Waitangi up close

Written By: - Date published: 1:07 am, February 7th, 2011 - 37 comments
Categories: john key, Maori Issues - Tags: ,

I went to Waitangi on Waitangi Day for the first time this year.  I heartily recommend it to everybody – I don’t think enough (especially non-Maori) folk go and experience it, and it’s worth doing.

I went up (camping) with my whanau on Friday night, so was there for the full weekend – the political day on the 5th of Feb and the actual celebration of the 6th.

The political day was interesting.  National were received in the morning into the Te Tii Marae.  John Key got called out by the Hone’s nephew on “stealing the foreshore”, but he didn’t get called out by the media on what the source of additional “tensions” compared to previous years were.  He ascribed them to the schism in the Maori Party, and from what I’ve seen the media agreed with him.  Those people on the ground that I talked to however saw much more of the unease to do with the issues and matters of policy.  They’d save the Maori Party tensions for the Maori Party; why they were “tense” with National was over the Marine and Coastal Areas Bill – which there’s a lot of unhappiness with – along with a healthy dose of displeasure at cost of living and how National’s policies are impoverishing most Maori.

Matters were made much worse by National and John Key’s trampling on protocol.

After the formal speeches on the marae there was to be a cup of tea (and kai) followed by questions for the PM from the locals.  John Key and crew scarpered.  The provision of hospitality that’s so important was ignored, and the facing up to the hard questions dodged.  There was little respect.

There was also little sign of the Maori Party other than Hone’s posse (who were in abundance).  Pita fronted for the cameras (where’s Tariana these days?  Other than her pixie interview about her weight loss she’s been AWOL for months), but the wider party was more notable by their absence.

Labour and the Greens were received together in the afternoon.  It was the friendliest it’s been for Labour for 9 or 10 years – “like old friends coming home” was how one from the marae described it.  Parekura Horomia gave what was described by some as his best-ever speech, and, despite some disagreement over policies, there was much laughter between chums.

Russel Norman spoke well in an environment he didn’t look entirely relaxed in, showing how well the Green’s principles match with Maoridom.  Metiria would obviously have been at home there, but as a woman, didn’t speak on the marae.

Phil Goff’s speech struck a chord, with him saying that on this day when we celebrate becoming two peoples in one nation, we are instead seeing two nations emerge – as the wealthy and privileged gain ever more advantage, leaving the rest of us behind.  His calls for a Labour-Green government to bridge that gap after the election had him hitting some very traditional Labour notes – siding with the majority who aren’t benefiting from National’s policies by wanting fairer wealth distribution.

The celebration day was excellent too, even if I didn’t make the 5am dawn service…  For those who haven’t been there’s quite a festival.  A remarkable number of stalls, with good kai and a surprisingly large number offering massages.  A good concert, sport, mass waiata and haka, to say nothing of the mass waka arrival in the morning.

The polluted water meaning no swimming or shell-fish retrieval was a bit of a downer.  The point was made that we need the foreshore and seabed to be in good enough shape for anybody to use as a first step before we resolve that issue.  Our country was probably looking more polluted than clean and green to the tourists who happened by.

It is also all a little difficult to find out what’s happening when, and some things are, in good traditional Kiwi way, a bit hap-hazard.  So I’ll enjoy it even more next year when I go, as I’ll have more of an idea what’s going on.  Perhaps y’all can join me – particularly the Pakeha amongst us, as I felt very under-represented at a supposed meeting of two peoples.

37 comments on “Waitangi up close ”

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  1. SHG 1
    7 February 2011 at 2:32 am

    Russel Norman spoke well in an environment he didn’t look entirely relaxed in, showing how well the Green’s principles match with Maoridom. Metiria would obviously have been at home there, but as a woman, didn’t speak on the marae.

    LOL, you can take the Maori out of the Stone Age, but…

    • orange whip? 1.1
      7 February 2011 at 8:43 am

      Oh look, a racist right-winger. Who would’ve thought…

      • SHG 1.1.1
        7 February 2011 at 10:18 am

        You’re defending a system in which women are so marginalised they’re not even allowed to SPEAK?

        • Zorr 1.1.1.1
          7 February 2011 at 10:34 am

          Actually, depending on the rank of the woman they can speak. MOST people, men AND women, aren’t allowed to actually speak during the formal ceremonies on a marae. It is a great privilege to be one of the few that are.

        • orange whip? 1.1.1.2
          7 February 2011 at 11:02 am

          No. Where did I do that?

          I just filled in the ellipses at the end of your comment and the result was a really racist statement.

