“STOLEN LAND, STOLEN RESOURCES”: NEW ZEALAND MPS REBUKE COLONIALISM IN TRIBUTE TO QUEEN

Co-leader of New Zealand’s Maori party Rawiri Waititi.

Wed 14 September 2022:

On Tuesday, the New Zealand parliament gathered to honor British monarch Queen Elizabeth II and held a special debate to allow lawmakers from all parties to express their condolences for her passing. Some of them criticized a monarchy based on “stolen land, stolen resources, and stolen treasure”

“As I stand in this House as a representative of te Iwi Māori, we must always speak our authentic truth,” said Māori party coleader Rawiri Waititi. “The British empire and the power of its monarchy was built of stolen whenua [land], stolen resources, and stolen taonga [treasure].”

While he acknowledged that Māori tradition calls for mourning the dead, he said it was tough to separate Queen, the person from the institution. “I see a lot written on social media. The righteous anger of Indigenous people all over the world. I take those stories as stories I carry with me, and my tikanga,” he said.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that her government will not be pursuing any moves toward changing New Zealand to a republic following the death of #QueenElizabethII pic.twitter.com/zZGfSO6KLH

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) September 14, 2022

Several other Māori politicians also paid tribute to the royal family, but also highlighted the wrongs done in the past.

“Many Māori leaders, while holding a rightful space of aroha [love], have also been very clear that we cannot ignore the oppression of Māori as very real and continuing,” Greens co-leader Marama Davidson said.

Notably, the royal family has apologized for its past transgressions. The Waikato/Tainui people received a personal apology from the Queen in 1995 for the atrocities and land theft committed by the crown.

King Charles III spoke about admitting past wrongdoing at a recent Commonwealth meeting in Rwanda, according to foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta.

To attend the Queen’s funeral on September 19, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern traveled to the UK on Wednesday.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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