Friday, December 02, 2011
Why the fear of Māori representation?
02 December 2011
Why the fear of Māori representation?
Responses to the issue of Māori representation suggest some deeply rooted fear amongst opponents.
Last Friday it was reported that the Whangarei District Council voted against Māori seats. Over the past month councils around the country have voted similarly except for Waikato Regional and Nelson City Councils.
In a Gisborne Herald column (16 Nov) Gisborne District Councillor Manu Caddie addressed the most common concerns in relation to Māori wards.
Gisborne District Council and all local authorities around the country would do well to engage in more informed and meaningful dialogue around this issue. Robust conversations among communities, iwi leaders, hapū members and councils would result in better understanding of what Māori wards could deliver.
One example of where better Māori representation could benefit everyone is in the area of waste water and sewerage. Currently around the country Māori groups (often alongside Pākehā groups) are fighting to uphold their responsibilities as guardians over natural resources. Hapū are concerned with the long term well-being of rivers, lakes and harbours. Accountability to whānau requires hapū to protect that resource as a taonga, a source of food and spiritual nourishment. Yet hapū are battling short term planning that often favours cost-cutting and ‘developers’. At the core of these struggles is a reluctance to share power. There is a refusal to acknowledge expertise held by local Māori over hundreds of years of care for that resource. There have been ‘economic’ waste-water decisions made over 30 years ago that have done nothing but explode wider costs by ruining waters and ecosystems, eventually ending up in expensive litigation. Having proper hapū representation at the decision table 30 years ago may well have saved the natural resource and public finances. This would have been good for ALL of the community.
A letter to the editor in The Star (Dunedin) from Peter Aitken refers to Māori representation as ‘racist’. He further aligns the concept of Māori wards to the oppressive regime of South African apartheid. That apartheid system treated black people as subservient on the principle that they were lesser human beings. In fact through the ongoing denial of human rights, inhumane denigration, disgusting humiliation and outright murder, black people were treated as barely human at all. Affirming Māori rights in relation to natural resources guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi will not diminish any human rights for non-Māori. Māori representation will not subjugate non-Māori as lesser human beings. It does not deny non-Māori their dignity and existence, nor exclude their active participation in decision-making.
Another flawed line is that Māori should reject ‘special treatment’ as patronising. It is that argument in itself which is patronising. It comes from a level of ignorance and prejudice that uses the term ‘special treatment’ in the first place. The issue is instead about rectifying the systemic structures that have denied Māori having real input into resource management issues that they have always been entitled to under the Treaty.
The current democratic process has failed to deliver Māori representation. Whatever the arguments, we are still left with the fact that Māori are not recognised as sovereign stakeholders. This sovereignty was guaranteed under the Whakaputanga Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Waitangi and endorsed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is the basis upon which Tangata Whenua agreed to welcome other peoples to our lands. Whatever the model, it is Māori upholding their rights and responsibilities as hosts of this land which has to be the outcome. Māori representation is not an outcome in itself.
Māori cultural values and worldviews offer this country a rich source for planning and development. At the heart of these values are notions of kaitiaki and manaaki – to look after, care for, and treat with respect. Those are the endeavours of tino rangatiratanga/sovereignty and sustainable economic development. Those opponents of Māori representation need to come to an understanding that at the heart of the Treaty – is not what you think it is.
(Te Rarawa/Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Porou)
Friday, January 28, 2011
TPPA ALERT – HANDS OFF OUR PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM!
What is the TPPA and how could it threaten our public health system?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a mega-treaty currently being negotiated between nine countries, including the US, Australia and New Zealand.. In reality, the US will veto the final terms of any agreement that do not adequately serve the interests of its powerful corporations, including the drug companies, health insurers and tobacco giants.
What does the agreement aim to do?
Get rid of ‘barriers’ to business across all the countries involved - including public health policies that corporations object to because they impede their profits. The rules will be binding and enforceable in private international courts for decades; the corporations themselves may even be able to take governments to court and demand mega-millions in compensation for any new policies or laws that they say break the rules.
Have the corporations said which health policies they are targeting?
A whole swathe of health-related policies is potentially subject to the TPPA, ranging from foreign ownership of aged-care chains to health and safety rules for products to health qualifications. Among the most important NZ targets are the Pharmac scheme that makes medicines affordable; the no-fault Accident Compensation scheme for workplace and other accidents; and proposed restrictions on cigarette packaging and sales.
What have those health policies go to do with ‘trade’?
TPPA negotiations aren’t primarily about old-fashioned commodity ‘trade’. They cover complex and overlapping chapters on intellectual property, investors’ rights, market competition and public procurement that would restrict our choice of policies and laws, including public health.
Explain how a TPPA could stop us providing medicines through Pharmac?
Pharmac identifies a list of medicines that are priority for government spending and negotiates the price it will pay for them with the drug companies. The Big Pharma lobby expects the intellectual property chapter of the TPPA to restrict the government’s ability to import cheaper generic drugs that keep prices down and to give companies more power over Pharmac’s decisions. Subsidies to reduce the cost of drugs could also come under attack..
What would that mean for New Zealanders’ access to medicines?
The health budget won’t go so far if the government has to pay more for medicines, meaning it would either have to spend more, fund fewer medicines or require people to pay more. Those who can afford increased premiums for private health insurance would get access to lifesaving medicines, while the poor would have to choose between paying for food, rent or medicines.
Has that happened in other countries that have treaties with the US?
Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, similar to Pharmac, was weakened in the Australia US FTA and faces a renewed assault in the TPPA negotiations. Peru is another TPPA party with a USFTA, whose rules already delay access to cheaper generics medicines.
What is the story with tobacco?
The world’s largest tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) has a hit list that targets four main measures: bans on displays of tobacco products; plain packaging of cigarettes; warnings on packets; and restrictions on marketing terms, such as ‘lite’ or ‘low tar’. So far PMI has focused on Singapore and Australia, but it will target any TPPA country adopting similar rules – like those recommended in last year’s Maori Affairs Committee report on Tobacco.
How could a trade agreement stop us regulating cigarettes?
A new law that reduces the value of an ‘investment’, which includes a ‘brand’, can be challenged as a breach of fair and equitable treatment; it’s unclear what benchmark would be used to assess that. PMI could enforced these guarantees directly against the government in a secret international court - it used a similar treaty to file a case against Uruguay in 2010. The rules on ‘distribution services’ could also stop a government from restricting or banning sales of a tobacco product.
Where are the risks for ACC?
NZ’s publicly owned no-fault accident compensation scheme is a political football: National partially privatised ACC in 1999; Labour reversed that in 2000; and National is opening the workers’ account to private competition again (a weasel word for privatisation). There are huge risks in privatisation - ‘cream skimming’ that leaves the state provider covering the unprofitable risks; insurers becoming insolvent; further cut backs in coverage and entitlements, and insurers refusing claims on technicalities, as they commonly do in the US, condemning injured workers and their families to poverty. Remember it is employers who will choose which insurer they use, not the workers who suffer the injuries.
Could a TPPA stop the government from taking back control if privatisation fails?
The financial services and investment chapters a TPPA could prevent another nationalisation of ACC. US firm AIG, which has the largest share of the world market (and received of a $180 billion bailout), will expect the US negotiators to secure guaranteed access to the ACC ‘market’ and the right to sue for mega-compensation if there is another reversal.
Surely there are exceptions that allow governments to put public health first?
There are some exceptions, but they are subject to negotiation. Governments have to invoke them as a defence once a dispute has arisen and the protection they provide is limited and highly contestable. The mere threat of a dispute can force governments to retreat.
