The Māori Fight for Liberation: Part 1 Ft. Andrew

of European settlers in the late eighteenth century. The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in eighteen forty between the British Crown and Mari chiefs, was meant to protect Maori rights and

the ensure a peaceful co existence. However, as a bilingual text, it kind of sucked at being bilingual because some of the words in the English treaty did not translate directly into the written Maori language at the time, and so the Mari text is not an exact translation of the English text, partically in relation to the meaning of having and seeding sovereignty. In other words, the full implications of

what they were signing was not fully understood. The concept of private land ownership as the British understood it clashed with Maori communal land practices, which led to a significant

land loss for Maria communities. The New Zealand month implemented policies and laws that systematically favored European settlers and throught the latter half of the nineteenth century, Mari lost control of much of the land they had owned, sometimes through legitimate sale, but often by way of unfaired land deals, settlers occupying land that had not been sold, or through

outright confiscation. In the aftermath of the New Zealand Wars and New Zealand Wars, where they also run as the Land Wars or Mari Wars, were a series of conflicts that took place in Auti Aura between the indigenous married

people and the British government and its colonial forces. These wars banned from the early eighteen forties to the late eighteen seventies, and the underlying cause was that very struggles for land and resources as European settlers were arriving in increasing numbers and more and more dispute ceteris and over land ownership and the interpretation of the Treaty of Watangi. The wars were fought on multiple fronts involving different married

tribes and regions. Conflicts included the Northern War, the Tehranki, the Taranaki Wars, the Wakaito War, and the Tauranga Campaign, and these were also characterized by a combination of gorilla warfare, fortifications,

and conventional military tactics. The results, as with pretty much all wars, was the disruption of well, in this case specifically traditional Marii social structures and economic systems, and the results and hardship for those Mari communities and so As the nineteen and twentieth century progressed, Mari oppressioned also manifest in the suppression of cultural practices and languages by the government as a government aimed to assimilate Mari into European

culture because of course, to them European culture is considered superior. Married children were often forced into English speaking schools where their own language and customs were discouraged, and that also led to decline the use in transmission of the Mari language and the loss of cultural identity for many Maria individuals. This I think can be characterized as a cultural genocide. Moreover, discriminatory practices were prevalent in various areas and putting in employment,

in housing, and in political representation. Married people faced significant barriers and discrimination when seeking employment or housing opportunities. They were also underrepresented in political institutions, which lim to their ability to advocate for their rights and influence decision making processes. Now, the seeds of contemporary married activism were sowing in the

sixties and seventies. Struggles were taking place basically from the point of first contact, but Mari activism as we understand it today really launched with a new fervor in the sixties and seventies. The late sixties and early seventies really marked a turbulent period globally because there was an upsurge in class conflicts and social activism. You know, they are the independence movements and decolonization movements happening all over the world.

It was a time when people all over were taking a stand against it injustice and fighting for their rights. And this wave of political and social movements as soon as the New Left had a profound impact on the Islands as well. In New Zealand as in elsewhere, student

activism was really taken in shape across the world. Students who were protesting against the Vietnam War in the US, they were advocating for black liberation, and then they were all social movements gain momentum, like the women's liberation movement, the anti racism movement, the environmentalism movements and the game that's been rights movements. They were all sparking around the same time. So the new Left in Autai rower was

shaped by these international developments. The late nineteen sixties when it's a surge in student activism and the emergence ofverior social movements again environmentalism, women's liberation, anti racism, et cetera, and so Mari protest groups were really picking up on those movements and those movements would shape the mindsets and

the actions of married protest groups during that period. They were taking the analysis and the understanding of racism and inequalities faced by Mari in a broader context, and so they were aligning themselves with class struggle as well, and were the progressive I dual to the left at large. So this point in time, the Maori struggle it was characterized as largely leftist. That is something that will change later on as the movements become more heterogeneous, but for

now it's been mostly leftist. Even though there were some part protest groups that were less left oriented and more just you know, national liberation focused, they still saw themselves as part of this broader left movement. Okay, they were still actively working to incorporate these radical intellectual traditions, particularly

