How Maori is Maori
enough?
It is quite
common in these times of imposed “Tikanga” (Maori customs and
beliefs) for the question of full blood Maori to be raised in
opposition to claims for compensation.
The
argument being that because the Treaty was signed between the Crown
and about 540 Maori chiefs rather than a single monolithic
homogeneous Maori 'people' and because those distinct peoples, for
all intents and purposes no longer exist then the claims are
spurious. The current cohort of New Zealanders identifying as
'Maori' are largely cross bred with Europeans, the Maori component
of their heritage also being highly mixed with affiliations to many
of the previously distinct tribes. This gives rise to the absurd
situation of people who are only partly Maori in any case claiming
affiliation -and therefore compensation – to multiple tribal
groups.
The
response from Maori academics is to downplay the importance of
Genetics or Blood to the essence of Maori identity.
Along
with the supercilious flim flam about being full of blood “All
Maori are full blooded. In common with all of humanity,...”
Ross
Himona of Maaori.com
writes. "'Maori-ness'
is a cultural and familial state of being, regardless of the total
genetic inheritance of a particular person, and regardless of the
degree of brownness of the skin. For instance many tribal peoples in
Aotearoa / New Zealand today are quite fair-skinned after long
contact with the Pakeha (non-Maori). But they may be nevertheless
fiercely staunch members of a "Maori" family / tribe.”
“contact”
in this case means out breeding over many generations. Also “What
I'm saying, I suppose, is that being 'Maori' is being a member of a
family of 'Maori' descent that operates within 'Maori' cultural
values, norms and beliefs, regardless of the degree of genetic
infusion from outside that 'Maori' line of descent.”
Despite downplaying the importance of actual Maori ancestry, it suddenly became very important when in 2017 Native Affairs newsreader Oriini Kaipara was found to be 100 percent Maori. All of a sudden it was a big deal to be able to prove wrong the oft stated assertion that there are no longer any full blood Maori and have not been for a long time. The fan fair about the discovery of a Real Maori proves the disingenuous nature of the claim that Heritage doesn't matter. The fact is it only doesn't matter when they can't find any actual Maori. When one finally turns up the fanfare created throws into doubt the prior claim that being genetically Maori is of little significance.
"I
thought as long as I don't get a result that's less than 80 percent
I'll be happy"
said Ms Kaipara. One can only imagine the outcry if any media
personality said that about being White! At the very least they would
lose their job, and would never work in Media again!
Ms
Kaipara continued “Being
MÄori is so much more than blood quantum.
“ but also “As
MÄori, we rely on passing down our ancestry or whakapapa from one
generation to the next. This is how we identify ourselves.
”
So which is it? Does Race matter or not? Or is it simply an identity
of convenience? Conclusively Kaipara says “You’re
as Maori as you feel.”
Pita
Sharples Maori Party Co-leader 2006 has said “This
concept of dividing our blood into parts – how Maori are you –
flies in the face of one of our strongest values, the concept of
whakapapa, our genealogy.”
“By
this standard, indigenous nations vanish when a certain blood
threshold is reached and white becomes the default identifier.”
Sharples
is simply stating a fact here, one he apparently doesn't like. That
with continual out-breeding the original racial stock will for all
intents and purposes disappear. But we can not make legislation in
contravention of scientific fact simply because we don't like the
laws of nature! If the Maori people find it 'disturbing'
that they are out breeding themselves the solution is to stop doing
it! Rather than complain about the results of the practice of
intermarriage, if you want to have Maori kids them it would be a good
idea to have a Maori partner. It's a kind of childish naivety and
petulance that the government encourages by simply never calling them
to account.
Quotes from IC.org.
In
an article from E-Tangata, commenting on the apparent natural
inclination of Maori to play guitar, or be good at sports
Morgan
Godfery
writes;
“We
shouldn’t listen to these ridiculous stereotypes. There’s no
innate way to be Maori and, as new research out of Otago University
is confirming, these stereotypes actually act as “justifications
for colonialism”. “
He
continues,“Settler
colonialism needed to manufacture the myth of a “heathen savage”
who must be subdued or destroyed. Without the myth, what’s the
moral justification for dispossession and genocide?”
Or
Waitai
West Rakete,
an analyst with the Ministry of social development
“The
issue is, MÄori as a race have been targeted to have what was theirs
taken away from them.”
“When
Europeans arrived, MÄori uncontestably owned all of Aotearoa New
Zealand.”
Quora
2021
Uncontestably?
The Pre European Maori contested with each other every square inch of
the small patch of ground that each tribe could claim until he was
summarily slaughtered and eaten by a neighboring tribe. There was
no monolithic Maori to own anything much less the entirety of New
Zealand.
In
looking into blood, ancestry and genetics there seems to be a
complete absence of the confusion we find in discussions of
Whakapapa. Ancestry and blood are terms used interchangeably. The
main DNA testing labs, AncestryDND, Family Tree DNA and 23andME make
clear that when we talk of blood we are talking about DNA and
ancestry and ethnicity. From MyFamilyHistory.com
“How
to find your genetic ancestry or blood relatives?
