This article considers research conducted on the impact of the Crown’s treaty claims settlement policy on Māori in New Zealand. It provides a brief background to the Treaty of Waitangi and the subsequent British colonisation process that relied on the Doctrine of Discovery in breach of the treaty. It outlines how colonisation dispossessed Māori of 95 percent of their lands and resources, usurped Māori power and authority and left them in a state of poverty, deprivation and marginalisation while procuring considerable wealth, prosperity and privilege for British settlers. The work of the Waitangi Tribunal, the commission of inquiry set up to investigate those breaches, is considered, as is the Crown’s reaction to the 1987 Lands case in developing its treaty claims settlement policy. The Crown unilaterally imposed the policy despite vehement opposition from Māori. Since 1992, it has legislated more than seventy ‘settlements’. The research shows that overall, the process has traumatised claimants, divided their communities, and returned on average less than one percent of their stolen lands. Proposals for constitutional transformation have drawn widespread support from Māori as a solution to British colonisation. United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies have recommended that the government discuss this with Māori.
, the main story on the front page of the Sunday Star-Times was headlined "Curb White Immigrants-Academic." Two subheadings underneath read: "SA, UK and US migrants racist, charges Maori scholar" and "Labour Department bears out ethnic fears." The article itself, with the by-line 'By Marika Hill,' starts: A Maori academic says immigration by whites should be restricted because they pose a threat to race relations due to their 'white supremacist' attitudes. (Hill) A furore followed. The article was reproduced in other Fairfax media, Te Karere Ipurangi (Maori News Online), and a wide range of blogs. Each time it was reproduced, more comments accumulated. Facebook groups were set up: "Margaret Mutu is poison," "Call for Margaret Mutu to resign NOW," "Margaret Mutu-a leader with guts and grace." Online media conducted surveys such as "Were Margaret Mutu's comments racist?" Weekend newspaper columnists Michael Laws and Rosemary McLeod responded with their (different) takes on the issue. Mutu received a large number of phone calls, and emails from 157 people. What all these people were responding to, however, is not actually what Mutu said. In the article that follows, we set out Mutu's account of the misreporting of her views in the Sunday Star-Times article and in the current affairs bulletin Close Up on the following Monday. We then analyse the negative responses in the first week of emails sent to Mutu. We argue that the bulk of these emails are based on either traditional racism or what is known as modern or symbolic racism, and so they ironically endorse much of what Mutu had to say. This racism, however, in whatever form it takes, can be linked to ignorance of the issues involved. We see such ignorance as a failure of both the education system and the media to educate all New Zealanders about the Crown's breaches of the Treaty and the continuing impact on Māori of these breaches and of processes of colonisation which are manifested in * Sue Abel is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, where she works in both the Department of Māori Studies and the Department of Film, Television and Media Studies. Her research focuses on issues around indigeneity and media, with a particular focus on Māori and media. Margaret Mutu is the professor and head of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland and chair of Ngāti Kahu's parliament. She has research interests in Māori language and literature, and a number of contemporary issues affecting Māori and indigenous peoples.
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