Maori Moment

It is seldom that I agree with Hone Harawira, but I have to agree with his comment about the suggestion that he becomes an independent MP as the “Silliest idea I’ve heard“. For starters, Hone cast loose as an independent is just going to make him more of a nuisance than now. Currently, we only get Hone-ism when he steps out of the party line, as an independent he would be able to make a colourful comment on just about everything. Secondly, while I think Hone is a silly git, he is not a stupid one. He must know that being an independent will make him just a noise in parliament. It would not take long for “his people” to realise that voting for Harawira is a very effective way of disenfranchising themselves.

The daft thing is that I find Harawira’s “cheeky darkie”  attitude to be quite refreshing. There is no problem in guessing his motivations and beliefs. He provides a much needed dose of reality to the strange love-fest between the Maori party and National, because there is still a significant chunk of Maoridom that thinks exactly like Harawira.

As a foreigner in this country, I have observed that Maori tend to be quite forthright and somewhat aggressive  in giving their opinion (this is a generalisation, of course). This tends to clash with the more reserved, almost priggish, sensibilities of white New Zealanders. Much of the problem between Maori and Pakeha seems to me to stem from this clash of cultural differences. Harawira just makes the contrast more obvious.

Perhaps we could all learnt to think of it as a “maori moment” and just get over it.

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