“ or “...to
uncover your ethnic mix and get a generalized picture of your
ancestry from a genetic perspective.”
This
double speak from Maori activists is a direct result of the Maori
Affairs Amendment Act 1974 which redefined a Maori as "a person
of the Maori race of New Zealand; and includes any descendant of such
a Maori". No longer did the Maori themselves have to make any
attempt to preserve their racial integrity, and any largely none
Maori could on the basis of one distant ancestor claim membership in
the Tribe. The meaning of Whakapapa
now had to mean more than identifying Maori ancestry because Maori
ancestry was no longer Maori-specifically.
UN Contribution
The
United Nations has also done its part to encourage activists by
supplying both the blueprint and the justification for Maori radicalization. Its fair to say that without the UN Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous People, we might still have the grievance
and claims industry but would not also be facing plans to completely
split the country on racial lines.
The
UNDRIP feeds into the Maori position with its definition of
indigenous; rather than provide a clear definition the approach of
the UN is to attempt to identify Indigenous peoples based on the
following criteria.
Self
identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level
historical
continuity with pre-colonial and /or pre settler
societies
strong
link to territories and surrounding natural resources
distinct
social, economic or political systems
Distinct
language
Form
non-dominant groups of society
Resolve
to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems
as distinctive peoples and communities.
Indigenous
peoples retain social, cultural, economic and political
characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant
societies in which they live
“According
to the UN the most fruitful approach is to identify, rather than
define indigenous peoples. This is based on the fundamental
criterion of self-identification as underlined in a number of human
rights documents.” - UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Incidentally,
while not the theme of this article it's interesting to note which
populations are excluded from the definition. From the United Nations
definition it seems impossible now to defend a majority population on
the basis of indigenous rights! The UN definition precludes majority
rights regardless of how many generations or thousands of years your
identifiable racial ethnic group has occupies a particular region.
To be regarded as indigenous by the UN definition one has to be a
minority group in a country with a singular dominant racial majority.
What then are European people in European countries?
Imposition
Prior
to 1974 to qualify as Maori you had to be able to prove at least 50
percent Maori ancestry. The Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1974
redefined a Maori as "a person of the Maori race of New Zealand;
and includes any descendant of such a Maori".
Due
to what has already been said on the demise of the wholly Maori race
the Tribalists have needed to find another basis on which to justify
the imposition of MÄoritanga on the rest of us.
MÄoritanga
1. (noun) MÄori
culture, MÄori practices and beliefs, MÄoriness, MÄori way of
life.
Source
MÄoritanga
includes religious beliefs that are wedded to a particular place,
what they call Aotearoa. It is also a world view and way of life.
Without using the word what they are describing is religion. But it
is even more than that, an ideologically defined people wedded to
place is a Nation. A Maori nation without a state.
Now
where have we heard that before? Referring to Syria in 1853 Lord
Shaftesbury wrote “a country
without a nation in need of a nation without a country”.
The Jews were regarded as a Nation long before the creation of the
Jewish State of Israel in may 1948. Are Jews a race or a Religion?
The same slippery argumentation found amongst Jewish radicals is
evident in the current debate. If there is something to be gained by
presenting oneself as merely another harmless religion then so be it.
If expediency requires a Race then so be that too. These are
arguments of convenience that are used to step over and around and in
all cases to escape accountability.
The
drive to define Maoriness on the basis of feelings of belonging is
all very well, and it seems reasonable to respect ones desire to feel
a sense of belonging to a group of kith and kin and shared history.
But when we are talking about massive financial benefits, political
power and national cultural hegemony exclusively for members of this
group based only on feelings of belonging to a pseudo racial
religion, this is a recipe for corruption graft and discrimination.
It
will continue to be impossible to come to a firm agreed conclusion
with Maori activists if we can never agree on objective standards of
truth and fact. It is of course in the interests of the activists
to keep the claims and arguments going as long as there is money,
power and resources to be gained.
But
in the absence of a firm acknowledgement of racial identity being a
key delineating factor in Maori identity, we have to ask on what
basis can the many claims of Maoridom be made? We suggest that the
only reasonable approach is to treat Maori activism is as a religion,
or worse, as a nation defined by religious ideology within a host
nation and engaged in subversive activity to wrest political power
from the host.
When
seen in this context all of a sudden many things become clear, as do
our options and responses.
Separation of Church and
State.
New
Zealand has an uncodified constitution composed of acts of
parliament, conventions and historical precedent. The separation of
church and state is not explicitly stated, but is respected as a
convention in our system of government. Indeed, the Private Schools
Conditional Integration Act 1975 provided for the funding of catholic
schools which was seen at the time as a breach of said separation.
But was likely pushed through as a last ditch effort by Bill Rowling
to capture the Catholic vote and stave off impending defeat at the
hands of the looming personage of Robert Muldoon. It didn't work,
and was not worth the aggravation of appearing to break the
convention of church – state separation.