          Which is presumably why you didn’t type it in full.

        • Adele 1.1.1.3
          7 February 2011 at 2:29 pm

          Teenaa koe, SHG

          Your ignorance is showing. The first voice heard in any formal setting on Marae is the karanga – that can only be performed by women. Women establish the foundation for men to speak – no karanga, no whaikoorero.

          Don’t judge my culture by your own cultural inadequacies.

  2. Locus 2
    7 February 2011 at 5:19 am

    Bunji, thanks for such a positive and interesting post. It will be a pleasure to join you at Waitangi next year. Why on earth do the MSM not bother to pick up on the same things that you did? John Key’s policies on the foreshore and seabed, tax and the environment are fundamentally damaging to Maori – and to the ideals that make most Kiwis proud to be New Zealanders.

    • travellerev 2.1
      7 February 2011 at 8:33 am

      An interesting observation and it has made me curious to perhaps go to the Marae next year as I am a recent arrival in this country and would love to learn more about the relations between Maori and Pakeha.

      I did go to the Kawhia Kai festival though and had some nice and interesting encounters while eating excellent Kai and watching some very engaging Kapa Haka performances and like with the Waitangi ceremonies it seems Pakeha were in the minority in Kawhia too which is a shame because the festival is a wonderful way to experience Maori hospitality and food.

      (And though it may seem I am promoting it rest assured I have no interests in the festival other than taking the opportunity to meet and mingle with people from a different cultural background than mine and a lack of understanding as to why it seems to be shunned by Pakeha as the local population are so clearly ready to welcome everybody.)

      • Bunji 2.1.1
        7 February 2011 at 10:21 am

        I definitely recommend everyone come and join the fun. It’s a great and positive festival, celebrating our cultures. The protests are only such a small part of it, even if that’s all that makes the news.

  3. higherstandard 3
    7 February 2011 at 7:33 am

    Waitangi on Waitangi day is a side show for a small number of Nga Puhi radicals to get 5 minutes on TV.

    Scrap it – it’s a joke compared to the National days around the world that actually celebrate one’s country.

    • Pat 3.1
      7 February 2011 at 8:07 am

      Let me think. A choice between Waitangi with Hone Harawira showing off, or Eden Park with Jesse Ryder showing off. I choose Eden Park.

      • orange whip? 3.1.1
        7 February 2011 at 8:29 am

        Waitangi day as entertainment. What an interesting perspective, Pat.

      • pollywog 3.1.2
        7 February 2011 at 8:55 am

        except theres no guarantee Ryder will show off…

        … at least with ‘ol faithful’ Hone, you know he’s gonna blow regular as clockwork as long as there’s a camera pointed at him with the mic on

        and why am i reminded of a muppet with a hand up it’s arse when i imagine Norman speaking on Maori ?

        • Craig Glen Eden 3.1.2.1
          7 February 2011 at 9:28 am

          “and why am i reminded of a muppet with a hand up it’s arse when i imagine Norman speaking on Maori ?”

          You like Muppets? How the hell would we now what makes you tick?

    • Bunji 3.2
      7 February 2011 at 10:24 am

      Waitangi on Waitangi Day is… a great and enjoyable festival.

      Yes those from Nga Puhi have their say, but if you were given 5 minutes in the spotlight to try and hold our politicians to account, wouldn’t you? (and if not, why are you on a political blog site?)

      But you could go to the festival and not even notice that if you didn’t choose to focus on it. There’s so much more going on – mainly good kai and a real celebration of positive maori culture.

  4. vto 4
    7 February 2011 at 9:01 am

    How long until maori no longer consider themselves something special and instead take a place alongside all other types of NZers on an equal footing do you think?

    • pollywog 4.1
      7 February 2011 at 9:36 am

      when there’s a Maori PM and head of state under new flag and all treaty settlements are signed off with the money in the bank and a shitload of land and foreshore repatriated…

      …how long do you reckon that’ll take ?

    • higherstandard 4.2
      7 February 2011 at 9:40 am

      Nah I disagree VTO – as per Waitangi day what we get on TV and the media is the stirrers in Nga Puhi hogging the headlines.

      The vast amount of maori in the country are absolute salt of the earth and the most welcoming and hospitable people you’d ever come across.

    • vto 4.3
      7 February 2011 at 10:01 am

      I meant Maori as a group / political thingy, not as individuals of course.

      Any society with separate rules and norms and settings for separate groups of people will eventually blow apart.

      And Polly I suspect that will take forever. It must happen before then.

