2014: A deadline for disaster

The National government re-pledged full and final settlements for all outstanding treaty claims by 2014 at yesterday’s Waitangi Day events. This utterly arbitrary date is unlikely to see an end to colonial injustice and systemic racism, and as Mr. Key put it to allow New Zealanders to “stop looking in the rear-view mirror at grievances past, and to instead shift our eyes to the challenges of our shared future as New Zealanders”. Rather, the push to settle treaty claims in four years time is likely to see the more stress put on iwi and hapu to conform to a government process they had no part in establishing.

In her piece “Are we all New Zealanders now: a Maori response to the Pakeha quest for indigeneity”, Dr Ani Mikaere outlined that in order for true justice to prevail and past grievances settled it must be tangata whenua who formulate how restitution is achieved and what process is undertaken, not those who perpetrated the injustices, e.g. the crown. It would be a bit like the US setting up a war crimes tribunal in Iraq for the US government, officers and soldiers and then telling the people of Iraq that they can't have any say in how that process is devised or what the restitution can be. Unsuprisingly, the existing treaty process was dictated by the crown and imposed upon Maori. Thus issues like who has the mandate to negotiate claims for an iwi or hapu must fit the crown’s model. Quotes from the Waitangi day edition of the DomPost blamed iwi and hapu for the slow pace of settlements – in other words, if only they would just fall into line and fit in with the pakeha model this could all be a lot easier.

The 2014 date is also unlike to see an end to grievances because the crown continues to commit egregious acts of colonial aggression and confiscation right now. Again, the PM’s speech at Waitangi “urged Maori not to expect too much” in terms of the Foreshore and Seabed legislative revamp. He said that Maori needed to ‘get real’ when contemplating what kind of solution might be found. In the words of noted Maori lawyer Moana Jackson when a politician says ‘get real’ he means ‘get Pakeha’.  Mr Key seems to be saying that even the ability to argue for legal ownership of the foreshore and seabed through the court system is not going to feature in National party law.

Hone Harawira has outlined three principles on which the new foreshore and seabed law should be based; but given his status as outlaw rebel of the Maori party, it is unlikely to carry the day despite their relatively modest aims. These three principles are: One, Maori title of the foreshore and seabed. Two, in case anyone is scared we will sell it, make it [the title] inalienable. Three, full access to all New Zealanders forever.

Moreover, the government’s larger plans – in terms of devolving social, educational and health services to ‘community organisations’ – will have profound effects for Maori and non-Maori alike. While the proof of these will certainly be in the days to come, if the devolved state sector of the 1980s and 1990s is anything to go by, we had better watch out.

I felt a deep sense of sorrow and anger as I walked the streets of Wellington yesterday. Drunk sevens fans crowded the city, while entire streets were cordoned off so they could entertain themselves without harming others. Other more ‘progressive’ folks headed over to the one love concert to celebrate Bob Marley’s birthday. There seemed little notice at all of Waitangi Day, and even less awareness that the peace Bob preached about can only be built with true justice.