Oh the pearl clutching from the very same Free Speech cheerleaders over Rawiri Waititi’s recent commentary is Israeli level over reaction minus the death toll.
Tone policing Māori over righteously angry rhetoric by those who are leading the assault against the Treaty is Trumpian in its self delusion.
Look at the naked anti-Māori attack on the Treaty!
- They will repeal 7AA of Oranga Tamariki to green light a tsunami of Māori baby uplifts!
- They are trying to ram through a referendum on Treaty Principles that will eliminate the need for the State to work with Māori!
- They are attempting to rip Māori representation away from local Councils!
- They have killed off the Māori Health Authority!
- They have slashed Māori funding in the budget!
- They are trying to remove all Treaty references in the law!
- They have attacked any bi-lingual moves!
Boomer Cracker Settlers have gone all in on the race baiting and are now sad sad that Māori have risen up and protested back.
What a pack of easily triggered snowflakes these Boomer Cracker Settlers have suddenly become!
I also think claiming the protests on budget day are illegal is driven by an enormous fear inside National that the culture war race baiting is generating a level of social unrest that could become an economic weapon if Māōri really did consider Budget day a Māori strike.
The entire political agenda of National is to underfund public services so they can privatise them while ensuring Unionism never grows.
What National have done is unify Māori so that Māori can simply stop working and the system grinds to a halt.
As the Census proves, 20% of NZ is Māori and 1 in 3 are under 25. The age of the Redneck Settler Boomers is coming to an end, the future is young and brown and that future will not be told they are second class citizens in their own country.
A Māori Strike on Budget day should terrify the Right because they’ve managed to generate a solidarity the middle class Unions could never spark.
2023 wasn’t an election, it was a grudge fuck against Labour by an embittered post Covid electorate who were economically insecure, alienated by woke dogma and heart broken that all Labour could do with a once in a generation MMP majority was ‘good first steps’ rather than transformational leaps.
It has resulted in a Hard Right Racist Government bound together only by a shared glee in bashing beneficiaries, workers, renters, prisoners, the environment, gang members, drug addicts and the disabled.
They all have a particular dislike for Māori and have used attempts at co-governance to fulfil the promise of the Treaty (which is our collective obligation) as a weapon with which to cement into place 19th Century White Settler Privilege and call that ‘democracy’.
The NZ Political Right have mistaken anger at Labour as a mandate for culture war vengeance and they have conflated Majoritarianism as Democracy!
In a modern liberal democracy, you acknowledge the power imbalance created in society and you resource to ensure those power imbalances are compensated for!
In a liberal progressive democracy, it doesn’t matter what role you play in the complex super structure of our society and economy.
It doesn’t matter of you are a garbage collector, a dr, a nurse, a drain layer, teacher or tradie – if you all stopped doing your jobs the system can’t work.
Everyone deserves to share the collective harvest of civil society with public services and policies focused on the public good enshrined in the intrinsic civil liberties each individual has.
Wealthy individuals who become mega rich thanks to the landscape generated by those values are required to pay more back into the system they have benefited from beyond the bare necessity of ruthless accountancy practices.
The Political Right are screaming that imposing Qanon talking points as social policy, destroying workers rights, Tobacco deaths for tax cuts and taking $555million from the poorest families are all acceptable because they have the Majority so fuck everyone else!
They promised cancer patients their life saving drugs but gave the money to the rich instead FFS!
They stripped $3billion out of climate change budgets.
They took between $90million to $300million out of Māori budgets!
They are ramming corrupt fast track powers through!
But it’s the call by Māori for their own Parliament that has the right in a tizzy?
Against this nakedly anti-Māori agenda, Māori are calling for their own Parliament because they have been pushed there by this Government’s racist agenda!
It’s like the Right have lit this fuse and are now complaining about the fire they’ve started!
