fifty thousand march for the land

not sure of source - from The Standard

fifty thousand people tell gerry and the miners - NO

what a great day

From Stuff

"An estimated 50,000 marchers joined one of the biggest protests in Auckland for decades today, to give the Government a firm message to stay away from mining on conservation land."

""These plans are an attack on our values, that we believe our country is worth protecting, that the environment provides us with essential ecosystems services that we cannot get from elsewhere - health and soil, clean water, bio-diversity.

"Those things are not negotiable," Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said"

Yes that is correct - not negotiable - listen up gerry - you and your mining cronies will lose - you are losing already and your plans will fall as dust - as will your reputation, your image and your legacy.

oil well from hell

Reuters

I haven't posted about this massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico but i have been thinking about it a lot.

This spill is about to devestate the coastline, the waterways, the wildlife and the indigenous communities in the way. I know most talk about the ECONOMIC cost but that is the lowest costs of the costs that we will pay.

And how many oil wells around this country?

How many after gerry-monster has his way?

kiwi are not commodities

I oppose sending our endemic fauna overseas to zoos and other institutions. News that 5 kiwi have been sent overseas is sad. These birds, our birds, whakapapa here and for them to be bought up and live in a zoo overseas shows what we really think of these birds - that they are a commodity, a thing to be used to build prestige or even up the wildlife that come here to our zoos.

From NZH

"American researchers studying ways to breed kiwi in captivity are about to receive their first delivery of the shy brown birds for almost 20 years.

Five North Island brown kiwi were packed into crates and put on a plane to Los Angeles yesterday evening, destined for new homes at San Diego Wild Animal Park, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia and Frankfurt Zoo in Germany.

The two pairs and a female will join an expat population of about 39 kiwi - 23 living in Europe and 16 in America.

This idea that they can help our breeding program from overseas is a red herring in my view. They want to learn how to breed in captivity to increase the numbers of birds - in zoos, in captivity.

"The Smithsonian got its first pair of kiwi in 1968 as a gift to the US Government from then New Zealand Prime Minister Keith Holyoake. They produced the first chick born outside of New Zealand in 1975, a male which is still alive and entertaining visitors at the zoo.

A spokeswoman for Auckland Zoo, which hatched and reared the birds being exported this week, said they were needed overseas to inject some genetic diversity into the small populations.

To me it is exploitation without consideration for the individual birds or the species. I just don't trust their motives or reasons.

World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth

How is it all going with the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.

Tom Goldtooth, director of the Indigenous Environmental Network describes the work carried out by the working group on Forests at the conference.

agreement from most - but not the Tariana haters

I am concerned for low income maori families and the increase in GST coming up and now the rise in excise on tobacco. Don't get me wrong - tobacco are maori killers and I am all for reducing their harm in society. Getting rid of tobacco altogether - well I am not sure I would go that far.

From Stuff

"Parliament has given overwhelming support to a tobacco tax increase that will raise the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by about a dollar to around $11, effective from midnight, with two more hikes in the pipeline.

After a debate under urgency tonight the bill was passed into law on a vote of 118-4 with all parties except ACT giving it full backing. ACT split its vote with one MP supporting the bill - John Boscawen - and the other four opposing it.

So strong support from most parties.

Interesting to see The Standard with this post and this line within the post.

"Associate Health Minister with responsibility for tobacco harm reduction, Tariana Turia, once considered getting rid of the displays a priority. But she’s too busy reprinting her business cards with ‘Minister for Whanau Ora (don’t ask what it is)’ to worry about stuff like Maori dying of lung cancer any more."

 
That shows the hatred that some labour people have for Tariana. We cannot trust labour - they will sell us all down the river for the mythical middle vote as soon as look at us. They have done it before and they will do it again.

brownlee puts both feet in his mouth

Some truths about mining from the Commissioner for the Environment

From Scoop

"The government has not made a case for opening certain Schedule 4 land to mining says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, in her submission."

“These areas have been set aside as some of our most precious conservation land and before we can even begin to discuss mining it in any rational manner we need a lot of good information which simply hasn’t been made available.

“There are also significant issues around having the powers of the Minister of Conservation watered down by granting shared access with the Minister of Energy.

