The Māori people’s ongoing battle for self-determination

People within the Indigenous Māori community of “New Zealand” have been protesting a racist bill that was recently introduced by that country’s right-wing government. On Nov. 14, Minister of Regulation David Seymour introduced a bill known as the “Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill” or the “Treaty Principles Bill.”

The controversial bill would reopen a historic treaty, signed in 1840, known to the Māori people as “Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” commonly referred to as the “Treaty of Waitangi.” The binding agreement is part of New Zealand’s national Constitution, and it features terms and conditions that grant land rights and special recognition to the Māori people.

Tens of thousands of Māori rights activists and allies converged on the Parliament in the capital city of Wellington two days before the bill sponsored by the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT) New Zealand, also known as the ACT Party, was introduced. 

That protest coincided with a nine-day march in mid-November that has been deemed the largest march in New Zealand’s history. A Dec. 24 PBS report shows footage of the marchers braving the rain, wearing traditional Māori clothing and carrying the black, white and red Māori flag of self-determination, as well as Palestinian flags. They also carried pictures of elders from generations past.

The same day that Seymour, a leader of the far-right ACT party, introduced the bigoted bill, several Members of Parliament who represent the Māori community protested its proposal. The MPs performed a traditional, ceremonial dance known as “Haka,” and in the Māori language, they chanted, “Kill the bill!” 

MP member Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke initiated the Haka ritual on the floors of Parliament by ripping up a copy of the bill. She is the youngest MP in New Zealand. She and most of the other MPs who participated in the ceremonial demonstration are members of the Te Pāti Māori (Māori Party).

Who are the Māori?

The Māori are Indigenous Polynesians who were the first residents of the two islands currently referred to as New Zealand. The Māori originally called the islands “Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu,” but the name New Zealand was made official by the British colonizers. Many battles have taken place between British settler colonialists and the Māori people, defending their land, rights and culture. 

After five years of negotiations between British imperialists and leaders of the Māori community, a treaty was signed on Feb. 6, 1840. The treaty was breached by the British shortly after it was signed, and 90% of the Māori land was stolen by the European colonizers in the decades that followed. Māori people were also subjected to rape, torture and mass killings during that time.

New Zealand became independent from British Parliamentary control in 1947, but life did not improve for the Māori population. According to a Nov. 19 Al-Jazeera article, “Between 1950 and 2019, about 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults were subjected to physical and sexual abuse in state and church care, and a commission found Māori children were more vulnerable to the abuse than others.” Despite being the original inhabitants on the two islands, Māori people only represent roughly 20% of the population today, yet comprise 50% of those incarcerated.

Māori workers play a leading role in the labor movement of New Zealand. This is especially true with the country’s two largest trade unions: Public Service Association / Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi and The New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa. The latter is an affiliate of Global Nurses United, led by the left-wing U.S.-based National Nurses United.

Why international solidarity matters

New Zealand swore in one of the most right-wing governments it has had in decades on Nov. 27, 2023. Like the seven-party coalition government of the terrorist state of Israel, the Sixth National Government is led by an alliance of three far-right political parties: National, ACT and New Zealand First.

The country’s current prime minister is former airline CEO Christopher Luxon, a representative of the National Party. Luxon joined forces with ACT Party leader Seymour and New Zealand First co-founder Winston Peters.

Seymour and Peters are of Māori ancestry, but they both built their political careers by attacking the Māori community and espousing white supremacy. ACT identifies as “libertarian,” meaning it espouses unfettered, unregulated capitalism. New Zealand First is an openly racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Māori group that voices the same demagogic rhetoric as the MAGA movement in the U.S., calling itself “populist.”

Luxon’s Sixth National coalition government is doing all it can to reverse any progressive gains made by the previous Labour Party leadership, especially anything that benefited Māori people. Among some of the coalition government’s first acts was rescinding a 2022 cigarette sales ban for people born after 2008 and repealing rules designed to address climate change. The Luxon-led coalition has also removed bans on mining operations and offshore drilling exploration.

Seymour and ACT New Zealand are spearheading the racist Treaty Principles Bill, while there are many members of the National and New Zealand First parties who claim to oppose the bill. As pro-capitalist libertarians, Seymour and ACT want to undo special recognition and protections the New Zealand government has promised the Māori people based on the 1840 treaty. The ACT Party has argued that it simply wants “equal rights for all” but deliberately ignores the special oppression and mistreatment the Māori have experienced since the European invasion and colonization.

Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa) is a community activist who has helped organize events against the racist bill. She has vocally pointed out how the argument for “equal rights” cannot apply to the Māori: “We die younger. We’re more likely to be locked up in prison. And so we do not live equal lives. We have not been afforded equality.” 

Hartendorp further warns: “Our current coalition government is stripping back Indigenous rights on a whole raft of laws. My concern for the future is that a far-right populist movement will grow in nature to be able to strip us of the sovereignty that we were guaranteed to those 200 years ago.” (pbs.org, Dec. 24.)

Many Māori rights activists are expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people, because their struggles are similar in many ways. The Māori and Palestinian people have both had their lands and culture stolen from them by settler colonialists, and they have both been forced to fight for national liberation.

Marxist-Leninists recognize the importance of uniting all workers and, at the same time, defending the most oppressed. Self-determination can only be achieved if oppressed people determine their own destiny. Anti-racist activists outside of New Zealand can express solidarity with the Māori community by listening to their demands and actively opposing the rotten systems of capitalism and settler colonialism!