Why on earth would our government even consider a TPPA?
Partly because it is looking for trade-offs in the (vain) hope of getting access for more dairy products into the US; partly because it remains an evangelist for privatisation and letting ‘markets’ (corporations) rule; and partly because there is not yet enough pressure to make this kind of deal too politically risky in an election year.
Who is speaking out about this?
The Director of the Public Health Association of New Zealand has voiced its concern:
Health starts, long before illness, in our homes, schools and jobs. Laws - such as food quality, smokefree laws, alcohol control - are our decisions on how to keep our neighbourhoods and homes safer. We should not be told what to do by other countries in a TPPA, just as we should not be letting smaller Pacific states be bullied into bad laws that make bad health, either.
But we have yet to hear from other health professionals. The Greens oppose the TPPA; Labour has said it will protect Pharmac; National is ambivalent; and Maori Party is silent.
What about you? To support the campaign against the TPPA see www.TPPWatch.org <http://www.TPPWatch.org> and www.nznotforsale.org. For more information also see www.TPPdigest.org <http://www.TPPdigest.org> and read No Ordinary Deal, ed. Jane Kelsey, from good bookshops or your library.
What is the TPPA and how could it threaten our public health system?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a mega-treaty currently being negotiated between nine countries, including the US, Australia and New Zealand.. In reality, the US will veto the final terms of any agreement that do not adequately serve the interests of its powerful corporations, including the drug companies, health insurers and tobacco giants.
What does the agreement aim to do?
Get rid of ‘barriers’ to business across all the countries involved - including public health policies that corporations object to because they impede their profits. The rules will be binding and enforceable in private international courts for decades; the corporations themselves may even be able to take governments to court and demand mega-millions in compensation for any new policies or laws that they say break the rules.
Have the corporations said which health policies they are targeting?
A whole swathe of health-related policies is potentially subject to the TPPA, ranging from foreign ownership of aged-care chains to health and safety rules for products to health qualifications. Among the most important NZ targets are the Pharmac scheme that makes medicines affordable; the no-fault Accident Compensation scheme for workplace and other accidents; and proposed restrictions on cigarette packaging and sales.
What have those health policies go to do with ‘trade’?
TPPA negotiations aren’t primarily about old-fashioned commodity ‘trade’. They cover complex and overlapping chapters on intellectual property, investors’ rights, market competition and public procurement that would restrict our choice of policies and laws, including public health.
Explain how a TPPA could stop us providing medicines through Pharmac?
Pharmac identifies a list of medicines that are priority for government spending and negotiates the price it will pay for them with the drug companies. The Big Pharma lobby expects the intellectual property chapter of the TPPA to restrict the government’s ability to import cheaper generic drugs that keep prices down and to give companies more power over Pharmac’s decisions. Subsidies to reduce the cost of drugs could also come under attack..
What would that mean for New Zealanders’ access to medicines?
The health budget won’t go so far if the government has to pay more for medicines, meaning it would either have to spend more, fund fewer medicines or require people to pay more. Those who can afford increased premiums for private health insurance would get access to lifesaving medicines, while the poor would have to choose between paying for food, rent or medicines.
Has that happened in other countries that have treaties with the US?
Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, similar to Pharmac, was weakened in the Australia US FTA and faces a renewed assault in the TPPA negotiations. Peru is another TPPA party with a USFTA, whose rules already delay access to cheaper generics medicines.
What is the story with tobacco?
The world’s largest tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) has a hit list that targets four main measures: bans on displays of tobacco products; plain packaging of cigarettes; warnings on packets; and restrictions on marketing terms, such as ‘lite’ or ‘low tar’. So far PMI has focused on Singapore and Australia, but it will target any TPPA country adopting similar rules – like those recommended in last year’s Maori Affairs Committee report on Tobacco.
How could a trade agreement stop us regulating cigarettes?
A new law that reduces the value of an ‘investment’, which includes a ‘brand’, can be challenged as a breach of fair and equitable treatment; it’s unclear what benchmark would be used to assess that. PMI could enforced these guarantees directly against the government in a secret international court - it used a similar treaty to file a case against Uruguay in 2010. The rules on ‘distribution services’ could also stop a government from restricting or banning sales of a tobacco product.
Where are the risks for ACC?
NZ’s publicly owned no-fault accident compensation scheme is a political football: National partially privatised ACC in 1999; Labour reversed that in 2000; and National is opening the workers’ account to private competition again (a weasel word for privatisation). There are huge risks in privatisation - ‘cream skimming’ that leaves the state provider covering the unprofitable risks; insurers becoming insolvent; further cut backs in coverage and entitlements, and insurers refusing claims on technicalities, as they commonly do in the US, condemning injured workers and their families to poverty. Remember it is employers who will choose which insurer they use, not the workers who suffer the injuries.
Could a TPPA stop the government from taking back control if privatisation fails?
The financial services and investment chapters a TPPA could prevent another nationalisation of ACC. US firm AIG, which has the largest share of the world market (and received of a $180 billion bailout), will expect the US negotiators to secure guaranteed access to the ACC ‘market’ and the right to sue for mega-compensation if there is another reversal.
Surely there are exceptions that allow governments to put public health first?
There are some exceptions, but they are subject to negotiation. Governments have to invoke them as a defence once a dispute has arisen and the protection they provide is limited and highly contestable. The mere threat of a dispute can force governments to retreat.
Why on earth would our government even consider a TPPA?
Partly because it is looking for trade-offs in the (vain) hope of getting access for more dairy products into the US; partly because it remains an evangelist for privatisation and letting ‘markets’ (corporations) rule; and partly because there is not yet enough pressure to make this kind of deal too politically risky in an election year.
Who is speaking out about this?
The Director of the Public Health Association of New Zealand has voiced its concern:
Health starts, long before illness, in our homes, schools and jobs. Laws - such as food quality, smokefree laws, alcohol control - are our decisions on how to keep our neighbourhoods and homes safer. We should not be told what to do by other countries in a TPPA, just as we should not be letting smaller Pacific states be bullied into bad laws that make bad health, either.
But we have yet to hear from other health professionals. The Greens oppose the TPPA; Labour has said it will protect Pharmac; National is ambivalent; and Maori Party is silent.
What about you? To support the campaign against the TPPA see www.TPPWatch.org <http://www.TPPWatch.org> and www.nznotforsale.org. For more information also see www.TPPdigest.org <http://www.TPPdigest.org> and read No Ordinary Deal, ed. Jane Kelsey, from good bookshops or your library.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wahine Maori Support for Tania Martin, Chair of Te Kauhanganui
Strong Support from Maori Women for Te Kauhanganui Chair Tania Martin.
Te Whaainga Wahine Maori women’s network, express their support of Tania Martin, the Chairperson of Tainui Tribal Parliament, Te Kauhanganui. Spokes people for Te Whaainga Wahine Denise Messiter and Irene Kereama-Royal said the approach being used by the tribe’s executive Te Arataura, to discredit and oust her is essentially the same one the Maori Party is using on Hone Harawira. Systemic bullying, dressed up in constitutional policy and procedure, with lashings of cultural rhetoric is an approach that reeks of deception and corruption. Martin like Harawira has acted with integrity. She has identified what’s not working, where the problem lies and has suggested solutions to improve the situation. It’s not rocket science. People expect their leaders to tell the truth and give them some guidance to help resolve any problems.
