- MD
Sidestep: 'What goes around...'
This is more of a spiritual approach as such. Not a specific religion or belief of any race, more of a general principle that affects all human beings.
Much has been said about the white man taking over native lands. A lot of land was traded fairly at the time, and plenty of it was confiscated during the Maori wars. I want to stress this term 'during the wars'. Many who complain about the white man seem to forget that colour has little to do with it…unless one is racist. Man has done this to man for centuries. Tahitian to Tahitian, Samoan to Tongan, Sioux to Pawnee, Causasian to Caucasian, Asian to Asian, and Maori to Maori. Even the Australian Aborigine had 'payback' wars and that are depicted in rock paintings. No race can claim not to have fought among themselves, or their neighbours.
It may astound many to learn...but while Maori were fighting the British in the NZ wars over treatment of maori and the taking of lands, some Maori were still treating the Moriori like slaves and claiming Rēkohu as their own by conquest. The Moriori only received their lands back in 1863 (23 years after the treaty was signed), and only after the NZ government stepped in. These Maori didn't choose to stop slavery, they were forced to. See the double standard? Well to be fair you can't say all Maori had a double standard because it was only two tribes that did this and Maori were never a united people at any time. But the point is made!
If one revisits worldwide history, it seems that native land was taken by other natives who already had other land. Take the examples below in various forms of media. They are all accurate to a certain degree of intent.
Tongan and Samoan battles: native against native
Tahiti, and Pōmare II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Tahiti
North America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8RiNRMPZjo For example,
where the Sioux live now was never their traditional homeland. They
were from Missouri but took over the plains, chasing out the Pawnee
and others.
As with the Sioux, in NZ Ngai Tahu now claim the South island and they did so by conquest of the Kati Mamoe who took it from Waitaha. But Ngai Tahu came from the North Island originally. So if we talk about traditional tribal lands, Ngai Tahu actually came from elsewhere (just like the Europeans did). So, if bones were dug up in Whāngārā, that was a 15th century Ngai Tahu skeleton, who claims it? (Whāngārā is just north of Gisborne, their traditional place of arrival). Who claims the skeleton or any artefacts found there as their own? Ngāti Porou? In fact about 6 tribes could claim right to that area with traditional overlapping boundaries at one time or another until the treaty was signed. (see post 7th February about land ownership. It’s very revealing. http://ow.ly/YjRtI )
My point is this: Those political Maori and the emotional ones who blame the European for everything need to have a long hard look at their own history if they wish to be credible. Maori slaughtered Maori on a regular basis. Ngapuhi were the most violent and determined group to do so in recent times kiiling up to 60,000 from other tribes. In fact some 3000 battles occurred in those musket wars between Maori from 1807-1845. Three thousand battles! Even survivors were subject to cannibalism which was a standard practice, designed to injure even the spirit of the victim, and this is accepted as part of the history, yet there is no call for justice against Ngapuhi by Ngatiwhatua or any other tribes for the atrocities commited in the 1830’s. No European ever ate Maori flesh killed in battle. That was strictly a Maori practice within NZ.
Below is a plaque commemorating the last battle between northern and southern Maori. Who was defeated? Ngapuhi! What the hell were Ngapuhi doing down in Southland, just outside of Mataura? They were killing their enemies in the spirit of utu (payback) some 900 miles by sea and land from their own homeland - just four years before signing the treaty. And to be honest, Ngapuhi used the treaty in a way to protect themselves from others once other tribes gained the musket. If they had not been defeated, Ngapuhi might have claim to all the South Island by right of war. But know that this spirit of utu was by Maori upon Maori, by Ngapuhi and other tribes who claim they are hard done by by Europeans.
What Maori suffer now in regard to land loss, is just a repeat of what they did to themselves, although on a much larger scale and over a much shorter time frame. Skin colour has little to do with it. And to continue onwards, NZ is now being taken over more by overseas interests including China so the European influence is, in its own time, also suffering the same fate in relation to land acquirement for exactly the same reason. What goes around comes around.
How can it all stop? Simple. How about we go back about 700 years and have Maori pay recompense for what they did to those first here, and what they did to themselves in the same manner. Well you can't, but where is the national outpouring of forgiveness from Maori toward Maori for deep and permanent issues they still have not acknowledged. Have the Moriori ever received an unreserved apology and recompense from the tribes that murdered them? Maori were a warring race, let's agree on that, and also not be ignorant that deep down those internal issues still exist. If they didn't, a united Maori would indeed be a force to reckon with.
However, let’s celebrate the unique history NZ has while acknowledging the past atrocities regardless of what colour skin the attackers or the victims had. The issue isn't the skin - it is the heart.
"he aha haere a tawhio noa mai a tawhio noa - What goes around comes around. A sort of utu upon the mana of a people claiming they are better or somehow displayed a better standard of human tolerance than anyone else. It simply isn’t true, and the history Maori repeat as their own bears this out.
While this has been the most controversial sidestep, the more I dig into the heart of issues, the more I find deep rooted anger that goes back countless generations, often with no rational explanation other than that which is inherently Polynesian and seen firsthand by early explorers. But to be fair, we are all human and subject to the same emotions. So in that case, what goes around comes around, regardless of colour or race.
