Hikoi: one year on - an observation, a conclusion

Thoughts and observations of the last 3-4 years from a relatively new participant in the Tino Rangatiratanga movement, as to the effectiveness of the movement within this current paradym.

On the Maori Party:

There have been many thoughts go through my head in the last year about the Maori Party, and their emergence at this stage in our hystory. Its been a difficult conclusion to come to, but I now see this Party as an appropriate reaction and representation of where a lot of Maori are at, and I can see why they will garner a lot of Maori support. It is an avenue that Maori are yet to fully explore - the avenue of political minority representation within this parliamentary MMP system. It is a road we seem to need to travel, if nothing more than to see where it ends.



On Revolution/uprising:

I doubt there will ever be a revolt lead by 'Maori' per se unless we somehow have a [[massive]] shift in base thinking (notwithstanding this is still a dream prevalent in the hearts and minds of many Maori around the motu).



Why i say that is not to put Maori down or the movement down but to point out what is now more obvious to me now than ever before.



1/ Apart from the reality that many Maori resistance leaders are now worn down by years of tireless action (and as Dei Hamo sings) "years of having no shit", and are turning to more ‘stable’ lifestyles.



2/ Apart from the obvious fact that Maori do not have the financial backbone at the moment to resource an effective revolt...



3/ Apart from the sad fact that the Crown is wholeheartedly dependent and expectant of Maori to quell any Maori revolt...



Those reasons and many more are not behind why I am thinking this way at the moment.



The Observation:

The reason I believe we have focussed and restricted our level of action to these arenas such as endeavouring to set up alternative parliaments, alternative systems of law, alternative dollar notes, why we ‘hikoi’ off to Parliament of all places seek some form of justice, why grass roots movements are continually so easily snatched from the clutches of the people and placed in the hands of courtrooms or political party's, is because deep down...



…many believe there is still hope (within this system).



From what we have seen with the killing of Stephen Wallace and subsequent acquital of his murderer, also what I have witnessed at Ngawha - the wholesale destruction carried out there on whenua there, the backhand slap in the face given to the people there by the crown and its Maori ministers, and also with the Seabed and Foreshore and the eventual confiscation of million of acres of Maori ancestral lands by the Crown. These have left me under no illusion that the only real hope we have is to accept the glaring fact that there is no possibility for real justice within the realms of this system…not now, nor ever.



…and I think the sooner we participants in this movement called Tino Rangatiratanga can accept this fact, the sooner we will be able to function as an effective resistance movement is supposed to.



Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara

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