Kereama-Royal and Messiter say “Tania is a professional. She knows right from wrong and good process that is steeped in tikanga Maori. Her actions have shown that she has her peoples’ wellbeing at heart. We commend her for having the courage to review her Parliament’s spending and to release the findings, which includes decreasing Te Arataura expenditure so that she can increase distributions to her people. Cutting back on operational spending is not a radical recommendation, it is what you would expect a competent Chair to recommend, based on the evidence placed before her.”
Te Whaainga Wahine is committed to ensuring that Maori women’s voices are heard on issues and decisions that impact on whenua, whanau and hapu wellbeing and is calling for more accountability amongst Maori leadership in achieving this.
Media enquires:
Denise Messiter ph 07 868475 or 0276443359 email denise.messiter@xtra.co.nz
Irene-Kereama-Royal email ikereamaroyal@gmail.com
Te Whaainga Wahine Maori women’s network, express their support of Tania Martin, the Chairperson of Tainui Tribal Parliament, Te Kauhanganui. Spokes people for Te Whaainga Wahine Denise Messiter and Irene Kereama-Royal said the approach being used by the tribe’s executive Te Arataura, to discredit and oust her is essentially the same one the Maori Party is using on Hone Harawira. Systemic bullying, dressed up in constitutional policy and procedure, with lashings of cultural rhetoric is an approach that reeks of deception and corruption. Martin like Harawira has acted with integrity. She has identified what’s not working, where the problem lies and has suggested solutions to improve the situation. It’s not rocket science. People expect their leaders to tell the truth and give them some guidance to help resolve any problems.
Kereama-Royal and Messiter say “Tania is a professional. She knows right from wrong and good process that is steeped in tikanga Maori. Her actions have shown that she has her peoples’ wellbeing at heart. We commend her for having the courage to review her Parliament’s spending and to release the findings, which includes decreasing Te Arataura expenditure so that she can increase distributions to her people. Cutting back on operational spending is not a radical recommendation, it is what you would expect a competent Chair to recommend, based on the evidence placed before her.”
Te Whaainga Wahine is committed to ensuring that Maori women’s voices are heard on issues and decisions that impact on whenua, whanau and hapu wellbeing and is calling for more accountability amongst Maori leadership in achieving this.
Media enquires:
Denise Messiter ph 07 868475 or 0276443359 email denise.messiter@xtra.co.nz
Irene-Kereama-Royal email ikereamaroyal@gmail.com
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Press Release Support for Hone Harawira
Media Statement – 20 January 2011
Strong Support from Maori Women for Hone Harawira
Te Whaainga Wahine Maori women’s network, express their support of Hone Harawira as an MP who truly represents his constituents voice. Spokes people for Te Whaainga Wahine Denise Messiter and Irene Kereama-Royal said the complaint and pending action by Maori Party delegates against Harawira is political cowardice, lacks leadership and a contravention of tikanga Maori. Te Whaainga Wahine are aware that Harawira has consistently demonstrated his constituents' mandate through his actions and articulation of their position on many issues and is based on the original mandate given to the Maori Party to represent and advocate Maori Tino Rangatiratanga over NZ's foreshore and sea bed. Harawira's opposition to the proposed Marine and Costal Area Bill is consistent with this mandate.
Kereama-Royal and Messiter say “It is obvious to us that the partnership with National is suffocating the Maori party – an indication that they have lost perspective, need to stand aside and let those who can retain the mandated perspective of the kaupapa step forward and take the lead from their constituents. In this election year if this is a time for Harawira to consider other options and alliances that would be more honourable than the one he is currently in, it would be a decision that has the full support of Te Whaainga Wahine".
Te Whainga Wahine is committed to ensuring that Maori women’s voices are heard on issues and decisions that impact on whenua, whanau and hapu wellbeing and is calling for more accountability amongst Maori leadership in achieving this.
Media enquires:
Denise Messiter ph 07 868475 or 0276443359 email denise.messiter@xtra.co.nz
Irene-Kereama-Royal email ikereamaroyal@gmail.com
Strong Support from Maori Women for Hone Harawira
Te Whaainga Wahine Maori women’s network, express their support of Hone Harawira as an MP who truly represents his constituents voice. Spokes people for Te Whaainga Wahine Denise Messiter and Irene Kereama-Royal said the complaint and pending action by Maori Party delegates against Harawira is political cowardice, lacks leadership and a contravention of tikanga Maori. Te Whaainga Wahine are aware that Harawira has consistently demonstrated his constituents' mandate through his actions and articulation of their position on many issues and is based on the original mandate given to the Maori Party to represent and advocate Maori Tino Rangatiratanga over NZ's foreshore and sea bed. Harawira's opposition to the proposed Marine and Costal Area Bill is consistent with this mandate.
Kereama-Royal and Messiter say “It is obvious to us that the partnership with National is suffocating the Maori party – an indication that they have lost perspective, need to stand aside and let those who can retain the mandated perspective of the kaupapa step forward and take the lead from their constituents. In this election year if this is a time for Harawira to consider other options and alliances that would be more honourable than the one he is currently in, it would be a decision that has the full support of Te Whaainga Wahine".
Te Whainga Wahine is committed to ensuring that Maori women’s voices are heard on issues and decisions that impact on whenua, whanau and hapu wellbeing and is calling for more accountability amongst Maori leadership in achieving this.
Media enquires:
Denise Messiter ph 07 868475 or 0276443359 email denise.messiter@xtra.co.nz
Irene-Kereama-Royal email ikereamaroyal@gmail.com
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Update Te Whaainga Wahine
Kia ora Wahine ma
This email is to update you all of developments with Te Whaainga Wahine since the Hauraki hui and our apologies for being late with this report back. It seemed that the hui was over, there was a flurry of activity on facebook, wahine groups establishing and resurfacing and then Christmas and the Tauiwi New Year took over. That aside, it is quite amazing that in less than 2 months so much has happened – if these last few weeks set the pace for Te Whaainga Wahine in the future then we need to prepare well for what is on the horizon and beyond.
Central Coordination, Communication & Support
Because of the flurry of activity after the Hauraki hui, Denise in conversation with some of our tuakana held a conference call on 13 Dec 2010. In discussion we agreed that:
1. Te Whaainga Wahine is a loosely organised, organic network of wahine Maori, that is gathering momentum and needs to be supported to grow.
2. each roopu who aspires to the kaupapa of Te Whaainga Wahine is independent and will organise and operate in ways which are most appropriate for them
3. we will be connected through our kaupapa and a common set of principles. A first draft of those principles where developed by some or our wahine at the Hauraki hui. Those principles need further work and will no doubt be part of our conversations at the next hui in Feb
4. wahine are also asking for support, guidance and mentoring from those who have years of experience in dealing with colonisation, neo-colonisation and advocating for Tino Rangatiratanga. The term wahine are using for those who are in this category is tuakana, which goes without saying that those who don’t are teina
5. there was an immediate need for central coordination to respond to the activity that has followed the Hauraki hui, so we can move with the flow of Te Whaainga and responsd to calls from wahine for support, guidance, comment and action as they arise. In this context, we decided to form a Roopu Whakahaere. The wahine who make up this roopu are essentially those who can volunteer some of their time to this mahi. They are; Stephanie Harawira, Marama Davidson and Tracy-Lee Rapia from Tamaki, Denise Messiter and Irene Kereama-Royal from Hauraki, Tere Harrison from Poneke, who also suggested that Te Ao Pritchard, from Papaioea be invited to be participate. The main functions this roopu will undertake are:
• Seed Funding
• Regional Coordination
• Contacts Database
• Email, Facebook & Blogspot Admin
• National Hui Coordination
• Regional Roopu Support
• Information Dissemination
• Media Management
In terms of Te Whaainga being a loosely organised network, our network looks like this:
1. National network is Te Whaainga Wahine
2. Local and regional groups
3. Roopu Whakahaere
4. Guiding the Roopu Whakahaere and Te Whaainga Wahine are our tuakana
Email, Facebook, Blogspot and Webpage
Within 24 hours of the hui in Hauraki finishing, an email address and blogspot had been set up by Tere Harrison. And within 48 hours Stephanie Harawira had set up a facebook page and website. Absolutey amasing insight and mahi Tere and Stephanie.