      • higherstandard 4.3.1
        7 February 2011 at 10:06 am

        Fair call, although when you get group/political thingy they tend to be a bleating bunch of arses when not in power and do nothing apologist tards when they are in power no what race or political leaning they come from.

      • Pascal's bookie 4.3.2
        7 February 2011 at 10:19 am

        Any society with separate rules and norms and settings for separate groups of people will eventually blow apart.

        But that’s the problem, innit?

        Fact is, Maori have been treated as if their rights didn’t need to be bothered with, and they are quite rightly arsed off about it.

        • vto 4.3.2.1
          7 February 2011 at 10:29 am

          Yes absolutely P’s b. And that can be dealt with.

          They are two separate issues though – one of redress for past wrongs and one of rules and settings for a bunch of people living together in the same place.

          Dealing with the first issue is unfortunately mixing in with the second issue.

      • pollywog 4.3.3
        7 February 2011 at 10:45 am

        oh chur vto…

        Well that’ll be when Maori unite under a ‘one people’ banner as opposed to independent sovereign nation status afforded iwi and guaranteed by the treaty.

        Most NZer’s, even Maori, fail to recognize the treaty was signed by the Crown as represented by Pakeha to be a single entity, and a loose collection of Rangatira representing each individual iwi to be multiple entities. Consequently, most never consider the consequences sovereign status of each iwi still remaining in place confers.

        Sovereignty, as it exists, was never co opted into Maori as being represented by one party or one people and it won’t until all treaty settlements are signed off and Maori review their status to form a single self determining governing body, most probably that being an evolution of the Iwi Leaders Group not the Maori Party.

        As far as i know. Maori never formalised treaties with each other to cessate inter tribal warfare nor assimilated other tribes by any other means than by conquest and coercion, as Ngai Tahu did in consolidating disparate iwi under one treaty claim.

        …and therein lies the problem of special status. Each iwi has their own special status within Maoridom which needs to be acknowledged before any consideration of them as NZ’ers on an equal footing can meaningfully take place.

        Talking of Maori this and Maori that as generic and homogeneous term for all is about as relevent as referring to all Asians as one people. All it shows is an ignorance of their true nature and cultures.

        From my perspective Maori, and the wider Pasifika peoples, would be better off uniting under one confederation of peoples. The United States of Pasifika replete with single currency and citizenship.

        so how long do you think that’s gonna take, cos thats the long game i’m playing

        🙂

        • vto 4.3.3.1
          7 February 2011 at 11:08 am

          Good effort, but I suspect it’s gonna take a generation or six. And by that time some other great demographic upheaval will have passed across the South Pacific and upset the current positionings anyway.

          • pollywog 4.3.3.1.1
            7 February 2011 at 11:43 am

            However long it takes is consistent with the Pasifikan worldview on time and ancestry/progeny…We ain’t going anywhere fast.

            Home for us is always gonna be home no matter who’s in power.

            I keep saying 2 more generations and we’ll have pretty much assimilated the colonial mindset into a Pasifikan state of mind and that includes the French in Tahiti and the Americans in Hawaii

            …though at some stage i reckon i’m gonna have to go there and tell em how it is too…heh

            Waitangi Day should be a day of celebrating Maori sovereignty for each iwi with the tradition of a pilgrimmage by hapu, whanau and whanaunga back to the rohe where a feast is put on by Rangatira to acknowledge their prosperity, benevolence and gratitude for the privilege of their right to rule.

            Celebrating the treaty signing, as is, at Waitangi, is like mourning the death of a loved one lost in battle and toasting the victors at the expense of the defeated…Fucked if i’m gonna do that.

            Waitangi day is the time i usually take stock of my family and our position in life and review the state of the Pasifikan Nation. Remember the past and how much we have lost while celebrating the future of all things Pasifika yet to be gained.

            …it should be our Thanksgiving day

            • Draco T Bastard 4.3.3.1.1.1
              7 February 2011 at 12:26 pm

              A fairly normal conservative back to the future mindset. Hey, look, it was sooo much better back then, lets go there – yeah, not gonna happen.

              You may not have noticed this thing called Anthropogenic Climate Change. Old customs won’t survive it as the conditions that brought them about will no longer apply (Hell, they don’t apply any more anyway). In a few decades we will be doing what we need to survive as a people and that will involve radical new customs.

              • pollywog …
                7 February 2011 at 12:45 pm

                But shit wasn’t so much better back then and theres no way i want to return to it.

                I’m all for cultural and social evolution, survival and all that. Just hope the radical new customs don’t involve canibalism again…we been there, done that

                …not a good look eh !

