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TE PUTATARA
The Newsletter of
The Maori Alliance
P.O.Box 408, Wellington, New Zealand
Issue No.10/88 10 October 1988
Articles may be reproduced. Please acknowledge source.
"Ki te whai te mana Maori motuhake i runga i te kotahitanga me te tino rangatiratanga i roto i Te Tiriti o Waitangi."
Ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tena koe.
Ki te kaupapa o Te Kotahitanga Maori, tena koe.
E nga iwi o te motu, e nga hau e wha,
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.
In this issue we introduce our new regular columnist, Tutae Poaka, writing on a hui organised by the Department of Maori Affairs. TP captures the feeling of that hui in a distinctively Maori way. We look forward to a long and stimulating association.
After an approach by another interested reader a guest column appears. Te Tiititipounamu leads off with a reflective article on Tikanga Maori and related phenomena.
The guest column is available to anyone who wants to contribute, either under their own name, or using an alias if confidentiality is necessary. Te Putatara must of course know who the contributors are. Articles should be about one page in length but up to two pages will be considered.
Negotiations are still under way to have a regular Tamaki Makaurau column but given the rampant commercialism of life in the Northern Metropolis a wealthy sponsor may be needed.
Here at Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara the bureaucratic haste to implement "He Tirohanga Rangapu" appears to have abated but I have no doubt that that is an illusion. The big public relations snow job that didn't quite work will definitely be replaced with a quieter strategy designed to achieve the same ends.
In the long run the debate between Maori and Pakeha is about power and the control of resources. The very vocal and often hysterical reaction to the Muriwhenua Report, and subsequent fisheries negotiations, is stark evidence of this. We want some and they want to keep it all.
There are so many reforms in motion that we cannot keep up with them all. Our efforts in pursuit of so many issues are as many small winds chasing the falling leaves of autumn.
We must unite and combine the kaha of all the iwi. And in doing so we must take care to preserve the mana of them all. United we are powerful.
Kia ora koutou,
Ross Himona.
WELLINGTON WATCH
A Round-up of Capital Events
MANA & MACCESS Hui
I will never forget the MANA Enterprises and Maori ACCESS hui held on 19/20 September. The Chairmen and Woman of the Iwi Authorities were called together by the Department, which then proceeded to trample all over the mana of the iwi. It was an absolutely disgraceful affair.
In response to many calls to honour the Treaty of Waitangi Dr Reedy noted that the Treaty was not mentioned in the Maori Affairs Act 1953, and that the department had no requirement to take note of the Treaty when entering into contracts with Iwi Authorities.
Well his own 1988/89 Corporate Plan for the Department of Maori Affairs and the Maori Trust Office is full of high sounding rhetoric about the Treaty of Waitangi.
The Mission Statement for the Department is: "To give effect to the Government and Maoridom's aspiration to achieve Rangatiratanga in the sense of the agreed partnership guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi."
The only rangatiratanga the Department was concerned about was its own.
Te Arawa Maori Trust Board
The kumara vine very quietly whispers that the Secretary for Maori Affairs, Dr Tamati Reedy, has issued a personal edict to the Rotorua District Office, that under no circumstances is the Te Arawa Maori Trust Board to be given any financial assistance.
Racist Award of the Month
Certain senior MAF Fisheries staff.
Plans for Maori Policy
The kumara vine says that the next Cyclone Koro tour of the country will start early in November. Apparently the master plan is to be presented to the Cabinet Social Equity Committee on Tuesday 10 October.
My information is that the recommendations are that Head Office be converted into a Ministry of Maori Policy & Development with about 100 staff. I hear that districts will be streamlined and will have have Community Boards appointed to oversee their activities.
If that is the final plan it will certainly suit single iwi districts such as Ngati Kahungunu and Tuwharetoa. It will be tricky in a district like Ikaroa which covers a large number of iwi. The District Directors and Boards will need to told in no uncertain terms just who is boss. Put their jobs on the line.
Apparently the cunning policy of "mainstreaming" has been given the heave-ho!
Yes Sir!
There are two types of Maori public servant; those whose need for security is so great that they totally accede to Pakeha views about Maoridom, and those who remain loyal to their iwi and attempt to influence Government policy to the Maori viewpoint.
Some of the loyal ones in Wellington have recently been told to shut up or get down the road.
Partnership!
- Te Kehua
GOVERNMENT REPS AGREE TO RENEGOTIATE CONTRACTS - FINALLY
na Tutae Poaka
E hoa ma, Maoridom's been getting a hell of a thrashing lately; Cyclone Bola, and the MANA and Maori ACCESS contract which you can't even talk about with the Kawanatanga Technicolor Korero People (KTKP).