For those of us who have not yet checked out the blogspot you can do that by going to www.whaingawahine.blogspot.com and the website address is http://www.wix.com/stephanieharawira/te-whainga-wahine-2010.
We have two email addresses:
1. tewhaaingawahine@gmail.com is linked to our facebook page
2. whaaingawahine@gmail.com is linked to the blogspot
Regional Roopu
In less than 2 months new ropu have established and are beginning to hui and network within their regions. They are: Taitokerau Wahine, Ngati Hau Wahine, Tainui Waka, Ngati Maniapoto Wahine, Kirikiriroa Wahine. The existing groups are: Poneke Wahine, Te Whaainga Wahine o Hauraki, Te Wharepora Hou (Tamaki), Kahungunu Wahine and Papaioea Wahine. That’s 9 regional roopu and at least another 4 establishing (EBOP, Tuhoe, Rotorua & Taranaki). Feedback from these groups has been astounding in that they have come together out of their own initiative, provided a forum for wahine to meet and rallied to hui and network and join the call from Te Whaainga Wahine to regroup, reconnect and revitalise those things of importance to us as Wahine Maori.
Development of Objectives, Guiding Principles & Support Infrastructure
From the korero coming in from facebook, email and regional hui, we are starting to see some common threads of whakaaro which we will capture into draft objectives, principles, strategies and plans for workshopping at the Feb Hui. Some of that korero includes:
1. Te Whaainga Wahine as a national network for Maori women is providing a new ‘space’ for wahine around the motu through loosely convened regional roopu (easily accessed) to share and network on matters of relevance and importance to them. Unstructured organisation at both the national and regional levels allows wahine to engage more freely and openly without boundaries.
2. There is a need to maintain the integrity of Te Whaainga Wahine as a collective voice for wahine; within a short time we have gained political integrity and resonated with wahine Maori from a diverse range of backgrounds, generations and tribal affiliations.
3. There is a need to develop further the principles that were presented at the Hauraki hui and confirm these at the next TWW hui in Feb
4. There is a need for mentoring, moral support and guidance between those who have travelled this journey for a long time and those who are more recently involved. The Tuakana Teina relationship is important and is a unique form of leadership that is missing in our tribal organisations. We need to have access to our Tuakana leadership and we need to support and mentor new leaders with their guidance.
5. Regional Roopu need support from Tuakana and the roopu whakahaere to establish and to access the information about TWW kaupapa, whakapapa and whaainga.
Roopu Establishment & RAM Support
Irene and I went to Tamaki on 16th Dec to tautoko a Te Wharepora Hou hui. Whaea Titiwhai came to the hui and gave her tautoko to Te Whaainga Wahine and said she hasn’t been so excited since Nga Tama Toa and that it was comforting to see wahine starting to organise again. We have also been asked to attend the first hui of Kirikiriroa Wahine to talk about the kaupapa and provide guidance for their establishment. There is also the grandmothers spirit walk that Deidre is organising which needs our support. We are taking her lead on this as well as ensuring any regional RAM's (Random Acts of Mana Wahine) are supported.
Recent Media Releases
Media statements on the Taku Tai Moana Bill and one critiquing the gender equality report released last month by the Ministry of Womens Affairs have been released. Te Wharepora Hou has released several press statements including one about the proposed constitutional review process.
Developing the Kaupapa of TWW
We believe the kaupapa of TWW is being created and developed by wahine as they continue to interact and engage with each other on facebook and in their hui, which probably means it isn't waiting for the next hui to be convened in order to move forward and develop further. We believe we must move with the momentum and actively respond to calls for support, guidance, comment and action. If you check the FB info page you will see the kaupapa has been forming through a myriad of issues and dialogue since the Hauraki Hui so it will be a matter of gauging where we are up to with that by Feb to ensure the hui in Papaioea is as responsive to the movement as the mahi in between is. We will support the programme to provide enough flexibility to canvass the topical issues of that time.
Seed Funding
We recognise that some seed funding, which is not dependent on any government scheme or service. would assist with the establishment of Te Whaainga Wahine and would help achieve some of its plans for the future. As things seem to be happening with Te Whaainga Wahine, an opportunity has opened up for us to consider applying for seed funding from an an International Humanitarian Projects Fund. Te Roopu Whakahaere and some of our tuakana will meet with representatives of the fund on Jan 18th and will report back on the outcome of that meeting at the next national hui of Te Whaainga Wahine in February.
UN Representation
Prior to Christmas there was a lengthy facebook message discussion about registering a wahine Maori NGO with the UN – it was unclear whether Te Whaainga Wahine was being asked to be that representative voice. Essentially our repsonse to this is that Te Whaainga doesn’t fit the criteria to be registered as an NGO with the UN. We will we tautoko other wahine organisations if they wanted to go down that track.
Next National Hui of Te Whaainga Wahine
The next national hui of Te Whaainga Wahine is in Papaioea from Fri Feb 25th to Sun Feb 27th and is being hosted by wahine from Papaioea. The hui will be at the marae at Massey. More details will be available from Papaioea shortly and will posted on our blogspot, FB and emailed out to those on our mailing list.
Ngaa Mihi
Denise & Irene
This email is to update you all of developments with Te Whaainga Wahine since the Hauraki hui and our apologies for being late with this report back. It seemed that the hui was over, there was a flurry of activity on facebook, wahine groups establishing and resurfacing and then Christmas and the Tauiwi New Year took over. That aside, it is quite amazing that in less than 2 months so much has happened – if these last few weeks set the pace for Te Whaainga Wahine in the future then we need to prepare well for what is on the horizon and beyond.
Central Coordination, Communication & Support
Because of the flurry of activity after the Hauraki hui, Denise in conversation with some of our tuakana held a conference call on 13 Dec 2010. In discussion we agreed that:
1. Te Whaainga Wahine is a loosely organised, organic network of wahine Maori, that is gathering momentum and needs to be supported to grow.
2. each roopu who aspires to the kaupapa of Te Whaainga Wahine is independent and will organise and operate in ways which are most appropriate for them
3. we will be connected through our kaupapa and a common set of principles. A first draft of those principles where developed by some or our wahine at the Hauraki hui. Those principles need further work and will no doubt be part of our conversations at the next hui in Feb
4. wahine are also asking for support, guidance and mentoring from those who have years of experience in dealing with colonisation, neo-colonisation and advocating for Tino Rangatiratanga. The term wahine are using for those who are in this category is tuakana, which goes without saying that those who don’t are teina
5. there was an immediate need for central coordination to respond to the activity that has followed the Hauraki hui, so we can move with the flow of Te Whaainga and responsd to calls from wahine for support, guidance, comment and action as they arise. In this context, we decided to form a Roopu Whakahaere. The wahine who make up this roopu are essentially those who can volunteer some of their time to this mahi. They are; Stephanie Harawira, Marama Davidson and Tracy-Lee Rapia from Tamaki, Denise Messiter and Irene Kereama-Royal from Hauraki, Tere Harrison from Poneke, who also suggested that Te Ao Pritchard, from Papaioea be invited to be participate. The main functions this roopu will undertake are:
• Seed Funding
• Regional Coordination
• Contacts Database
• Email, Facebook & Blogspot Admin
• National Hui Coordination
• Regional Roopu Support
• Information Dissemination
• Media Management
In terms of Te Whaainga being a loosely organised network, our network looks like this:
1. National network is Te Whaainga Wahine
2. Local and regional groups
3. Roopu Whakahaere
4. Guiding the Roopu Whakahaere and Te Whaainga Wahine are our tuakana
Email, Facebook, Blogspot and Webpage
Within 24 hours of the hui in Hauraki finishing, an email address and blogspot had been set up by Tere Harrison. And within 48 hours Stephanie Harawira had set up a facebook page and website. Absolutey amasing insight and mahi Tere and Stephanie.