  5. ianmac 5
    7 February 2011 at 9:49 am

    Bunji: Refreshing to read a non-MSM view of Waitangi. A positive view. Thanks

  6. adriank 6
    7 February 2011 at 11:53 am

    On the topic of Waitangi Day, I’m pretty shocked about the way the speech made by Kerei Tia Toa (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4623103/Earthquake-prediction-for-Wellington) is being treated. The media seem to be taking it at face value and writing it off as the rantings of a senile old man rather than considering for a moment that his intention may be somewhat allegorical (and how could it not be with the Beehive specifically mentioned?).

  7. Draco T Bastard 7
    7 February 2011 at 11:56 am

    Phil Goff’s speech struck a chord, with him saying that on this day when we celebrate becoming two peoples in one nation,

    hmmmmm…

    As each chief signed, Hobson said “He iwi tahi tātou”, meaning (in English) “We are now one people”.

    Seems to me that we should be celebrating becoming one people in one nation.

    Our country was probably looking more polluted than clean and green to the tourists who happened by.

    Anybody with eyes to see can tell that our country is more polluted than “clean and green”.

    The provision of hospitality that’s so important was ignored, and the facing up to the hard questions dodged. There was little respect.

    And that is absolutely disgusting. Shows how little respect he has for customs and Te Tiriti

    • pollywog 7.1
      7 February 2011 at 12:35 pm

      As each chief signed, Hobson said “He iwi tahi tātou”, meaning (in English) “We are now one people”.

      Seems to me that we should be celebrating becoming one people in one nation.

      Not really…because Maori never said it to each other. By signing as individual iwi, it guaranteed Maori were not one people and Hobson, by saying it to each as they signed, guaranteed it to be also.

      In doing so he perpetrated the great lie that has since been repeated and co opted as truth by successive powers.

      He may have thought of Pakeha and Maori being united as British subjects under the treaty but Maori were nowhere, nor are still anywhere near being united as one people subject to one rule of Maori law until they sing their own treaty amongst themselves to say they are one people and one nation.

      and what Goff said just shows how ignorant he is of Maori identity and nationhood issues. So whatever chord he struck would only sound harmonious if you were tone deaf or deafened by the silence of duplicitious Maori.

  8. Nick C 8
    7 February 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Glorious Labour Leader Phil Goff gives great speech, accurately shows people of Waitangi why national party dogs are ruining once glorious Peoples Republic of New Zealand. Speech recieves rousing applause. Phil is welcomed as old friend of Maori people. Labour spokesperson Parekura Horomia also gives great speech, is shown as great friend of elders of Waitangi. Labour Party ally Russel Normon shows off great environmental knowledge. All agree he would be very good Minister in Labour Government.

    national party dogs disgrace sacred and glorious customs of elders of Waitaingi. national ‘Leader’ john key insults Waitangi Treaty and leaves early, to cries of disdain from Maori people. All agree that he has polluted the rivers and streams which were once glorious and sacred to Waitangi people. ‘maori party’ co-leader pita sharples hides in fear of mighty Labour Leader Phil Goff, other ‘maori party’ co-leader is yet to be seen. Wise and brave Hone Harawira who has been converted to oppose ‘maori party’ dogs gives glorious speech, all agree that he should be Leader of the maori party.

    Did I sum it up for you?

    • pollywog 8.1
      7 February 2011 at 12:48 pm

      I’d buy that for a dollar Nick C

    • Locus 8.2
      8 February 2011 at 9:01 am

      Most beloved hand waving national Leader John Key grins happily while being mobbed by media, steers them in direction of warring Maori factions, and gives speech saying nothing of consequence, accurately shows TV viewers our glorious leader’s impish grin and ‘ordinary man’s manliness’. Media dribble and wag tails as they receive honour of talking to glorious leader. Meanwhile everyone else at Waitangi sense the real issue on people’s minds is increasing divide between rich and poor, inadequacy of Marine and Coastal Areas Bill, and rapid decline of Maori in every socio-economic statistic worth thinking of.

  9. dotty 9
    8 February 2011 at 1:57 am

    The Waitangi Day celebration should be moved around the country. Every ten years back at Waitangi
    them off to a Marae in Invercargill, Hamilton, Christchurch, Napier, Dunedin, New Plymouth, Picton, Palmerston North, Greymouth before going back to Waitangi ten years later. $1000 to film on a Marae would never happen if it was only there every ten years. Plus it might shut up Hone’s whanua for awhile, loud hailer on a Marae down south, yeah right

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