Mana | Movement of the People

IWI TAKETAKE – Ae Marika!

In 2012 the United Nations General Assembly agreed to hold a World Conference of Indigenous People’s Conference. The conference will be held 22-23 September 2014, in New York (WCIP14).

Because it is a UN meeting, WCIP14 will be hosted by the United Nations and attended by the states that are parties to the UN, including CANZUS (those states leading the opposition to indigenous rights – Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States). Indigenous peoples are not recognised as full members to the UN so will have only observer status at WCIP14.

Thankfully however, last month the Saami Parliament (the parliament of the indigenous Saami peoples of Northern Europe) announced that they would host a conference of Indigenous Peoples in Alta, Finland in June 2013 as part of preparations for WCIP14. They also agreed to cover conference costs and the attendance of 60% of the delegates.

There are seven regional meetings being held around the world right now to prepare for ALTA13.

The Pacific region’s meeting was hosted last week by the National Aboriginal Congress and held at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence, a wonderful educational, sports, conference and accommodation venue in Redfern, Sydney. I have just come back from that meeting.

It was attended by representatives from a number of Pacific Islands as well as Australia and Aotearoa. The agenda covered a wide range of subjects including: next steps for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; self-determination, decision-making and free, prior and informed consent; lands, territories and resources – indigenous peoples development; militarisation in the Pacific; climate change and survival of Pacific peoples; decolonisation; respecting and protecting cultural heritage; and treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.

Papers were presented on all of the issues and recommendations tabled which will be taken on to ALTA13 as the Pacific contribution. It was a very informative meeting and I’ll let you know where the statement and recommendations can be found on the internet once they’ve all been posted.

For me though, it was also a chance to get back up to speed with developments in the indigenous world, and to catch up with warriors from the old days including Aboriginal activists Mick Dodson, Les Malezer and Paul Coe.

I also snuck away from the meeting to support one of the local activists, Michael Anderson, who was up in court for refusing to pay land taxes. He argued that he had sovereignty over his land and didn’t have to pay. The court was unable to rule on his case and referred it to the federal attorney general. It’s a case worth following, not just for what it will mean over there, but the ramifications it has for here as well.

And of course, you don’t go all the way to Sydney without catchin’ up with the “Beetle” and some of the local Maori crew who gave me the scoops on what looks to be a very promising development between Maori and Aboriginal people out in Parramatta which I intend keepin’ tabs on.

I also went up to Brisbane to catch up with another Aboriginal activist who didn’t make it to the meeting, Tiga Bayles, who cursed and swore about all and sundry and generally did his best to make me feel at ease … and I finally got back to Waimanoni yesterday morning … no place like home.

AE MARIKA is an article written every week by Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. You are welcome to use any of the comments and to ascribe them to Mr Harawira. The full range of Hone’s articles can be found on the MANA website at www.mana.net.nz.