So
the state in that instance specifically provided funds for the
promotion of one religious theology. The act may have been
predicated on a desire to help one particular religious voting block
but was framed in secular terms.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1975/0129/latest/whole.html
https://www.secularism.org.uk/opinion/2013/11/finding-separation-of-church-and-state-for-new-zealand
https://www.hsnsw.asn.au/MaxWallace.html
Theocratic Nation State.
A
Maori Nation rising within New Zealand to displace the existing
state, and replace it with a religious/cultural/racial/ideological
regime.
If we
consider their arguments merely on religious grounds. Having
established the claims to reparations are without merit. But claiming
cultural concessions within New Zealand society on the basis of
religious freedom and tolerance. Then they like everyone else can
pursue their religious practices without state interference. But
still the limits to state support based on separation of church and
state prevent the state from acquiescing to what can now only be
viewed as the most outrageous demands for money and privilege, the
demands being based on a religious narrative. Their claims and
beliefs are held with religious fervor as one might hold the
sacraments as an article of faith. NZ must decide weather to fund
Maori separatism on the religious basis or not.
We can
believe what ever we want, and we can believe fervently to be true
things that are not. This is faith. When you construct an entire
system of beliefs that support a world view, this is religion. Some
of the beliefs may be true some may be demonstrably false. This is
why you must have a separation of church and state, because you
cannot be making laws and legislation to govern the people based on
things that are objectively false.
But
what Maori separatists want is something that goes way beyond
religious freedom and tolerance. Theirs are the demands of a nation
state with independent territory, institutions, schools, healthcare,
and an independent government of their own- but crucially with veto
rights over the existing Government!
If
the same objectives were being pursued by a foreign power it would be
clear that New Zealand was under attack and all measures of political
and military defense would be taken to defend our people and our
country from a clearly hostile foreign power. Yet this threat appears
to be home grown. Appearances can be deceiving however, He Puapua
is the New Zealand implementation of a United Nations doctrine to
which the National government of John Key signed up to in 2010.
Up
until the appearance of He Puapua, Maori activism had been mostly
confined to achieving financial 'settlements', massive cash payouts
repeatedly made to multiple tribes. The appearance of He Puapua as
an implementation of UNDRIP dramatically changes the whole nature of
the Maori question. With He Puapua the focus is now political power.
After
considering the position of the Maori Activists as a religious one
it is clear that what they are doing is so much more than mere
religion. Their position, clear from their actions claims and demands
are more like the actions of an aggressive subversive nation state
acting against the interests on New Zealand and its people.
When
seen in this context all of a sudden many things become clear, as do
our options and responses.
We can
now put aside race and tribe and claims, demands and allegations.
These are aspects of the Maori Religion and as such are not pertinent
to the search for a solution to the Maori question in New Zealand.
You now present only as a religion. You can present as a religion,
but a religion that is encompassed in a collective of the prior
existing tribes and peoples and everything that attends therein.
These ideas advanced in the minds of men for the furtherance of the
Maori religion define the basis for the political idea of the Nation
State. A pseudo theocratic Maori Nation State.
We are
therefore dealing in New Zealand with the attempted imposition of one
nation onto another. The
usurpation of political power over the pre existing Eurocentric
western liberal democracy by the newly formed Maori Nation of
Aotearoa.
In Summary
The
Maori activists have attempted to construct a pseudo religious
theocratic Maori Nation on the basis of a racial identity that no
longer exists built on stories and myths from long ago with the aim
of establishing sovereign authority over all of New Zealand.
This
lethal combination of the short sighted greed of Maori Tribal
Activists supplemented by the long term globalist plan of the UN has
created a powerful anti New Zealand nationalist identity. The only
option for the New Zealand government is to identify this threat for
what it is and treat it accordingly.
The
Maori Nation must be regarded as we would any other aggressive nation
state that seeks to undermine the government and take over the
country.
But
either way pretending that we are dealing with anything other than a
Nation State will lead to further degradation of the integrity and
autonomy of New Zealand. Assuming this position allows the New
Zealand government freedom of action and agency to move against the
Maori Nation with complete autonomy, unhindered by the years of moral
blackmail and litigation that has handicapped our progress so far.
If
the government were to take this stance they could bring forward a
range of proposals to deal with the threat; at one end of the
spectrum they could negotiate territorial autonomy for the new
nation, with some area of the country set aside for the creation of
the Maori Nation of Aotearoa, with any degree of autonomy that seems
workable.
At
the other end of the spectrum the government could proscribe Maori
activist groups and organizations, shutting down the organizations and arresting the activists. Between the two extremes is an almost
endless range of possibilities for autonomy and concession. But what
we cannot have is this continual litigation and degradation of the
culture at massive and crippling expense to the country.
These
are radical proposals, but we cannot pretend it is business as usual
in New Zealand. We face self identified radicals for whom a radical
proposal is the only appropriate defense. If a forthright and serious
solution is not found soon the country will be destroyed as we know
it. And there will be people behind the UN who will be quite happy
with that outcome.