Friday, March 23, 2007

ignoring the treaty again!

the government wants to ignore the treaty again. this time they want ownership of the freshwater resources in aotearoa. another fight looms over this resource as it did over the foreshore. one thing it does achieve is the bringing together of nga iwi tu tangata o aotearoa. out of the foreshore debate rose the maori party. i can see that someone will try to test ownership in the courts, that will force the govt into legislation as the treaty is clear:

Article two:
The Queen of England agrees to protect the chiefs, the subtribes and all the people of New Zealand in the unqualified exercise (7) of their chieftainship over their lands, villages and all their treasures (8). But on the other hand the Chiefs of the Confederation and all the Chiefs will sell(9) land to the Queen at a price agreed to by the person owning it and by the person buying it (the latter being) appointed by the Queen as her purchase agent.

the important bit is 'our chieftainship over our lands, villages, and all our treasures.' for some time now [since 1840], the pakeha iwi have been ignoring their obligations in regard to the treaty. sooner or later nga iwi maori tatou will have had enough of being 2nd class citizens in their own land. how will pakehadom deal with that?

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