Marxism and feminism into the Maori struggle. In the late nineteen sixties, there was this very strong collaboration taking place between Pakeha or European New Zealanders and pakiher anti racist

groups and the emergent Maori protest movements. One significant event that really brought them together was the exclusion of Mari rugby players from the nineteen sixty All Black Tour of South Africa by the New Zealand Rugby Football Association, and that decision, of course sparked widespread opposition because at the time South Africa was very much involved in the part TI and this decision to exclude Mari rugby players from the team and from that particular tour led to many

protests under this banner of No Maori, No Tour, which focused not only in the exclusion of the Maori but also on the morality of engaging with the country practicing apartheid. More collaboration would take place in the form of the formation of the Halt All Racist Tours Group also His Heart in nineteen sixty nine, which is an umbrella organization that united a couple different voices and groups, both Maori and Pakiha in the opposition to relish their discriminatory sports tours.

They were so involved organizations like Care which included young Mari political activists among its members, alongside Pakeha political activists in organizing these panel discussions to address the position of Mari in New Zealand society. And then this is going on. This also the growth in the influence of individuals like Gahria, te Awaikotuku and Don Abatiri began shedding more and more light on the barriers that prevented married women, specifically from

fully participate in and contributing to Maori society. They were out here criticizing the patriarchal nature to show Mari leadership an aratification for the speaking rights of married women, trying inspiration from the broader, non Mari specific women's liberation movement as well.

struggling for Marie rights as a whole, but then also they're facing issues as women, both in the organization and in broader society. So they're fighting to presume the politics and culture and language of Marii society while also seeking liberation from the oppression that they would face in that married society. So it's a struggle for both preservation and also reformation of Mariori society, or rather liberation, preservation and reformation.

There was also an increase in strike activity and general class struggle happening during the late nineteen sixties, which had a significant impact in the political education of many Mari workers who were fighting for better wages and improved working conditions.

Trade unions were playing a crucial role in providing organizational base Mari protest groups, as demonstrated by the emergence of groups like Tehoki Oi and the Mario Organization on Human Rights or MWHR, both located in the Wellington and both strongly connected to trade unions. The secretary in fact of the MWHR, Tamapuata, was actively involved in the Wellington Drivers

Union and the New Zealand Communist Party. These organizations were advocating for an alliance between MARI and progressivelopments in the working class. The view the fundamental contradiction society as being between labor and capital, between workers and bosses or landowners, and racism was seen as a consequence of class inequality, and the majority of MARI being working class, were considered

an impressed segment of the working class. Both POKYOI and MWHR promoted the idea of a unified struggle across racial lines, focusing one class B strategies as the most effective means of addressing racism and reducing MARI inequality. If you pick an up hints of class reductionism.

You see the society, You're not going to go away just as a result of the end to that class based depression. To be fair to the MWHR, they will also play in an active role in reason awareness about racism specifically you know, in housing, in sports and employment, and in violation generally I marrit political rights. They also had a very strong stance on issues relating to the Treaty of our Tangi, you know, the alienation of Mari from the land and the depletion of resources and the

inability of Maori to access those resources. Their stance, interestingly enough, was really on sort of reclaiming the Treaty of Waitangi as a potential foundation for harmonious and bicultural country, with the conditions that past injustices were addressed and rectified. However, like I alluded to earlier, there would be a shift

as the movement would progress. The inspirational momentum behind the te Hokioi and MHR had begun to weigne, particularly during the early to mid nineteen seventies, and eventually in nineteen seventy five, the m WHR would merge with Matakite as part of the land rights movement, which marked the end of their separate existence and also led to the rise of Brown power. So if brown power sounds like black power,

that's because it's copied power. Similar to the ideologies of black power advocated by folks like Kamiture and Charles V. Hamilton, Brown power is centered on the complete rejection of the racist institutions and values of New Zealand society and the belief that group solidarity was essential effective collective action and negotiation. The proponents of Brown power urged Mari people to unite, to recognize their shared history and the foster sense of

solidarity and community. Significant emphasis was placed on the goal of Marie's self determination, which of all, the ability for Maria to define their own objectives and to establish their own distinct organizations and institutions. So this is like at this point, brown power, much like black power, is the opposite of just assimilation or adjustment or cohabitation with existing structures.

