Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM), an Anarcho-Communist organisation in Aotearoa/New Zealand, participated in a hikoi/march in November 2024 in support of indigenous rights.
Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM), an Anarcho-Communist organisation in Aotearoa/New Zealand, participated in a hikoi/march in November 2024 in support of indigenous rights.
The hikoi was in response to the provocation by the Right-Wing, Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT) Party attempting to arbitrarily re-interpret the constitutional framework of Aotearoa. Their intention being to dis-establish Maori as first people/Tangata Whenua. ACT had received only 8% of the vote in the last election. It made recognition of their Treaty Principles Bill a pre-condition for participation in a coalition government with the larger, Centre-Right National Party. National agreed to support the Bill only to its first reading, ensuring that it will not become law. Given their clear minority position, ACT is seeking merely to foster social division on behalf of the worst factions of the capitalist class. With traditions of collective ownership of resources and consensus decision-making, Maori have often behaved as a break on the privatization agenda of the neo-liberal pirates that have dominated politics for decades.
The existing constitutional arrangement in Aotearoa/New Zealand is based on the Treaty of Waitangi. This was signed in 1840 between the British Crown and 500 Rangatira/Chiefs on behalf of various Iwi/tribes. It was hastily and poorly translated, resulting in differing interpretations of the agreement ever since. In international law, the indigenous-language version known as te tiriti is seen as having precedence over the English language Treaty of Waitangi, version. As such, Maori argue Iwi never gave over sovereignty to the British state to run the country as a whole, and that they have undisturbed right to their lands.
Various governments over the past 184 years have ridden roughshod over the Maori interpretation. The few existing protections for Tangata Whenua have been hard-fought for and precarious. Although National and the populist NZ First Party (the third member of the coalition) are not supporting ACT's current legislative attempt to deny the status of Maori under Te Tiriti, they are by no means innocent. This government has only been in power a year but has already abolished the fledgling Maori Health Authority, de-emphasized te reo/Maori language in Government departments and slashed $30 million from te reo language programmes in primary schools. More attacks can be expected.
It is against this background that the recent 9-day hikoi began in the far north of the country, picking up support at each stop along the way. By the 5th day, the hikoi had reached the central North-Island city of Rotorua. An estimated 10,000 joined the march there. AWSM interacted with the other participants, who included a wide range of ages from mokopuna/grandchildren, rangatahi/young people up to koro/grandfathers, kuia/grandmothers, kaumatua/respected elders and entire whanau/extended family. There were also a number of other political organisations, community groups and tauiwi/non-Maori who came to tautoko/support the kaupapa/organising principle of the march. By the time the hikoi reached its destination of Whanganui-a-tara/Wellington, the site of parliament, estimates of those present range from 35,000 to over 40,000. The hikoi was a successful show of opposition to ACT and its attempts to attack the indigenous population.
As anarchists AWSM recognizes the complexity of the situation we find ourselves in. In the long-term we wish to transcend the arrangement between a monarchy and chiefs and the subsequent formation of a nation-state. However, in the here and now, we tautoko those under assault by that state. We feel our vision of a non-hierarchical society with collective ownership and democratic decision-making better fits the traditions and aspirations of tangata whenua than any form of capitalist system. However, this vision is not something we wish to see imposed. By participating in actions such as the recent hikoi, we can be part of the korero/conversation around how the future might be shaped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFhWOFhct-c
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