I find myself living in an Aotearoa - New Zealand age where
Colonialism (and by
Colonialism, I mean the real, true blue
British imperial thing, not colonialism in the imbecilic "ISRAEL IS A
NAZI IMPERIALIST TERROR STATE" whining western middle-class 'left-wing' champagne-socialist audure, either) is now operating, in new, interesting and disturbing ways.
Allow me to flesh out my perspective. The messy, post-nihil-anarcho-modernist perspective with which I've been cursed, suggests that one of the great problems with global society is not that there
always have to be evil people 'behind the wheel,' driving power structures of hate and oppression. To the contrary - the reality is that there is often
no-one 'behind the wheel'. What does this mean? In the absence of a human driver, dictator or benevolent leader, or a better system altogether - the immense power of human apathy takes over.
I've heard some of my more dogmatic friends term that apathy as "Post-Modernism." I think a more apt term for it is Nihilism. To me, Post-Modernism is the softening and disruption of absolute concepts - a complete necessity for freedom and the welfare of the inhabitants of this planet, Nihilism is the complete an
nihilation of those absolute truths.
The most terrible things can occur when people are not actively engaged with the reality around them. An simple and horrifying small-scale example of this
"Bystander Syndrome", as Wikipedia calls it, is the
murder of Kitty Genovese.
This talk of death returns me to my main point.
The government of the state of New Zealand has engaged, and continues to engage in a process of raupatu: confiscation, of land that was assured in the
Treaty of Waitangi to remain under Maori sovereignty.
As of the mid-seventies, there was an attempt at the rectification of the injustices inflicted upon the indigenous Maori of Aotearoa in the form of the Waitangi Tribunal, in their own words;
a permanent commission of inquiry charged with making recommendations on claims brought by Māori relating to actions or omissions of the Crown, which breach the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi.
Isn't that fantastic? Maori can claim back all the land that was stolen from them, as well as monetary compensation for breaches of the Treaty against them. Such breaches have lead to situations such as the horrific discrepancies in various socio-economic categories - for example, I quote
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples from
their press release of his maiden speech via
Scoop:
One in 570 New Zealanders is in jail. But for Maori, the [supposedly] priviledged group, 1 in 180 persons are in jail.
Yes, if we could have an organisation which functions to repair such terrible societal imbalances in accordance with the founding document of This Proud Nation then I would be overjoyed.
Allow me to provide an example of this fantastic organisation in practice and in concert with the will of the crown, and the headless 'new colonialism' of which I spoke in the beginning of this post:
K put forward a claim for a large piece of land stolen by the Crown during the European colonisation of Aotearoa to the Waitangi Tribunal in 1986. This claim has not been heard since then meaning that K has spent a total of nineteen years waiting. K has suffered several strokes and is now incapable of reading and writing. This means that K is effectively incapacitating with regard to making this claim. and Ks co-claimant is the sole person capable of seeing this claim through. Ks co-claimant is also old and in very ill health.
The tactic for keeping the land you have stolen is incredibly simple. Ignore and delay attempts at the rectification of any historical injustice, continue along as if nothing has happened, and eventually all the claimants will die.
However, I remember the immortal and reassuring words of a dead aunt who once said, they may steal the land
but where are they going to take it?