It is a movement that desired complete autonomy from those systems, from those structures, an assertion of the freedom of Mari people to exist and not have their existence imposed upon the organization. Tamatoa initially drew inspiration from the revolutionary faction of the Black Poor movement in the US. However, as the group evolved, different interests and objectives had emerged, which

led to a division within the movement. On the one side, they were the conservative, university educated members such as Sid and Hannah Jackson, Peter Reikis, and Don Abatiri. And on the other side they were the more militant proponents of black or brown power like John Ohio, Paul Kottara, and Tednia. Eventually, unfortunately, the more conservative members of Tamatoa really took center stage

in the movement. Their strategies diverged from the militants and that they sort of changed through alliance with more liberal elements within the Ruins. They believed that by implementing appropriate legal measures, MARI could achieve prosperity, so they were really advocating for like welfare and self help programs for MARI development.

And in fact, there was even some belief among them that New Zealand capitalism coupled with the parliamentary political system could be rid of racism, that you could extract racism from capitalism and then everything would be hunky door.

and history of that system. And so when you have when you're fueled by those individual interests and you're focused on how you can advance through that system in business or in politics, whatever the case may be, is very easy to just you know, be like, oh, well, I'm not you guys are talking about and I'm sure once we get the racism out of the way, you know, we can all succeed, wink wink. But of course that

is a rather my opic approach. And so as a result of the centrality of those individuals and that particular perspective in the movement, the meaning of brown power as a slogan kind of got water down. It became more ambiguous and potentially associated with either mari capitalism or evolutionary activity. Arguably, the same thing could be said for black power. A lot of people, a lot of advocates of black power ended up going in the direction of black capitalism, talented

tenth black business, black wealth, that kind of thing. And well we've seen consequests to that. I mean, there are more black billionaires and millionaires than they ever have been in human history. But that doesn't mean racism has been dealt with. Putting aside the capitalist oriented advocates of brown power on the revolutionary side, a new group would emerged to challenge the system. And this group and you're gonna you're gonna pick up on a little bit of a

theme here in terms of inspiration. This group was called the Polynesian Panthers. Interesting establish Yeah, they were established in June of nineteen seventy one, and they had a membership primarily composed of Pacific Islanders such as Simmo Wan's Tongueuns and News. And they drew obviously explicitly inspiration from the Black Panther Party the United States. Just a heads up in Maori, well, in New Zealand, the Mari and the Pakea.

The Pakea the Europeans are the two primary groups, right, But in New Zealand they are also minorities of other Pacific islanders Samoans and tongue Guns and new Ones, and people from the other smaller islands within Polynesia, within the you know area, from those various islands in Oceania and the Pacific Ocean, and a lot of them had arrived as immigrants during the nineteen sixties economic boom that had

taken place New Zealand. The founders of the Polynesian Panther Party were actually high school students, they weren't university students, they weren't adults. They were mostly from working class, first generation families that's cool, and their parents were actually encouraged by the New Zealand government to migrate as cheap labor

during that economic boom. But of course, as these things go again once even like looking at this history and for any significant length of time, you see certain patterns emerge. So governments are going to invite You're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, migrants come, We'll take advantage of your labor. And then the second last of down to migrants are to blame for everything. So as the production boom was subsiding in

the mid nineteen seventies and different conditions were deteriorating. Racism and police harassment against Pacific Islanders became even more prevalent, and by the Pacific Islanders does technically refer to Maria as well, and the Asian Panther Party position is that Maria Pacific Islanders are contider parts of the Polynesian Panthers, but speaking specifically about the migrant Pacific Islanders and they experiencing they're doing three, you know, just like the Maria.

