Vincent O’Malley: wars we choose to remember and forget

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 19th, 2016 - 9 comments
Categories: Maori Issues, treaty settlements - Tags: , ,

At The Guardian:

For many Pākehā (non-Māori) New Zealanders the wars were part of a troubled past they preferred to forget. Anzac Day, by contrast, provides a ready opportunity to rally around the flag, patriotically remembering those who died at Gallipoli or on the Western Front. And this has been reflected in government priorities. According to one estimate, central funding for centennial first world war activities is at least 100 times greater than was made available for the Waikato war sesquicentenary.

 

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What a nation chooses to remember and forget speaks to its priorities. Those who tell Māori to “stop living in the past” or to just “get over it” rarely apply the same logic to first world war commemorations. And yet without dialogue, there can be no reconciliation. The resolution of historical Māori land claims under the Treaty of Waitangi, though important, has seen minimal Pākehā awareness and engagement of the history behind the grievances.

The students of Otorohanga College have helped promote a conversation about national identity that is long overdue. Is New Zealand mature enough as a nation to own its history, embracing the difficult aspects of the past as a way of moving forward? For now, the signs are encouraging. It is time, as one editorial recently noted, to bring these wars out of the shadows.

9 comments on “Vincent O’Malley: wars we choose to remember and forget ”

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  1. Jake Sullivan 1
    19 October 2016 at 12:45 pm

    What about the musket wars? They were by far the deadliest conflict that has ever occurred in this country. Michael King called them a holocaust. And yet for some reason they are even more forgotten than the NZ Wars.

    • mike 1.1
      19 October 2016 at 2:29 pm

      What does that mean?
      That fighting in Waikato, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty and other places is not as important?
      Or is it that oldie-but-a-goodie, Maori are just as culpable as pakeha?
      I suspect it’s the latter.
      Sad.

      • ropata 1.1.1
        19 October 2016 at 2:58 pm

        Probably the latter. The comments on the Guardian piece are just as pathetic, the old saw about Moriori genocide is repeated, as if that is some sort of justification for the rape and pillage of the Maori nation.

    • Ad 1.2
      19 October 2016 at 4:20 pm

      That’s fair.
      Some good books on it now.
      Was such a violent century.

  2. red-blooded 2
    19 October 2016 at 5:26 pm

    I absolutely agree that there should be a day to remember the NZ Wars. Waitangi Day honours the Treaty, but it allows us to overlook the fact that this treaty was betrayed by the wars and confiscations that followed. While there have been efforts towards public education, too many Pākehā just don’t want to know.

    • mauī 2.1
      19 October 2016 at 6:52 pm

      The last I heard the Government was saying the New Zealand Wars day won’t be a public holiday, which seems a half-arsed way to go about it.

  3. Michelle 3
    20 October 2016 at 9:05 am

    Ropata our people (maori) have been her just as long as the Moriori don’t know where your from but up the east coast places like Te Araroa , Ruatoria many are descendants of Uepohatu she was here before the great fleet and many waka came here not just the Maori.

  4. Philj 4
    21 October 2016 at 11:19 am

    This raises the issue of informing our children, via education, about the history of NZ. NZ History, and it’s relevance today, is grossly neglected, and it shows. I now know what is meant by dumbing down. Our mainstream media is poor and blinkered.