Personally I have zero problem with Māori establishing their own Parliament. Right now Māori have their own King and it doesn’t impact my life in anyway. If Māori want their own Parliament, they have every right to call for one. It won’t have any actual powers but it can be a strong representative platform.
I’ve always argued for an Upper House about our Chamber that should be 50/50 and discuss Treaty related legislation, but I’m a politics geek.
A Māori Parliament would be symbolic and a valid means of gathering and focusing Māori aspiration, it isn’t a Government with all the powers of a Government, it’s a democratic infrastructure for representation!
While we are starting up a Māori Parliament, let’s also bring back universal student union membership at Universities and universal union membership for every migrant worker.
The answer to our ranker is more democratic infrastructure, not less!
Democracy demands deeper values than mere majoritarianism!
The drive to have a Māori Parliament should be seen against the backdrop of racism this new Government have manufactured.
I demand a parlliamment just for white boomers!
already have one
Brilliant retort Gordon.
Good answer Gordan
Years ago when I was giving my mother a Mother’s Day present – about five years old I was – I asked her “Why isn’t there a children’s day?” She said, “every bloody day is children’s day use daft little bugger.” And if you can’t figure out what message you can take from that you’re stupider than you sound.
More Maori in cabinet than ever before?? In fact statistically over represented in parliament overall.
If it were Labour you know the media would be crowing about it at the top of their lungs. But I guess these are the ‘wrong Maori’ so it doesn’t count.
These “facts” and they are “facts” will get this post consigned to the bin
Some of these so called Maaaaris in parliament only use their part ethnicity for political purpose to bash Maori just look at Shane kupapa Jones or his sidekick Costello and Seymour the accidental Maaaari. Its a fucken sideshow and these clowns are playing it for all its worth.
Stephen, the authority on who is and who isn’t maori. Who died and made you kaumatua. Winston was correct, in politics there are the “good maori” and the “wrong maori”. But guess what, the current TPM think you are all settlers no matter how liberal or left wing your views
So they’re the wrong sort of Maori then? Glad we cleared that up. So does Mr ‘we got 20% of the Maori vote ‘ speaks for all Maori then?
Its akin to me declaring “I’m right handed, I therefore I declare that I speak for all right handed people from now on.”
Our system of govt is complete bullshit. I’m not sure why I should have sympathy for a separatist fix for only a super class of peoples based on race, when the entirety of the system needs fixing.
This is just more woke identity temple politics further dividing the country, TPM is playing _their_ game – not picking up the ball and taking it home.
Dead right, Just some troll.
And imagine the divide it will create when Labour and the Greens are asked whether or not they support it.
Last election 3 waters was an issue, will the notion of a Māori Parliament be an issue at the next election?
How bad will this issue potentially get for Labour and the Greens? Another divide to allow National the win?
Why should Maori have their own Parliament? The John T party is such a circus that the status quo appears better structured to accommodate all comers, it and does so already, irrespective of genetic anomalies.
Various indigenous peoples around the world have their own assemblies and Councils. The Kingitanga, Ratana etc. does not affect others largely until the likes of this CoC Govt. attack Māori.
Allowing referenda for whiteys to strip Māori Wards from local Govt. is blatant and the Natzos and Act are going to get it back in spades.
” Free speech champions now pearl clutching over Rawiri Waititi – why shouldn’t Māori have their own Parliament? ”
*Well, it’s simple and perhaps not for why you might hope we think. Numbers. Maori just don’t have the numbers and in case you hadn’t noticed our limping mad house which is supposed to be our parliament is a clamouring, grasping greed-machine trying to strangle itself of its last dollar as it falls into a fire pit while we mopes all stand around tut-tutting and never-minding, mainly because we’ve all lost the hope they’ve convinced us to forego. Convincing people of the pointlessness of their attempts at maintaining their democracy is surely the most potent weapon ever devised.
But someone’s sold us. We’re now someone else’s. This, all of this, is a charade. It’s a three legged, one horse circus act to appease the moulting masses while our new owners move in with the ditches and machine guns.
