Māori MPs on Thursday disrupted a vote in New Zealand’s parliament with a haka to protest a bill that critics say would erode the land and cultural rights of New Zealand’s indigenous peoples.
Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clark of the New Zealand Maori Party stood up and started dancing a haka when party delegates asked her how she would vote during the session. The haka is a Maori ritual dance that shows pride, strength and unity through a series of intricate movements and facial expressions. expression. She tore a copy of the bill in half while performing a haka.
Approximately half of the MPs present, including members of the Labor Party and the Green Party, took part along with ordinary MPs seated in the audience seats, and their chants echoed throughout the chamber.
As the haka began, House Speaker Jerry Brownlee appeared to roll his eyes. Unable to regain control of the room, he later suspended the House of Commons and ordered the gallery to be cleared.
He suspended Maipi Clark for one day. At the beginning of the session, he expelled veteran Maori MP Willie Jackson, who shouted “Shame on you!”. shame! “To the representative who proposed the controversial law.
The Treaty Principles Bill proposes a reinterpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi, an 1840 treaty that guaranteed Maori certain land and cultural rights in exchange for recognition of British rule.
This frame capture taken from the New Zealand Parliament TV feed dated 14 November 2024 and published via AFPTV on 15 November 2024, shows Maori MPs performing a haka, a traditional ceremonial dance, and then The video shows them disrupting parliament with a protest against the bill. Reinterpreting a centuries-old document believed to be New Zealand’s founding treaty with Indigenous peoples.
New Zealand Parliament/AFPTV (via AFP, via Getty Images)
Critics of the bill said it would abolish the dedicated land, government seats, health policy and cultural protection initiatives granted to Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi. He, along with Māori advocacy group Te Tiriti, said the bill would “give politicians and corporations greater control over our communities”.
Māori MP David Seymour, who drafted the Treaty Principles Bill, said the current law gave Māori “different rights than other New Zealanders”.
Under the Treaty of Waitangi, MPs launched a program to revitalize the Māori language and address indicators of poor health through the Māori Health Authority.
Although the Treaty Principles Bill is unlikely to pass, leaders including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon voted in favor of the bill in the first stage as part of a political coalition agreement and vowed not to allow it to pass any further. .
Thousands of New Zealanders marched to Wellington on Monday to protest the Treaty Principles Bill. The protest is expected to be the largest race relations march in the country’s history.
