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In the 19th century, the settler colonial government imposed a poll tax on Chinese migrants entering Aotearoa. Māori MPs like Wiremu Te Wheoro spoke up in parliament opposing the racist, anti-Chinese legislation.
In the late 1800s, Parihaka men taken as prisoners of war to Ōtepoti defended Chinese mining settlements under attack from white supremacists. During the early 20th century, strong relationships developed between Māori and Indian hawkers in the Waikato, at a time when white supremacist groups were actively severing bonds of solidarity in Pukekohe. In 1902, the SS Ventnor sank off Hokianga harbour, carrying the remains of 499 Chinese goldminers being returned to their villages. Te Roroa and Te Rarawa have looked after the bones of these miners since their remains washed ashore. This Waitangi Day, we remind our Asian whānau of these incredible legacies of solidarity between Māori and Asian communities. Our lives here, as Asian tauiwi, are deeply intertwined with tangata whenua, for reasons that stretch far back into our histories. But in the midst of our government’s increased colonial assaults on Māori, and as we see nations and fascist powers intent on destroying Indigenous lives, land, and identities around the world, it is no longer enough to only know. We must organise. We must act. We must act against the concerted attempts to pull Asian communities in Aotearoa to support these political agendas that oppress Māori. We must act because our safety and collective strength does not come from white supremacists and those that maintain their structures. It can only come when we work with Māori for all of our liberation from these forces. We must act the way Māori did, when they stood alongside Asian activists leading demonstrations against neo-Nazis. The way Māori did when Racial Equity Aotearoa supported protests against the deportation of Indian international students. The way Māori did when Ngāti Whatua and Māori across the country showed love, care, and solidarity after the white supremacist terrorist attack on Muslims in Ōtautahi. The way Māori have been over the last 17 weeks, where Māori leadership have seen thousands of us stand, march and protest in solidarity with Palestine. Mai te awa ki te moana. As we witness all this, we understand that our liberation and our responsibility is not to untangle ourselves or to ‘stay out of it’. Like tangata whenua, we must see these threads not as traps but as connections, tying us closer to the global anti-colonial struggle that extend from Aotearoa to Asia. We must recognise that when David Seymour, like Don Brash, uses the same tired and boring narrative of “we are all New Zealanders” to undermine tino rangatiratanga, he is denying that New Zealand was built on top of unceded Māori land. When political parties attack Te Tiriti, they are denying that it is Te Tiriti that allowed tauiwi to be here. When they talk about so-called “Māori privilege”, they are trying to distract people from the reality of Pākehā privileges, privileges that come from global white supremacy. During these times where politicians are generating fear and confusion, trying to redefine Te Tiriti in the interests of the Crown and capital, we call on all Asian communities to remember:
Our call to action to our Asian whānau, organisations, communities and leaders:
We cannot be neutral or complicit in the face of further colonial attacks on Māori. As we continue to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, with Uyghurs, Tibetans, Kashmiris, West Papuans - and all Indigenous peoples in Asia or occupied by Asian states who have been experiencing ethnic cleansing and genocide, we must also always resist ongoing colonial attempts to deny mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga to Māori. Let’s remember the words of the late Dr. Moana Jack son: “The right to self-determination asserted by majority Indigenous populations in other countries is also the right of Māori. Human rights are never dependent on numbers but inherent in a person’s humanity.” - Dr. Moana Jackson Toitū Te Tiriti! |
AuthorBy members of Asians Supporting Tino Rangatiratanga ArchivesCategories |