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Marc My Words.
By Marc Alexander MP
Why Waitangi?
Sometimes politics end up like provincial squabbles for booty between tribes. Whether or not it seems pertinent, we are
constantly banging our heads against the Treaty of Waitangi in a landslide of legislation. It's like having a perennial
headache. We continually debate phantom principles whose applications lie beyond our grasp, not knowing how to apply
them other than as ephemeral concepts that we fail to nail down in language that we can all understand. We make
assumptions and do not ask the obvious (and impertinent) question: why not put the Treaty in a museum along with all our
other cultural bits and pieces and observe it for what it is - an interesting piece of historical archaeology. What is
so damn sacred about the document that it must haunt us from beyond its place in our past, from a historical context
that is no longer relevant?
Some, with their politically correct moistened eyes, reverentially refer to the frayed Treaty as a 'foundation document'
as though it was more than an agreement between a collection of tribes and earnest bearded colonialists. The veneration
accorded to it is out of place in a modern world. It strikes me that the Treaty of Waitangi debate is the crucible from
which a new tribalism has emerged. The question is, why is this?
The Treaty of Waitangi gravy train is ostensibly a response in addressing the inequalities of today that have allegedly
sprung from a series of unequal and unfair events that happened over a hundred years ago. In the debate few question the
logical implausibility of a historical cause to a modern effect. It is not certain that a connection can be made between
our present capitalist - democratic social order and the traditional collectivist tribal relations of Maori as they
intersected with the highly undemocratic colonial culture of our past. I suspect that the current clusters of
revisionists are putting their brains on hold to arbitrarily attach historical causes to today's realities.
How can we place any relevance to the goings on of a century ago to the present circumstances of Maori? Do we really
want to believe that higher prison rates, obesity and diabetes are the result of past colonial practices? Or are
personal bad choices leaving their imprint on consequences? If it is valid to refer to the past as a contributing cause
then there can be no logical barrier to restricting its application to Maori alone. European non-Maori descendants (who
are overwhelmingly white and middle-class) could just as easily attribute their penchant for pornography, white collar
crime and pokie machine addictions to their unfortunate historical background. Stereotypes are easy to manufacture but
that does not make them true. At some point the credibility of these antecedent causes must give way to individual
responsibility for the choices we make.
What is conveniently forgotten is that it was not Western culture that migrated here and destroyed Maori traditional
life; 'democracy' has destroyed both. For example, feudal society in Western Europe was ravaged and eventually
obliterated through the imperatives of democracy. Rather than romanticise Maori tribal communities, or serf and lord
relationships in the Western tradition, democracy swept them all away. This development must be seen as a global
phenomenon. Distinctive characteristics of democracy lie in its destruction of group (tribal) rights and hierarchical
(feudal) inequalities in favour of individualism.
The push for globalisation is a natural consequence of the increasing democratisation of the economy (and its political
expression). Just as every force has an equal and opposing force, with the destabilisation of the centre of modernity
away from Europe (for example, the dismantling of national boundaries as in the European Union), and the United States,
there has been a corresponding worldwide search for localised cultural groupings for individuals to build identity. It
is in this context that we can understand the rise of eco-fundamentalism, religious fundamentalism and Maori revivalism.
In a sense they, along with other social groupings, have replaced the past genealogical and community cultural
identifiers. For better or worse, we live in a world of great mobility. Families that lived for generations within a few
miles radius are rare. My own example is no longer exceptional: I was born in Japan where I spent my first nine years. I
then lived in Australia, attended school and University in New Zealand, gained extra qualifications in France over two
years, went on to live for many years in the North America, then some years in Australia and Tonga, - and I am
nevertheless a loyal New Zealand citizen. How we identify our selves is no longer through genealogy but by the choice we
make to experience our identity in a certain way. For example, Tariana Turia - the leader of the fledgling Maori Party -
has chosen to identify with Maori rather than with her father's native American identity.
The establishment of a biological basis on which to assert cultural difference with consequential privilege negates the
very essence of democracy. It is a return to superstition and the isolation and demarcation of one group claiming
superior rights over others. No twisting of logic into a pretzel will resolve the contradictory conundrum that to
elevate one group of individuals (by virtue of their shared DNA) over another can ever lead to equality and liberty for
all.
This brings us back to the unwarranted sanctification of Maori tribalism today. What is occurring, and has become
increasingly beyond questioning, is that somehow the righting of past wrongs can accommodate the problematic
circumstances of today. This new tribalism runs counter to fundamental democratic principles. It is an ideology based on
beliefs of biologically acquired cultural identity tied to genealogy, and expressed through cultural forms of language
and customs. There is an implicit denial that people 'acquire' their ethnic and cultural groups through socialisation
and the development of membership identity.
The problem is, there is no genetic difference between Maori or any other. We are all members of a universal human race.
How we express our humanity is largely a product of our interaction with contemporary conditions. These are imbued with
current cultural dynamics, and given depth by the history that created them. The rise of tribalism, if it succeeds, will
be at the expense of equality and liberty. It will usher in a new Dark Age where the rule of law will bow to the
vagaries of superstition.
It is now 2005 - we should be above and beyond all that.
Marc Alexander MP. United Future NZ.
12 August 2005
www.Marc-Alexander-MP.org
ENDS