For those of us who have not yet checked out the blogspot you can do that by going to www.whaingawahine.blogspot.com and the website address is http://www.wix.com/stephanieharawira/te-whainga-wahine-2010.
We have two email addresses:
1. tewhaaingawahine@gmail.com is linked to our facebook page
2. whaaingawahine@gmail.com is linked to the blogspot
Regional Roopu
In less than 2 months new ropu have established and are beginning to hui and network within their regions. They are: Taitokerau Wahine, Ngati Hau Wahine, Tainui Waka, Ngati Maniapoto Wahine, Kirikiriroa Wahine. The existing groups are: Poneke Wahine, Te Whaainga Wahine o Hauraki, Te Wharepora Hou (Tamaki), Kahungunu Wahine and Papaioea Wahine. That’s 9 regional roopu and at least another 4 establishing (EBOP, Tuhoe, Rotorua & Taranaki). Feedback from these groups has been astounding in that they have come together out of their own initiative, provided a forum for wahine to meet and rallied to hui and network and join the call from Te Whaainga Wahine to regroup, reconnect and revitalise those things of importance to us as Wahine Maori.
Development of Objectives, Guiding Principles & Support Infrastructure
From the korero coming in from facebook, email and regional hui, we are starting to see some common threads of whakaaro which we will capture into draft objectives, principles, strategies and plans for workshopping at the Feb Hui. Some of that korero includes:
1. Te Whaainga Wahine as a national network for Maori women is providing a new ‘space’ for wahine around the motu through loosely convened regional roopu (easily accessed) to share and network on matters of relevance and importance to them. Unstructured organisation at both the national and regional levels allows wahine to engage more freely and openly without boundaries.
2. There is a need to maintain the integrity of Te Whaainga Wahine as a collective voice for wahine; within a short time we have gained political integrity and resonated with wahine Maori from a diverse range of backgrounds, generations and tribal affiliations.
3. There is a need to develop further the principles that were presented at the Hauraki hui and confirm these at the next TWW hui in Feb
4. There is a need for mentoring, moral support and guidance between those who have travelled this journey for a long time and those who are more recently involved. The Tuakana Teina relationship is important and is a unique form of leadership that is missing in our tribal organisations. We need to have access to our Tuakana leadership and we need to support and mentor new leaders with their guidance.
5. Regional Roopu need support from Tuakana and the roopu whakahaere to establish and to access the information about TWW kaupapa, whakapapa and whaainga.
Roopu Establishment & RAM Support
Irene and I went to Tamaki on 16th Dec to tautoko a Te Wharepora Hou hui. Whaea Titiwhai came to the hui and gave her tautoko to Te Whaainga Wahine and said she hasn’t been so excited since Nga Tama Toa and that it was comforting to see wahine starting to organise again. We have also been asked to attend the first hui of Kirikiriroa Wahine to talk about the kaupapa and provide guidance for their establishment. There is also the grandmothers spirit walk that Deidre is organising which needs our support. We are taking her lead on this as well as ensuring any regional RAM's (Random Acts of Mana Wahine) are supported.
Recent Media Releases
Media statements on the Taku Tai Moana Bill and one critiquing the gender equality report released last month by the Ministry of Womens Affairs have been released. Te Wharepora Hou has released several press statements including one about the proposed constitutional review process.
Developing the Kaupapa of TWW
We believe the kaupapa of TWW is being created and developed by wahine as they continue to interact and engage with each other on facebook and in their hui, which probably means it isn't waiting for the next hui to be convened in order to move forward and develop further. We believe we must move with the momentum and actively respond to calls for support, guidance, comment and action. If you check the FB info page you will see the kaupapa has been forming through a myriad of issues and dialogue since the Hauraki Hui so it will be a matter of gauging where we are up to with that by Feb to ensure the hui in Papaioea is as responsive to the movement as the mahi in between is. We will support the programme to provide enough flexibility to canvass the topical issues of that time.
Seed Funding
We recognise that some seed funding, which is not dependent on any government scheme or service. would assist with the establishment of Te Whaainga Wahine and would help achieve some of its plans for the future. As things seem to be happening with Te Whaainga Wahine, an opportunity has opened up for us to consider applying for seed funding from an an International Humanitarian Projects Fund. Te Roopu Whakahaere and some of our tuakana will meet with representatives of the fund on Jan 18th and will report back on the outcome of that meeting at the next national hui of Te Whaainga Wahine in February.
UN Representation
Prior to Christmas there was a lengthy facebook message discussion about registering a wahine Maori NGO with the UN – it was unclear whether Te Whaainga Wahine was being asked to be that representative voice. Essentially our repsonse to this is that Te Whaainga doesn’t fit the criteria to be registered as an NGO with the UN. We will we tautoko other wahine organisations if they wanted to go down that track.
Next National Hui of Te Whaainga Wahine
The next national hui of Te Whaainga Wahine is in Papaioea from Fri Feb 25th to Sun Feb 27th and is being hosted by wahine from Papaioea. The hui will be at the marae at Massey. More details will be available from Papaioea shortly and will posted on our blogspot, FB and emailed out to those on our mailing list.
Ngaa Mihi
Denise & Irene
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Māori Critic and Conscience in a Colonising Context - Paper by Ani Mikaere
Ani Mikaere has generously shared her paper on Maori leadership. If you would like an email copy, please contact whaaingawahine@gmail.com
Māori Critic and Conscience in a Colonising Context – Law and Leadership as a Case Study
(Presented at the 27th Annual Conference of the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand, Victoria University of Wellington, 10 December 2010)
Ani Mikaere
Kaihautū, Te Whare Whakatupu Mātauranga
Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa
Introduction
The structural relationship of dominance and subjection between the power elite of the metropolitan society and Maori subalterns became entrenched [during the nineteenth century]. Today, some of these subaltern leaders, through training, or association with the power elite have been infected with an appetite for bourgeois success. They seize an opportunity to achieve economic power by championing Maori rights under the Treaty of Waitangi in the alien fora of courts and the Beehive. In pursuit of this agenda they unwittingly maintain the hegemony of the ruling class by responding to the latter’s definition of how Maori cultural and economic aspirations should be achieved.[1]
Ranginui Walker made this statement some eighteen years ago, in light of the contentious Sealord Deal that had recently been struck between the Crown and selected individuals claiming to represent iwi.[2] While probably not surprising, it should nevertheless be of grave concern to all of us that his comments are equally relevant to contemporary developments. Annette Sykes recently scrutinised the activities of the National Iwi Chairs Forum, observing that hapū claims for mana motuhake and political independence are being surrendered to the iwi leaders’ quest for greater participation and influence in the New Zealand economy. She argued that this situation “illustrates the continuing subjugation of Māori to a neo liberal economic hegemony to protect the stability of the construct of Crown unitary sovereignty”.[3]
Today I want to acknowledge the crisis in Māori leadership that presently confronts us. Given the audience, it is not my intention to speak about the steps that we as Māori need to take in order to remedy the situation – that discussion belongs to another forum. However, I do intend to examine the process whereby Māori concepts of leadership have been distorted beyond all recognition. I also hope to make some suggestions as to how Pākehā might avoid being complicit in the ongoing colonisation of Māori decision-making and representation.
