Post by Kiwi Frontline on Sept 24, 2018 5:06:45 GMT 12
THE TRUE CONTEXT OF NEW ZEALAND’S HISTORY
Pre the Treaty NZ was inhabited by a number of different nations who lived separately, they looked different, they spoke different they lived differently, they had different names for their nations, they arrived at different times and had left from different places to get here. One of those nations was people who had travelled from Europe, others had come from Asia, Melanesia and also from Rapanui via South America and Phoenicia (Ngati Hotu).
No one knows which of these nations arrived first, but there is ancestral and recorded evidence that many of these groups colonised people that were here before them. Pre the Treaty none of these groups had any more right than another to be here.
Please review that statement again, it is of the utmost importance in understanding our history:
“None of these groups had any more right than another to be here”
Pre the Treaty none of these groups were known as Maori and the word ‘Maori’ meaning native New Zealander was not in any of the languages spoken here and neither was that word, with a capital ‘M’ used in the Treaty. The Treaty does not even mention Maori, there was simply no such thing in 1840. The people were separate nations of different looking people, including European looking people. The most common way to refer to the people born in New Zealand was ‘New Zealander’.
Pre the Treaty many of these nations were in a constant state of depopulating wars, which are well documented.
The Treaty unified all of these people into one people, New Zealanders, and we became colony of Britain.
That’s it, there was no group or race known as ‘Maori’ in New Zealand. There was also no universal and distinct separate group known as Pakeha either. The words ‘Maori’ and ‘Pakeha’ as we know them today are social constructs that exist in our language and in the imaginations of people, just as the ‘Loch Ness monster’ and ‘ghosts’ are also words in our language.
It doesn’t mean that they are real or exist, you are not obliged to believe in the Lochness Monster or hand over your tax deductions to better educate monsters from Loch Ness.
The identity group “Maori” needs to be removed from our legislation and education, the truth is there simply is no such thing.
There is also no meaningful definition of such a group and any attempt to establish a definition will use an equally meaningless and divisive word ‘race’, which obviously does not apply to the people of New Zealand.
None of the above means that people who wish to define as Maori or Pakeha or any other group identity can’t do so of their free will, of course they can. However, at school children should be taught that they are individuals so it will be less likely in the future.
By Andy Oakley
Pre the Treaty NZ was inhabited by a number of different nations who lived separately, they looked different, they spoke different they lived differently, they had different names for their nations, they arrived at different times and had left from different places to get here. One of those nations was people who had travelled from Europe, others had come from Asia, Melanesia and also from Rapanui via South America and Phoenicia (Ngati Hotu).
No one knows which of these nations arrived first, but there is ancestral and recorded evidence that many of these groups colonised people that were here before them. Pre the Treaty none of these groups had any more right than another to be here.
Please review that statement again, it is of the utmost importance in understanding our history:
“None of these groups had any more right than another to be here”
Pre the Treaty none of these groups were known as Maori and the word ‘Maori’ meaning native New Zealander was not in any of the languages spoken here and neither was that word, with a capital ‘M’ used in the Treaty. The Treaty does not even mention Maori, there was simply no such thing in 1840. The people were separate nations of different looking people, including European looking people. The most common way to refer to the people born in New Zealand was ‘New Zealander’.
Pre the Treaty many of these nations were in a constant state of depopulating wars, which are well documented.
The Treaty unified all of these people into one people, New Zealanders, and we became colony of Britain.
That’s it, there was no group or race known as ‘Maori’ in New Zealand. There was also no universal and distinct separate group known as Pakeha either. The words ‘Maori’ and ‘Pakeha’ as we know them today are social constructs that exist in our language and in the imaginations of people, just as the ‘Loch Ness monster’ and ‘ghosts’ are also words in our language.
It doesn’t mean that they are real or exist, you are not obliged to believe in the Lochness Monster or hand over your tax deductions to better educate monsters from Loch Ness.
The identity group “Maori” needs to be removed from our legislation and education, the truth is there simply is no such thing.
There is also no meaningful definition of such a group and any attempt to establish a definition will use an equally meaningless and divisive word ‘race’, which obviously does not apply to the people of New Zealand.
None of the above means that people who wish to define as Maori or Pakeha or any other group identity can’t do so of their free will, of course they can. However, at school children should be taught that they are individuals so it will be less likely in the future.
By Andy Oakley