Thursday, July 18, 2013

king's hundred straws

On a regular basis someone has a go at some aspect of Māoridom that they can't get their heads around. Unsurprisingly it is often the same areas that get criticized and pōwhiri is one of the regulars. Many, many pōwhiri have been performed over all of the years yet the meaning and understanding of this is still lost to most. Why is that? Simple - the Government has a responsibility to help all citizens understand and comprehend aspects of Māoridom as guaranteed within The Treaty of Waitangi via equality, but like everything about that agreement, they have not performed their duty and have deliberately not helped their citizens to understand and comprehend even the most basic aspects of their treaty partner. They haven't done it because they have preferred division within society and the othering of Māori. Why? Just makes business easier I suspect

Onto today's example, Labour MP Annette King is not happy , why?

While Youth MPs were sworn into parliament today, Labour’s Annette King showed outrage over a gender segregated Powhiri. 
Labour MP Annette King said she was not comfortable with the “segregated nature” of the welcoming.
“In no way would this have happened during Helen Clark’s day,” she said.
Ms King said she would strive for gender equality for future Powhiri’s so that they could “accurately reflect” the House of Representatives.
“A change is long overdue, in my opinion,” she said.
Pathetic from that long standing member of Parliament and rubbish too - how many pōwhiri have been done whilst she has been in Parliament do you think? Well she got elected in 1984, had a term out of Parliament and came back in in 1993 - so let's be generous and say over 25 years in Parliament and now she is suddenly 'not comfortable' after hundreds of pōwhiri - and just how many pōwhiri during the Helen Clark 9 years in Government, by the same iwi? Still hundreds imo.

The fact that this person is now telling Māori what to do and what is acceptable in cultural activities is disgusting and shows what a waste of space King is. This Member of Parliament had ample opportunity to positively work to support a greater understanding of Māori culture for all people in this land - what did she do? The answer via her own dim comments is nothing - like just about every other colleague she has had on both sides of the house.

Update - this is a comment I put on The Standard regarding the 'gender segregation' in response to pops - it covers a bit of ground.

pops
But it sounds like you’re saying Maori tikanga is dead and static. I always understood it to be adaptive and evolving – you know, a living culture. I don’t know many Maori under the age of 35-40 who would still buy into that gender segregation crap.
me
Of course it is a living culture and continually evolving – you know that and you know I think that. It isn’t gender segregation – bloody hell why does everything have to be filtered through your particular worldview. The debate is there within Māoridom with strong advocates on all sides. Have you actually considered any of those views? Have you considered for instance that, as some argue, the whole debate about who gets to speak is based on a context where male behaviour is used as the norm against which female behaviour is judged. Or how about the idea that within an oral culture there are many ways to speak not just the obvious one and that women speak in many ways throughout pōwhiri and within a Māori cultural context – but oh it doesn’t fit the ‘right’ way to speak which is based upon an imposed western cultural system which is assumed to be the best way. Anyway there are many other angles and points around this other than the knee-jerk – oh look at the gender segregation. A living culture is able, entitled and obligated to evolve within its own parameters and worldview without interference from those who assume a superiority that isn’t deserved or matched with the realities they create in the world they dominate.
 
 

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

dim distraction

Racists are generally not very bright. They hide their dimness sometimes in flowery language like 1law4all and at other times they let it all hang out like the recently launched Pakeha Party. It is funny to watch them and these types don't bother me too much because they are so dim they don't realise how dim they are.

So I'm not worried about The Pakeha Party - much mirth has been made about them using te reo Māori and not being able to spell and  their silly slogans, such as Toby Manhire outlines
“If the Maori get it, we want it to!” Yeah! But want it to what? The missing word, almost certainly, is “thrive”.
Zet covers it well on The Standard where he lists the things this Party can get

http://thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/what-maori-get1.png

The whole Party is a joke and the joke is that they meant party as in party not political party. So as I say it is not worth taking seriously even though they have received more than 34,000 likes on facebook - much more serious is 1law4all because they are actively trying to change our constitution to disadvantage Māori - they want to solidify their racism in the very fabric of our country. Both groups are interrelated and recently I found a nice explanation for their idiocy in an explanation of another idiocy

