Māori Culture in the eyes of the Pōrangi

A quick history:

Under construction... Should be restored next week

My complaint:

Even though Māori is now an offical language of New Zealand, you cannot find the language anywhere in New Zealand. All road signs are in English. Almost all books are in English. All newspapers are in English. All business signs are in English. All legal documents are in English. Why would a Māori child or adult bother to work on learning the Māori language if it doesn't appear anywhere? How can the people practice their language if the language cannot be found?

There are legitimate complaints that should be made about the injustice throughout the centuries with the Māori tribes about the land but I feel that the language is also very important and should not be neglected as part of the whole picture.

As I am pōrangi, it makes sense that I would be the one to speak up and complain even though I am not Māori. Nevertheless, it may be better when an outsider is the one to give suggestions.

My suggestions:

• Fight. Not with weapons, but with words and politics. Don't give up. I keep arguing with Māori who shrug and say that nothing can be done. Wrong. You can all change the situation. Be proud of your heritage and do something.
• Force the government to pass a law to put the official Māori language on all new road signs.
• Create a Māori newspaper. Subsidized.
• Force the government to appoint Māori representatives as ambassadors to the important countries of the world. The number of Māori representatives should be at least proportional to their percentage in the general population. The ambassador to the US should be Māori. The ambassador to England should be Māori. The Māori should be seen in the world politics.
• Send representatives of the Māori people to every political event in the world even if they are not government sponsored representatives.
• Create a public relations mechanism for the Māori. Start campaigning around the world for the rights of the Māori. Tell the story. Fight for justice.
• Demand an independent committee be given the full power to restore justice. Not a committee that can be controlled by the Crown and some of its decisions can be ignored by the Crown.
• Unite. Form groups of tribes. I know that not all tribes will be willing to work together, so unite as much as possible and even in several unions.

I know that the Māori people are shy. But they are also proud warriors. It is time to insist that the Māori culture will prevail.

Quotes:

"We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind."
- Sir John Seeley, "The Expansion of England" (1883)

"What we want to see is the development of human rights and greater democracy, not just because it is our system but because we think that's the best way that economic and political development go hand in hand."
- Tony Blair

"Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail."
- Abraham Lincoln

"For it is the inherent nature of all human beings to yearn for freedom, equality and dignity, and they have an equal [right] to achieve that."
- Dalai Lama

"We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism."
- Rigoberta Menchu (1992 Nobel Prize)

"It has long been recognized that an essential element in protecting human rights was a widespread knowledge among the population of what their rights are and how they can be defended."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
- Edmund Burke 1729-1797.

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last."
- Sir Winston Churchill

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language."
- United Nations, ICCPR, Article 27