- MD
Sidestep: Political Maori
I had a brief discussion with someone recently on the FB connection when I posted something saying it was amazing to think that Maori were technically in the stone age in the 1700’s. The meaning was they used stone tools, not acted like cavemen. Yet one person of Maori descent got upset because of the European notion of ages. Of course European's had their middle ages, dark ages and industrial age, a techno age and now a crypto age. They are described periods in time of development. Maori had no concept of change as they had no written history, or united nationhood, and only their progressive art and carving showed change of design along with some quite ingenious snares and traps. But they still used stone, wood and bone tools - yet this woman actually believed they would have been using metals by now, even without European contact. Wow, that is an amazing show of ignorance if you actually understand the development of cultures which she doesn't. Sometimes certain political Maori have an overinflated view of themselves in the same way every other race including European and American can and do. A romantic notion of the past still exists in the young who have been filled with fanciful and political teachings not true to the early recorded facts of the Maori. Below are three pictures. The first is a pictograph of Maru's family in Fiordland in 1773, the second and third are from the mid 1870's (the first being of chief Tahau) and the fourth is what is presented to modern tourists in 2016 as genuine. (click to enlarge each picture)
But 'stone age' doesn’t mean primitive in thinking, (this person took offense because…well, I don’t think that needs explaining does it) it simply means their tools were made of stone, that was their technology - stone, weapons were of stone, wood or bone. Many Maori agree with the reality of the past. But they aren’t political. What do I mean by political? An image that is there for financial and political gain. To think that Maori would have developed metalurgy on their own is a fanciful and arrogant attitude when any uncontacted peoples found in the last two hundred years are still living as they had for thousands of years with the same tools and beliefs. This includes the Sentinelese, who thankfully will continue to live the way they do for many hundreds of years to come, because the Indian Government who control the Andaman Islands, will not allow direct contact. They forbid any contact or even a craft to land or be within 5km of the island. Where contact was made with other similar tribes in the area, they quickly succumbed to disease, alcohol, and illicit prostitution and lost the ability to function traditionally as they once did.
Maori however, were far more advanced socially, economically and spiritually than the Sentinelese ever will be. They also quickly saw opportunities for trade with these white beings from the sea - at first called Pakehakeha till they realized they weren't gods. Once they realized they were humans, European and Maori got on well when cultural understanding developed. To not understand the culture meant an unknown offense and death could result…and did. But iron and cloth and simple European things were desirable to the Maori who traded iron nails for flax, and muskets for preserved heads. Te Pehi, Te Whera and Matoa (the white chief) set up a thriving flax trade in Murihiku (Southland). In fact, at one time when the first European missionaries lived here, they would not have survived if it were not for the local Maori looking after them. It was the whalers and sealers that caused the trouble and consternation.
Trouble has nothing to do with colour of the skin, but the quality of the human being and possibly cultural manner. Meanwhile some Maori continued to kill other Maori with the musket and then asked for British protection once it turned against them - and this is all recorded history. Maori quickly adapted using European tools to be able to advance their carving craft to produce some magnificent examples of their stylized carvings. In fact the detail and speed at which they could be produced was almost like a renaissance of sorts. Ornate carvings now began to appear everywhere. Sadly, once a government was formed, the goodwill between European and Maori was eroded. Atrocities occurred on both sides and we stress [both] sides. There were no winners, just losers.
So back to the political aspect. Why is it that some Maori still vehemently disagree with others? Why do some accept the past, both good and bad in history, and others don't? Why is it that some believe in pre-Maori occupation and others do not? Why is it that some believe they have the same opportunities in life and succeed in wealth and lifestyle and yet others blame the system for keeping them down? Why is there so much difference within Maoridom?
Ok, let's ask why they fought wars among themselves - as far back as 1480. Let's ask why did Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama, already displaced from Taranaki to Wellington by other tribes, use European vessels to visit the Chatham Islands and slaughter the Moriori? Let's ask why Ngapuhi cleverly gained the musket by trading with the Europeans the things they sought, and with the muskets they obtained systematically murdered up to 60,000 of their enemies up and down the country, as far away as Southland! Let’s ask those questions because they have nothing to do with the European or skin colour or British politics, or misunderstanding of cultural practices. It all has to do with what is inside some, or maybe even a few selected tribes. And the rest of the human race (regardless of color) is no better by the way! But understand that Maori were as brutal as any other race on this earth has been. It was a human condition, not a racial one.
Now, if we produce evidence that 8’ tall people existed in a time frame before the canoe arrivals, what will Maori do? Some will say, "we knew that". But some will also get very angry, even with the evidence produced. But why will they do that? What you are thinking is probably correct. It lies in something that infects some in every race - the belief they are superior to everyone else. No one is, we are all different. Europeans don't, (or shouldn't) still live in hatred of Germans because of the two world wars, they are a different people now. We trade with Japan, we don't hate them for past atrocities committed during war (or we shouldn't). Why then do certain Maori treat any white person they meet as if they represent some sort of Colonial oppression? It is because they are stuck in the past...it’s almost like Utu. It is actually the same spirit that utu carries. It is deep within. Maori will never be free until they free themselves from the past. Only then can they enter the future.
If you are of Maori descent and believe things are against you - your children will grow up as you have, and they will tell their children the same thing you speak now and so on. If you are of European or Asian descent and believe things are against you - your children will grow up as you have, and they will tell their children the same thing you speak now and so on. But I have seen firsthand the results of telling children of Maori descent they can achieve anything they want to, if they believe they can. Some of these now have jobs in excess of $200k a year. What changed? Only the input, and then the mindset. Culturally they are same, still proud of their heritage without the baggage that holds them down. That change in thinking was what changed the outcome.
A brown skinned refugee from the Sudan can come here and not even know the language. He can learn it, apply himself, work at any job he can get that will pay him, gain experience, train hard and eventually start a business and be wealthy (if that is his goal) without any outside help other than seeing this country as providing an opportunity. Conversely, a white fourth generation New Zealander can grow up in a poor family, told that he’ll never amount to anything, believe it and stay poor in mind and poor in pocket all his life.
It’s not his skin colour that is the problem, it’s his self-belief based on what is fed into his mind and heart.
That is what I mean by political Maori. Political isn't the reality - it's the excuse. There are few united Maori and no Maori nation. Political Maori blame everybody and everything white (and some need to check their own generational blood percentage while they do so). Real Maori see themselves as part of this nation and this land, for good or bad, and make of it what any other human being of any skin color can do.
Those are the true tangata Whenua in the interpretation Waitaha had of it - it's more your heart than your blood. That's why Waitaha is talked about as being the Nation of Waitaha. They were not perfect, but they were united.
