Posts by Manakura
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Um, as much as I hate to crash the party, but don't you think the flag debate was tedious enough the first time around. Notwithstanding my contributions above, we're wasting time discussing which bit of cloth we should hang from a stick. WGAF?
To bring discussion closer to one of the original points of the blog: I'm in Dunedin for the first time on research right now and I was initially perturbed at how white it is down here, (no disrespect to Dunedin, I actually love it here, but after 10 years in Auckwoodland the difference in ethnic minority visibility is quite drastic).
But the sight of Robbie Burns - the great white father figure down here I guess - dressed as Super Tino Rangatiratanga man (he had a tino flag cape and was carrying a huge tino flag on a staff). I felt most welcome, and the authorities in Dunedin deserve serious props for not raising the slightest fuss.
The Otago Daily Times was also refreshingly non-hysterical about it, - the online ed is pay per view, but the caption to the pic of ol Robbie said "Pure Poetry..." All the Waitangi Day articles were all good. Props to the reporter with the strange name of 'Staff Reporter'. I've got a clipping of the pic and if I come across a scanner soon I'll post it on the net somewhere - Tze Ming can you assist an Amish brotha with that?
Compare that with Auckland where the Harbour Bridge was a no go for tino, and the council did it's best to scuttle a tino flag and staff on Maungakiekie citing lack of resource consent. So, a bit of wood and cloth needs resource, but a huge stadium...
And, what was the role of Ngati Whatua in all this who already play a big role managing Maungakiekie and will regain more control over this wahi tapu through their Wai settlement? I couldn't find their position reported anywhere.
Auckland's not so bad, shame about the council and newspaper though. I think I'll subscribe to the ODT.
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But I do recall being annoyed when Winston Peters
Once, in a moment of quiet desperation I watched TV and was rewarded with some show where Winston, entertaining at home, was cooking his signature dish...
Thom Kha Gai
I guess Thai immigrants are ok by him?
And god knows what I'd have eaten in Britain if it hadn't been for foreigner-food.
I guess you could've eaten crackers. Huge factory that churns em out in Essex apparently. Btw, cold dahl on cracked pepper vita-weats crackers is my all time favourite 'too hungover to steam rice dish ever' and clearly establishes my benign multicultural ethos.
so make that maua, taua, matou, and tatou.
I'm not sure if that works Che, you'd still encounter the same problems of context - what those kupu Maori refer to depends partly on who speaks, so you'd still need to know the speakers whakapapa to know what 'all of us (tatou)' s/he refers to. Basically, you still need qualifiers.
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swearing to return to academic only under duress
Its a vipers nest alright, although I enjoy that aspect somewhat because I quite simply can't seems to care about career advancement (not in a large bureaucratic organisation anyway).
But Sissons is like good bedtime reading for (former) academics. Very easy to digest.
Mark wrote:
I hope that such a principle (requiring consent) might be applied to the other vestiges of this political relationship... eg the Maori seats.
You'd think so, but alas no if National under John Key gets its way:
The National Party says if it is elected to power, it will begin work to abolish Maori parliamentary seats in 2014. Leader John Key says abolition will not be dependent on consultation with Maori, which was one of the party's earlier positions. Mr Key says the year 2014 was chosen, as it marks the deadline for the final settlement of historical treaty claims.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200702012102/national_pledges_to_abolish_separate_maori_seats
The deadline for historical settlements is itself a decison made with no consultation and it mirrors the recent legislation passed by Labour on historical claim deadlines. It's all just more of the same really.
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NB: My apologies so my southern kith and kin, I am in the deep south for the first time and am still recovering from the other colours
I mean, the lack of other colours, almost as lamented as the lack of webforum edit function.
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I always thought that politicians were the underclass?
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there is no way that separate, federal, states could be maintained in a society as small as new zealand
I would have to agree with this, NZL is too small to take the easy path of creating iwi federal states-within-The State, and furthermore the iwi rohe would be far too small to have any kind of economic autonomy. I say its the easy path because what is really needed is a fundamental change to the structure of Aotearoa to ensure all peoples (and the land) prosper. This I think is much harder than just partitioning a bit of (probably marginal and unproductive) land for the savages to 'go native' on.