* These, are extremely dangerous times. We need unity. All of us. We need to cling to each other like possums.
I personally don’t give one fuck what nationality, what sexuality, what bands you listen to, why and how wank, what you read, what you watch, what you listen to, what language you speak, where your genes say from where you were hatched… I don’t care. What does worry me deeply is being the last terror struck man standing on the deck of a sinking Titanic-Aotearoa / New Zealand. You’re vector, Victor, is one of sending us into a minority schism of ever inner-circling minions to the drum beat of individualism, just like our abusers would want.
A different parliament would be to divide us against each other and that’s exactly what [they] would want.
We’d be far better advised to re take the parliament we already have then once we’re back in control of it we can then apportion steerage as required. But at this point all we have is that we’re all human beings and our only defence is unity against the tyranny of neo-liberal greed and its consequential sociopathic narcissism that we must suffer under currently.
“A different parliament would be to divide us against each other …” No it wouldn’t. Not if it was a whakaminenga which is radically different to the colonialist parliament. Once the whakaminenga is in place, Pakeha fleeing in horror from the debacle of the colonialist parliament will be knocking on the doors crying “Let us in”. And Maori will agree, because just as the colonialist parliament will be unable to prevent Maori from setting up their own governance structures, so Maori will be unable to prevent Pakeha from imitating the whakaminenga as a genuinely democratic system of government. Maori and Pakeha will finally come together in kotahitanga under the shared institutions of whakaminenga and rangatiratanga.
AGREE 100%
Fine with Maori having their own parliament and their own area or areas where they can have complete autonomy and jurisdiction – these can be also be coupled with funding their own hospitals / roads / social services etc from their own taxes as well.
Let’s just pull the pin and split the country between the ‘genocidal colonists & ‘friends’ and those Maori who no longer want to be a part of a unified New Zealand.
The historic illiteracy that many ‘Pakeha’ exhibit is freightingly noticeable but not surprising as Maori neva ceded sovereignty to the British monarchy.
These issues centred on an unresolved ambiguity in the Treaty itself. In 1840 the British Crown formally proclaimed sovereignty ova the Islands of New Zealand/Aotearoa. That was based on maori consent having been secured through the Treaty of Waitangi signed by more than 500 chiefs that same year. Yet all but a handful of rangatira (Chiefs) signed the Pakeha version of the Treaty with the majority signing the Maori version of the Te Tiriti, that most scholars agree stopped some way short of ceding sovereignty to the British crown. ‘Kawanatanga’, the supposed term of sovereignty employed in the Maori version of the Treaty, is commonly translated as ‘governorship’ or ‘governance’.
In addition, Maori communities were promised ‘Tino rangatiratanga’ (‘full chiefly authority’) over their lands and resources and clearly expected continued control ova their own affairs. It was this divide between increasing crown assertions of sovereignty and Maori expectation of continuing chiefly authority coupled with land geedy ‘Pakeha settlers’ provided a key impetus for the wars fought between Maori and the british crown.
Maori have decided to exercise its rights asserting “Self determination” or in Maori “tino rangatiratanga” because of this ‘GOC’ anti-maori agenda. This representation would of been implemented in the 1868 parliamentary elections but greedy pakeha settler advocated by a settler govt british ‘William Fox’ & a German-Dutch european jew name ‘Julius Vogel’ were busy alienating Maori from their lands and livelihoods for pakeha settlements. Our history holds some of the solution for today’s political problems and IMO Nzers need to learn & embrace our past to understand our present and where we need to be taking our country into the future.
stephen old chap you are deluded,but I do admire your passion.
I say I say I say jolly good show old boy what what
Yes agree Derek.
Good now fuck off
Specifically, which aspect or aspects of Stephen’s comment were delusional – please educate us?
Stephen old boy, no amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot like Bob the first.