Māori Conceptions of Reality and the Role of the Rangatira
As peoples have done the world over, our ancestors expounded their own unique theory of existence in order to explain the mysteries of the universe and to understand their place within it. This theoretical framework embodied a philosophy of life that was both reflected in and reflective of their social norms and practices. It was developed over time immemorial as they travelled throughout the Pacific, and further refined here in Aotearoa over many centuries. It enabled them to make sense of the world around them, while providing the foundations for a behavioural code that allowed them to survive and to prosper. Its core is still able to be discerned by the generations of the present and the values it embodies remain as relevant as ever.
Central to this philosophy is the concept of whakapapa which establishes that everything in the natural world shares a common ancestry. With this knowledge of interconnection comes an acute awareness of interdependence which, in turn, fosters the realisation that our survival is contingent upon the nurturing of relationships, both with one another and with the world around us. Closely related to the idea that relationships must be actively fostered is the imperative to maintain a state of balance, both amongst ourselves and between ourselves and other facets of creation. Practices such as rāhui and karakia are utilised as means of maintaining balance between people and the world around us. Regular communication with ancestors through the use of karanga, karakia and whaikōrero show the value placed upon the connection between present and past generations. Amongst the living, it is understood that all members of the group, young, old, female and male, have their part to play in ensuring the collective well-being. Our responsibilities to future generations continually inform and guide our actions in the present.
It is important, particularly in the context of a discussion of leadership, to note that the presence of balance necessarily negates the concept of dominance and its corollary, subservience. The principle of hierarchy has no place in a conception of reality that asserts the interconnectedness of all living things and that requires the perpetual nurturing of relationships to ensure the maintenance of equilibrium.
The word that is most commonly used to refer to a leader, rangatira, provides a clear indication that Māori leadership has nothing to do with the assertion of power by one (or some) over others. With “ranga” coming from the word “raranga” which means “to weave” and “tira” referring to a group, it is apparent that the task of the rangatira is literally to weave the people together. The understanding that survival is dependent upon the preservation of social cohesion through the maintenance of relationships is implicit in the term “rangatira”.
Further light is cast on Māori understandings of leadership by the following list of attributes of a rangatira as outlined by Bishop Manuhuia Bennett:[4]
Te kai a te rangatira, he kōrero
Te tohu o te rangatira, he manaaki
Te mahi a te rangatira, he whakatira i te iwi
The literal translation of first of these statements is that the food of a rangatira is speech. This is not to suggest that all a leader is good for is talking – although leaders are generally gifted speakers – the deeper meaning refers to the need for a rangatira to stand by their word. Integrity is of the utmost importance; if a rangatira commits to a particular position or course of action, they are expected to fulfil that commitment. Saying one thing and doing another, or taking a course of action without accepting responsibility for the consequences of so doing are not the behaviours of a rangatira.
The second statement tells us that the sign of a rangatira is the ability to care for others. Generosity of spirit and action are extremely important qualities in a rangatira, who is expected to acknowledge and enhance the mana of others in all that they do. This suggests that a Māori concept of leadership represents the antithesis of the pursuit of personal gain or glory, focusing instead on the extent to which the uniqueness of others can be encouraged and celebrated.
The third aspect referred to by Bishop Bennett harks back to the central task of a rangatira, which is to facilitate unity thereby enabling the group to move forward with confidence. It is probably no accident that a further meaning of the word “ranga” is to set in motion a body of people. Finding a position on any one issue that everyone within the group can feel satisfied with is no easy task, requiring excellent listening skills, an intimate knowledge of the people, a solid understanding of group dynamics, and the ability to inspire and persuade.
This model of leadership is consistent with a philosophical tradition that centres on interconnection, interdependence and the maintenance of balance through the fostering of relationships.
Western Conceptions of Reality and Power
In stark contrast to Māori philosophy is the principle of hierarchy underpinning Western conceptions of the world. Paula Gunn Allen argues that “the systemic belief that dominance is synonymous with superiority and that superiority is a reflection of the divine” has lain at the root of “the entire apparatus of Western civilization since its infancy”.[5] According to Gunn Allen, the conviction that order, harmony, goodness, propriety, and peace are the products of hierarchy is deeply embedded in Western thinking.[6] She also makes the observation that all Western nations are structured upon a trickle-down model:[7]
Regulations are initiated at the top, then segmented and dispersed throughout the system; they are implemented and enforced by those holding ever-decreasing increments of scope, information, and authority. Power increases as one goes up the “chain of command” . . . approaching its maximum at the level of prime minister, president, pope, secretary-general, or CEO.
Robert Yazzie discusses the Western notion of superiority in the context of Social Darwinism, which assumes that a certain group of people (male, wealthy and usually Protestant) has the right to make decisions for others and to control the government and the economy. He also refers to the theory’s corresponding assumption as to the inferiority of particular categories of people, noting that “history and contemporary practice show that they are women, non-Christian, and people of colour”.[8] He explicitly applies the Western concept of hierarchy to the structure of colonialism, describing it as “a triangle of power”[9] in which those who deem themselves superior assume the right to control the multitude of lesser beings. Indigenous peoples who were inconveniently located in parts of the globe that Western colonizers claimed a god-given right to possess were invariably classified as inferior.
The Colonisation of Māori Conceptions of Reality
While assuming the subhuman status of indigenous peoples whom they sought to colonize came easily to the European invaders, being confronted with conceptions of reality that were so antithetical to their own nevertheless presented certain challenges. Early colonists in Aotearoa needed a strategy for dealing with an indigenous population to whom the concept of hierarchy was completely foreign. Luckily for them, colonization was nothing new by the time they came to Aotearoa; they had available to them an abundance of colonizing precedents, throughout the Americas and elsewhere, upon which to model their own behaviour.
The solution lay in giving a significant proportion of the target population (in this case, Māori) a stake in the hierarchy. What better way to convince a group of people to buy into a system of rank than by reassuring them that their rightful place in the pecking order was higher than that of another group? What more effective divide and rule tactic than convincing half of the Māori population that they were inherently superior to the other half? As Andrea Smith and others have noted, instituting patriarchy proved to be the perfect first step to naturalizing hierarchy, thereby facilitating the colonization of people whose society had not formerly been hierarchical.[10]
In Aotearoa, the means utilized to institute patriarchy can be divided into two main categories. The first comprised actions that consistently privileged Māori men over Māori women. The second involved the reinterpretation of Māori philosophy so as to erase all memory of its true nature and to convince Māori that patriarchy and hierarchy had always been entrenched in our beliefs about the nature of reality. I propose to deal with each of these briefly.
