Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 29, 2016 9:24:28 GMT 12
WHO IS INDIGENOUS?
But if Japanese and Britons, despite thousands of years of occupation, are not indigenous, how can Maori be indigenous after a mere 800 years in New Zealand?
By what part of the law of nature, too, does arriving somewhere before someone else confer a completely new and extra set of inherent and indefeasible human rights?
There might be many descendants of our European pioneers who would rather like the idea that, because their ancestors arrived here some generations ago, they had more rights than do recent immigrants.
There will be no prizes for guessing the reaction of human rights advocates to that suggestion. But if the descendants of those who arrived by sailing ship may not have special rights, why should the descendants of those who arrived by canoe enjoy them?
Should Sir Edmund Hillary own Mt Everest because he was there first? Should the United States of America own the moon because its men landed there first?….
Read David Round's 'food for thought' article Here > www.nzcpr.com/who-is-indigenous/
But if Japanese and Britons, despite thousands of years of occupation, are not indigenous, how can Maori be indigenous after a mere 800 years in New Zealand?
By what part of the law of nature, too, does arriving somewhere before someone else confer a completely new and extra set of inherent and indefeasible human rights?
There might be many descendants of our European pioneers who would rather like the idea that, because their ancestors arrived here some generations ago, they had more rights than do recent immigrants.
There will be no prizes for guessing the reaction of human rights advocates to that suggestion. But if the descendants of those who arrived by sailing ship may not have special rights, why should the descendants of those who arrived by canoe enjoy them?
Should Sir Edmund Hillary own Mt Everest because he was there first? Should the United States of America own the moon because its men landed there first?….
Read David Round's 'food for thought' article Here > www.nzcpr.com/who-is-indigenous/