Wednesday, April 14, 2010

march against mining


Be brave - hit the streets

make your presence felt

stand up for the land

Go here for more info

One aspect that is disturbing is the lack of maori input in this. Where is the voice of tangata whenua, why are maori not being consulted or involved? Why?

4 comments:

feddabonn said...

will be there.

marty, i'm going to stick my neck WAY out and say something. disclaimers first: this is hearsay, and one perspective- obviously there are others.

some folks i know were trying to get ngati whatua involvement/consultation in a community event, but were (very politely) brushed off. there seems to be an impression among some people that the tangata whenua are not very keen to involve in community events that are not necessarilly maori in nature.

again, i do not vouch for this statement, just putting it out there. i definitely hope this is an inaccurate view/perspective.

Anonymous said...

Some Maori individuals and groups have expressed disquiet and even outrage at suggestions of mining Schedule 4 lands. But some, such as the 'Brown Table mob' will be hoping a few mineral crumbs will come their way. On the one hand I think Maori should benefit from mining - if 99% of the profit is going to go to overseas mining interests, why shouldn't some of that go to the tangata whenua whose rohe the mining will occur in? But on the other hand I fear that certain Maori will allow their mother earth to be desecrated for all the wrong reasons. It's a fraught issue for Maori and there will be many reasons why Maori generally are not engaging and involving themselves in the protests.

Anonymous said...

Kia ora anon1

Maori have mined and altered natural environments to sustain themselves since time arrival in Aotearoa - and certainly Ngai Tahu has extracted pounamu and other resources to work pounamu and much of this is found on the DoC estate.

Also I agree, that if there is to be mining then Maori should benefit but the principles of kaitakitanga and sustainablility should guide any decisions. I would oppose any mining that is opencast and that leaves behind toxic tailings etc but could see myself supporting some mining applications.

As per other conversations the outcome can't be driven by what we can get out of it, but whether it can be acheived without significant lasting effects

Ruahines said...

Kia ora Marty,
I shall be there in thought and spirit as this hip replacement last week is just not ready for such action. My heart beats for the wild places and these greedy short sighted interests must be kept at bay. Kia kaha.
Cheers,
Robb