BEHIND THE SMOKE AND MIRRORS

A couple of weeks ago I had a messenger exchange with a friend whose hapū have been badly affected by the Crown’s divisive settlement processes; they are looking for a way to get their land back and have their right to self-govern respected and upheld without having to go through those processes

The exchange was triggered by my friend’s interest in Margaret Mutu’s recent article in the Journal of Global Ethics.  Titled Behind the smoke and mirrors of the Treaty of Waitangi claims settlement process in New Zealand, the article draws on the experiences of more than 100 claimants from across the country and discusses why there is no prospect for justice and reconciliation for Māori without constitutional transformation that entrenches and protects our right to self-govern.

As my friend noted in his initial message to me, “It's obvious it [the settlement process] is all about covering up with a 'blanket iwi settlement' for the crown's sole benefit, not for the whānau and hapū who have been blatantly ripped off.  All we want is our land returned unencumbered by tauiwi law. Surely, there must be a way for this to happen.”

In reply I reminded him that, under tikanga (law), there is a way.  The good news is that many people in this country from different ethnicities, creeds and colours are already willing and able to practice that way as post-colonial Pacific nations.  The even better news is that many more are currently travelling the road to post-colonialism.  And the best news is that even more are willing to do so.

It is not a comfortable road or journey to be on, but the destination is well worth it.  The briefest way to describe that destination is, self-government: tauiwi govern themselves, Māori govern ourselves, and on those things where we need both sides to decide, we come together and work it out.  It’s more complex than that of course, but it’s a good starting point for those who are willing to start the transformation journey.

Many intellectuals get the need for and inevitability of that journey and put their bodies on the line for it. A lot of politicians also get it, but only a few of them have the kaha and manawanui to publicly embrace and promote it.  

Then there are those who promote the myths of white supremacy and white genocide as reasons to oppose it.  For an excellent primer on those myths and some of their promoters, I recommend you read Ross Webb’s article published this week by The Spinoff at https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/24-03-2019/ex-pat-south-africans-need-to-stop-pedalling-the-myth-of-white-genocide/

Hei aha (whatever).  None of those who oppose, ignore or obstruct our right to self-govern created that right, so they can’t ultimately control or stop our innate desire to claim and exercise it. 

The worst they can and already do is corrupt it, which is essentially what the Crown’s settlement processes are about.  For deeper insights into those corruption processes, read Margaret’s article at https://www.docdroid.net/cSVvZsH/appendix-3-behind-the-smoke-and-mirrors-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-claims-settlement-process-in-new-zealand-no-prospect-for-justice-and-reconciliation-f.pdf

THERE BE WHITE SUPREMACISTS AMONGST US

QUESTION:  Why, with the evidence of the livestream video and its accompanying manifesto available to them, did the media initially report the white supremacist terror killing on Friday 15th March at the two mosques in Christchurch as mass murder?  Why didn't they call it straightaway for what it clearly was, an act of terror?  

ANSWER: Because it was carried out by a white person against people of colour.  

QUESTION:  How did this white supremacist manage to plan and execute the terror killing of 50 people and the maiming of dozens of others without once coming to the attention of the GCSB, SIS, New Zealand Police or any of their international counterparts?  

ANSWER:  By being white.  

QUESTION:  Was the white supremacist being watched by any of these intelligence agencies?  Was he even on any of their watchlists?  

ANSWER:  No. 

QUESTION:  Had any of these so called intelligence agencies ever been alerted to the possibility of a white supremacist terror attack?  

ANSWER:  Yes.  For more than five years, Muslim representatives knocked on every door they could, (senior government Ministers and officials, Police, SIS, OEC, DIA, HRC) and spoke at every possible forum to point to the rise of hatred and of the alt-right in New Zealand.  Apart from Susan Devoy, former Race Relations Conciliator, and the Human Rights Commission, they were at best ignored and at worst derided. 

QUESTION:  Before the livestream of the terror attack spewed onto facebook, who and what were these agencies all watching instead?  

ANSWER:  Māori activists, Iwi Māori, Greenpeace and radicalised Muslims.

QUESTION:  Within three days of the terror killings, the New Zealand National Front website was down and their facebook page, though still open, had made no postings since Friday 15th March.  Why?  

ANSWER:  I have no idea.

QUESTION:  Some people have said since the white supremacist attack that we have lost our innocence.  What innocence was that? 

ANSWER:  I have no idea.

QUESTION:  Was this the first act of terror by white supremacists against people of colour in New Zealand?  

ANSWER:  Hell no!  Following the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840, there were a series of localised battles when white settlers with what are now recognised as notions of white supremacy, increasingly and lawlessly invaded hapū lands and territories. 

However, from the late 1850s until the early 1870s, backed by British armed forces, they ramped up their invasions and deliberately set out to destroy Māori strongholds of resistance to their thieving behaviours and their attempts to over-ride Māori Mana Motuhake. 

While they often came away from a battle worse off than when they entered it, they remained resolute that they were superior and had the God-given right to terrorise Māori into giving them, for little or nothing, our lands and estates, then accepting their sovereignty over us.  So no, this was not the first white supremacist terror attack in New Zealand.

QUESTION:  Will this be the last white supremacy terror killing in this country?  