“Such a move would unfairly privilege mining and compromises the role of the Conservation Minister who holds the conservation estate in trust for the public.

summarised as

"Mining plans don’t pass first hurdle."

and also from Scoop the Greens get into brownlee

"Minister Brownlee was emphatic last year when he said “I make it very clear that no one is talking about mining our national parks”. Despite this public assurance, the Minister went on to propose the removal of parts of Kahurangi, Mount Aspiring, Rakiura and Paparoa National Parks from Schedule 4, in order to allow mining. After three attempts, Cabinet released a discussion document proposing only the removal of part of Paparoa National Park for mining.

“Brownlee’s two failed attempts at writing the discussion document and a policy flip-flop were required before Cabinet gave the task to an independent sub-committee to complete.

“The public continues to be misled. The Minister has placed a reservation over Mount Aspiring National Park, ‘for the purposes of considering those areas of land for allocation of permits by competitive tender’.

“We now have a situation where the Minister claims that official maps on the Crown Minerals website don’t mean what they say. Who should we believe?

“We are well past the time when the Minister should be held accountable for the mess he has made of his portfolio,” Mrs Turei said

brownlee you are a fool and you have been caught out and publically shown for the lies you have told. You have made a mess of your portfolio but that isnothing compared to the mess you are trying to make around our environment and our people - shame on you.

mana motuhake

There are a couple of things to consider regarding the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People

Hone's call to put a copy of the dec in every maori household is a really good idea although I would take it further and offer a copy to all households in this country. This aspirational goal is exactly that - something to aspire to and the more we align and move towards the aspirations included within that dec then the better off we will all be.

And secondly we will this week soon get a settlement for Tuhoe. This settlement will break new ground in terms of achieving mana motuhake. Tuhoe are likely to get Te Urewera back and this is just. This is their homeland and where they live. And it is quite specific to them because as mentioned on Native Affairs last night - no one lives on Aoraki. We should not be afraid of this.

Tuhoe have discussed the treaty settlement issues and others relating to the police terror raids in Tuhoe territory, with phil goff - that is important because labour were government when the raids took place - another shameful episode for them.

Tuhoe will set a higher standard for other settlements and future settlements will be coloured by this one and the UN dec. We are seeing massive changes beginning to occur and we must embrace them, we must celebrate them. We are in this waka together but as I have said many times - it is a waka.

leave the macrons alone

This is weird.

macrons are used to denote the sound that should be pronounced - a word with a macron in is different to a word without - they have completely different meanings they are different words. Like chalk and cheese.

From Stuff

"Councillor Tony Jack put forward a notice of motion that the council refrain from using macrons in the spelling of Kapiti, Otaki or Paekakariki in any council papers, publications, maps or signage.

Why would this person even suggest this?"

Laziness or craziness - either way not on.

"The motion was strongly opposed by most councillors and labelled "offensive" and "disrespectful" by the sole Maori representative at last week's meeting, Andre Baker, who was supported by two Maori women who burst into song.

Councillor Peter Daniel voted against the motion. "How do we know how to pronounce the names unless there is a macron?"

Mr Baker, the Otaki Community Board chairman, stressed that the Maori language was a gift, and opposed the motion. "I ask you to consider this before you tell Maori how to use their own language. You are doing a huge disservice to our tangata whenua.

"It is really disrespectful and offensive to my community. We are very proud our community clearly identifies with Maori, Chinese and non-Maori and of our bilingual initiative."

Mr Baker told mayor Jenny Rowan that the council needed to work harder on its partnership with tangata whenua. "If this had been dealt with in an appropriate manner I would not be here trying to justify the gift."

Work harder to be in partnership with maori - respect the customs and the knowledge of maori and your community will prosper and flourish.

sexy coal

Sexy coal...



Hat tip The Standard

initial mining plans revealed

The true extent of the mining plans are slowly being revealed.

From Radio NZ

"The full extent of the Government's original plans for opening national parks to mining exploration, has been revealed in papers obtained from the Ministry of Economic Development.

They show the plan went through at three major redraftings in a matter of weeks.

Mining activities are currently banned in 40% of conservation estate under Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, which identifies areas of unique biodiversity or landscapes of cultural or historic value.

Officials initially recommended allowing mining exploration on huge swathes of land, including up to nearly 90% of Rakiura National Park on Stewart Island."

That's right you read it correctly - they initially wanted to allow mining on 90% of Rakiura National Park - they still do want to, only they have revised their public plans to make them more acceptable - but don't be under any illusions if they can get away with the mining, they will do it. The plan to mine Rakiura is STILL on the table.