Ki ta te rongo, the poor old Maori Affairs fullahs called a Maori hui of all Te Maori Authorities in Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara to discuss the contracts.
Well you know e hoa ma, the marae that this hui was held was the flashest many of our kaumatua had been to, and the name of the wharenui...Quality Inn...neat aye!
About a third of the invited iwi arrived in time for the 11 am start of the hui, the rest was stranded at various airports around the country, fog bound. Well, the old kuia, Hine Pukohu Rangi was warning the people that the hui did not have a kaupapa Maori. Paikare she was right!
The kaumatua sat around waiting for the rest of the Authorities to arrive so the hui could begin, since there was no mihi for those that arrived. According to te korero of the Old People, if manuhiri arrive on your marae, me mihi, nei he kararehe, don't bother....well?
In the meantime those fullahs from the old department were nervously looking at one another wondering what to do, when the caterers saved their necks by wheeling in trolleys of kai. They sheepishly approached one of the kaumatua to bless the kai, then everybody tucked in.
The Big Boss Tamati arrives with the rest of nga delegates then the mihi begins. Half way through the tangata whenua mihi, Te Big Big Boss Koro arrives, and you know what? Everybody stands up. E hoa, food for thought; who called the hui, and who was te manuhiri? Funny how our tikanga changes to suit the new Maori prophets of doom and gloom.
Up stands Te Big Big Boss and tells the hui Te Department is hell bent on devolving resources back to te iwi. Hence the new contracts for MANA and Maori ACCESS for Te Iwi Authorities to discuss with Te Department.
Engari, when he leaves, they trot out their Pakeha guru who tells the hui, "I am afraid these contracts are not negotiable." Accept it or miss out, I think they call it blackmail; or is it Black Male and doesn't count?
What was the point of bringing the iwi authorities to Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara? Oh! I wareware ahau! It's the new wave. Bring everybody together, feed them well, then put the boot in. Now we know...."He Clayton Te Kupu".
The next day the circus is still in session; trot out another legal guru, who was pulled out of a hui down South, to explain why the contracts had to be written that way.
Everybody is up in arms; one kaumatua decides that he wants to sing, and sing he did. Just as well, because Te Department's clowns didn't really know what was going on. Clown's statement, "We are really all on the same side."
Lunch time nears and the Big Boss Tamati wants to wrap up the hui, a resolution comes from the floor. We will accept the contract on the basis that this is only an interim measure and a new contract be drawn up with both parties involved. June 89 is the month agreed to. Who said it wasn't negotiable?
The hui finally comes to the end, engari, Te Big Big Boss Koro is no where to be seen or heard to answer the questions, why the devolution of resource was a one way traffic, not negotiable. I suppose it has something to do with droppings from the male gender of the bovine species.
Our kuia, Hine Pukohu Rangi and her warning was bang on. Next time Te Department calls another hui for Te Iwi, and our kuia or Te Tai Ao gives the signs, bring a shovel and a bucket and follow Te Bull with its new schemes and pilot here and pilot it there. Oops! Sorry e hoa ma. Pile it here, and pile it there.
POSTERS FOR SALE
At the hui organised by the Department to force the MANA and Maori ACCESS contracts onto the Iwi Authorities, Te Putatara was presented with a poster by June Jackson of Manukau. Kia ora June. Fittingly it is a poster which features the Treaty of Waitangi [at the hui the Department proclaimed that the Treaty was not relevant to MANA and Maori ACCESS].
The posters are available for $10 from Kia Mohio Kia Marama Trust, P.O.Box 5826, Wellesley St, Tamaki Makaurau.
Good presents for Koro and Tamati!
STRATEGIES
Sun Tzu said:
"There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: (1) Recklessness which leads to destruction; (2) cowardice, which leads to capture; (3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; (4) a delicacy of honour which is sensitive to shame; (5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.
KA HAO TE KAUMATUA
With Maori Fisheries in the news the kumara vine brings this report from the Featherston RSA Club.
You all know that it is illegal to leave your whitebait nets in the water unattended don't you? For those few Maori not knowledgeable about everything to do with fisheries, there is a Pakeha law which says that when you go fishing for whitebait you have to set your net, and then you have to stay and watch all the little whitebait swim into it.
