Our extraordinary day to reflect, research, maybe revolt
It is an incredibly two-dimensional view to believe that once the final payment is signed off, things will be ‘‘settled’’.
‘Happy Waitangi Weekend’’, if that is the appropriate greeting. ‘‘Solemn Waitangi Day’’ doesn’t sound right. ‘‘Waitangi Greetings’’ feels flippant, ‘‘Top of the Treaty Day to ya’’ is probably inappropriate, and ‘‘Kia Ora Koutou Katoa’’ seems to set off online fights.
As opposed to other countries, New Zealand does not mark its nationhood with giant fireworks displays, massive beach parties, or even a Mā ori All Blacks v Everyone Else touch rugby game.
Instead, politicians travel to Waitangi for a stern reminder of Treaty obligations, racially charged columns are published and a family BBQ gets tense when one uncle starts a sentence with ‘‘The thing abut the Mowrees’’.
Unless, of course, you’re in London, in which case a multicultural pub-crawl on the Circle Line to Westminster is possibly how your weekend is kicking off.
Nothing accidentally evokes the realities of the origins of this country like drugged-up wellmeaning New Zealanders doing a haka outside the British Parliament. UK power prices being what they are, it’s certainly a cheaper way to keep warm.
There is a striking difference in attitude between Kiwis marking the weekend overseas and at home.
For those overseas it is an excuse to come together as a community, play some classic hits and weirdly drink Lindauer as though it is a rare antipodean champagne.
Meanwhile, in the romantically named islands of ‘‘North’’, ‘‘South’’ and ‘‘Stewart’’, perhaps lacking the perspective of being far from home – because everywhere outside New Zealand is far – things get confrontational.
It can be depressing to see the same old anti-Mā ori rhetoric rolled out again as the calendar comes round to February 6, observing that in the 23 years of this century so far, little has changed in the statements and attitudes of detractors. Some people just hate Mā ori. The only thing that makes them uncomfortable about it is the word ‘‘hate’’.
Yet their actions, their attitudes, and their rhetoric all would be classified by a foreign observer as ‘‘hateful’’. That hate is something that has been taught to them. Like most bigotry it is rooted in generational fears. That is a very sad state for them to be in.
Arguably what is sadder is those around them who don’t see the need for help.
Of course discussing these sorts of issues will get one derogatorily branded ‘‘woke’’ with absolutely no hint of irony about using a term first originating in Black American culture to invalidate those speaking on indigenous issues.
No doubt there are people who believe Waitangi Day itself is some sort of ‘‘woke’’ ‘‘virtue signalling’’; hopefully they never espouse those opinions beyond New Zealand for fear of embarrassing the rest of us.
Our political language still fails our indigenous people, in the sense that there seems to be either a wilful ignorance or a dismissive attitude towards the generational trauma that continues to affect Mā ori, and the direct relationship between that trauma and the Treaty.
What has become apparent is that, rather than take time to understand how we have got here and how we can safely move forward, some just want to rush things through and move on.
People talk about ‘‘let’s just get the Treaty stuff done with’’, or ‘‘it wasn’t my ancestors, so it’s not my problem’’. What they really mean is ‘‘I don’t want to deal with this, or have it affect me’’.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the definition of ‘‘co-governance’’, when what we should be looking at is the word ‘‘settlement’’.
It is an incredibly twodimensional view to believe that once the final payment is signed off, things will be ‘‘settled’’, and highlights a key problem with addressing the Treaty: disengagement.
But what appears to be forgotten about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Waitangi Day itself is this: They are extraordinary.
It is exceedingly rare for a colonising nation to actually sign and attempt – belatedly, if not begrudgingly – to honour a treaty with its indigenous people. It is even rarer for those documents to become part of the national identity.
This weekend is not simply about rights and wrongs, betrayals and reparations, the British Crown and the Mā ori people. It is about the concept of Aotearoa New Zealand, about a commitment to moving towards an idea of a country that we are collectively trying to build.
If you are genuinely committed to being a part of this relatively young, incredibly isolated, melting pot of a nation then Waitangi Day is your day too. It is a day to reflect, relax, maybe revolt, or even research. As the saying goes, feed two birds with one scone . . . or something like that.
Mā ori issues are New Zealand issues, and if you live in New Zealand then what affects the indigenous people of Aotearoa affects you. After all, that’s why you get to call yourself a Kiwi.