Random thoughts on Waitangi Day
Random thoughts on Waitangi Day: The British were relatively humane, enlightened colonisers, certainly by comparison with other colonial powers such as Belgium, Spain, Portugal and France. New Zealand was colonised not by force of arms, but by agreement with the established inhabitants. In that respect we are rare, if not unique.
As far as we can tell, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed with honourable intentions and genuine respect for Ma¯ ori. It was only later that settler greed for land and general Pa¯ keha¯ villainy caused things to turn dirty.
But it should be acknowledged that some Ma¯ ori tribes were dispossessed of their lands by their own chiefs.
Colonisation had a devastating effect on Ma¯ ori health and society and is increasingly blamed for problems that dog Ma¯ ori today, such as educational under-achievement, unemployment and high imprisonment rates.
But colonisation brought benefits too. Preeuropean Ma¯ ori life was hardly idyllic. Tribal warfare was a constant threat and slavery, violent death and cannibalism were endemic.
The Treaty can be seen in hindsight as a hopelessly flimsy document on which to base the governance of a complex 21st century country.
Hastily written and even more hastily translated, the Treaty has strained to breaking point under the enormous weight placed on it.
It doesn’t help that there were two versions, leaving the courts to come up with sometimes fanciful imaginings of what the signatories intended.
Unlike Australia, whose first white settlers were convicts, New Zealand was settled by people who came here of their own free will, looking for something better.
This was probably just as true of the original Polynesian arrivals as it was of the Europeans who followed. My own family stories are typical. My father’s forebears left Denmark to get away from Prussian invaders and my mother’s left Ireland to escape poverty and repression.
My wife’s parents were victims of Nazism who were rendered stateless by World War II and remained so until New Zealand accepted them in 1965.
As the debate over immigration threatens to become more rancorous, we need to remind ourselves that we were all once immigrants who were able to take advantage of what this country offered.
Most New Zealanders probably welcome the more vibrant society that has resulted from increased immigration and cultural diversity, but it has the potential to become problematical if not handled carefully.
The real issue is how to manage immigration without destabilising society.
We still don’t know nearly enough about our incredibly rich and colourful history. In fact we have two rich histories, one of which – preeuropean Ma¯ ori history – is overlooked altogether because Ma¯ ori had no written language with which to record it.
It survives only in oral storytelling.
Taika Waititi was justified last year in ticking Pa¯ keha¯ New Zealanders off for not bothering to pronounce Ma¯ ori names properly. But that does make us a racist country, as he suggested? I don’t think so.
The ‘‘racist’’ tag is greatly overplayed and too often used to close down legitimate discussion.
There is racism in New Zealand, undoubtedly, but you can’t condemn a country as racist just because people persist with the pronunciations they’ve grown up with.
I can’t see how lazy pronunciation, which is usually the product of a lifelong habit rather than any desire to demean or belittle Ma¯ ori, crosses those thresholds.
New Zealand is a pragmatic, practical country that prefers to do what works rather than allow itself to be captured by ideology.
Extremist causes almost never gain mainstream political traction.
We thus tend to be spared the ugly and intolerant extremes of Left and Right that characterise politics in some other countries.
We’re also a small, intimate society with two degrees of separation, which means we can’t help bumping into each other on the street, the supermarket and airport lounges.
It’s harder to hate people when you have to deal with them face-to-face as human beings.
How many countries could put together a parliamentary rugby team with players from opposing parties, such as the one that’s playing against former rugby greats in a curtain-raiser to a pre-season Blues-hurricanes match this weekend?
And finally, we have much to celebrate. We live in one of the world’s most civilised liberal democracies.
Global surveys consistently rank us among the top 10 countries in the world on measurements such as freedom, human rights, quality of life, education, health and tolerance of difference.
We’re not perfect, but we’re doing lots of things right. Happy Waitangi Day.
We still don’t know nearly enough about our incredibly rich and colourful history.