Posted on 08/06/2022 9:50:24 PM PDT by BenLurkin
As the people of New Zealand confront their nation's troubled past with colonization and denying the Maori people rights, a name change for the island nation is being considered as a part of its own reckoning.
A petition that aims to change the Dutch anglicized name of New Zealand to its indigenous Maori designation of Aotearoa has collected more than 70,000 signatures, prompting a parliamentary committee to consider the idea.
New Zealand member of parliament Debbie Ngarewa-Packer , co-leader of The Maori Party, joined All Things Considered to elaborate on the significance of this potential name change, the journey to indigenous cultural reclamation, and their hopes for the movement's success.
On what the word Aotearoa means
It is indicative or prescriptive of the long white cloud of the island as it's depicted often, and the weather that we have down at the end of the world.
But most importantly, it reflects indigenously who we are, and that we are, in fact, in the Pacific, that we are an island nation, and we're not in any way connected to the origins of New Zealand.
On why it is important for the Maori Party to push for a formal name change
It's really important that we dismantle some of the grips of colonization that have hindered our ability to reach our true potential. And one of the biggest things that's reflected in some of the poorer states across the nation is the lack of self-identity, is the lack of actually understanding even who the tangata whenuaor Indigenous people, Maori of Aotearoa are.
This is about resetting the balance, and it's something that hasn't just come from the party. I'd love to take credit for it, but it's actually something it's been called on from some of our oldest ancestors post-colonization, to us today. Some of the youngest generations are standing up, calling for this in the local schools. So it is very much an intergenerational pull. And just as importantly, it's not just coming from Maori. We have tangata tiriti, those who arrived after indigenous people, who are also wanting to see the rebalance of our culture reflected in the nationhood of Aotearoa.
On how renaming can help preserve Maori culture
It will have a massive positive impact on the ability for us to reclaim not just our language, but to lift the trauma of colonization, to lift the unwellness that comes with the loss of your culture and the loss of self identity. So this is just about as much as the preservation of our culture as it is the importance of the wellbeing of us as well.
On what the lawmaking process may look like
The first thing is that it has to be accepted. And to have that, we're going to need to have cross-party support, which is going to be a really big challenge because we have two parties that set towards center-left, two parties set towards center-right, and then ourselves who are solely indigenously focused.
So that takes a whole degree of lobbying, once you get through that obstacle, and it's a big if, you then go to a select committee. Then it goes for a massive debate process.
[The process] could be months and months. Some of the parties that we have in the government, I think, would like to see a fusion, and a period of being Aotearoa and New Zealand. But our response is, well, if not now, then when?
On having hope for the petition to succeed
I have a lot of hope, and I think it will be interesting, because we are still a young nation and we were the last of the nations across the world to be colonized. So we probably are going to go through things that we've seen other nations go through to reclaim themselves.
But the other part of this is that the Maori population, Pacifica population in Aotearoa are growing. We have 70% of our population under 40. 25% are under 20 years. So what we have here is almost a generational battle as well.
We have an older, very monocultural, focused generation that actually just don't want to change at all and have been raised in an education system that didn't talk about Maori, that didn't acknowledge our culture and who were part and parcel of dismissing, and in fact legally banning our language, legally confiscating land, legally putting us in some difficult situations.
This isn't about taking anything from anyone. It's actually about lifting trauma and bringing to life a culture that can enrich everyone's life in Aotearoa.
New Zealand is part of Polynesia. If they’re serious they’d give the power to the Maoris and join the rest to form a new nation. That would include Hawaii. Indigenous folks are not ready for self rule but is anybody?
Their women should only breed with the indigenous population.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is available at the moment.
That push is coming, with the globalist desire to eliminate white people.
How about Facepalmia instead?
That which we call a rose by any other name……
Changing what you call something is just virtue signaling. Anyone’s inability to reach their full potential has more to do with their character than their labels.
If they were serious they would answer “yes” to the following questions.
Will they give up all non Maori ways and go back to just how Maori’s lived before colonialism?
Will only pure blood Maori people live there?
The answer is probably “no” to both questions.
The population of New Zealand is just under 5.1
Million. So around one in seventy sign a petition, and that’s enough to get this vast virtue signaling enterprise off the ground. It’s the same here: whatever idiocy the left thinks of duly becomes front and center in the National agenda
My family were on one of the First Four Ships, equivalent to the Mayflower ...
Also called the Summer Ships Dec 1850
There were 16 ships in all organized settlers sent out by the Church of England the Anglican church but the other 12 arrived much later ...
unlike the illegal aliens coming through our Southern border, these settlers were well vetted...
They had to be church members recommended by their pastors able and willing to work, be sober and have no criminal record, be disease free and fit only young men and women...
They came to the first incorporated city in NZ Christchurch in the province of Canterbury and were called the Canterbury Pilgrims ...
Their Canterbury Compact written by the church fathers mentioned the Mayflower and what happened to them that first winter ... thats one reason they weeded out any slackers etc ...
When I was a child there was a beautiful stone monument for each of the 4 ships on each of the 4 sides of the Canterbury Cathedral Etched in stone was the passenger list for each ship ... it was easy to photograph and we were proud to stand next to ours while Dad took pics (his 2X gg)
Several years ago they were all dismantled (cancel culture) and about a block away they placed glossy black material on an angle that reflects either the photographer or the trees above Its impossible to take photos and hard to read the words ..since its not clear theres a connection to the Anglican cathedral most people dont know what the monuments are for and often people sit on them ...
In 2000 when I went down there for the 150th the Maoris were included in the ceremonies about white settlers arriving etc and the idiot white female PM addressed us in Maori ... no Maoris saved the well supplied English settlers in NZ but we had shades of the Mayflower lot in spades ...
Everything is in Maori now and then English although when the English settlers arrived the Maoris had no written language ...
So this has been coming on for a long time ...
Aotearoa means land of the long white cloud ... The Southern Alps seen out at sea ...(Mt Cook 12,349 feet etc)
Well since the Maori never had a written language and likely spoke any number of dialects from settlement to settlement, this is all made up revisionist history. In other words, blame whitey, because we suck, bullcrap.
70k signatures is about how many people speak the Maori language.
Don't always rely on the hegemony of the U.S. fleet. Especially when Brandon is in charge.
Maybe they could even restore some of the old Maori culture — like cannibalism and such.
[Indigenous may currently be held in high esteem now, but it, like all cultures, has some dark sides.]
Some of this is hoowy
We learnt the Maori language in school and learnt their history about Kupe (Koo Pay) and his 7 canoes and the journey from Tahiti and their songs and dances...
The Maori were part of everything and there were Maori members of parliament and some even knighted by the queen and her ancestors ...
There were Maori Olympians and famous opera singers and When I was in high school a Maori Miss New Zealand ...
Maoris had all the rights we had ...
At school nobody was treated any different and the Maoris had just as much opportunity for education and jobs ...
Just what rights are they complaining they dont have ???
The Maoris have self rule they have Pas just like the Indian reservations where the Indians rule themselves ...
Action Zealandia works....
Youre forgetting that they are sheep ...
about 90+% of them are well vaxxed ...
Maybe call it: Middle Earth
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