Hat tip The Standard

pure

We are all in this together

giant gecko dead in mousetrap

Sad news about the first giant gecko found in 100 years on our mainland.

From Stuff

"The first giant gecko found on the New Zealand mainland for almost 100 years has been killed in a mouse trap at Maungatautari.

The Duvaucel's gecko was found in the trap last month, and while dead, its discovery has led to hopes among Maungatautari staff and supporters that more of the rare species are living on the mountain.

Up until it was discovered at Maungatautari, the Duvaucel's gecko could only be found on predator-free offshore islands.

The Duvaucel's can grow up to 30cm long, "weigh as much as a blackbird", and live for more than 50 years.

Many of the creatures in our country took over the niches that mammals used in other countries - it is difficult to catch introduced mammals when our endemic creatures can also be caught and killed. Very sad story but hope is still there that these geckos are still on the mainland - just keeping out of sight.

"Planet or death" Peoples conference on climate change begins

Opening ceremony of the World People's Conference on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth



Go here for more info

""Planet or death!" chanted Bolivia's leftwing president, Evo Morales, to a crowd of 20,000 people. "We will be victorious!" the crowds answered back, waving rainbow-coloured, chequered Andean indigenous flags.

Morales was officially inaugurating the first international "people's conference" on climate change – the grassroots alternative to last year's failed United Nations talks in Copenhagen.

The meeting in the city of Cochabamba has attracted people from more than 125 countries, although many delegates from Africa, Europe and India were unable to come because of the travel chaos caused by the Icelandic volcano. The meeting has no direct bearing on the UN climate talks, which continue this year, but is billed as a venue for the grassroots movements to put pressure on governments to act on climate change.

Domingo Lechon, climate justice co-ordinator from Friends of the Earth Mexico, said: "Cochabamba represents a unique opportunity for popular demands to be adopted by governments. We will use this new people's agenda as a rallying call to mobilise movements of affected peoples, indigenous peoples, peasant farmers, trade unions and women to dismantle corporate power and force our governments into action."

Hat tip Rimu on frogblog

advancing maori rights

This is how I feel about this countries support of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

From Stuff

"Sir Eddie Durie, a former Waitangi Tribunal chairman has labelled New Zealand's commitment to the indigenous rights declaration the most significant day in advancing Maori rights since the Treaty of Waitangi."

and a weak response from shane jones

 "Labour MP Shane Jones said New Zealand's support would fuel Maori litigation. "After spending decades trying to work out the meaning of Treaty principles, now we will be bedevilled by the meaning of indigenous rights."

The shame that the labour maori members must be feeling - they could have made this advancement for maori but they blinked. They went with the racists instead of maori and that will never be forgotton by maori. Labour if you ever want maori support again you had better make some major changes - and i don't mean your logo.

Ngāi Tahu election update

Congratulations to James and Terry the two Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu representatives recently confirmed.

Confirmed representatives to date are

Waihao - Gerald Te Kapa Coates
Tūāhuriri - Tutehounuku Korako
Arowhenua - Quentin Hix
Ōraka-Aparima - Stewart Bull
Koukourārata- Elizabeth Cunningham
Makaawhio - Tim Rochford
Ōtākou - Tahu Potiki
Taumutu - Sandy Lockhart
Rāpaki - Wally Stone
Waewae - Lisa Tumahai
Puketeraki - Matapura Ellison
Wairewa - James Daniels
Hokonui - Terry Nicholas

5 to go

"nothing is ever just symbolic for maori"

Hone reveals the truth

"Mr Harawira, however, said "nothing is ever just symbolic for Maori"."

This is the area all the idiots like useless-goff and dim-hide and pinocciho-key don't get. Yes the endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is aspirational and non-binding but it is also real.

maori don't care what the politicians think, we know that this is a very big deal and the most amazing aspect is that as all the pundits say the maori party and pita sharples have been duped and sucked in by john key, we know the truth - that it is the other way round.

Another good quote from Hone

"This country recognises the rights of women, the rights of workers, the rights of dogs. Great that they can finally get around to recognising the rights of indigenous people."

and my favorite

"He said Labour were "koretake [useless] bastards" who had had the chance to back the declaration but did not take it.

I tautoko that - what a sad lot they are and to think they claim to represent the left, the poor and downtrodden.

changing society one person at a time

Interesting to remember why this country didn't endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.

