Critical Theorising from an Organic Intellectual

I get really tired of reading so-called critical theories from academics whose jargon-filled blogs and writings seem to be aimed at not so much "changing the world" as gaining promotion. It's refreshing, then, to come across this piece by the New Zealand Maori Party Member of Parliament Hone Harawira. It cuts right through the double speak of both politicians and academics, strips the logic of the normative discourse down to its essentials and reveals the contradictions and hypocracies of the New Zealand "democracy" for all to see and hear. Hone asks the fundamental Critical Theory question "Who has the power to name, to establish the boundary of the discourse and to establish and maintain meaning in a colonial society?" The answer, of course, is the colonial (racist) dominant culture. Here's Hone Harawira's speech to Parliament about a proposed piece of legislation put forward by a member of the New Zealand Party. The Bill is aimed at preventing Maori Judges who have long experience of Maori Land Court hearings, from participating in the Waitangi Tribunal (a non-binding Tribunal that makes judgments on redress of indigenous land-related grievances).

Hone is not an academic. He's not considered to be an "intellectual" byt thye hoi poloi of NZ society. Yet here is the sword of truth cutting through the lies and deceptions that go to make up the hegemony of New Zealand political life.

Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill

Wed 18 June 2008

Hone Harawira, MP for Te Tai Tokerau

Mr Speaker, this New Zealand First bill, promoted by Pita Paraone, and denounced as being anti-Maori by Maori from throughout the country, plans to end the careers of some of our best Maori judges of the Maori Land Court, the High Court, and the Waitangi Tribunal, and to stop them from serving their own people.

This bill Mr Speaker, is exactly the same as that other anti-Maori bill, put forward by New Zealand First, represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone, voted for by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced as being anti-Maori, by Maori from throughout the country.

That bill was called the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill, and proposed taking the Treaty of Waitangi out of all New Zealand legislation.


Thankfully, the rest of the House voted with the Maori Party at second reading and threw it out, but not before Mr Speaker, not before all of Labour’s Maori MPs actually voted to delete the Treaty of Waitangi from all New Zealand legislation.

And vote for it they did Mr Speaker, and not just a couple of them either, but the whole lot of them - Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora, and Shane Jones !!!!

In fact, so horrified was Angeline Greensill, Maori Party Member of the House of Hauraki-Waikato, that she actually rang me to say,

“Hone, are you sure? Are you telling me that every one of Labour’s Maori MPs, including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora, and Shane Jones, actually did something as dumb as to vote to delete the Treaty of Waitangi from all New Zealand legislation?

And being a fully paid up member of the Maori Party Mr Speaker, I had no option but to tell her the truth, that in fact, yes they had – all of Labour’s Maori MPs voted- to delete the Treaty of Waitangi from all legislation.


Mr Speaker, this bill, this Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill, is the same in many ways.

This bill has also been put forward by New Zealand First,

This bill was also represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone,

This bill was also supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and

This bill has also been denounced as anti-Maori, by Maori from throughout the country.
and I am happy to say that for all of those reasons and more, the Maori Party will not be supporting this bill.


Mr Speaker, the Maori Party will not be supporting this anti-Maori bill put forward by New Zealand First, represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone, supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced as being anti-Maori by Maori from throughout the country …

because we know, as does the Select Committee, that sitting on both the Maori Land Court and the Waitangi Tribunal, requires people to have an understanding of tribal structures, Maori land history, custom and tradition –

and given that 80% of those people are likely to be Maori, we know that:

this bill … will effectively dump all of those Maori who had dedicated their lives to law school, court work, and tribunal work before taking up an appointment to either the Maori Land Court or the Waitangi Tribunal, and dismiss 95% of the greatest legal minds within Maoridom,

and Mr Speaker, how dumb is that …, how mind-numbingly, nonsensically, foolishly, downright dumb is that?


Mr Speaker, another reason the Maori Party will not be supporting this anti-Maori bill put forward by New Zealand First, represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone, supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced as being anti-Maori by Maori from throughout the country …

is because it continues the assault against some of our top jurists like Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias, Maori Land Court Judge Caren Wickliffe, and Chief Maori Land Court Judge Joe Williams,

who have all been dragged into the political spotlight and attacked, by over-zealous and intellectually-challenged Ministers of the Crown, wanting to impose their prejudices on the judiciary.

Mr Speaker, there is probably no other party that wants to change the appointment process for judges in Aotearoa as much as the Maori Party, but even we recognise the importance of keeping the judiciary separate from politicians who come and go at the whim of the electorate.


Mr Speaker, another reason the Maori Party will not be supporting this anti-Maori bill put forward by New Zealand First, represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone, supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced as being anti-Maori, by Maori from throughout the country …

is because it plans to muzzle the voices of judges who demonstrate every day, high levels of judicial competence and knowledge of Maori land matters, and replace them with retired judges who have already got heaps on their plate.


Mr Speaker, I was happy to be the Maori Party representative on the Select Committee which considered this anti-Maori bill put forward by New Zealand First, represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone, supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced as being anti-Maori by Maori from throughout the country …

and I was equally as happy to hear their recommendation, that there was no inherent conflict of interest, and that therefore this bill could be thrown out, on the same scrapheap as the last one.


And finally Mr Speaker, let me ask this most obvious of questions, the question on the lips of Maori people all round the country –

if it’s conflict of interest that Pita Paraone, Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, are really concerned with,

then what about the conflict of interest that arises from the thieving buggers who actually stole our land, being the same bloody critters, who then set up the tribunal to decide the courtcase, pick who the judges will be, decide what can be returned and what won’t be returned, pick who can speak for the poor bloody victims, and then say how much the victims will have to pay to get their own land back.

Conflict of Interest, Mr Paraone? You want to talk about conflict of interest? Well that’s what you call Conflict of Interest Mr Paraone, that’s the real deal that no-one wants to talk about.

Mr Horomia – how come the thieves who stole your tupuna’s land, also get to pick the judges for the courtase? How’s that for conflict of interest?

Ms Mahuta - how come the thieves who stole your tupuna’s land, also get to say what lands you can have back? How’s that for conflict of interest?

Mr Okeroa - how come the thieves who stole your tupuna’s land, get to say who your negotiators can be? How’s that for conflict of interest?

And for all the rest of you Maori MPs in Labour - how dare you support legislation that would delete the Treaty, and deny Maori the right to sit on their own Land Courts.

Mr Speaker, this bill …

this bill supported by Pita Paraone, Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, in spite of overwhelming opposition from Maori right around the country …

this bill … to strip the Waitangi Tribunal and the Maori Land Court of some of the best legal minds in Maoridom …

this bill Mr Speaker, is nothing but a pathetic attempt to deny Maori equal access to all levels of the judiciary,

Mr Speaker, the Maori Party stands proudly alongside the rest of Maoridom in denouncing this anti-Maori bill …

And we call on this House to consign it to the same trash-bin, as the last piece of legislative prejudice, put forward by New Zealand First.