te tiriti o waitangi

[labellementeuse]

Today was Waitangi Day, which commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, February the 6th, 1840.

I didn't think much about the Treaty today, except when I walked past the festival at Waitangi Park in Wellington - the first time, I think, there's been any kind of celebration in Wellington (there's always a big thing at Waitangi marae, of course.) I do know celebrating it is not always considered kosher. The Treaty of Waitangi was supposed to do three things: 1. give sovreignty to the British crown, 2. guarantee Maori land rights and customary rights and taonga and 3. guarantee Maori equal rights as citizens. Of course, it's kind of tough to say exactly what the Treaty was supposed to do since it was not translated all that well.

We didn't manage to live up to it all that well. The Waitangi Tribunal, which is supposed to investigate breaches of treaty and make reparations where appropriate, is normally pretty busy. Ironically, some Pakeha begin to feel hard done by, since (apparently) this makes Maori more privileged. I don't need to tell any of you that, with Maori persistently over-represented in poor health, poverty and crime stats, that simply isn't true. We can do better.

I don't know if I would call the treaty our constitution. Maybe our founding document. But I believe in the treaty principles and their active application in everyday life. I believe biculturalism is vital to New Zealand (and so is multiculturalism.)

That's really all. I'm not smart about this and I'm not very educated but I know it is important and I want to acknowledge that.



Instead of being real thinky though, today I went to the beach, got sunburnt, swam, drank wine and ate junk food and walked for two hours. I had a great time and I'm really going to miss Welly when I go back to Christchurch this Saturday.

Comments

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember that during the late 90s, when the government wasn't prepared to face up to the criticisms levelled at them at Waitangi, they fled back down to Wellington and held the 'official' celebration, ie the one the PM went to, in Parliament. This happened in 1998 and 1999. Apparently it stopped while I was overseas.

There was a tradition in one ancient middle eastern state that the King, who was an absolute ruler for all but one day of the year, had to, on that day, walk through the marketplace without bodyguards and was not allowed to act against anybody who insulted him on that day. Sometimes it seems that Waitangi is a similar sort of thing for our governments - it's the one day of the year when they have to front up to the disatisfaction the people of New Zealand show for their colonialist policies. In an ideal world, every day should be such a day.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Oh well, whatever, it's the first one I've been to. It wasn't formal or anything, I mean, I think there were speeches (I didn't stick around) but it was basically a big festival - there were farmers markets there and shaved ice and candy floss and kapa haka groups. All that good stuff. :D

You know, I have to regretfully disagree - I don't think we're any more honest with our politicians on Waitangi Day. I think, sometimes outside Waitangi, if people are really angry, then yeah, that's true. But I think mostly people aren't angry enough to disturb the status quo (eg: throwing mud.) :-/

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well it's hard to divine the intent of most people, but I think that if we got to see politicians face to face in a forum which invites people to share their grievances, they'd hear a lot more about the bad they did then good.