Kia ora Stephen
‘Kawana’ is actually a transliteration into Maori of the English word ‘governor’ or “to govern”. When the “tanga” suffix is added the compound word becomes “governorship” or “governance”. Maori understood that the Governor of New South Wales (Sir George Gipps in 1840) for example was subordinate to the sovereign (rangatira) Queen Victoria, and by extension that kawanatanga was inherently subordinate to rangatiratanga. Confirmation of the subordinate status of kawanatanga is found in Te Paipera Tapu, Ruka 3:1 “Na i te tekau ma rima on tau o te rangatiratanga o Taipiria Hiha, i a Ponotia Pirato e kawana ana i Huria….”. QED.
So absolutely no disputing that “rangatiratanga” is sovereign authority and “kawanatanga” is a subordinate or delegated authority.
Martyn – NZ has a smallish population…how many politicians do we need?
Other countries have indigenous parliaments, e.g., https://theconversation.com/the-voice-how-do-other-countries-represent-indigenous-voices-in-government-212875. No big deal.
“They all have a particular dislike for Māori ”
they have a general dislike for anyone that they consider is beneath them, particularly the poor. Sprinkled with fear. They’ve had this since at least the 1500s.
The problem with that James Brown is who would use the cycle ways.
Anyone who can coordinate their left and right limbs , Marco ? You ?
“The government is always going to win a showdown between order and anarchy.”
it’s all a bit anarchy these days. didn’t luxon promise de-centralization. lol
Because they know that nothing will distract the activist types like a good old Maori beatup. Meanwhile they redesign the holiday act and generally sell us to investors while you are all too focused on blaming white people in general when its all of us getting screwed.
You got in one Kim.
The whole gambit to being elected is to cloud the big picture, pick petty issues, make a new illusion, then victimize and denigrate any sub- group of humans in a campaign to get the haters to vote for you –
And lo ! There’s 95% of a population being in a tyranny by a group they DIDN’T VOTE FOR.
Last Thursday our people raised tino rangatiratanga and whakaminenga flags on the State Highway bridge which passes over their awa and whenua. A week later those flags remain flying, and they may well remain there permanently. That indicates a deep seated community commitment to the principle of mana motuhake. It is not decided what form tino rangatiratanga should take, although many will have strong opinions on that. I think it fair to say that a “Maori parliament” which is a carbon copy of the colonialist parliament would have limited appeal. Most favour a radical departure from the current colonialist system of government, which would also constitute a return to the natural organic forms of governance which preceded the colonialist era and which have been maintained on marae throughout that era. This issue is bigger than the parliamentary Pati Maori, and it is bigger than the colonialist parliament as a whole. People can stop jumping up and down, and start thinking dispassionately about what form of government they want to replace the Westminster system in our motu.
The only power imbalance is your team didnt get enough votes in the last election. Now we have to put up with your grizzling for at least 6 years.
Geoff, the Westminster system is largely an unwritten constitution. Look at an example of a written constitution, that of the US whose preamble reads:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
This is the Enlightenment background plus the principle of toleration which underscores the liberal democratic tradition. These are the values upon which we agree to be ruled by a government freely chosen by us all in a fair procedure.
There are advantages to a written constitution, and there are reasons why New Zealand does not have one. To be specific, if the Realm of New Zealand’s actual and present constitution was written down in plain language there would be a national riot, while if New Zealand had a written constitution on a liberal democratic model the colonialist regime would lose its trump card, which is the ability to remove all democratic institutions through a sovereign decree.
You write “we agree to be ruled by a government freely chosen by us all in a fair procedure”. If that is the case (it isn’t really – I for one have not agreed to the British monarch’s claims to sovereignty over Aotearoa, and I have not agreed to the rule of any government established the sovereignty of the British monarch) then it follows that we must also have the right to reject that government. It makes no sense to claim that we “freely choose” something which we are given no right to reject. Westminster does not give us democracy. Only rangatiratanga can.
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