On Saturday, Claire and I attended a multicultural festival celebrating Chinese New Year.
It was organised by the China Cultural Centre with the support of the Multicultural Council of Wellington, Wellington City Council and Te Papa.
Invited guests included Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, several ambassadors, Wellington mayor Andy Foster, senior members of the police force, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the NZ Human Rights Commission. There were also a number of MPs and councillors.
The Chinese lunar calendar transitions from the Year of the Rat to that of the Ox. No doubt a premonition of the hard work ahead.
A number of the speakers related their own understanding of the symbolism. If you understand the value of symbolism in Asian cultures you may be tempted to look at the invitation list to this cultural event. One could choose to see this event as just a wonderful cultural event and think nothing more of it.
To my political eye the choice of framing this Chinese New Year celebration as a multicultural festival reflects a desire to project a China that's culturally inclusive.
At a time when the global political and economic ascendency of China is being challenged by those pointing out its treatment of Tibet and the native Uyghur people. Frame this further with the more recent diplomatic and trade entanglement between our closest neighbour Australia and China and we have a classic ox in a china shop diplomatic situation where NZ has flown the kite as a potential arbiter.
Cultural relations are a good place to see this shadow play. I don't know if Saturday's event organisers had invited the Australian High Commission. And, if they had, what the response could have been.
Certainly the range of cultural items, led by a kapa haka group, was impressive. Performers from Indian, Vanuatu, Thai, Bulgarian, Egyptian, Russian, Indonesian, African, Latin American, Chinese, Western classical, cultures were enjoyed by a very appreciative audience. For me the multicultural event had two outstanding symbolic performances.
Firstly, the impressive traditional Lion Dance that welcomed the visitors and kicked off the items on stage. We were especially impressed by Dame Patsy Reddy who was called on to the stage to sit on a chair while the lead lion in full consumed splendour danced and postured behind.
The coming together of two significant symbols. The lion symbolising power, prosperity and good luck and our governor-general also symbolising the power of the Crown and state.
We were impressed by the consummate skill of Dame Patsy to be sporting to take part in an impromptu invite while maintaining the gravitas of the role of governor-general. If there is a role for cultural exchange to play a symbolic role in building diplomatic bridges we witnessed that on Saturday. Hats off to Dame Patsy.
Dame Patsy Reddy. Photo / Supplied
The second outstanding symbolic performance was the fact that the whole event was cradled within the bosom of Te Marae.
The marae is seen as the authentic, contemporary and inclusive marae for the 21st century. The fact that this multicultural event celebrating Chinese New Year was held within a Treaty context has not escaped my appreciation. Particularly given we were in the run-up to the nationally symbolic Waitangi Day.
A number of years ago the Federation of Multicultural Councils, working with Māori partners, introduced the concept of 'Treaty-based citizenship'.
It has helped me negotiate my understanding of the relationship between new migrants and the political, social, cultural and economic dynamics of the host nation. The understanding that we are essentially a multicultural society living within a bicultural nation framed by the Treaty of Waitangi.
It's important that those taking the sacred oath of citizenship of Aotearoa New Zealand not only understand but embrace this.
To this understanding I add my own observation. There are those in our mainstream political culture who conveniently prefer to dismiss this Treaty partnership by claiming that we are a multicultural society and, therefore, this effectively supersedes biculturalism.
In simple arithmetic you cannot go from the number 1 to the number 3 without being reconciled or empowered by the number 2. Without true biculturalism you cannot transition to the true state of multiculturalism.
Under democracy's majority rule the rights of minorities can be neglected or dismissed. Māori as a minority have been subject to this experience. The Treaty has given Māori the legal ability to protect and nurture their cultural, political and economic values. Their right to enjoy and actively advocate a different world-view. Case law, particularly developed through the Environment Court, is continuing to advance this.
This Treaty-nurtured space within the mainstream majority culture has a positive effect in extending the elasticity of the majority culture to potentially accept positive contributions from other cultures. And today, Aotearoa New Zealand is home to more than 200 ethnicities. We are richer for it.
