Tino Rangatiratanga and capitalism
“Ka whawhai tonu matou ake ake ake “ – Rewi Maniapoto 1864. (“We will
fight on forever, ever and ever”.)
Firstly I’d like to say that this my opinion on what is Tino
Rangatiratanga, acknowledging that there are many different meanings for
Tino Rangatiratanga and the concept itself is part of a rich and ongoing
debate in Maori society. So I think the debate/dialogue/discussion
surrounding Tino Rangatiratanga is an organic/dynamic thing so in that
vein of thought my own views are also dynamic and changing. So yeah
that’s all the disclaimer shit out of the way [ in case I change my mind
: and someone quotes me out of context.]
I feel that no one person has all the answers but that there should be
parameters where the korero is contained, so that the korero is
relatively in the same ‘discussion ball-park.’ I also think that some of
the issues surrounding Tino Rangatiratanga are for Maori and Maori alone
to debate/decide. (How that decision is made is another thing
completely). I think there are some aspects of Tino Rangatiratanga that
non-Maori can engage on but there are some aspects that are for Maori
only. This is consistent with principles of self-determination, meaning
it’s not self-determination if someone else is determining it for you.
A DEFINITION A good definition of Tino Rangatiratanga can be found on the
Tino Rangatiratanga website.
(http://aotearoa.wellington.net.nz)
The word ‘tino’ is an intensifier and the word ‘rangatiratanga’ broadly
speaking relates to the exercise of ‘chieftainship’. Its closest English
translation is self-determination – although many also refer to it as
‘absolute sovereignity’ or Maori independence. Such a concept embraces
the spiritual link Maori have with ‘Papatuanuku’ (Earthmother) and is a
part of the international drive by indigenous people for self
determination.
TINO RANGATIRATANGA FROM BELOW (as opposed to the courts, parliament, the
universities, and other “talking heads”.) How this broad definition fits
in with what is happening in Maori society, the sorts of parameters it
throws up and the extent of those parameters, I think is determined, at
the flaxroots level. Treaty principles (and other similar attempts thrown
up by this and that government and this and that court and then mulled
over by the academics in the learning institutions) have all been
reactions to direct action at the flaxroots level. For example the
setting up of the Waitangi Tribunal and the establishment of the Maori
Language Commission culminated with actions from the 60s, and 70s.
I think the struggle for Tino Rangatiratanga happens on a number of
levels, a part of the struggle is the retention and revitalisation of our
language and customs. In that sense every volunteer in every kapa haka
group and Kohanga reo (and other similar groups) is in some way
contributing to the struggle of Tino Rangatiratanga. Where I think the
most clarity and direction happens for Tino Rangatiratanga is on the
direct action frontline (as opposed to parliament, the courts, the
classroom). The ‘Movement’ has traditionally been an extremely
heterogeneous social force encompassing a considerable variety of
political strategies, campaigns and participants. But this is where the
parameters of Tino Rangatiratanga are set (or not set ). Like most
movements the Tino Rangatiratanga movement has a tradition and a history.
This tradition is rooted in conflicts over the Treaty of Waitangi, Maori
resistance in the ‘Land Wars’, inspired by the Prophet Warriors
Titokowaru and Te Kooti Arikirangi, the philosophies of Te Whiti and Tohu
Kakahi, the strategies of the Kingitanga, the resilience of Rua Kenana,
and the foresight of Ratana, and those countless ancestors whose blood
soaks this land. In the modern context this tradition has been held up by
new groups and individuals such as Nga Tamatoa, WAC (Waitangi Action
Committee), Te Kawariki, Black Women, Te mana motuhake o Tuhoe, Te Kawau
Maro, (the list goes on and on) who in turn drove and were inspired by
the Occupations of Bastion Point (Takaparawha), The Land March and the
countless Marches on Waitangi, resistance to the infamous fiscal envelope
and the Occupations it set off, Pakaitore, Takahue, etc. The
establishment of the Tuhoe Embassy, the Occupation of Waikaremoana,
resistance to Free Trade and Genetic Engineering. It is here where I
think the parameters of Tino Rangatiratanga are debated /digested
/formulated.
CAPITALISM AND TINO RANGATIRATANGA COLLIDE IN THE CULTURAL NATIONALIST
DIVIDE (the divide between rich Maori and poor Maori.) Yup nasty old
capitalism. I think that one of the parameters that needs to be set is a
Maori based analysis of capitalism. Placing white settler colonisation of
Aotearoa within its historical context, it can be seen as a part of the
global process of capitalist expansionism based on the destruction of the
territorial and cultural integrity of the indigenous populations by the
expropriation and commodification of their lands and human resources.
