Norman Brewer, Wellington
In a spectacular, colourful and noisy display of Maori solidarity, about 20,000 protesters besieged the NZ Parliament in Wellington on May 5. The protest was on an unprecedented scale for the country of 4 million residents.
Maori and Pakeha (Kiwis of European descent) defied gusty wind and rain to unite in the march, which was led by Maori tribal warriors performing hakas and greeted by all 10 Green MPs. The protest was a day before the first reading of a new bill that will deprive Maori of their traditional guardianship of tidal land.
On June 19 last year, the NZ Court of Appeal found that "customary rights and title" are not clearly defined in common law. The court allowed eight Maori tribes to ask the Maori Tribunal to grant freehold title to the foreshore and seabed in the Marlborough Sounds. The ruling threatened the assumption that only the Crown owns the seabed and foreshore. The bill will ensure the Crown's ownership over these.
The court decision has been misinterpreted by many Pakeha as restricting their access to the beaches. However, Maori traditions are to be guardians, not owners, of the "land" — guaranteeing access for everyone. Maori right to guard the land is enshrined in the Treaty of Waitangi, signed by the Crown and maori tribes in 1840, under which the British Crown gained sovereignty over New Zealand but guaranteed Maori use of their traditional lands and resources.
The Maori "no private property" tradition is strongly supported by NZ socialists and the NZ Alliance, which supports the Maori's demands. While the Labour Party has described its bill as "nationalising" the seabed, in practice this will dispossess the Maori people of land rights, and allow it to be sold off.
Commenting on the new legislation, march organiser Pita Sharples said, "This is the straw that broke the camel's back. We've had enough. Every time Maori get some advantage it's taken away from us. This was so blatant with the cancellation of our rights, the cancellation of due process — it's theft."
The traditional protest walk, known in Maori as a hikoi, started two weeks before, at the top of the North Island and was joined by people from all over the country, including many Pakeha. On April 27, the hikoi attracted 5000 people to march across the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
With chants of "1, 2, 3, 4, Two Labour MPs did cross the floor for the vote on May 6. One, associate Maori affairs minister Tariana Turia, delt so harrassed by PM Helen Clarke that she resigned from the Labour Party. Her resignation reduces the government's majority to one vote. The second, Nanaia Mahuta, got special permission to cross the floor because she promised to stay in the party and vote with the government on an upcoming budget proposal, thus saving Clark from a vote of no confidence or blocked supply. Only the votes of the right-wing NZ First party ensured a majority on the bill.
Turia, running as independent, is likely to win the by-election now necessary in her Maori seat. New Zealand has seven Maori electorates covering the whole country, all of the seats have generally been held by the Labour Party.
Clark had particularly outraged hikoi participants by refusing to meet with them, instead doing a media spot with celebrity sheep Shrek, who she said was "better company" than the hikoi's "haters and wreckers".
Mana Motuhake, a NZ Alliance affiliate until last year, has announced it will be running with Turia as a lead candidate in the next federal election. NZ Alliance MP Willie Jackson, who took the new seabed and foreshore "confiscation" bill successfully to the UN High Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, is likely to be her running mate.
[Comprehensive information is available from the Peace Movement Aotearoa at .]
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, May 19, 2004.
Visit the