As a Maori, yesterday was embarrassing for me.
TPM polled at under 3%, MΔori in nz population, 15%. They donβt represent all Maori, and whilst I respect their right to protest & in fact welcome it (a country with no ability to protest is a dictatorship), yesterdays antics at parliament overstepped the mark.
There are rules & standards within those 4 walls and these were not upheld. haka, whilst I adore the purpose and tradition, is used to intimidate and scare any opposition, usually incapable of a response. Parliament is not the right place for such & I believe theyβre playing firmly into the hands of the act party.
Iβm not going to attack or shoot down anyone in support of TPM, as a democracy youβre within your rights to vote and support who you please. But with TPM unwilling to even listen & have a debate actually resembles closer to a dictatorship where you cannot voice your concerns under the guise of supposed morality & racism.
Luxon has no backbone & is fence sitting on the issue, which is doing him no favours in the polls. Disclaimer, Iβm not sure if I support acts bill but as a society we should respect their opinion and voice, as we should TPM.
Intimidation & acting how TPM did yesterday does not sit well with me, simply because they donβt believe something should be debated, does not mean youβre entitled to act in such a way. Again, TPM do not represent all MΔori, and need to stop acting like they do. Thereβs also an underlying feeling that Iβm a traitor & turning my back on Maori by not agreeing with them, which is a shit feeling of guilt tripping, but I donβt. I believe that everyone in NZ deserves a fair go, and that privilege based on skin colour is an extremely slippery slope that has never, ever ended well for nations.