Of course this is all based on the NZL being, and remaining, a western style liberal democracy with a market orientated industrial economy. If all that collapses like a Rotorua lake ecosystem then who knows what would become viable.
Che, have you had a chance to read that Jeff Sissons book (First Peoples). The 'Indigenous Citizens' chapter has some interesting whakaaro on indigenous sovereignty, devolution and standards of citizenship.
Weston, no offence taken, I always feel the need to overstress that my position on such things is not based on conflict or violence.
The revolution will not be televised, but if it was it'd be a sitcom, or more likely something funny, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Fo
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what little history there is in NZ
Umm, dude are you from Invercargill? There's at least 1000 years of history in Aotearoa, that's a pretty good effort. You've heard of the Maori peoples maybe?
Removing the Union Flag won't write it out of our history books
Ae, you'd think changing the flag would add yet another layer to the 1000 years or so of history already laid down here? I just hope Kevin Roberts has nothing to do with it... shudder.
NB: My apologies so my southern kith and kin, I am in the deep south for the first time and am still recovering from the other colours in our apparently rainbow nation down here. On the upside at least the good peeps of Dunedin aren't obsessed with demolishing beautiful old buildings. The architecture here kicks arse on the depressing urban environment of Auckland.
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So when Manakura says he wants to create an alliance of minority groups (to presumably set against other groups)
Hmm.... no. The empowerment of a group that is oppressed and marginalised does not necessarily require the disempowerment of another group (although that is one possibility and probably not a desirable one). In fact it is quite the opposite. Do we not all pay (in not only a monetary sense) to keep a disproportionate number of Maori in prison, hospital, mental healthcare, etc, etc? Politically and economically empowering marginalised sections of a society ultimately benefits everyone.
I would have no interest in 'setting against other groups', if for no other reason because I am, in part and by association (e.g. whakapapa), other groups.
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Kia ora Anjum,
the few notable exceptions are willie jackson on tv & derek fox on national radio
Eye to Eye is easily the best current affairs/interview show on the box. That Willie Jackon has not replaced Suzanne Wood on Close Up shows Bill Ralston is [insert unchariatble comments here about Ralston's programming nous]
and i wonder if you have any ideas of how we can actually make it happen...
It's a difficiult proposition, especially because Maori can be terribly racist. That is the major problem to be solved really - all the Maori-Chinese research projects and Muslim-Maori prayer groups in the world won't help if attitudes are not changed substantially among Maori people.
The obvious starting place for this is within the political, academic, and community leadership of te ao Maori (the Maori world). But, as Tze Ming has pointed out in her post today, there is a lack of that. And when some kind of hand of friendship/co-operation is extended it tends to be vague and ill-defined vis a vis the shared whakapapa argument.
Tangata whenua need to step up to the plate and not just exhibit good manaakitanga towards 'recent' arrivals, but to identify specifc political and economic reasons for co-operation between our people/groups and other oppressed minorities. Basically our community represntatives need to engage in a dialogue first, hui, hui, hui. Some non-Maori representation in the Maori Party would be a good move too.
You, like I can put pressure on our leaders to get them thinking of this issue. I for example fully intend on sending emails to Whaea Tariana about her comments on Maori seats and migration. Learning more about our fellow ethnic minorities is obviously a step in the right direction too - something I somewhat ashamedly admit to is that I have little idea about the dynamics of the Asian/Austronesian diaspora in Aotearoa.
That's the macro level top-down stuff, but there's also a micro level flaxroots aspect to it that is so important. One should never discount the importance of checking your friends and family, or even just people in the street. I have managed to talk around at least 4 Maori/Pasifika people that have exhibited some pretty savage (no pun intended!) xenophobia toward 'bloody Asians'.