Now, our kaumatua Mita Carter from Wairarapa is a seasoned whitebait fisherman. One day he went down to his favourite whitebait spot and lo and behold he found about 3 pounds of whitebait swimming into a net that no-one was watching them swim into.
Well, he couldn't believe his luck!
Just as he bent down to have a closer look a big Pakeha dude appeared by his side. Whoops! Mita almost fell into the net that no-one was watching things fall into.
"I'm the fisheries inspector!", said the big dude in the big voice.
"E hoa. Thank goodness for that", said Uncle Mita, "I thought you were the bloody owner of this net!"
Ann, you'd better get our kaumatua another net for Christmas.
MAORI FISHERIES ACT 1988
THE BULLDOZER
Te Putatara covered the Fisheries Hui held at Parliament on 30 September. A fine lunch was served, but there were no fish on the menu. Pork and puha was the main course.
Something had been bothering me about the fishing negotiations and the Maori Fisheries Act 1988, recently introduced into Parliament. I'm a vegetarian, but the lack of fish at lunch still struck me as odd.
And then it hit me. We went fishing and we came home with pork.
Sun Tzu said:
"The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy."
"What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease."
"Hence his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage."
"He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated."
"Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy."
"Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory."
****************
The course to victory lay in limiting the battlefield to Muriwhenua where the Waitangi Tribunal had already laid the foundations for a Government defeat on moral grounds. Perhaps we did not recognise a victory that was in the offing, but were enticed into a new battle on a different battlefield.
And we have now been diverted from the kaupapa - our inalienable right to ownership of the resource as guaranteed by Article Two of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The introduction of the Maori Fisheries Act 1988, and the valiant attempt to establish ourselves as Fishing Tycoons Incorporated, will keep us well and truly tied up until long after the Labour Government has departed. "Friend-of-the-Maori" Jim Bolger has already told us that he will then repeal the Act.
Our tipuna Maui might have said, "E hoa ma. When you go fishing take your waka and your net, not your horse and your pig dog."
NEGOTIATING
One negotiator recently stated that Richard Prebble was good to negotiate with because he is straight. Apparently when he is going to roll over you with a bulldozer, he says "I'm going to roll over you with a bulldozer", and then he rolls over you with a bulldozer.
For Sun Tzu there would be at least four other options; divert the bulldozer so that it runs over Prebble's own car, build a bulldozer trap in his path, blow him and his bulldozer to Kingdom Come, or failing all else get out of the way.
GUEST COLUMN: A Forum for Ideas
"Maau ano te tinana, maaku te ata o te haapara e kau atu ee."
[For you reality; for me, only the shadow of desire.]
The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi partnership perspective presently on-stream, and touted by the different government agencies, has created an upper class Maaori employment opportunity.
"Ara, he mea pai, he mea kino." We now have a brand new breed of vendors on-stream, touting the Maaori perspective hither and dither up and down the country to the running-scared market place.
Unfortunately the vendors in some cases trot out the existing government policies, with the appropriate translation, and add the academic definition to appease the buyer.
In this case it is a sell-out, and the only interest is self [For you Reality].
Rumour from the back of the waka says that some consultants are paid $10,000 plus GST for a seven-day seminar. "He taara Te Atua."
The question is, what is the kaupapa of the Maaori consultants? If there is no kaupapa that all can use as a guideline, why not? There are many questions that need to be answered. After all, isn't accountability part of the game?
If it is tribal, then they should stick to tribal boundaries, and not make statements that include and commit the rest of Maoridom to some policy that has no relevance to "Tikanga Maaori".
The Rangatahi are aware that there is confusion within the kaumatua ranks pertaining to "tuuturu tikanga Maaori" and Christianity. The blending of the two has been par for the course for some time now, adding further to the confusion.
Are we unwittingly selling ourselves down the tubes? Taking into consideration that Christianity is worship and Tikanga Maaori is reverence, is the blend really compatible?
Remember, we only reap what we sow. It is no wonder that the rangatahi of today are jail and psychiatric fodder.
I suppose it doesn't really matter as long as the status quo is kept. Perpetual ignorance is a form of control of the mind, and of the purse strings.
Let's sweep it under the whaariki, so that "the Up-market-Maaori Brigade" can carry on making plenty [For me, only the Shadow of Desire].
- naa Te Tiititipounamu
TREASURY
The Controller and Auditor General, and persistent questioning by Ruth Richardson, have revealed a great deal of reluctance by Treasury to disclose details of some $10,500,000 spent by them on consultancy fees.
This is the department of state which is so insistent on accountability. They need sorting out - fast.