Rationalwiki
Usage of the term heterophobic or heterophobia by anti-gay groups falls into the wider pattern of the persecution complex, in which groups criticized for their tendency to create hate and discrimination react by reframing their discriminatory tendencies as some value-neutral idea, and then suggesting that criticism of this reframed idea constitutes discrimination.
Thus, racism becomes white pride, and the marginalized racist claims that his “heritage” is being sidelined unjustly through “reverse racism”.
You see the people that are racist feel persecuted and through disjointed logic they reframe their problem and make it someone else's. So don't get worked up about this - just enjoy the laughs and also enjoy the very dim joining up on facebook and then keep working for equality and keep fighting the real dirty racists - those like 1law4all and their moneyed mates - that is where the real battle is.


Underreported struggles 75

More essential underreported struggles from Ahni at Intercontinental Cry.


underreported struggles 75

Santa Ysabel Tribe of Kumeyaay Indians became the first Indigenous Nation in California and the fifth Nation in the United States to affirm marriage equality for its citizens. Santa Ysabel Tribe joins the Coquille Tribe of Oregon (2008), Suquamish Tribe of Washington (2011), Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Michigan (2013), and Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in Michigan (2013) in supporting marriage equality.

The Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) passed a resolution declaring their traditional lands to be “frack free” and calling on the Yukon government to prohibit all fracking in the territory. The CYFN represents eleven of the fourteen First Nation governments in the Yukon Territory.

Pressed by two months of resistance, the Brazilian Government finally suspended the construction of hydro dams in Tapajós River region. The Munduruku Peoples organized a multitude of actions including two occupations that paralyzed construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant for a total of 17 days. They also halted the Tapajós study group which intended to carry out unsanctioned studies on rivers Tapajós and Teles Pires, where 13 thousand Munduruku people live. While the Munduruku welcomed the government’s decision, they are considering it as nothing more that a partial victory. States the head of the Munduruku Paygomuyatpu, “We will continue in our struggle… We want the studies and works to be cancelled.”

The EZLN, in honor of a highly-respected Purépecha leader, announced the creation of a traveling Indigenous seminar that will provide a forum “in which the Indigenous Peoples of the continent can be heard by those who have an attentive and respectful ear for their word, their history, and their resistance.” The announcement was support by more than 30 Indigenous organizations and governments.

Indigenous Peoples in the Province of Kalinga, Philippines, blocked a mining company, Carrascal Nickel Corporation (CNC), from entering their ancestral lands. Discussing the action with Northern Dispatch, a Balatoc woman said that the company failed to obtain the necessary FPIC before commencing with any mining in the area. Instead, the woman explained, CNC acquired signatures of several community members during routine medical missions before entering into an agreement with two individuals claiming to be Tribal leaders.

Visit Intercontinental Cry to read about these issues and many others.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

translations of funny

You've got to laugh - I've never looked up policeman on the excellent Māori Dictionary but it has all changed now into a more 'accurate' description lol.

NZH
Lee Baker, who moved to New Zealand from Britain 11 years ago, said the sentence showed a disdain for authority and could be misconstrued as police-bashing.
Original
pirihi
(loan) (noun) policeman, police.
Ki te kitea te pirihi, he kawe tamana mai, warena hopu tangata ranei, ka kikia atu te kumu, ka pakarutia te warena, ka panaia atu ia.
If a policeman is seen bringing a summons or an arrest warrant, he'll be kicked in the backside, the warrant screwed up and he'll be thrown out. See also pirihimana.
New
pirihi
(loan) (noun) policeman, police - word now obsolete.
Ka mau aua tangata i nga pirihi, a kei roto aua tangata i te herehere i naianei.
Those men were caught by the police and they are in prison now. See also pirihimana.
It is great Lee that you are teaching your children te reo Māori, well done! But the original was funny and the response from the police to this is also very funny
A spokesman said, "While such comments are unhelpful, the police strongly value their relationship with Maori and our focus continues to be on building positive relationships with tangata whenua through our work in communities across the country."
That's a real "yeah, nah" on that one police spokesperson.