast forward to now and NZ is not the place of havoc and devastation that it once may have been. It is home. To you, and I...
Hone, the clock ticks toward the hour. How long will you point the finger at human beings of a different genealogical persuasion? Instead of offering up meaningful solutions and focusing on the causes of cultural marginalization, you reduce the debate to an ethnocentric rationalization. One that seems to state that the only way for Maori to achieve their goals of equality would be to build a time-machine and go back before 1769.
While this country is metaphorically still no bunch of roses...but it has figuratively become a bouquet of flowers of different people, cultures, ideas and expressions. There may still be questions to answer over the implementation of the Treaty of Waitangi. There may still be bones to pick with our ancestors, plus issues to address with Maori, but we are all New Zealanders.
Let's get together and solve these problems instead of looking to preserve the memory of a time when we were separated by conflict.
- Byron Jones