6 September, 2016.

Conference Endorses Call for Land Return

"I went to the conference with $10 to reimburse Victoria University the costs for the Karori block. If this University is not using the land for the purpose it was designated then they must give the land back to the Iwi."

Dr Leonie Pihama (Te Atiawa) was one of the keynote presenters at the Social Movements, Resistance and Social Change conference at Victoria University of Wellington, 1-3 September. Over 400 people from around the country attended throughout the conference.

In the opening speech Dr Pihama, along with Tere Harrison and Moana Jackson, called out the University for being complicit in the ongoing colonisation and confiscation of Māori land.

"The sale by the government to Victoria University for $10 in a context where iwi are fighting to have stolen lands returned is atrocious".

In 2014 the Karori Campus, which sits on Te Atiawa land, was sold from the government to the university for $10. Last week the university announced that they have the potential to place the property on the market for $20 million.

Media reporting of this transaction has so far ignored the history of colonial oppression through which Universities have benefited from the confiscation and sale of Maori Lands.

Iwi are often forced to pay millions for the return of stolen lands. The Pekapeka Block in Waitara is a clear example, where to have the lands returned the Iwi were expected to pay $23million.

As the conference came to a conclusion on Saturday afternoon, it was collectively decided by participants and organisers alike to support the challenge put forth by Dr Pihama.

“The exorbitant costs to iwi to have lands returned highlights the systemic racism still prevalent in a system which maintains and reproduces its own privilege”, stated conference participant Lillian Hanly.

“It is not enough for the University to say it fulfils its obligations by offering first right of purchase to Te Atiawa as required by the Public Works Act. The University could clearly and actively respond to Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationship by accepting the challenge to immediately return the Karori Campus to tangata whenua. This is social justness which we as activists in Aotearoa strive for everyday”, stated conference participant Dr Emma Kelly of the Labour History Project.

“As a Pākehā lecturer teaching the history of Aotearoa New Zealand at Victoria University of Wellington, I take very seriously the Treaty of Waitangi university statute that commits to Māori as tangata whenua and Treaty Partners. We have an opportunity to fulfill those obligations here and now. If the Karori land is no longer being used for educational purposes, it should be returned to Te Atiawa. We must all take responsibility for educating our broader community on how the land the university sits on was colonised and how those practices continue to cause harm to tangata whenua”, stated conference participant Dr Cybèle Locke (School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Victoria University of Wellington).

Conference co-organiser Jonathan Oosterman stated: “The Social Movements, Resistance and Social Change conference calls on the university to recognise the completely despicable treatment of mana whenua, historically and in the present. We call on the university to return the land to Te Atiawa, and accept the koha of $10. We also call on all universities to fully recognise how these institutions benefit from colonisation.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media