From a tikanga perspective capitalism began in Aotearoa with the
commodification of Papatuanuku, that is the individualisation of whenua,
disrupting the collective connection that Maori had with the whenua. This
is the nature of colonisation so the struggle against colonisation is the
struggle against capitalism. Capitalism is class struggle, that is,
capitalism, by its very nature, forces people to work for a wage. For
example, by stealing communal lands and resources, causing the indigenous
peoples who relied on those lands and resources for survival, causing
them to move to the cities to work as wage slaves.
The struggle against colonisation and capitalism also has contemporary
manifestations, but there are also things that happened relatively
recently that we can be learn and build on. The Tino Rangatiratanga
movement in the 60s and 70s drew on other social movements of that time
period that identified with the left, specifically the Anti-Racist
Movement, the Women’s Liberation Movement, and the Trade Union Movement
(a lot of shit was going down at this time eg the biggest amount of
strike activity in the history of colonial New Zealand, the Mangere
Bridge lockout in 1978, the Kinleith strike in 1980 etc). The political
turbulence of this period culminated ( for the Tino Rangatiratanga
movement ) in the 1975 land march on parliament, Bastion Point, Raglan
and the regular protests at Waitangi.
In the 80s, a lot of energy was focused on winning Maori studies and
language programmes in the education system. For large parts of the
movement the emphasis on the rediscovery of culture came to be the
objective of the movement itself and a substitute for practical struggle.
Although I think struggle for the revitalisation of te reo Maori and
tikanga are good things I think they need to seen as just a part of the
fabric of Tino Rangatiratanga. By focussing on cultural issues this
allowed the co-optation of a Maori elite within the structures of the
state forced many Maori leaders to straddle the uneasy gulf between
pushing the Maori struggle forward and maintaining the existing state of
affairs. The prestige and wealth that went with such privileged positions
in the settlement process meant that Maori leaders became increasingly
removed from the concerns and vitality of the flaxroots Maori struggle.
Tino Rangatiratanga could be then seen as economic independence because
we were free to enter the ‘free market’. Capitalism with a smiley (Maori)
face. Bullshit. Watching our rangatiratanga go up and down on the stock
exchange is not a good thing, especially if someone flies a plane into
it.
Tino Rangatiratanga should be a radically democratic alternative to
capitalism in which the flaxroots, local community would be constantly
and actively involved in making the key decisions about the allocation of
societies resources in a collective, co-operative and open manner rather
than behind the closed boardroom doors of large corporations (be they
tribal or otherwise). It would involve communities making these important
decisions and running the economy and society as a whole on a day-to-day
basis. Tino Rangatiratanga should embrace a system in which our entire
economy is geared up to satisfy the needs of human beings our tikanga,
cultural values and aspirations not the profit margins of a tiny elite.
(i.e. human need, not greed!) It would encapsulate our role as kaitiaki,
guardians of the earth and the eco-system. It would be based on a vision
of society free of racism, class exploitation, women’s oppression,
homo-phobia and the oppression of indigenous peoples.
This helps us to understand the nature of Maori corporations, corporate
warriors, the brown table, tribal capitalists, who by cashing in the
momentum created by Tino Rangatiratanga advocates, have managed cash up
generations of Maori struggle for only a small fraction of what the land,
fisheries and other resources were worth (and for some Maori assigning a
$$ value to Papatuanuku or Tangaroa is obscene). Tino Rangatiratanga
needs to be rescued from corporate warriors, tribal executives and Maori
businesses along with the ideologues of the New Right to define Tino
Rangatiratanga in a way that seriously threatens the living standards of
the vast majority of working class Maori whanau.
I think a way of acting on all of this is recognising that the struggle
for Tino Rangatiratanga is part of a broader international struggle
simply because the system that we’re fighting against is an international
one. This seemed to be picked up on in the 60s, 70s, and 80s (and some
people still got the afros, and leathers looking like Black Panthers).
Our struggle against capitalism depends on building a movement that has
an organic connection with Aotearoa and an analysis of the system here.
It is simply dangerous to assume that what happens in Britain or Europe
can be simply applied to NZ. While there are broader trends that are the
same, we need an indigenous analysis of class struggle and capitalism in
NZ not the borrowed writings of British authors applied mindlessly and
indiscriminately to a country 12,000 miles away. The Polynesian populace
is overwhelmingly working class (for those of us lucky enough to have a
job)...our values and outlook are not the same as British workers. We
need to build an indigenous analysis and political strategy that relates
to the realities of surviving capitalism in our own little part of the
world. – Teanau Tuiono.
Good shit to read about the same kaupapa: The Evolution of Contemporary
Maori Protest
http://aotearoa.wellington.net.nz/back/tumoana/index.htm
White Settler Colonialism and the Political Economy of Labour Migration http://aotearoa.wellington.net.nz/back/tumoana/tumoana2.html
from thrall magazine (http://www.freespeech.org/thrall)