Ae Marika!
A column published in the Northland Age
By Hone Harawira
MP for Tai Tokerau
17 February 2009

MYTHS & FANTASIES

Seems like one of my relations from over Kaikohe has adopted a name from down south and is now trolling his way round the country preaching some strange stories about the South Island being populated by red-haired, white skinned folks before the Maori and even the Moriori got here.

It’s based on a fantasy called ‘Song of Waitaha’ (SOW), written by Barry Brailsford, who sucked in a bunch of Maori from all round the place to swear that it was all true, including my dopey cousin from across the Mangamuka Gorge.

But it’s bullshit – pure and simple and now my whanaunga is trying to link us up here in the Far North to this fantasy-world through whakapapa which nobody has ever heard of.

SOW is not a history of the Waitaha people. Waitaha are a recognised iwi in the South Island with a proud and valid history. But some of the strange histories circulating under their name, like SOW, are nothing but a betrayal of the trust of their kaumatua and kuia and an abuse of their histories – new-age colonialism.

Old-age colonialism is where they steal Maori land and destroy Maori language and culture. New-age colonialism is where they steal Maori histories and traditions and turn them to the advantage of the new colonials.

A lot of liberal Pakeha like suckling on the SOW because it makes them think they’re tangata whenua, when they’re not. Pakeha New Zealanders are Kiwis with a strong and valid history of their own in this country. That history is cheapened and demeaned by myths like SOW.

Toni Liddell, of Ngai Tahu and Ngapuhi, has written a very good critique of how Maori suffer from the theft and misuse of traditional Maori knowledge, particularly as it is used in the SOW myths. Her critique is called ‘The Travesty of Waitaha: The New Age piracy of early Maori history.’

I tried reading the SOW but it made me sick. Toni Liddell’s critique helped clear things up.

WAKAMINENGA

Having taken a lash at some of the dodgy histories from down south, I gotta say that I’ve heard some real doozies from up here as well – like the unfounded claims by some of the ‘Wakaminenga’ types about our tupuna having their own merchant navy and national postal and courier service and treaties with other countries.

I’ve put off dealing with some of this stuff for a while now, but the time is coming when someone’s gonna have to debunk all the rubbish that’s clouding the minds of our people, as if we don’t have enough trouble dealing with the drug problem! Watch this space …

ENDS

© Scoop Media