some thoughts on the foreshore and seabed

I have been doing a bit of thinking on the Foreshore and Seabed and recently posted this comment on Te Karere Ipurangi (a brilliant blog and website) - it sums up my some of my thoughts to date.

"I tautoko those comments and i have some thoughts
Does anyone really believe them when they say no one will own the F&S? Annette Sykes is right about that, when something valuable to the money-zombies is identified then the government will assume control and ownership. Are maori just supposed to take their word? has their word ever been true in the past?

This lowering of the ability to prove customary title is a farce. And having the ability to go to court seems like window dressing when fundamentally the mana is not resting with maori. It doesn’t matter if the foot on your throat is slightly lifted, it is still there. And what is the story with a ONE MONTH consultation period? How is that fair, when we have easter and school holidays and maori are expected to get whanau, hapu and iwi together to discuss and come up with their choice of the four useless options.

And the threats – is this the way to have a fair negotiation? Key threatens that if maori don’t like the options then he will leave it as it is, findlayson threatens that maori should not use explosive language – haven’t heard too many threats from the maori side yet.

I can’t quite work out how the iwi leaders group and the maori party are working together – who does what? What about everyone else. The maori party are certainly saying quite different things compared to national and there are visible contradictions. It’s a worry when Tariana implies that the maori party promised to get the F&S repealed and they have done this so they have achieved that goal.

I hope we can pull together on this one – it is so essential. Ma te kotahitanga e whai kaha ai tatou.

And while this righting of a wrong is going on we must get ready to protect the whenua. This mining is being proposed on our land. These national parks are our sacred places, our taonga. They have already destroyed Te Rongomai o Te Karaka the other day. Most of the money from mining goes to overseas multinational mining companies – there is no economic benefit at all. And they don’t even know what they think is there – it is all guesswork – it is just a big have. These companies destroy indigenous communites and their homes all around the world, they destroy wilderness and ecosystems, all for what – money – our kaitiakitanga is more important than money. Our mana is more important than money. In other countries indigenous people lead the fight against these companies, I hope we do the same.