Joe Fathallah
42,000 demonstrators took over the streets of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand/Aotearoa, on 19 November, in protest against the Treaty Principles Bill. This law, proposed by the right-wing ACT party, aims to undermine what limited protections exist for the rights of the indigenous Maori population. The protest was the culmination of a nine-day hikoi, or traditional Maori march. When the bill was introduced for its first parliamentary reading on 14 November, Maori MPs disrupted proceedings by performing a haka (traditional war or ceremonial dance) inside the chamber. While it is highly unlikely that the bill will pass and become law, it has nevertheless become a focal point for the anger of the Maori community on the issue of national rights more generally.
The bill aims to ‘reinterpret’ the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi, an agreement signed in 1840 between Maori tribal chiefs and British imperialism. ACT is a minor party in a government coalition with the conservative National Party and the right-populist New Zealand First. This government, which has been in power since November 2023, already has form on attempting to undermine Maori national rights. A law guaranteeing Maori tribes a say in environmental decisions has already been repealed, and in February the government abolished the Maori Health Authority.
The Maori were the only native population anywhere in the world that the British Empire failed to fully conquer. Instead, the Crown agreed to the treaty, which on paper guaranteed a certain level of self-governance and land rights to the Maori. In fact, there were significant differences between the English-language and Maori-language versions of the documents. In the latter part of the 19th century, Maori tribes suffered from land seizures, enforced ‘purchases’ and forced cultural assimilation. This was necessary for British imperialism to establish a capitalist economy in New Zealand, as this required land, as well as a supply of cheap labour to perform the lowest-paid and most menial jobs.
As a result of this process, which involved New Zealand achieving independence from the UK in 1947, a layer of Maori tribal chieftains became integrated into the capitalist class. It’s vital for socialists to oppose any measures that undermine what few remaining national rights the Maori have. But we also need to point out that rules such as quotas for Maori on company boards or political bodies do nothing to assist poor Maori starved of their land, resources, and culture. To end and reverse the dismantling of Maori society, it would be necessary to nationalise the seized land, seabeds, fisheries and natural resources, under democratic control of the mass of the population.
New Zealand isn’t immune from the crises in the world economy. In this context, the capitalist elite will always try to create division within the working class, to weaken our ability to defend ourselves from attacks on our rights and living conditions. Workers in New Zealand need their own new mass party, with a socialist programme and the right for Maori workers to organise independently inside it, making a clean break with the Maori ruling elite. Such a programme would guarantee self-government and economic prosperity to the Maori, and fight for a socialist New Zealand free from poverty, racism and national oppression.
