Maori deputies have suspended the session in the New Zealand Parliament this Thursday. And they have done it with one of its most powerful symbols: a ‘haka’, the traditional dance of the country’s indigenous people that includes shouts and blows to the chest and the ground. A chant that has been used as a sign of protest to demand the rights of the Maori.
During the session, a bill was voted on to reinterpret the principles of a treaty that has regulated relations with the indigenous people since 1840, a controversial proposal that has been criticized because it could undermine their rights, and that has led to protests, not only among the deputies, also in the streets, with demonstrations of thousands of people taking place this Friday.
When Māori Party legislators were asked for their vote, MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke stood up and began the haka, which was followed by the rest of her colleagues. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gerry Brownlee, visibly upset, tried to prevent them from continuing but, seeing that it was impossible, he decided to suspend the session and cut off the transmission. In addition, he suspended Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke from Parliament for one day.
The ‘haka’ has become fashionable due to its use by the national rugby team ‘All Blacks’. The co-leader of the Maori Party, Rawiri Waititi, explained in statements to Radio New Zealand that his intention was to challenge the Government with this act. “We love it when the ‘All Blacks’ do it, but what happens when they do it in a place where they challenge the violence and continued violence of a House that has done it for hundreds of years?,” said the politician.
The project was finally approved in the first round, although two more are needed to become law. It has been referred to the Legislative Justice Committee to consider it in the next six months, as reported in a statement by the Minister of Justice and promoter of the proposal, David Seymour.
Seymour is part of the ultra-liberal ACT Party, which makes up the government coalition led by Christopher Luxon, and which defends the proposal to reinterpret the Treaty of Waitangi – signed in 1840, shortly before New Zealand became part of the British Empire -. The treaty, in the opinion of the liberals, contains ‘benefits’ towards the Maori and they consider that this is to the detriment of the rest of the population.
The Treaty of Waitangi regulates the State’s relations with the Maori, who make up 20% of the New Zealand population of more than 5 million inhabitants. Seymour assures that the proposal addresses the “concept of the Treaty principles”, which were introduced by the New Zealand Parliament in 1975 without defining them, which he suggests would have allowed this population to be favored.
This minority nevertheless continues to experience institutional discrimination, as well as disproportionately high rates of poverty, incarceration, illness, domestic abuse and suicide, among other problems.
Protesters against the proposal
Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators protesting against Seymour’s proposal, some of them carrying Maori flags and traditional clothing, are heading to Parliament in Wellington.
The convoy left on Monday from Cape Reinga or Te Rerenga Wairua, the northernmost point of New Zealand’s North Island and one of the places of greatest significance for the Maori, on a tour of several cities in the country.
The legislative project, which if approved after the third reading would mean the calling of a referendum, proposes that the Executive and Parliament have full powers to dictate laws.
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