An Oath To Our Mokopuna
On Tuesday, MPs will be required to pledge an oath of allegiance to ‘His Majesty King Charles the Third, His heirs and successors’ before they can be officially sworn into Parliament.
This is symbolic of the colonial power that Parliament places above the mana of tangata whenua, and the constraints that are placed on Māori MPs representing their people.
It is not the equal partnership that was consented to by Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Tangata whenua have always honoured our side of Te Tiriti, and we will continue to do so. We will not allow anybody to treat us as second-class citizens on our own whenua.
Māori owe no allegiance to the genocidal legacy of the British Empire.
There is no honour in the Crown. It is tainted with the blood of indigenous nations, and its throne sits at the apex of global white supremacy.
To the sovereign of England, we say history will judge whether you have the moral capacity to shoulder responsibility for your family’s heinous legacy. It is beyond you to restore its honour - the harm caused by your Crown is now intergenerational and irreparable. Indigenous blood stains the throne you on.
We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon.
Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We will continue to do our best by you, in accordance to our tikanga, amongst the monsters whose portraits still hang on the walls of Parliament.