Post by Kiwi Frontline on Sept 18, 2016 9:14:43 GMT 12
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Waikato Times 7/5/16)
I reply to the letter by M and G Anderson about the shocking murder of
young Moko and outrage that his killers are pleading guilty to the
lesser charge of manslaughter.
Reading of the horrific injuries suffered over days by the poor wee boy,
how can this be anything other than murder?
I agree with your correspondents that nothing ever changes - Maori
statistics remain constantly woeful despite billions being spent
annually to effect some change.
To blame ‘‘colonial oppressors’' totally rejects their own history of
centuries of violence. Infanticide - the killing of baby girls because
they would never become warriors, the brutality of the Musket Wars in
which whole tribes slaughtered and ate each other. Almost a quarter of
their population was murdered in the tribal warring.
It was the arrival of the missionaries who persuaded Maori that they
needed to put an end to the savagery and cannabilism. Hence today Maori
do not have to live in a barricaded pa as they did 200 years ago!
How is that the fault of colonisation?
R. B
Tauranga
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Bay of Plenty Times 7/5/16)
Peter Dey says tolerance is required over the re-naming of Cambridge
Park and the BOP Polytechnic.
He completely misses the point - the sole reason for the furore is that
these places already have perfectly acceptable names.
Up pops a tribe with the "gift" of a new name which is simply a clever
ploy to force a name-change.
Does Mr Dey really imagine that the locals are about to call this park
anything other than its current name - ditto the polytechnic, and the
recently re-named Devonport Library to Te Pataka Korero o Te Hau Kapua.
While on the subject, I am incensed every time I hear our country
referred to as Aotearoa New Zealand. Maori never had a name for the
country as a whole and it is not mentioned in the Treaty of Waitangi.
In Article 2 of the treaty is the phrase ‘‘tangata katoa o Nu Tirani’’
translated as ‘‘all the people of New Zealand’’.
Perhaps the tribes could concentrate on the very real issues facing
Maori today and forget the window-dressing!
R B
Tauranga
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Nelson Mail 4/5/16)
Yesterday afternoon, (3rd May) Nick Smith said on Radio New Zealand: "How do we ensure that iwi are involved in the decision-making process around freshwater?" The only legitimate answer is: "We don't". There is nothing in the Treaty of Waitangi or anywhere else which gives any Maori tribe any right to be involved. The position of Maori interest groups is the same as that of any other - Federated Farmers, The Council of Trade Unions or the Business Round Table. To give them now any involvement in the decision-making process which is not granted to others would be blatant racism.
BRUCE MOON
Nelson
I reply to the letter by M and G Anderson about the shocking murder of
young Moko and outrage that his killers are pleading guilty to the
lesser charge of manslaughter.
Reading of the horrific injuries suffered over days by the poor wee boy,
how can this be anything other than murder?
I agree with your correspondents that nothing ever changes - Maori
statistics remain constantly woeful despite billions being spent
annually to effect some change.
To blame ‘‘colonial oppressors’' totally rejects their own history of
centuries of violence. Infanticide - the killing of baby girls because
they would never become warriors, the brutality of the Musket Wars in
which whole tribes slaughtered and ate each other. Almost a quarter of
their population was murdered in the tribal warring.
It was the arrival of the missionaries who persuaded Maori that they
needed to put an end to the savagery and cannabilism. Hence today Maori
do not have to live in a barricaded pa as they did 200 years ago!
How is that the fault of colonisation?
R. B
Tauranga
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Bay of Plenty Times 7/5/16)
Peter Dey says tolerance is required over the re-naming of Cambridge
Park and the BOP Polytechnic.
He completely misses the point - the sole reason for the furore is that
these places already have perfectly acceptable names.
Up pops a tribe with the "gift" of a new name which is simply a clever
ploy to force a name-change.
Does Mr Dey really imagine that the locals are about to call this park
anything other than its current name - ditto the polytechnic, and the
recently re-named Devonport Library to Te Pataka Korero o Te Hau Kapua.
While on the subject, I am incensed every time I hear our country
referred to as Aotearoa New Zealand. Maori never had a name for the
country as a whole and it is not mentioned in the Treaty of Waitangi.
In Article 2 of the treaty is the phrase ‘‘tangata katoa o Nu Tirani’’
translated as ‘‘all the people of New Zealand’’.
Perhaps the tribes could concentrate on the very real issues facing
Maori today and forget the window-dressing!
R B
Tauranga
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Nelson Mail 4/5/16)
Yesterday afternoon, (3rd May) Nick Smith said on Radio New Zealand: "How do we ensure that iwi are involved in the decision-making process around freshwater?" The only legitimate answer is: "We don't". There is nothing in the Treaty of Waitangi or anywhere else which gives any Maori tribe any right to be involved. The position of Maori interest groups is the same as that of any other - Federated Farmers, The Council of Trade Unions or the Business Round Table. To give them now any involvement in the decision-making process which is not granted to others would be blatant racism.
BRUCE MOON
Nelson