Culling Mā ori wards racist attack
This Government still thinks Mā ori must prove right to exercise power
The removal of Mā ori wards is another racist, targeted attack on Mā ori, for being Mā ori. We are being forcibly removed from the decision-making table that we built in the first place and invited Pā kehā to sit at in 1840.
This is an attempt to silence tangata whenua, whose demise is what founds and continues to fuel this illegitimate Parliament machine, and its extensions in local councils. It has been 184 years and this Government still thinks we Mā ori must prove our right to exercise power in Aotearoa. It is the Government and Parliament institution that should be proving its right to exercise its power over us.
Yet, perversely, because we have been made a minority on our own whenua, we are fighting now for crumbs of what we actually have a right to — full and undisturbed sovereignty. This Government, and the racists it represents, blindly ignore the truly undemocratic historical violence against tangata whenua. Stealing our land, wrongfully seizing political power, whitewashing our identity, our knowledge, and creating laws that demote us to second-class citizenship. The removal of Mā ori wards is simply a continuation of imperial abuse on tangata whenua.
The argument is that Mā ori wards will be the demise of democracy. To remove Mā ori wards is an assault on Te Tiriti, the only reason a democracy inclusive of Pā kehā could ever exist.
Te Tiriti was created so the Queen of England could control her unruly Pā kehā in Aotearoa. I support the recent letter of my whanaunga Margaret Mutu for the British Crown to rein in these unruly Pā kehā sitting in Government now.
Disestablishing Mā ori wards further undermines councils’ autonomy in their rohe. This rings true for the Far North district of Te Tai Tokerau. This rohe alone covers over 6000 square kilometres, a whenua where Mā ori make up nearly 50 per cent of the population.
The establishment of Mā ori wards in the Far North district also gave the 13 iwi entities, the 252 hapū , Mā ori Social Service, reo and local trust organisations a voice that bridges into greater confidence in what is meant to be their local government.
To assume all Mā ori in the Far North would also front and vote in any election is also blatant ignorance. This law merely feeds the latent mistrust of my people in the system. My people are not disengaged from government, they are disenchanted.
We are less likely to vote if our incomes do not meet daily needs and if we do not see ourselves reflected in, or as having a true influence over, decision-making. This is a reality for many of my own in Te Tai Tokerau.
This is why Mā ori wards matter. The Far North emanates this very sentiment. With the establishment of Mā ori wards, even those Mā ori in the most remote areas of Te Tai Tokerau, including Panguru and Mitimiti, are now engaging with council. Removing Mā ori wards ultimately removes any care for people who reside in these types of remote areas. This devalues our people.
Mā ori wards bridge the gap between our communities and lawmakers. They offer councils expertise in what remains unreachable to them. Mā ori ward councillors engage directly with our communities because we know the suffering of our people and the necessity of resource but also the intelligence, resilience and ingenuity of tā ngata Mā ori.
All four Mā ori ward candidates for the Far North District Council are fluent in the reo of this whenua and the reo of this colonial empire. They are experts in two opposing worlds, fluent in not only the languages but cultures themselves.
To those who oppose these sentiments I say, do not fear Mā ori liberation as our current Government does, but instead walk beside us, with us. Te Tiriti was always intended to create an Aotearoa where all peoples can thrive whilst tino rangatiratanga of Mā ori is maintained. Tiriti justice is good for all.
Mā ori mā , we are the sovereign of our own liberation and of our own minds. We do not nurture the colonial dreams of that have endeavoured to silence our Mā ori voices from central government, local government, regional councils. Join the rangatira revolution and stand up for our rights.
My people are not disengaged from government, they are disenchanted.