Becoming a Pacific nation

Last week, I read a column by Colin James in the Herald which put its finger on the reason why race is such a big issue in this election campaign: the Pacificisation of New Zealand:

Maori culture, supplemented by Pacific Polynesian culture, has begun over the past five years to alter "mainstream" culture and the way we live our lives.

We are moving beyond the tokenism of the past 160 years. The new All Blacks' haka - which could do with an English phrase or two to be truly "national" - is a prime example.

This transformation is still in the very early stages, and in any case will modify, not blanket out, European cultural traditions and ways of life. But over the next 25 years, in part driven by demographics, it will make us a Pacific nation, not just dwellers in the Pacific - it will Pacific-ate us.

Don Brash's reaction, and that of the culturally insecure dead white males he is appealing to, is outright denial. Faced with a strong Maori culture and growing Maori political power, they want to expunge both from public life. But their desperate attempt to fight this rising tide isn't going to be any more successful than Canute's. You simply can't fight demographics. Instead, what's at stake is not whether we will become a Pacific nation, but the character of that nation, and the relationship between its different cultures - whether we live together in harmony, or are divided by anger, bitterness, and inequality.

It's a point also made by VUW's Dr Jon Johansson. Since the beginning of the campaign, he has been warning us that National's race and Treaty policies are a recipe for racial strife. Unfortunately he's mostly been saying it in tiny soundbites while being a political commentator for One News and Agenda, but today he lays it all out in a guest column on Public Address:

National's commitment to remove the Maori seats with white votes is only one aspect of its policy that could herald in a reaction from Maori that tears at the very fabric of our social cohesiveness. A colleague of mine calls it 'path dependency'. That is, when one reaches a forking point and decides to embark on a new path, try as one might, one can never return to the original point of intersection again if things turn pear-shaped because the new landscape is forever changed. There's no going back.

And that has been my primary concern throughout this campaign. What is the impact on the social cohesion of our country if National's policy is fully implemented? Dr Brash has never addressed this crucial question other than to say that some Maori have e-mailed him with their support. That, from a potential Prime Minister, is simply not good enough. If National's wider policy is implemented, might not some moderate Maori be radicalised? What about the radical element that already exists? How might they react? We must know the answers to these questions otherwise we are taking a giant leap into the unknown with no ability to return to a path that is, if not perfect, at least one underpinned by a basic decency.

There's more there, and its well worth reading.

What really pisses me off about all this is that that harmonious future is clearly in reach. The government is finally meeting its obligation to ensure that Maori are full participants in our nation, historical grievances are on the verge of being settled for good, and most of all, Maori culture is valued and held in high esteem by the young. We're getting there - and it may all be poisoned by a colossal act of generational selfishness by a bunch of dead white males who want to roll back the clock. They are going to fuck up our future - again - just so they can live out their last remaining years in the delusion that nothing has changed and everything is exactly as it was when they grew up. And it will be us, rather than them, who end up paying the price.