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Writing as a grindstone. Finished writing, unfinished writing, writing ideas, things that I'll never get round to writing, other things. Grinding it out, grinding away. Writing some more.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Why is the hīkoi important?

The Aotearoa is not for Sale hīkoi attracted around 8 000 participants in Auckland on Saturday, and continues to attract support as it passes through other towns. There are many different reasons for joining the hīkoi—to oppose asset sales, to support workers rights, to oppose dangerous drilling and mining practices, to oppose foreign ownership of land, to support tino rangatiratanga. If the conversations on my facebook page are representative of wider opinion, there should be about 3 million people joining the hīkoi by the time it gets to Wellington (whereas if the mainstream media reflects reality, then the hīkoi started and finished in Auckland last weekend). There’s also been a few criticisms of the hīkoi—that it’s not explicitly challenging capitalism, that the organisers are using dog-whistle language for nationalism and racism, that the involvement of a range of political parties makes the messages of the hīkoi so weak as to be meaningless. I want to talk about why I am supporting the hīkoi.

To some, capitalism is at the heart of all the issues of the hīkoi (for example, anti-capitalism must feature at hikoi against asset sales). To me, colonialism is the fundamental issue, and capitalism is just a part of that. I will be on the hīkoi to support tino rangatiratanga.

Tangata whenua have a whakapapa relationship with all elements of the environment—land, air, water, plants, animals, etc.
“The genealogy spreads in an ever increasing web of relationships from the single ancestral source. It includes the spiritual aspects of existence that are common to all things. The bond this creates between humans and the rest of the physical world is both immutable and unseverable.” (Nin Tomas 1994 “Implementing Kaitiakitanga under the RMA” New Zealand Environmental Law Reporter 39, p 40)
This recognises people as part of our environment, interdependent with our environment, with the same sort of responsibilities that we have to any of our whānau. Just as whakapapa is unseverable, so too are the responsibilities of whakapapa. Whoever the Crown recognises as the legal owners of land, minerals, water or fisheries, tangata whenua retain the responsibilities of whakapapa (I discuss this in more detail in an earlier post, Te Wao-Nui-a-Tāne, Wai 262 and the Mataatua Declaration). To me, tino rangatiratanga means the ability to assume those responsibilities. Protecting the environment from dangerous practices, such as deep-sea oil drilling or allowing nutrient rich run-off into streams, is a whakapapa responsibility—kaitiakitanga. The Crown sees the ability to make decisions about the environment as a right of its sovereignty.

The Crown has assumed sovereignty and tried to ignore or diminish the rangatiratanga of tangata whenua. I don’t want to spend much time writing about how tangata whenua have been pushed off land, because it is well documented. Taking my iwi (Ngāi Tahu) as an example, where there were ‘sales’, the Crown purchasers behaved dishonestly, promising things they didn’t intend to deliver, and changing deeds after they were signed; the Crown did not attempt to honour its side of many agreements, but expected tangata whenua to honour theirs; some agreements were made under threat; the Crown and tangata whenua always had different understandings and expectations of the agreements (see Harry Evison 1997 The Long Dispute for more enraging detail). Other land was taken for “public works”. Dismissing tikanga Māori, and in breach of its own laws, the Crown ignored all this. It kept some land to itself and sold the most valuable to early colonists (the massive profit was used to build up its government and militia). The Crown has acted as if it behaved morally and legally; this can only be true if Māori are considered irrelevant (although the 1893 Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act, commonly known as the Validation of Invalid Land Sales Act, does suggest that the Crown eventually felt it was important to be seen as subject to its own laws, and so changed them).

Despite all this, in struggling to enact our rangatiratanga, I believe we are in a stronger position fighting against the Crown, than fighting against foreign investors and corporations protected by the Crown and international laws. Māori fought to have Section 9 added to the State Owned Enterprises Act 1986 because it was recognised that the Crown is an easier target than private owners. Part of this is because of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 (S6 (4A)), which ring-fenced all privately owned land from Waitangi Tribunal recommendations. However, I see local ownership as less of a problem, because it only affects domestic law—parliament can change it as easily as it was invented. I think the Crown will be more likely to protect foreign investors and corporations, because it affects our international agreements. Asset sales and sales to offshore of land and resources is an issue of rangatiratanga.

Capitalism itself is a product of western thinking—the focus on competition, individuality, hierarchy, power over, exploitation; the replacement of deep relationships with our environment and each other, with the abstraction of money. The fundamental assumptions of capitalism are western, they are foreign to a Māori understanding of reality, but they are imposed on all of us by the Crown. Tino rangatiratanga means re-centering Māori understandings of reality.

