Māori Party co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Māori Party co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. Photo / Mark Mitchell
OPINION:
It concerns me that the narrative around Waitangi Day assumes that Te Tiriti was our tupuna’s first and only effort to resist colonisation. It wasn’t. Like many indigenous peoples, we had traversed the world long before others arrived at our shores. We were voyagers, international traders and the last indigenous nation to be colonised by the British Empire.
Our tupuna were not just waiting to be found. They foresaw the taniwha that was coming:
He taniwha kei te haere mai, ona niho he hiriwa he kōura ko tona kai he whenua. Kaua e mataku i te hiriwa me te kōura, engari kaua e tukua ite hiriwa me te kōura hei atuatanga mou.
There is a Taniwha on its way with teeth of silver and gold. Do not fear the teeth of silver and gold just do not allow it to become your God.
A taniwha that only respected the written word and the rule of law, thus a Declaration of Independence, He Whakaputanga, was created and signed by rangatira on 28 October 1835.
For our tupuna, He Whakaputanga was an affirmation of our sovereignty as an independent, indigenous nation engaged in global trade.
The Crown’s motives, however, were more devious – only independent nations can sign treaties, and we were at the beginning of an era where taking a country by force was no longer considered the ‘civilised’ way.
This is the context that Te Tiriti was signed in. And like He Whakaputanga, our tupuna believed in the tapu of their word and the honour of signing mana to mana with another independent nation. We know today that this mana was not reciprocated.
So, as we celebrate Waitangi Day 2023, it’s timely to reflect on the obligation to not just resist but neutralise colonisation and reclaim our rights to live with dignity to self-determination as we did before our natural development was interrupted.
The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Photo / via Alexander Turnbull Library
And to be clear this is not the watered-down co-governance we are hearing so much about from politicians and the media. Waitangi is about our right to self-governance.
183 years later we continue to fight for the return of our land, the restoration of our taiao, and the taniwha of poverty, racism and injustice.
And despite the protests of the pro-monocultural xenophobes, despite the 2 per cent of the population who own 50 per cent of this nation’s wealth, we are closer than ever to restoring our mana motuhake than ever before.
We are the growing population: with 70 per cent under of us under 45 years and 20 per cent under 21 years.
We showed the world with our Māori Covid response that we can do better than the public health response and turned Covid modelling predictions on its toes. Looking after all citizens of Aotearoa.
We have a generation of Tangata Tiriti who are filling up reo Māori classes, uniting to create an Aotearoa hou and realise Te Tiriti-based nation in the South Pacific that our tupuna signed up to.
Signs at the Ihumatao land protest in Mangere, South Auckland. Photo / Peter Meecham
We saw it at Ihumātao. In the climate strikes. In the Matike Mai movement. We see it in the arts, in sports, in business, and on Matatini and Manu Kōrero stages.
Our policies have been taken up by the government. We now have the history of Aotearoa being taught in schools. We have a Māori Health Authority. Māori wards in local government. Guaranteed Māori procurement. Matariki as a public holiday. Māori can switch electoral rolls at any time.
Kaupapa Māori can no longer be ignored by the Pākehā parties, red, blue or green. But in 2023 we are being forced to contend with unprecedented challenges.
As the cost of living continues to soar and poverty gets worse, it’s harder to put ‘bread and butter’ on the table. More difficult to put petrol in the car, more difficult to provide a secure home for our tamariki.
As we face extreme weather events that are more severe and more often, there has been an unprecedented impact on our maramataka. Houses flooded, crops ruined, businesses destroyed.
Capitalism is at its knees and wealth must be redistributed. This can be as simple taxing the wealthy and polluters rather than your grocery and petrol bills. We must be bold and push for change!
E te iwi, we are closer to achieving our mana motuhake than ever before. Tangata whenua need to believe in ourselves. Believe in our ability to look after our own people, progress our own solutions, lead our own systems of government. By Māori, for Māori, according to Māori.
We must live Māori. Dream Māori. Believe in Māori.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and Māori advocate. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, alongside Rawiri Waititi.