It would not surprise me if Treasury were behind recent moves to reform the Audit Office. Power is the game.
BOOK REVIEW: A Study in Right Wing Politics - A Must for Maoridom
"Revival of the Right. New Zealand Politics in the 1980s"
A new book by Bruce Jesson, Allanah Ryan and Paul Spoonley.
Heinemann Reed, Auckland, 1988. $19.95.
The September issue of Te Putatara drew heavily on the work of Bruce Jesson and his analysis of the libertarian right. Coincidentally a new book by Jesson and two members of Massey University's Department of Sociology has just been published.
In this book the three authors combine to describe the right wing in New Zealand, both the libertarian right and the authoritarian (moral) right. These two strands are loosely linked as the new right. The authors collectively describe the philosophical and political origins of right wing belief in the western world, then in a chapter each they provide more detail.
Jesson gives a history of the libertarian right in New Zealand, outlines its rise to pre-eminence in the intellectual, political and economic life of the country, and updates its progress to the present. I believe that it is important for Maori leaders at local, regional, and national levels to understand the libertarian right and its ideology. This chapter is a must.
The chapters by Ryan and Spoonley which cover areas we are probably more aware of, are equally informative.
Ryan gives an overall view of the authoritarian right and its preoccupation with feminism, abortion, sex education, pornography, and homosexuality. She also discusses the politics of the authoritarian right, its new found enthusiasm for the economics of the libertarian right, and its links with fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity.
Spoonley, who has previously written on racism and ethnicity, looks closely at four other issues of the authoritarian right; anti-communism, pro-contact with South Africa, anti-peace movements, and anti-biculturalism. The most significant issue raised by Spoonley is the growing racism of Pakehas.
In New Zealand overt racism has in the past been largely confined to the authoritarian right, and to extremist groups such as the League of Rights. [Incidentally Bob Martin, Welsh activist, retired fisherperson, and grandfather of two lovely part-Pakeha children, is the patron of one such group called the One New Zealand Foundation.]
However there is now a newer and more publicly acceptable form of racism. It includes the belief that when different races and cultures come into contact there is competition for resources. This is seen to generate suspicions which are entirely "natural", and just part of human nature [see the Treasury definition of discrimination in Issue No.9/88].
With these and other justifications being developed by the libertarian right, "racial prejudice" can therefore be denied. The sophisticated racism of the libertarian right also provides a subtle vehicle for the extremists of the authoritarian right.
Spoonley states: "...the arguments will focus on the need to encourage a national will as a basis for economic growth and prosperity."
"Biculturalism will be defined as subverting free-market capitalism, as undermining the competitive and academic elements of education, and as dividing New Zealand by emphasizing minority, rather than majority interests."
"Already, libertarian right activists such as Bob Jones and Winston Peters, along with publications such as Metro and More, have expressed these arguments."
"A new racism has emerged."
On this issue the two strands of the right have a common cause. Pakeha racism is therefore becoming more entrenched and is settling in for the long term.
[For Maori people this development has long term implications. Governments come and go, but the libertatrian right has installed itself in the highest levels of the public service, and will be there for two generations at least. It is already generating justifications such as "mainstreaming" for the new face of racism, and it has a long way to go. Never mind what the politicians meant in "He Tirohanga Rangapu"; watch how the Mandarins of the libertarian right implement it in the years ahead].
The final chapter, "Reclaiming the Debate", contains the "separate reflections" of the three authors. They suggest "new ways to recast current debates about the form and future of New Zealand society."
The reflections are informative but contain no suggestions for Maoridom to reclaim the heights. We shall have to develop those strategies for ourselves.
A good book to have.
To those more attuned to the cut and thrust of intellectual debate on the marae it may at first seem too Pakeha to be bothered with. I suppose those educated only in the Pakeha university tradition have the same problem within the Maori intellectual framework.
However the book is worth getting into. The advantage in being Maori is in understanding both intellectual traditions.
**********
The "Development Decade" and the "Maori Renaissance" had hardly begun before the forces of the right marshalled their arguments and prepared to launch an attack across a broad intellectual, economic, social, political and bureaucratic front.
There is no such thing as a "Pakeha Backlash". That tricky label implies that the Maori has caused it. This phenomenum is yet another major attack in the war that has been alternatively raging and simmering since the early days of Pakeha settlement. The war that was, is, and always will be, "The Pakeha Lash".
Kia hiwa ra! Kia hiwa ra!
Kia hiwa ra i tenei tuku!
Kia hiwa ra i tera tuku!
Here they come again.
