The Politics of the Brown Table - Annette Sykes

Below is a link to the speech that sparked the Te Whaainga Wāhine convergence The Politics of the Brown Table - Annette Sykes


It is a critique of a disturbing process that is currently sweeping through te ao Maori, the use of an un-mandated, non-transparent body of government selected iwi "leaders" to fulfill decisions of the highest accord.


Annette's speech resonated among many, particularly a group of women from Hauraki who were present that day.  Upon returning to Hauraki, these women called others together to address the silencing of Māori women from decision making processes.


We thank Annette for her permission to share this speech.  If you would like a copy of this speech please contact us whaaingawahine@gmail.com.

The Political Studies Department and the Bruce Jesson Foundation Lecture 2010

Annette Sykes 

Ngāti Pikiao, 

Lawyer and Activist

The Politics of the Brown Table

A self-annointed Iwi Leaders Group, a Māori Party that supports a National/ACT government, and a group of Crown mandated intermediaries drawn from retired politicians and bureaucrats are today’s agents for the manufacturing of consent and the management of discontent amongst Māori. The commercial deals on Treelords, the Emissions Trading Scheme, geothermal resources, national parks, private prisons, mining, whānau ora are all harnessing Māori to a global capitalism that impoverishes the mass of working class Māori and making them dependent on its survival. Most whānau and hapū are excluded from decision-making and denied the rights over their resources just as they always have been. Bruce Jesson foresaw these trends back in the 1980s. This lecture challenges this agenda and identifies the basic principles for a politics that genuinely empowers the people. 

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1011/Annette_Sykes_Lecture_2010.pdf

Wahine of Hauraki Speak

This blog site was created by the hui to share the proceedings of Te Whaainga Wāhine.  It is hoped that the reports, documents and reflections posted here will strengthen wahine in areas where we are currently invisible.  Over the next few days, further reports from the hui will be posted.


Sat 25th November, 2010
Opening
Wāhine of Hauraki Speak


Denise Messiter, Ngati Pukenga ki Manaia, Rongomaiwahine and Ngati Huarere
We called this hui in response to a speech that Annette Sykes gave recently regarding the politics of the Brown Round Table, the leadership of Māori men and the silencing of wāhine Māori.  It is a Re-empowerment of wāhine Māori and the creating of spaces and speech.  Following our own hearts and our own wairua, taking back what we have, what we should have, what we need.  For us in Hauraki we have been disenfranchised as women and in our ability to contribute. This hui is returning us toward our self-empowerment.

Whaitiri Mikaere

Annette’s speech resonated among us who attended that presentation and so we wanted to reinstill that for us as women, to participate in the decisions being made on our behalf. That is what we do ne?  When we have a concern, we hui.  

Pauline Clarkin Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngai Te Rangi

Mining in our iwi, is destroying us, our dreams and our aspirations are being destroyed and some of that is being done by men and some of that is being done by ourselves.  Te Aroha maunga is a sacred site for us, it has been contaminated for 40-50 years.  Waihii is an open cast mine, both these two effects of mining are the politics of this country, the poltics in iwi, the politics on our pa, we are harming papatuanuku.  The battle grounds are numerous, how do we be the superwomen that we are needed to be.  When we see what is of value to us, what we hold closest to our hearts, then the women will do.  Being here is a part of that, an important part of that process to act.  Thank you for coming here wahine mā, it is an important time for us all.

Te Whaainga Wāhine will reconvene in Palmerston North Feb 2011, to register for information please send your details to whaaingawahine@gmail.com

MEDIA STATEMENT 

 

28 November, 2010

 

HAURAKI HUI REAFFIRMS MĀORI WOMEN LEADERSHIP

 

A national hui of Māori women, Te Whaainga Wāhine have condemned the exclusion of wāhine from national, regional, local and Māori political forums.

 

The hui made specific reference to the Iwi Leaders Group who do not speak for Māori women.

 

The hui, the first called in thirty years, has challenged Māori leadership that advance the political agenda of the National-ACT-Maori Party Coalition at the expense of whenua, whānau and hapu wellbeing. 

 

Hui spokesperson Denise Meisster said Te Whaainga Wāhine confirmed Maori women’s political, spiritual and rangatahi leadership to carry current and future generations to 2040. 

 

The hui was honoured with the presence of international Cree leader, Sharon Venn, Chair of the Indigenous Caucus, who drafted the original Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  She expressed absolute disgust at the misrepresentation by New Zealand representatives of the original intent of the Declaration, and called on women to re-engage with the UN.

 

The hui affirmed Tino Rangatiratanga by 2040 and implemented a specific plan of action to achieve this. Te Whaainga Wāhine will be reconvened in Feb, 2011 in Palmerston North.

 

 

ENDS

 

Contact:             Denise Messiter

                        denisem@hauraki.refuge.co.nz or denise.messiter@xtra.co.nz

       phone 0276443359 or 07 8688475

MEDIA STATEMENT

28 November, 2010

MĒ ARO KI NGĀ RANGATIRA WĀHINE - TE WHAAINGA WĀHINE HUI

I rere ngā whakahē e te hui Te Whaainga Wāhine ki ngā pēhitanga e aukati ana i ngā wāhine Māori ki te noho ki runga i ngā runanga ā hāpori, ā kaunihera, i ngā kāhui māngai Māori rānei.

Ka hāngai te kupu whiu ki te roopu Iwi Leaders Group me te whakahau he mana kore nā rātou ki te kōrero mō ngā wāhine Māori. 

I wero te hui, ā he momo hui kāore i kitea mo ngā tau toru tekau, ki ngā māngai Māori e koropiko ana ki ngā kaupapa tōrangapu ā National-ACT-Māori Party me te kore aro atu ki te oranga o te whenua, te whānau me te hapu.

Kī tā te māngai o te hui ā Denise Messiter, ko tētahi o ngā hua nui i puta ko te whakaihiihi i ngā wāhine, i ngā mana o te ao wairua, i ngā mana ā te hunga whakatipuranga ā mā rātou ngā whaainga nui e kawe ki te tau 2040 ā ki tua atu.  

I whakanuia te hui e te tapairu Cree, ā Sharon Venn, Upoko Whakahaere ō mua o te whiringa whāiti mo te Runanga o ngā Iwi Taketake o te Ao.  Nāna ngā māngai ā Niu Tireni i whakahē mō tā rātou kuare ki te tautoko i ngā ngoi koretanga ō te Whakapuakitanga mō ngā Tika o ngā Iwi Taketake.  Ā, nāna te āki ki ngā wāhine ki te āta titiro, ki te are taringa atu ki ngā mahi ā te Runanga Whakakotahi o te Ao kei mahue tātou ki muri.

I whakaae te hui kia poua te Tino Rangatiratanga i te whenua i mua i te tau 2040, ā i whakatakotohia he mahere rautaki kia tutuki i ngā oati ā te hui.  Kā hui ānō Te Whaainga Wāhine hei te Hui Tānguru, 2011 ki Papaioea.

ENDS

Contact:             Denise Messiter

                        denisem@hauraki.refuge.co.nz or denise.messiter@xtra.co.nz

       phone 0276443359 or 07 8688475