Colonisation, Democracy and Co-Governance
Willie Jackson the Minister for Maori Development says democracy has changed from being the tyranny of the majority and people need to stop being scared of co-governance.
“Co-governance and co-management are based on the principles of MMP,” the minister added.
“Democracy’s changed….We’re in a consensus-type democracy now. This is not a majority democracy. First-past-the-post has finished,”
Anthony Willy, former Judge and Law Lecturer, in June 2022 stated the following:
“The catch cry ‘democracy does not work for Maori’ has become the mantra for the destruction of democracy. Lenin would recognise what is being attempted in New Zealand in 2022, as would any self-respecting South American dictator. Quite simply we are witnessing a coup designed to dismantle our democracy and the Rule of Law and replace it with the worst form of tribalism coupled with the greed of those who want what they have not earned.”
There have also been many claims made by various people that colonisation has deeply harmed Maori communities, seriously and consistently undermining their vitality, aspirations and potentials, particularly since the 1860s.
But in fact this is not true.
Prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the average life expectancy for Maori was mid-thirties; the tribes were constantly at war with one another and the Maori practised slavery and cannibalism as a common effect of their warlike practices.
The Colony of New Zealand was created in 1840 as a Crown colony and the power of the British government was vested in the governor of New Zealand, but the colony was granted self-government in 1852.
In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, an agreement between the British Crown and Maori. It established British law in New Zealand and is considered New Zealand’s founding document and an important part of the country’s history.
One of the main drivers behind the signing of the Treaty was to protect the Maori population from inter-tribal warfare, the threat of invasion by other nations and to bring an end to the musket wars.
The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms race in order to gain territory or seek revenge for past defeats.
It is believed that as many as 20,000 Maori may have died as a result of the musket wars. Tribal boundaries were also changed by the musket wars.
The Treaty of Waitangi, despite all of the wrongful interpretations that have been said to require co-governance, guaranteed equal rights to all NZ citizens under British rule.
There is no mention in the Treaty documents of any partnership requirements or requirements for Co-Governance, in fact;
The acclaimed Maori Leader Sir Apirana Ngata explains the intent in the pages of this book, the “Treaty of Waitangi”. He concludes with the words:
“The Treaty made the one law for the Maori and Pakeha. If you think these things are wrong and bad then blame our ancestors who gave away their rights in the days when they were powerful”.
Maori lost land through government confiscation as a result of the land wars and they lost much more through the sale to new settlers. These land sales were mainly to allow them to gain things such as tools, axes, blankets, saws, picks and shovels, warm clothing and cooking utensils.
In actual fact the worst effects of colonisation did not come about because of any mistreatment by the Crown but more so by the Maori desire to attain the European settler’s goods and guns. Given the fact that their life expectancy has increased to approximately mid-seventies and that the Crown has made reparations through the Waitangi Settlement processes I believe that they have received much more of benefit than of harm through the process of colonisation.
Maori allowed themselves to be colonised not just by the settler’s goods but also the other stuff as well – proper houses and metal tools – and a written Language – and laws that treated everyone more or less the same.
They were also seduced by the sheep, cattle and pigs to eat, horses to carry them around and bullocks to pull a plough – which the settlers bought with them.
Maori shouldn’t blame today’s NZ citizens for colonisation – they should take into account the words of Sir Apirana Ngata and blame their own ancestors. They didn’t want to continue to live in grass huts with dirt floors they were driven by a desire for a better future with access to the settler’s goods and security.