HARD AT WORK
In the hallowed "off limits to nga kehua" precincts of the head office of the Department of Maori Affairs, those who look like they are working are really writing job applications.
MORE NETWORKS - THE FREEMASONS
Networks overlap and interlock by the simple process whereby members of different networks share membership of another network. One such influential, powerful, male only, and very secret network, which interlocks with many others, is the network of Masonic Lodges, and their members, the Freemasons. Other male networks are Rotary and Lions.
A Te Putatara reader, on seeing the list of people of the libertarian right in Issue No.9/88, remarked on the number of high ranking Freemasons in the list. I am reliably informed that the authoritarian right is also well populated with Freemasons.
Freemasonry has members spread right through the power structures of the country. They are influential in politics, the professions, business, finance, the protestant churches, academia, the public service, the judiciary, the police, and the armed forces. They are mainly Pakeha, although there are some Maori members.
There is evidence that Freemasons were prominent amongst the early settlers, and in the settler governments which conspired to remove Maori land from Maori ownership as fast as possible.
And in recent months Te Putatara has become aware that Freemasonry has been attempting to recruit a new generation of potential Maori "leaders" to its ranks. This is an insidious form of the old strategy of divide and rule, by the recruitment of collaborators. Its effectiveness lies in the total secrecy of the Masonic Orders.
I would not be at all surprised if there were Freemasons in senior positions in the Department of Maori Affairs. It would account for a number of mysteries.
A trusted colleague summed up my own attitude when he avowed; "I will sell my skills to the Pakeha, but I will never ever sell my soul."
Ironically, one sure way to ensure that Freemasons are not taken aboard is when in doubt, recruit the female applicant!
Ms Judith Aitken, Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Womens Affairs, has had a high media profile since her appointment. In the many interviews she has given she seems to be totally committed to libertarian right ideology but to be fair, also totally committed to improving the the lot of womankind.
The closed concept of freemasonry would seem to me to be diametrically opposed to the concept of the free market.
Perhaps the most effective way for Ms Aitken to combine her beliefs and her responsibility to New Zealand women would be to lead the charge against the most secret male market-distortion of them all.
Deregulate the Freemasons!
DRUMS AND BUGLES
On the occasion of my recent 35th birthday one of my whanaunga presented Te Putatara with a beautiful Tahitian drum. The drum seems to beat to a different march.
WHANAUNGA
It was not Peter MacGregor who gave me the drum.
DISPATCHES FROM THE DUNGEON BAR
From the Floor of the Seventh Heaven comes a message down the kumara vine that a certain Deputy Secretary with his own secret networks into the Community has cracked the code of the Dungeon Bar.
The Dungeon Bar Dispatches, it is whispered, are just a blind to cover an even more secret network of influence and intrigue. Can this be so? Has the Dungeon been infiltrated?
Ka kite ano. Pea.
TIKITIKI TALES
A report, sent along the kumara vine from the Tikitiki Hotel to the Dungeon, about Wi Kuki Kaa who recently won an award for best film actor of the year. Many of you would have seen his masterful performances in "Ngati" and in the TV coverage of the awards.
Introducing Wi Kuki Kaa; dutiful son, patron of the Tikitiki Hotel, scourge of Te Runanga O Ngati Porou, orator, and award winning actor.
Apparently the taonga that he was presented with is on the circuit amongst his whanaunga. When they have all had it on their mantelpieces for a week each, its final resting place is to be on the bar of the Tikitiki Hotel. By now Wi Kuki has probably got a special bag for it on his pushbike, along with the two satchels that he takes his flagons home in.
The kumara vine reports that despite fame, fortune, and two free shirts, his mother (a fine Ngati Kahungunu lady) is the one that gets Te Putatara sent to her, and Wi Kuki has to wait until she's finished.
Get you Mr Film Star! Have a good LONG read Mrs Kaa.
LESSONS FROM THE MASTER
Sun Tzu said:
"Hence it is that with none are more intimate relations to be maintained than with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved.
Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.
They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straightforwardness.
Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports.
Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business.
If a secret piece of news is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, he must be put to death together with the man to whom the secret was told.
[Whatever the object] it is always necessary to begin by finding out the names of the attendants, the aides-de-camp, the door-keepers and sentries of the general in command. Our spies must be commissioned to ascertain these.
The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus will they become converted spies and available for our service."
A RETRACTION
In the last issue Piripi Waaka was referred to as a Pakeha activist. I apologise. He is descended from Raukawa. Piripi was not at the media hui on race relations due to illness.