Yes, my cousin was for a while married to a maori lawyer-to-be, nice lady but strong-willed, very sharp mind, cutting wit, physically imposing, two metres tall, you had to pity the poor pakeha, imagining her in court ... if you knew him it was quite funny really, sort of a reversed culture clash in microcosm ... every time you mention Helengrad and the feminazification of Gawdzone, it brings her to mind
One thing about NZ, is that all present realise they are immigrants ... the maoris know all the stories of the seven [or eight?] canoes coming from Hawaiiki ... also seeing the europeans arrive later than other places, and british at that, maybe they got somewhat more civilised treatment than did certain others such as congolese .... there were great wrongs done, they weren't entirely one-sided though
Assimilation is the most desirable course for nations living together in a country, imho ... indigenous land claims, righteous though they certainly are, interfere with the process of assimilation, as it becomes lucrative to prove oneself sufficiently indian, or maori, to get a slice of the settlement pie .... this is not sufficient cause to ignore injustice, imho, but it would be good to find a way to cut its effects ... time will eventually do this, but it takes a while |