They're dealing with low wages and poor living conditions and the government, you know, being migrants, they were an even more precarious position because government had taken a more aggressive stance towards over stairs people who overstad on their work visas, which put these first generation New Zealanders at risk of deportation to countries that they had never visited, had never known,

you know, being forced into these precarious circumstances. A lot of young Pacific Islanders were living in unsafe neighborhoods and a lot of them felt compelled to join gangs or to stay hidden at home for survival. And so the Polynesian Panthers really emerged as an alternative option, seeking to provide a more positive path for young people in Pacific

islander communities. The Polynesian Panthers were particularly influenced by huy Newton's policy of Black Unity, and also echoed his distinction between revolutionary and cultural nationalism when debating the conservative members

of Nagatamatoa. The Panthers identified the root cause of Pacific calendar oppression within the exploitative social relations of the capitalist system, and so they advocated for a liberation strategy that involved completely overthrowing the capitalist system and the social relations and enabled its existence. And so in practice this meant that the Panthers expressed solidarity with other liberation struggles, oppressed groups

and activists, and ultimately aimed for a global revolution. They worked to empower the Polation community and improve their quality of life. They organized strikes and factories to the poor working conditions. They protested outside substandard housing through the Tenant's Aid Brigade. They established homework centers to help address educational struggles, and they focused on the reising awareness of writing entitlements among Pacific Islander families who were often unaware of their

legal protections. The fact a lot of the Panthers focus was on assistant individuals who were caught up in legal issues. They distributed pamphlets that informed people of their rights, They provided legal aid for court representation, and they organized buses for families to visit their loved ones in prison. The Panthers support and advocacy in them the gratitude of prisoners, who often contributed a portion of their legal earnings to

the movement. As they shed light and the daily struggles faced by Maor and also other Pacific Islanders, ranging from land claims to discrimination police violence. The Panthers actively worked to unite Maori and Pacific Islanders in a pan ethnic coalition, which contrasted with the viewpoint of Nigar Tamatoa because they

were prioritizing Mari unity above everything else. It almost reminds me of the the way that sometimes in the US context, there were some organizations, or rather there are some to me si of organizations that are tempting now in the present day to emphasize African American unity above and before

any other form of Pan Afghanism, more black unity. So an insidu a seedes to attempt to distance African Americans from the rest of the black as broa and to ferment divisions between African Americans and African immigrants or Caribbean immigrants. So again the tactics, the strategy is the it feels like a canon event at this point that there will always be these individuals or groups who are trying to find ways to chop up and to divide groups that should be united and have a lot to gain from

being united in a common struggle. The Panthers, along with any other civic Island youth, were actively working to support Marie causes, including the nineteen seventy five Landmarch and the Bastion Point occupation. They became one more depth at political lobbying, which became apparent during the Dawn Raids in nineteen seventies

and the Spring Bok Tour of nineteen eighty one. Te Ness was jailed for his actions during the tour, but wassventually released without charge and will Arollahya, along with jne Harawira and others wee trial for two years, only getting off the charge after And you know they'll come your pearance here. Bishop Desmond tou Tou, well known South African activist, flew in to be a character witness for their trial. And I think I'm going I put a pin on it.

There covered the seeds of contemporary mariactivism, the trade union movement, Brown Power, and the Polynation Panthers. And in the next episode we'll talk more about the development of the land rights movement and the weaknesses of the Mari struggle in the post nineteen eighties context. That's a finale for me. I'm Andrew. Could follow me on YouTube, out at Andrew's own and supporting Patre dot com slash Saint Drew. This has been It Could Happen Here.