It all counts, and this personal stuff is immportant for making sure what happens at the macro level is real and not just rhetorical.
Unfortunately I can't really be more specific than that at this stage - as I've said earlier this is only something I have recently become interested in - but once my thesis is done and dusted I can easily envisage spending much more time thinking and doing something about it. I'd love to say, "hey well actually we're organising this hui/conference on the kaupapa of building alliances between Asian and Maori youth, you should come along" but of course i'd be lying or engaging in some sort of 'If you book them they will come' folly.
Maybe next year.
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For those asking about tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake - google it, or even better ask someone you know who is involved in the struggle(s). I don't wish to speak to these because I'm not a paid up memeber of any sovereignty movements; my iwi and hapu leaders have recently acted in ways contrary to my own hopes for the sovereignty of my people, thus my views are changing a lot right now and I don't wish to speak about the sovereignty of my iwi/hapu before I understand leadership actions; I worry that what I say will become some sort of gospel on what Maori want (Mel Gibson film had me lol, btw!) and it will return to haunt me at bbq's in grey lynn and newtown.
Go out and do the research, find out the range of views Maori have. Sorry, you all probably think I'm being difficult, but thats my whakaaro on defining tino rangatiratanga & mana motuhake for you.
Andrew (and others), the following is only my view, and it is not particularly sophisticated as this is not my specialty.
The Crown will still need to deal with iwi/hapu and have a relationship with them for the foreseeable future. It is the Crown that is responsible for the most serious breaches of the Treaty and thus it is from them that iwi and hapu should receive due reparation and justice.
However, I see a need for unity among other oppressed social/ethnic groups in Aotearoa in oder to increase the effective pressure Maori can bring to bear on the Crown. (These would be mutually beneficial relationships of couse but what non-Maori get out of them is for another forum). Currently iwi/hapu negotiate from a relatively powerless position and they get 2% of what they're due because of it. The ability to present a more united front among Maori, Chinese, working class, Thai, Indian,women, Samoans, Somali... would put enormous pressure on any elected govt. to provide better services and resources to all.
Another reason for unity of the oppressed is that a big section of the Maori population does not gain from reparation given to iwi and hapu because they live in isolation from their whakapapa. So for these Maori and the groups that represent them alliances with other marginal groups is imperative. It could be a powerful means to Maori empowering themselves more on their own terms, as opposed to the colonial government setting the agenda.
The nature of these relationships? To be honest I'm not even sure why the question is being asked. Just like any other political relationship between groups with shared aspirations - Labour and Trade Unions for example. Its nothing mysterious or new fangled that needs explaining. But ok, I'd like Whaea Tariana to not say things like this:
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/976169And instead concentrate on things like this:
http://www.aen.org.nz/journal/1/1/turia.html(Thanks Tze Ming)
I'd like to see more research sponsored for projects lead by Maori and Chinese/Burmese/Indian/Tamil academics, see the leaders of the Tino Rangatiratanga movement inviting migrants and other ethnic minorities peoples to hui with them, then to hikoi with them. I'd like to see Taumata, the Maori business forum hui with Chinese businesspeeps, I'd love to the Maori health organisations pooling resources with other providers, etc, etc.
I'd have like to have seen a Phillipino forestry worker teaching Mike Smith how to operate a chainsaw properly...
All of the above goes for Pakeha-dominated groups that Maori once had strong alliances with, such as trade unions, and worker's rights and anti-racist movements. I don't want to see a return to the past where Maori concerns where marginalised in these alliances, but a renewal of the relationships where Maori can participate more equally.
The point of all this? To lift the political and economic power of all Maori (not just a select few) and combinethat power with the rising power of ethnic and cultural minorities. I don't think I advocate revolutionary activity (but I'll keep it in reserve for Brash style emergencies!) so I wish to see Maori and other oppressed group empower themselves (on their own terms) and in doing so alter the fundamental structure of power and society in Aotearoa towards something that benefits us all.
What exactly that last statement may mean I have no idea. I'm a magician not a pyschic.