Beyond
The Treaty
By Ross N Himona
(article published
in “The Republican”, December 1992)
In recent years the Treaty of Waitangi
has occupied centre stage in the struggle by Maori
for social justice, equality and a measure of self determination. The work of
the Waitangi Tribunal has paved the way for new interpretations of the
relationship between the Maori of Aotearoa and the nation state
On the surface these gains have been
momentous.
But the Treaty has also been used by
the political and economic elites of Maoridom to
entrench themselves even further into Government guaranteed positions of power.
The concepts expressed in the Treaty have been used by them to lever public
resources into their own control. Graham Latimer is the obvious example, using
his positions in the National Party, NZ Maori Council, Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd,
Maori International Ltd and the Tai Tokerau Maori
Trust Board as springboards into whatever deal is going down.
Latimer’s network of compliant
and ill-informed Maori
Council delegates spread throughout the country is always ready to deliver him
a contrived "iwi mandate". Ranginui Walker
and the Auckland District Maori Council are notable exceptions. There are others.
Robert Mahuta
has similarly leveraged power through the Tainui Maori Trust Board, Waikato University, Maori Development Corporation and Taharoa Incorporation. Tipene O’Regan has turned his chairmanship of the Ngai Tahu Maori Trust Board, via
the Maori Fisheries Commission, into a very powerful personal base; in Maori
terms. Apirana Mahuika of Te
Runanga O Ngati Porou has reached for political power
through the National Maori Congress. Congress also seems determined to build
some sort of Government sponsored economic base for those who sit at the top.
Matiu Rata is always there but always
broke. Both political and economic power seem to elude
him. Kara Puketapu keeps trying but his career as Chief Executive of Maori
International Ltd has been a series of spectacular nearly made-its. He has
tried and failed to gain control of the NZ Maori Arts & Crafts Institute,
Te Kohanga Reo, Iwi
Transition Agency and Maori Congress. His commercial ventures as Taima Fisheries and Te Maori Lodges (Quality Inn) have gone
nowhere. Graham Latimer, his partner in some of those ventures, seems
unaffected.
There are many others following behind,
picking up the crumbs, and waiting for their turn at the top.
This empire building is founded on the
convenient premise that only through control of significant sectors of the
economy will Maoridom advance politically and socially.
It is an adaptation of the trickle down and around and about theory espoused by
Business Roundtable ideologues and their captive politicians. The end result is
the same, the transfer of public resources into private control. And for the
down and around and abouts, their share is coming
next year; or the year after perhaps.
The struggle of the many for social justice
and equality carries on without significant funding and without significant success.
It is mostly a women’s struggle, by the powerless for the powerless. The
Treaty of Waitangi has not delivered for them.
And it is not the Treaty of Waitangi
that has produced an explosion of artistic expression within Maoridom. Maori artists and writers, freed by years of
activism and re-education from the constrictions of the European cultural
paradigm, have burst into flower. The kapahaka or
concert groups, Maori dance groups, Maori theatre, Maori painters, sculptors, poets,
story tellers, carvers and weavers, Maori newspapers and Maori radio are
carrying the message of liberation, self expression and self determination to the
people.
Along with the voices of poverty and
desperation, this is the true voice of the people; a voice you will never hear
from the mainstream media. It speaks of poverty and of desperation, but it also
speaks of hope and of freedom. In the mainstream media you will only hear about
fisheries and land, full and final settlements, and of Maori businessmen
politicians.
Underlying this resurgence of Maori expression
is a re-discovery of ancient Maori forms and values. I have recently been
privileged to work with a tohunga whakairo
or master carver, helping him to design a framework for Maori Carving
qualifications, from the basics right through to post graduate level. All our
work has been based on traditional Maori values and concepts.
You might be tempted to think that
wood carving is a fairly mundane craft. But in the Maori world the master
carver is not just an artist and craftsman. He is the repository of ancient knowledge,
and he is story teller and teacher. In his carving he depicts the great myths
and histories of our people through which we learn the fundamental philosophies
and values of our culture. Through his use of ancient and powerful symbolism he
transmits those philosophies and values into the consciousness of the people.
It is truly high art.
From my friend the master carver I
have learned of philosophy, cosmology, mythology, symbolism, genealogy and
history, ethics, aesthetics, science, environmental values, art history, of literature
and music, and of spirituality. I have learned about architecture, carving,
weaving, design, drawing, and painting. It has been an uplifting experience to
re-discover an intellectual tradition at least as exacting as its official
European counterpart.
I felt as though we were finally liberating
our Maori intellectual heritage from decades of oppression. Is this part of the
revolution we have long awaited? I think it is.
