Māori Lawmakers Give a Haka! By Bruce Bennett
It is multicult diversity in action, and having fled from New Zealand, I know this only too well. The Treaty Principles Bill, which was before the New Zealand parliament, aimed at reinterpreting the Treaty of Waitangi, an 1840 agreement giving the Māori various land and cultural rights in exchange for allowing the British to govern. It was easier to do that simply fight on and conquer these people outright. Now there was a move to tone down the goodies that were given under the Treaty. While the Bill had no chance of passing, the Māori lawmakers did the Haka, which one can view. It seems more of a hostile war dance with weird facial expressions. The account below from the ever-multicultural ABC news, sees the Haka as a splendid thing; me, it was just one more absurd, inappropriate performance. That's cultural relativism for you, as my view is a god' as theirs, according to their own relativism.
"Māori lawmakers interrupted a New Zealand parliamentary vote with a Haka on Thursday to protest a proposed law that critics say would erode the land and cultural rights of Indigenous New Zealanders.
When asked how her party's representatives would vote during the session, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of New Zealand's Māori party stood up and began a soaring Haka, a ceremonial Māori dance that demonstrates pride, strength and unity through a series of intricate movements and facial expressions. She ripped a copy of the bill in half as she did the Haka.
About half of the lawmakers present, including members of the Labour and Green parties, joined in, along with members of the public seated in the gallery, their chants echoing through the chamber.
Gerry Brownlee, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, appeared to roll his eyes as the Haka began. Unable to regain control of the room, he later suspended the House and ordered the gallery to be cleared.
He suspended Maipi-Clarke for one day. Earlier in the session, he ejected veteran Māori lawmaker Willie Jackson for yelling "Shame! Shame!" at the representative who proposed the controversial law.
The Treaty Principles Bill proposes reinterpreting the Treaty of Waitangi, an 1840 agreement guaranteeing the Māori certain land and cultural rights in exchange for allowing the British to govern.
This frame grab taken from a New Zealand Parliament TV feed dated Nov. 14, 2024, and released via AFPTV on Nov. 15, shows Maori lawmakers performing the Haka, a traditional ceremonial dance, disrupting parliament in a protest against a bill that aims to reinterpret a centuries-old document seen as New Zealand's founding treaty with its Indigenous people.
Critics of the bill said it will eliminate dedicated land, government seats, health care initiatives and cultural preservation efforts granted to the Maori people under the Treaty of Waitangi. Together for Te Tiriti, a group that advocates for Maori people, said the bill "clears the way for politicians and corporations to have greater control over our communities."
David Seymour, a Māori lawmaker who authored the Treaty Principles Bill, argued that the existing laws grant Māori people "different rights from other New Zealanders."
Under the Treaty of Waitangi, lawmakers set up programs to revitalize the Māori language and tackle poor health metrics through a Māori Health Authority.
Although the Treaty Principles Bill is unlikely to pass, leaders, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, voted for it in the first stage as part of a political coalition deal, promising they would not allow it to pass any further.
Thousands of New Zealanders marched toward Wellington on Monday to protest the Treaty Principles Bill. The protest is expected to be the biggest race relations march in the country's history."
The lesson for Australia: oppose all treaties.
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