ANSWER:  I’d like to hope so, but I doubt it because there remain white supremacists amongst us. 

While no amount of questions will turn back the clock and return 50 murdered people to their loved ones, these questions and more will need to be answered before there can be any hope of preventing another white supremacist attack.

And by the way, if you don't like these questions or their answers, then you need to check either your reality, or your fragility, or your white supremacy at my door before you enter; because NO!  I won't stop saying 'white supremacy' to you.

THERE BE CONMEN AMONGST US

It was early 1999 and several Hokianga hapu had just been hit by a weather bomb that had washed away or ruined houses, marae, infrastructure and an entire Area School.  But one of those hapū was also hit by an even worse disaster – a conman and his flying monkeys.

This conman ran a version of the Nigerian Scam with his own special twist promising people new houses and infrastructure, as well as tino rangatiratanga and freedom from the Crown and it’s systems in exchange for megabucks that they could liberate from a bank in Nigeria for a relatively small fee of anywhere between a couple of hundred to tens of thousands of dollara, depending on how much they had and how much they believed.

This link https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/.../unexpecte.../nigerian-scams gives a good summary of how that scam worked.

As soon as we got whiff of this conman’s stench, we began to spread the word – kia tupato (be cautious). We also contacted Fair Go whose research found that, even before he and his flying monkeys hit our hapū, he’d already left a trail of broken promises, dreams and hearts behind in Rotorua, Auckland and other places where he’d scammed marae, gangs, a church and members of his own whanau.

One of his whānau victims sent a message via the ensuing Fair Go programme saying, “[Cousin] you took my love for you and twisted it into a hook which you used to take, take and take until I had nothing left to give. When did you ever ask … [my] permission to become your personal social welfare office?”

Most of his supporters were mainly kaumatua and kuia who went to their graves waiting for a return on what they gave him, including cash, paying his bills, buying him food, giving him places to live and access to their phone, internet and lines of credit, paying for his airfares and other travel costs. But they also gave him their love, loyalty and trust – their mana. In exchange he violated it all.  

I recall a description in Rolling Stone of the financiers who sparked the 2008 crash in the US. “Like a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Well, that’s how this conman and others like him operated then and are still operating now, only they are wrapped around the face of Māori.

So if you meet anyone who titles themselves with some grand sounding name like His Excellency Chief whatever, who has a flash website and/or loud supporters, who spouts tino rangatiratanga and promises they can access megabucks from overseas via either a foreign bank, government, monarch (or other entity) in exchange for you giving them something; wise up whānau – or get ready to wave your mana and your money bye-bye. 

You’ve been warned, there be conmen amongst us and they’re not necessarily Crown agents.  Kei a rātou iaiana (up to you now).

BEAUTIFUL LEARNING

We recently received a query on facebook asking which was the correct name of the river at Taipā – Ikatiritiri or Ikateretere?  This was a cool opportunity to provide answers and teach some fundamental tenets of our beautiful matauranga – both as science (a body of knowledge) and pedagogy (the method of teaching it).

First, our matauranga has the capacity to accommodate different perspectives, experiences, retellings and repurposings of hakataukī, pūrakau and other methods of transmitting knowledge. Hence, the pūrakau of Kahukura and the kupenga at Whatuwhiwhi may be retold and repurposed at Warawara; or perhaps it is the other way round.

In any event, both versions of that pūrakau have their place and purpose and only a misguided Māori or a complete foreigner would insist on a single version or perspective where there are clearly more than one. I tell my tamāriki mokopuna, if you come across such a person, kia tūpato (be wary). 

However, our matauranga does not accommodate the stories that some recently arrived settlers in our rohe like to try and tell about us. Again, if my tamāriki mokopuna come across a person who accommodates those kinds of stories, they know, kia tūpato.

Another tenet of our matauranga is to question someone directly only with regard to an area in which they have proven expertise or knowledge.  Otherwise, we simply lay a question on the papa (the floor) so that those who can kōrero to it may do so, if they wish. 

A third tenet of our matauranga is to hear and debate other perspectives with a view to learning from the exercise, not just winning it.  Fine examples of this practice can be seen in the Māori TV series Tautohetohe. 

With that brief context, I now give an even briefer response to the question above.

There are many different pūrakau behind both Ikatiritiri and Ikateretere with huge depth to each., but the space limits of this column mean I can only shallowly touch on just two of them.

Ngāti Kahu’s traditions record many events associated with Kupe in our rohe, such as his landing at IKATIRITIRI in Taipā because there was an abundance of shellfish and fish (ika) there which his people could catch and generously distribute (tiritiri) to feed themselves.

However, the name of the awa is also rendered by some as IKATERETERE. One pūrakau for this name references the shoals of fish (ika) there when they are schooling on the surface (teretere).

Knowing both versions is important because it helps one understand why each exists and why one group will use Ikatiritiri and another will use Ikateretere.

However, it’s even more important to apply that understanding to the present.  Hence, the focus of the local hapū and iwi today is to clean up and restock the river at Taipā so that we may once again tiritiri nga ika kei reira as well as see nga ika teretere.  

And the beginnings and underpinnings for it all is our beautiful matauranga.