The favouring of Māori men over Māori women came naturally to our colonizers during the earliest years of contact, accustomed as they were to the norm of male privilege within English society. As Linda Smith has noted, Māori men were the ones with whom the colonisers negotiated, traded and treatied.[11] Crown representatives who sought Māori signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Tiriti o Waitangi during 1840 largely ignored the possibility of women signing. This approach has been recorded as having angered Māori women, thus leading the missionaries to allow some women to sign.[12] There were also occasions where Hobson’s agents refused to give in to pressure for women to be allowed to sign, probably losing potential male signatories as a result.[13] This pattern of bolstering the authority of Māori men at the expense of Māori women has permeated the Crown-Māori relationship ever since.
A more recent example of this phenomenon is the Māori Women’s Welfare League, set up in 1951 with the principle objectives of promoting Māori health, education and welfare. The League established itself as a major political force almost immediately, surveying Māori housing needs in Auckland to prove to the Minister of Māori Affairs that there was a desperate shortage of housing available to Māori. However, for reasons that will be returned to shortly, complaints were made to the Minister of Māori Affairs that the League’s activities were extending into areas considered inappropriate for women. The Crown response was to create and provide administrative support for the New Zealand Māori Council,[14] a largely male and conservative institution which became a government “sounding board”[15] for pending legislation. It should be noted that the government provided insufficient resources for the Council to be able to discharge its functions effectively,[16] and generally ignored the Council’s advice on proposed legislation.[17] Yet, the very fact that the Council was established by the Crown as a Māori voice in preference to the League demonstrates that the colonisers still preferred to negotiate with Māori men, 120 years after the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Examples of the Crown’s privileging of Māori men over Māori women are too numerous to go into here. Suffice to say that this pattern of behaviour has been remarkably persistent. It should come as no surprise that the “subalterns” about whom Ranginui Walker was speaking in the quotation that opened this paper were all Māori men. Throughout the years of tortuous Crown-Māori negotiations concerning Māori fisheries from 1987 to 1992, the Crown recognised the mandate of an extremely select group of Māori men to act as negotiators on behalf of all Māori.[18] The three principal Māori negotiators in the drawing up of the Sealord Deal came from that same group of men.[19] We have indeed, as Kathie Irwin noted in 1992, seen “the evolution of strange new cultural practices in which men are bonding to each other, through patriarchy, to give each other participatory rights across Maori and Pakeha culture, in ways which exclude Maori women”.[20]
Moving to the second main way in which patriarchy has been instituted within Māori society requires a consideration of how our conceptions of reality have been reinterpreted through the lens of patriarchy and then fed back to us as authoritative representations of who we are. The seeds of this destructive process were sown by the missionaries, who decried our polytheism as evil and who insisted that there could only be one supreme god, male of course. Gunn Allen is convincing in her description of monotheism as a political strategy upon which the conquest of all nations is premised.[21] A particularly convenient tool in the missionaries’ quest to convert us to their monotheistic view of the world was introduced disease, the effects of which enabled them to point to the superiority of their god as opposed to the apparent impotence of our spiritual beings.[22] The following words of Haunani Trask, written to describe events in Hawai’i, apply with equal force to our own situation:[23]
Conveniently for the missionaries, the Hawaiian universe had collapsed under the impact of mass death. The fertile field of conversion was littered with the remnants of holocaust, a holocaust created by white foreigners and celebrated by their later counterparts as the will of a Christian god.
Early ethnographers also played their part: as these Pākehā men turned their attention to us as objects of study, they inevitably sought out Māori male informants to interview about our traditions and then sifted the information through their own cultural understandings about the place of women before publishing their “research” and securing for themselves reputations as experts on Māori culture. [24] The Māori view of the world that was regurgitated by the likes of Elsdon Best and Percy Smith is unrelentingly male-centred and, thanks to their widely-accepted status as experts and their ability to publish, it has been widely disseminated and unquestioningly received as an accurate portrayal of Māori philosophical traditions. So successful has this process been that by the 1950s Māori men themselves were convinced that the Māori Women’s Welfare League was usurping the authority of men by assuming a political role. It was complaints to the Minister of Māori Affairs from Māori men that led, in part, to the Crown’s decision to establish the New Zealand Māori Council as an appropriate body for it to deal with.[25]
The detail of the damage done by the patriarchal/hierarchical reinterpretation of Māori theories of existence could be discussed endlessly, but for the moment I would like to take just one example to illustrate how insidious these colonised representations of our most fundamental precepts have become.
The concept of whakapapa, as I have indicated earlier, is absolutely central to our understanding of the world. It is my view that whakapapa is inherently non-hierarchical in structure and purpose, serving to link all facets of creation in a complex web that extends in all directions and into infinity. However, a disturbing thing has happened to the concept of whakapapa since literacy came to these shores. The Western practice of reading and writing from the top of the page to the bottom means that written whakapapa is almost always represented on the page in a form that implies hierarchy, that is, from top to bottom and from left to right. It has even become common for speakers to use phrases such as “ka heke iho” when reciting whakapapa to indicate notions of descent from ancestors reflecting, I believe, the way that they visualise what they have learnt in written form. This is despite the fact that the word “whakapapa” literally means to build one layer upon another which, if anything, suggests that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us rather than the other way around. It is also pertinent to note that using terms such as “ka heke iho” as a substitute for the more appropriate “ka puta ki waho” avoids acknowledgement of the fact that each new addition to the whakapapa is born out of a woman. Other worrying developments abound. In my view the modern-day tendency to focus on the males in whakapapa, ludicrous when one considers that without both female and male there would be no whakapapa, stems directly from the inculcation of patriarchy into our philosophies. Even concepts such as tuakana and teina, denoting the specific roles and responsibilities of individuals depending upon their position within a whānau, have become horribly deformed by the imported notions of primogeniture which, we are now assured, is authentically ours.
This turning of Māori philosophy on its head and its recharacterisation as the mirror-image of Western belief systems is no unintended outcome of the colonisation process but rather an integral component of its success. The aim of the coloniser in the settler-state colony is, as George Tinker has explained, to supplant the colonised in their own land.[26] This requires an array of genocidal tactics, from the reckless introduction of disease, to military invasion, to theft of land and resources. It also includes a raft of assimilatory policies designed to digest the residue[27] of survivors from the holocaust of the nineteenth century. Assimilation – recreating us in the image of the coloniser – is the most enduring method of securing cultural genocide.
The Crisis in Māori Leadership
Against this background I want to turn back to the recent Jesson Lecture, where Annette Sykes condemned the National Iwi Chairs Forum for assuming a high caste status because its members are increasingly the only individuals that the Crown sees as relevant on Māori issues.[28] One of the most insulting aspects of the Crown’s behaviour towards Māori is its constant expectation that we speak with one voice – and one “reasonable voice”[29] at that - on all issues. This denies the enormous diversity that exists within whānau, hapū, iwi and beyond, reducing the entire range of Māori experience to a carefully confined caricature that the Crown finds politically and administratively palatable. It is also entirely consistent with a philosophy that assumes the right of the few to speak for the many, and that believes in the power of hierarchy to deliver “order, harmony, goodness, propriety, and peace”, to use Paula Gunn Allen’s words. It is pertinent to note that of the seven members identified on the National Iwi Chairs Forum Executive, six are men,[30] as are the overwhelming majority of Forum members.[31]
As Sykes notes, the Crown has seized upon the National Iwi Chairs Forum as a “Māori issue one-stop-shop”, with which it has sought to discuss such wide-ranging matters as climate change, a freshwater management regime, geothermal resources, the seabed and foreshore, and public-private partnerships. In the process, it is openly giving the Forum a stake in its hierarchy, persuading it to accept its subordination to the Crown in return for being elevated above the people it claims to represent. In the process, the Crown also neatly avoids its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to deal with Ngā Rangatira o Ngā Hapū:[32]
When it is seen in this context, the newly constructed layer of Maori leadership seems to be a quango which the Crown then resources as part of its specific consultation requirements in the expectation it will generate an acceptable Maori view.
