I’ve been trying to point out the stupidity of an element in the Green Party who (I think) hold a view that sees our society as (relatively) disposable and replaceable rather than something we have to patch up and (use) compromise. Histories way of healing has been to kill and subdue and consign to the past; better to intermarry and move on (they didn’t do that in Fiji).
PS God Bless Queen Victoria and her (Queens) Chain

Are you really the “black / white” , “either / or” , thinker that you come across as on frogblog?

Or are you here regularly in a SUPERIOR roll to “stir”, “point score” , and generally “take the Mickey” out of these “naive” (?) / “gullible” (?) / “well meaning but misguided” (?) or perhaps even “dangerous” (?) Greens ?

I believe that either picture is “not a good look” and that is a shame because sometimes you do have worthwhile contributions to offer.

If you REALLY ARE as concerned about Te Tiriti and the Treaty Settlement process in the way you portray, I suggest your time visiting frogblog would be much better spent “getting up to speed” on the actual issues involved.

For starters, have you read Raninui Walker’s “Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou / Struggle Without End”? or Michael King’s “The Penguin History of New Zealand”? (preferably both)?
(Having lived in North America, I suggest that you add “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” to that list. It tells the Indigenous Americans’ tales, if you can stomach it! (You know? Those people who are still called “Indians” because Christopher Columbus goofed up on his navigation and thought he had reached the Indian Subcontinent … )

It is far too simple to say “we are all New Zealanders” …

It interests me that many who obviously are very keen to hang onto their own “private property” and expect to hang on to their rights to hand this on to their children, have this totally blind spot when it comes to Maori.

My parents always said … “How would you like it if someone did that to you?”
It is that measure that leads me to the perspective I have on this issue.

The hysterical reaction of paranoid control freaks.

What amuses me is that, if they are right, then they are only sustainable for as long as it takes the starving, desperate hordes to find them. S/he who hath the guns , wins.

The Archers’ brings the idea of a self-sufficient community to the fore

“The biggest change is disconnecting their house from the mains (known as going “off-grid”), but they have also bought five acres of land for growing vegetables, chickens for eggs and meat, goats for dairy products and a generator for emergency energy.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/29/eaoi l129.xml

It is interesting the talk of the far left, as I see the harmonious life process is the balance between the needs of the community -the Left, and the needs of the individual - the right.
Our Economics and institutions swung seriously toward individuality with Rogernomics etc. and we have had a serious length of time with an imbalance and we are reaping the aftermath.
………..
Aren’t we talking about something different (ie) no person can manage an economy without markets as the processes are too complex? Can Sue Bradford sit there and wave her hand saying: “more here”…”less there”? Does the person around the street in the state house get more as their big dog eats a lot of meat whereas I skrimp, not expecting any handouts?
The point is that most people tend to the middle but the Greens are perceived to be in John Minto territory.

Sapient

By settling old grievances (which were perpetrated before some of our immigrant families even came to Aotearoa) we as a Nation will be able to move on, and it is high time we did so!

I don’t find these concepts difficult to understand.
As a child, I was always taught to think “how would I like it if someone did the same thing to me”.

I suspect that, if your family had suffered similar dispossession, you would be there, claiming back (or asking for at least an acknowledgement or apology for) that which had been taken from you. (I certainly would!)

In the South Island, many of us followed the preparations for, and the presenting of, the now completed Kai (Ngai) Tahu (et al) Claim for years (decades actually, if you count the years when the younger generation went to University and trained as lawyers, historians, and in other professions, in preparation.)
Its resolution has made a positive difference in our community, far greater and further reaching than I would have predicted.