I am hoping the hīkoi is an opportunity for us all to talk about our different realities and reasons for standing against current government policies. I hope that it will be an opportunity for many to learn what tino rangatiratanga and colonisation really mean. I hope we will get to discuss our different understandings of our world and relationships.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:56 pm

    Just last week Harry Evison was talking about how the dispossession of Ngai Tahu was not a Pakeha thing but a capitalist thing. He made the point that racism didn't happen in NZ until Capitalists decided the take the land and needed to justify this. Seeing the world as Tino Rangatiratanga good and "western" bad, is very simplistic. and there is no "Maori understanding of reality" any more than there is a Pakeha one. Capitalism (including Ngai Tahu capitalism) is based on exploitation,and that is what we need to oppose.

    http://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/harry-evison-on-walter-mantell-ngai-tahu-and-the-making-of-racism-in-new-zealand/

    A Commie

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    1. Dear A Commie,
      As a Pākehā-raised and -educated person, it has taken me years to recognise the cultural basis of my understandings of the world. Keep trying, you will get there.
      Best wishes

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  2. Anonymous7:40 pm

    You said that you wanted to discuss our different understandings of the world but you are pretty quick to make patronising putdowns. How about engaging with the argument instead of assuming I am less enlightened than you when it comes to cultural understanding.
    A Commie

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    1. Dear A Commie
      a) you haven't made an argument
      b) I'll consider engaging in your argument when you take the time to think about mine
      Best wishes

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  3. Anonymous12:42 pm

    Calm down. You made an argument that some people put an analysis of capitalism at the heart of their opposition to asset sales, and linked to an article by an anarchist. And then you argued that this was wrong and colonialism was the fundamental issue. You explained this by claiming there was a divide between western and Maori thinking. I argued that this was very simplistic and that capitalist exploitation was at the root of the problem. I did this in a blog post so it was rather short. I'm sorry I don't have time to write longer essays like yours, I just do not have the time (I blame capitalism for this too). I have thought about your argument and I disagree with it. Its difficult to debate when you are arguing that the problem is a difference in culture, and now seem to be saying that anyone who disagrees is proof of this. Bit of a circular argument really. Heres a question. What do you think of the fairly open nationalism and racism (more than dogwhistling) of some of the people (Maori and Pakeha) supporting the Hikoi? And presuming you oppose this too, how to we argue against it? I support the Hikoi too, as you suggested at the end of your post, we need to use to to discuss all these issues.
    A Commie

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    1. I'm perfectly calm, thanks for your concern.

      And thanks for articulating what you disagree with. I think it's necessary to point out that I did not say that I think seeing capitalism as the heart of the problem is wrong. I said "To me, colonialism is the fundamental issue, and capitalism is just a part of that." Saying that I understand an issue differently is not the same as saying other people are wrong (for the record, I think the tendency to see things that way is cultural--a result of the western obsession with the one right way, pretty sure Moana Jackson has written about this, but unhelpfully I can't think of a reference. Taiaiake Alfred has also written about it when discussing sovereignty in Peace, Power and Righteousness. It's taken me ages to unlearn this tendency).

      Your first post implies that I see the world as tino rangatiratanga = good and western = bad. I don't, and nor do I think my post suggests that. It's a strawman argument, which suggests you are being defensive and not engaging with what I actually wrote. Why?

      Your statement that 'there is no "Maori understanding of reality"', reinforces that you can't be bothered thinking about what I wrote. Does it make it easier for you to understand what I'm saying if you replace "Maori understanding of reality" with "epistemology" (or the more common patronising alternative "worldview")?

      I get that you see capitalism as the basis of colonial exploitation. I don't have a problem with that. Personally, I see cultural imperialism as the basis. I don't think our difference of opinion is cultural--I don't know where you got that idea from, as I said, I had an exclusively Pakeha upbringing. And while I think it is necessary for more anti-capitalists to expand their politics to include an analysis of cultural imperialism, as long as that happens, I don't think that a difference of emphasis (capitalism v cultural imperialism) is a problem. Maybe you could explain to me why it is a problem.

      I haven't seen open racism and nationalism on the hikoi (I don't follow mainstream media, and I certainly didn't see signs of it when the hikoi was in Otaki yesterday). It doesn't surprise me that you say it is common among supporters--from what I see, it is common among New Zealand society. To me, that's the problem. How do we argue against that? I try to avoid being part of it. I write blog posts and talk about it with students (I don't get out much, classes are the closest I get to a social/ political life--hence the blog). I talk about cultural imperialism (as a foundation of racism and nationalism) every chance I get (and I get insulted regularly because of it, yay). I do the occasional work shop. I don't know what else to do. I'm open to suggestions.
      Best wishes

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