New life after and against colonisation - East Coast tribe going autonomous!

Nice 1! Honour the treaty / tiriti!

It seems as though the government, in its haste to push through Treaty settlements and thereby put a lid on 'Maori grievances', has bypassed negotiations with many hapu and dealt instead with iwi runanga which were for one reason or another not fully representative of some of the hapu they claimed to represent. The result is that some hapu are trying to make new claims outside of the umbrella of the iwi to which they belong.

There's a somewhat similar case to this one up north, where a Nga Puhi hapu is making a claim for the grounds where the Treaty was signed. And in 2004, at the height of the furore over the seabed and foreshore legislation, another East Cape hapu tried to break away from Ngati Porou, and even declared the area around the settlement of Potaka to the west of Hicks Bay independent. The hapu wanted to set up a fish farming venture that would create jobs and benefit hapu members. After a few weeks, though, the inititive was abandoned and some sort of reconciliation with the Ngati Porou runanga was achieved.

The Ngati Porou runanga was itself opposed to the foreshore and seabed, but eventually reached a deal with the government whereby a certain quota of fish farming licenses were guaranteed to iwi members. In February Ngati Porou became the first iwi to formally endorse Labour's foreshroe and seabed legislation; as a result they have received a very watered-down acknowledgement of their 'legal ownership' of the coastline of their rohe.

Ever since the pro-government forces won out in a Ngati Porou civil war in the 1860s, the iwi has had a relatively conservative, conciliatory leadership, symbolised by Apirana Ngata. The iwi's willingness to sign up to labour's seabed and foreshore legislation reflects this tradition.

If the Takimoana hapu is challenging the politics of the Ngati Porou runganga leadership, then this is positive. But it's hard to see how such a small number of people can build a viable 'economic base', let alone maintain an independent state, and the splintering of a mighty iwi like Ngati Porou into a thousand hapu alienated from each other would not be a good idea, either. One of the negative aspects of the Treaty process has been the way it has splintered some iwi, or turned iwi with a long history of good relations against each other. A good example is the relationship of Tuhoe and the smaller iwi Ngati Whare. they fell out over forestry claims, and Tuhoe political unity has suffered as a result. For this reason I hope that the Takimoana hapu do not try to separate themselves from Ngati Porou and present themselves as an indepdent iwi.

Ngati Porou needs to be united, and to unite with other progressive forces, like the ones represented on this website, so that it can push the government on issues like economic development.

The East Coast has still not recovered from neo-liberal 'reforms' of 1984-99, and the closure of post offices, banks, mills, and freezing works. The government should be forced to pour money into health, education, and job creation on the East Coast. There has been some progress made with the setting up of the hospital at Te Puia Springs and the building of new state hosues at places like Onepoto. Fish farming has a big future. But a lot mroe money needs to go in. An independent state on a few square kilometres of land around the East Cape would not be able to find the funds for either social services or economic development.

Interesting background:

NEW AVENUE FOR NGATI POROU PROTEST

An East Coast hapu has called a meeting in Rangitukia tomorrow to win support for a breakaway from the Ngati Porou runanga.

The agenda includes setting up an independent government for Te Whanau-a-Takimoana, taking over ownership of Whanga-o-kena, or East Cape Island, from the Crown, and not paying tax.

Jim Perry, who affiliates to Te Whanau-a-Takimoana, says it's a sign of the disharmony on the coast in the wake of the Government's decision to negotiate the region's claims with Te Runanga o Ngati Porou, rather than with the various independent hapu.

He says the runanga has already got the benefits of the fisheries settlement, and now it's going for land as well.

“And the hapu, who really have suffered under the grievance situation, have received nothing, so they’re setting themselves up so that they can now go to Government and say hey, we’re the ones that are now independent of the runanga, we want our share,” Mr Perry says.

Te Whanau-a-Takimoana did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi, so it does not concede any sovereignty to the Crown.

An amazing stance considering settlement-ism is running rampant at the moment.

stupid website...need more specific information...sorry...blah blah blah...
why is the info cut off on the left hand side?...WE CANT READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MEAN!!!