From NZH

This was why

"New Zealand was one of only four countries to vote against the declaration.

Explaining that vote, New Zealand's then permanent representative to the UN, diplomat Rosemary Banks, said one article in the document gave indigenous peoples the right "to own use, develop or control lands and territories they have traditionally owned, occupied or used".

She said the entire country was potentially caught within the scope of that article. "The article appears to require recognition of rights to lands now lawfully owned by other citizens, both indigenous and non-indigenous ...

"Furthermore, this article implies indigenous peoples have rights that others do not."

New Zealand's "explanation" also saw major problems with the declaration's provisions on redress and compensation for indigenous peoples. The declaration also implied that indigenous peoples had a right of veto over Parliament and management of national resources."

This is non-binding remember, but it is also the beginning of the end of our bogus society where maori are treated like visitors in their own country.

The last paragraph of Pita's speech.

"New Zealand's support for the Declaration represents an opportunity to acknowledge and restate the special cultural and historical position of Māori as the original inhabitants - the tangata whenua - of New Zealand. It reflects our continuing endeavours to work together to find solutions and underlines the importance of the relationship between Māori and the Crown under the Treaty of Waitangi. Its affirmation of longstanding rights supports and safeguards that ongoing relationship and its proclamation of new aspirations gives us all encouragement and inspiration for the future."

To change society, we must change people - for the better, an improvement, a strengthening - a movement towards connection and community.

well done pita

This is the start of Pita Sharples speech to the UN -

from Stuff

"To the inherent powers of this land; to the Onondaga people, who have offered spiritual acknowledgement to the unseen world to bless us, greetings to you.

To the spirits of the deceased, of each and every nation, we farewell you to the ultimate resting place of humankind.

To this house of the peoples of the world, please welcome this newcomer from New Zealand.

To the living representatives of indigenous peoples of the world, I salute you all.

I greet your mountains, your rivers, your lands, (the places) where your ancestors originated, including you who are meeting here today.

I come with a humble heart to celebrate the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The New Zealand Government has long discussed this matter, and has recently decided to support it.

So I salute the leaders and chiefs, the many peoples and groups who established the foundation of the Declaration, for assent by the Governments of the world.

Announcement of New Zealand's Support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

I will post more when I have had a good read - but to those who say this means nothing - I say, this means something.

close up exposes mining truth

Great piece on mining on close up last night which shows much of the truth about mining - it is dirty.

And dirty miner OceanaGold is highlighted - go here

the slap on the wrist for their dirty practices is a joke and makes a mockery of our environmental credentials.

oversized genitals? yeah - nah

Upset about oversized genitals on carvings? - if you don't like it - go away.

From Waikato Times

"Phillip Stevens was exploring at Hamilton Gardens with his four children, all aged under 10, last weekend when they came across the Maori themed garden for the first time.

His nine-year-old son had noticed the carvings as they entered the garden. "He asked us `is that a penis?'," said Mr Stevens. "It was pretty obvious what it was, but as you go on there's one with big testicles, then there's one holding it. We tried not to make too big a deal of it, and just told them it was a bit inappropriate."

He said nude works from European art traditions would not offend him in the same way as the genitalia were of more natural proportions."

 hey stevens they are in proportion :)

"However, Nga Mana Toopu O Kirikiriroa spokesman Wiremu Puke said the carvings were based on early styles produced by carvers in the Waikato basin, and saw no reason to warn visitors who might be offended.

"There are drawers and drawers in the Auckland Museum of carvings that have mutilated genitals due to the early missionaries. That's probably one of the most visited gardens, and people are usually amused or intrigued by the carvings."

Mr Stevens said he had decided to speak out because he felt too often people just left it up to others to raise issues.

It was about financial accountability as well as the potential for offence, he said. "If rates are paying for these, surely someone would have the common sense not to put them up. On the day we were there, there were (several) Muslim families in the gardens," Mr Stevens said.

The puritanical christians and moral guardians are always out to push indigenous cultures down. There are innumerable examples of where our taonga have been destroyed or mutilated to appease bogus sensibilities.

Now we also have the Koran translated to maori - I wonder when they will want maori to wear burkas?

We know that chritianity was one of the major weapons used to squash indigenous cultures, not only here but in many places. I wish that our old ways were more well known so that our people had alternatives that fitted with our land and us.