Not only is this obstructive of the direct relationship foreshadowed and guaranteed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which is one between Nga Rangatira o Nga Hapu and the Crown; it is indicative of a more fundamental fact that the group’s accountability is not to our own kaupapa. It is not unreasonable to assert that the Crown is seeking to engineer a Treaty partner in its own image that is subordinate to it.
Nor does the Māori Party escape unscathed from Sykes’ analysis. She provides compelling evidence that the National Iwi Chairs Forum Executive has become highly influential in determining the Māori Party’s position on crucial issues. She also reveals the Party’s role as “doorman,”[33] facilitating direct access for the Forum to the key cabinet strategy committee on Treaty issues, comprising Bill English, Gerry Brownlee, Chris Finlayson, John Key and Pita Sharples.[34] Of course the potential for the Māori Party to become co-opted by Western ideology has existed since the day it was born, enmeshed as any political party inevitably is within the parliamentary system. The danger increased exponentially as soon as it entered into a relationship with the National government, showing a preference for pragmatism over principle and a preparedness to accept a subordinate role in relation to its new-found political friend and ally. Nevertheless, there are many in the Māori electorate who are bitterly disappointed at the speed and magnitude of the Māori Party’s descent from the moral high ground which saw its unprecedented emergence as a political force to be reckoned with, barely five years ago.
What Can Be Done?
It is obvious that some two centuries of persuading our men that they are superior to Māori women and that patriarchy has always been a central tenet of Māori philosophy has produced the desired result. To a large extent, hierarchy has indeed become naturalized within Māori experience. The Crown does not have to look far to find a small group of Māori men who are prepared to assume the right to speak on behalf of their whānau, hapū and iwi, accepting false flattery and short-term material gains in return for subordination masquerading as power.
This does not mean, however, that all Māori men behave this way, or that Māori women have any intention of putting up with it. Following the Jesson Lecture, a national hui of Māori women was held in Hauraki to discuss the negative impacts that colonisation has had on Māori leadership. He Whaainga Wāhine issued a media statement condemning the exclusion of Māori women from national, regional, local and Māori political forums; declaring that the Iwi Leaders Group do not speak for Māori women; and challenging Māori leadership that advance the political agenda of the National-ACT-Māori Party Coalition at the expense of whenua, whānau and hapū wellbeing.[35] The hui, called at short notice, has generated a great deal of interest and further hui are planned.
In the context of this conference, however, a more important question might be what each of you can do to contribute to resolving the crisis that we currently face. The first thing you must do, wherever you find yourself placed in the white male hierarchy that infects the colonial state of New Zealand, is to acknowledge your privilege. If you choose to enjoy the benefits of that privilege without acknowledging it, and without actively challenging a system that relegates Māori to a lesser status or that reserves to itself the right to redefine Māori philosophies at whim, you are complicit in the continued subordination of Māori in our own land.
Specifically, you should seize any opportunity to challenge the expectation that Māori ought to speak with one voice. You should regard with suspicion versions of our philosophical framework that conveniently characterise us as inherently patriarchal or that saddle us with Western notions of hierarchy. This does not mean, of course, that I am encouraging any of you to become new-found experts on the authenticity of Māori tradition – the decolonising of our own philosophies is work that must be done by Māori – but simply that you refrain from rushing in to decry Māori beliefs as patriarchal when the true picture may be rather more complex.[36] And finally, I hope that you will remain open to forming alliances with us when the opportunities arise. If you are genuinely committed to a decolonised Aotearoa, Māori will be willing to work together with you toward achieving that end.
[1] Walker, R “Changes to the Traditional Model of Maori Leadership”, 1992.
[2] The Sealord Deal was shortly afterwards passed into law in the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992.
[3] Sykes, A Bruce Jesson Lecture, University of Auckland, 27 October 2010, pp 11-12.
[4] These statements were made when Bishop Bennett closed a hui called by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust in December 1999, at Hopuhopu.
[5] Gunn Allen, P Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998) p 66.
[6] Gunn Allen, p 68.
[7] Gunn Allen, p 69.
[8] Yazzie, R “Indigenous Peoples and Postcolonial Colonialism” in Battiste, M (ed) Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000) p 42.
[9] Yazzie, p 43.
[10] Smith, A Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2005) p 23.
[11] Smith, L ”Maori Women: Discourses, Projects and mana Wahine” in Middleton, S Jones, A (eds) Women and Education in Aotearoa 2 (1992) p 49.
[12] Orange, C The Treaty of Waitangi (1987) p 90.
[13] Orange, p 90, where is it noted that Major Bunbury refused to allow a Ngāti Toa wahine rangatira to sign at Cloudy Bay. Her husband also refused to sign.
[14] Maori Welfare Act 1962.
[15] Walker, R Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou (1990) p 206.
[16] Cox, L Kotahitanga (1993) p 106.
[17] Walker, 206-207.
[18] They were Tipene O’Regan, Robert Mahuta, Matiu Rata and Graham Latimer.
[19] Tipene O’Regan, Matiu Rata and Graham Latimer.
[20] Irwin, “Towards Theories of Maori Feminisms” in Du Plessis, R (ed) Feminist Voices (1992) p 18.
[21] Gunn Allen, p 71.
[22] Estimates of the Māori population of Aotearoa prior to contact with Europeans range from 100,000 to 500,000. While exact population figures before 1769 may not be certain, it is well known that they began to decline from that date, a process that accelerated dramatically during the mid to late nineteenth century. By 1896, when the Māori population had reached a low point of 42,000, our extinction was being confidently predicted by the colonists: Durie, M Ngā Tai Matatū: Tides of Māori Endurance (2005) pp 29-31 and Pool, I Te Iwi Maori: A New Zealand Population Past, Present and Projected (1991) pp 57-60.
[23] Trask H From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereighty in Hawai’i (1999) p 6.
[24] Elsdon Best, for example, a prolific writer of material on Māori culture during the early 1900s, was referred to in 1922 as “the greatest living authority on the Māori”, an extraordinary claim considering that there were approximately 50,000 Māori living at the time! (Acting Director of the Dominion Museum, J. MacDonald, made this statement in his preface to Best’s 1922 monograph Some Aspects of Maori Myth and Religion.) Population figures for 1922 are taken from Pool, p 110.
[25] Rei T, McDonald G & Te Awekotuku N, “Me Aro Koe kit e Hā o Hine-Ahu-One” in Else, A Women Together (1993) p 9; Szaszy, M in Rogers & Simpson Te Tīmatanga – Tātau, Tātau: Early Stories from Founding Members of the Māori Women’s Welfare League (1993) p 225.
[26] Tinker, G Preface to Churchill, W Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools (2004) p 14.
[27] This phrase has been borrowed from Churchill, W Kill the Indian, Save the Man p 12.
[28] Sykes, p 12.
[29] Meaning a voice that mostly coincides with its own viewpoint.
[30] Sykes, p 6.
[31] Sykes, p 7.
[32] Sykes, p 13.
[33] Sykes, p 19.
[34] Sykes, p 19.
[35] Media Statement, He Whaainga Wāhine, 28 November 2010.
[36] Unlike many who recently were unable to resist immediate and strident criticism of the Te Papa directive suggesting caution in the case of pregnant or menstruating women visiting the collections of taonga.
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