Whenua - land

I had a conversation a few weeks ago that went something like this:
"I hate possums! They're a pest. They eat our native birds and we should get rid of them all!"
"Well... I know some people who would say the same about you..."
Touche.
Of course the conversation was much more than just that. But it's true. The last statement reflects the way many Maori feel about white people. I had to regret my words. We brought the possums in, it is our fault that the native wildlife is getting destroyed. It is also our fault that the native culture, language and peoples were destroyed so many years ago. Many politicians and those in government would like us to believe that this land is ours. After all we signed a treaty didn't we? But when they say 'ours' who do they mean? The treaty was left forgotten in a basement, water-ridden and being eaten by rats for thirty years.

This is also the situation endured by Maori. For a while the white man thought Maori would die out, Hoorah they said: "Taking all things into consideration, the disappearance of the race is scarcely subject for much regret. They axe dying out in a quick, easy way, and are being supplanted by a superior race." This a statement by a so-called Dr. Newman in 1881, in 1884 Sir Walter Buller only predicted twenty more years for the Maori race. It is no surprise then that the treaty was 'lost'.
Still now we hear comments saying that our arrival to New Zealand made things better. They were savages, cannibals. We gave them technology, education... We also destroyed the education they had, we destroyed their culture, we gave them a white god, we gave them drugs and alcohol.
The Maori situation still hasn't changed. While we boast that the indigenous peoples of New Zealand have a brighter future than any other indigenous people in the world thanks to the Treaty of Waitangi: a) this is something to mourn rather than celebrate. b) this doesn't mean the situation for Maori is 'good' c) the Treaty of Waitangi was only enshrined as a national document [and isn't a very good one] in 1975 with the Waitangi Tribunal.
Maori still now are much more likely to suffer from health problems, unemployment and poverty when compared to your average Pakeha. On the other hand, the Waitangi tribunal was set up after Maori started to protest for their rights to be equal [or maybe superior] to the white man, for the acceptance of their culture and to solve the disputes the white man created when he stole Maori land. Even though the protest movement died down, the situation isn't any better.
It is difficult to give a say on issues of race. It is easy for me to say that we should all have equal rights, because at the end of the day this is also what is best for me: an educated white boy. I personally think it'd be dumb to ask for a Maori only society, I can see where the desire comes from, but this would not create an equal society by definition, it would be a Maori and a Pakeha society, two separate ones, like Apartheid South Africa. At the same time society has to recognize that Maori start off handicapped because of their skin. They are more likely to fall into broken households where the parents haven't had a good access to education, thus bringing them into crime.
The first thing to do would be to recognize that this land is theirs, symbolically. Protesters in the Far North were recently arrested because they were occupying what they claimed to be their land. They were Maori and the land was a sailing club. "We're being arrested from our whenua" one said. They were protesting because this is where the ancient waka Mamaru landed for the last time. They want this land to be recognized as the tapu-sacred place it is. Te Ika a Maui and Te Waka o Aoraki both belong to Maori, if we are here we should consider it a privilege. As part of being a New Zealander we have to embrace Maori culture and language, only this way can we be truly bi-cultural. If the only way to achieve these changes is through protest, we will protest. Protests are what stopped the Apartheid machine on its tracks and what started the international boycott movement, protests are what give French a leeway against their government, protests are what made the situation better for Maori through the 70s and 80s, this is how they gained more rights. Protests allow us to tell the government that we are here too, that we matter and that we want what is rightfully ours, in this case an equal, multicultural New Zealand.
We should be wary of what the media says when it speaks about protests. They know they're effective, which is why they want to prove otherwise. Next time Maori or anyone else protests for further rights, we should join. The struggle can only be achieved through unity. And it's 4 million against John.