NiuZila: Land of full fat milk and welfare money

The recession is over!  Yeah right…

One of the responsibilities of a Niu Sila/New Zealand Government being voted in by the public, is for that Government to look at the bigger picture - to make policies, plan for the future, implement changes - things the average Sione and Sina have little power to do themselves.  Yet this Government, with a Palemia/Prime Minister who was a former market speculator, has had a hands off approach to the economy.  That right wing mantra: the market will correct itself.

Little comfort for the nearly 3000 people who lined up last week, to apply for only 150 jobs at a new supermarket opening in Manukau, Aukilani Saute/South Auckland.  It’s an amazing illustration of how people are desperate, and not just a few, but heaps of people!  The majority were Maori and Pacific Islanders.  But there were also Indians, Asians, Palagi/Pakeha/European, people from across Aukilani/Auckland.

What’s the Government’s response?  Do nothing.  Well that’s not totally true.  They appointed a Tax Working Group made up of rich Palagi males to recommend how to make the tax system more efficient.  Their recommendations?  Tax cuts for the rich, increase the goods and services tax (GST) which will affect the poor the most. 

Again I’m being unfair on my representations on the Government.  The Tax Working Group also suggested a capital gains tax which would be like most western nations, where land and property owners would be taxed for the appreciation in value of their land/property.  Of course that would be too bold a step for the Government to make in Niu Sila/New Zealand, a country obsessed with owning houses as their nest egg.  There’s no incentive to put savings into industries that create innovation, further capital, and more jobs.

So when the public see the Government reject the extreme recommendations of the Tax Working Group (such as the capital gains tax), it would make a GST rise and tax cuts for the rich look more palatable for the public to digest.

Meanwhile, 3000 people await to hear the outcome of their job interviews/applications.  For these people it’s about putting bread on the table, paying the bills to keep a roof over their heads, and getting from week to week.  While those entrusted to look at the bigger picture seem to also be looking out for the rich only.

UPDATE:  The Government announced it will raise the minimum wage by… wait for it… it’s a whopper… it will be raised by “25 CENTS!”  That’s right folks.  Meanwhile the struggling Minister of Education, Anne Tolley, will be spending $26 million on propaganda to charm the education sector of her unpopular National Standards policy! Hmmm….

Recently I’ve become fascinated with the global phenomenon known as Flash Mobs.  Type the term in YouTube and hundreds of examples will pop up, of ordinary people, strangers to one another, come together and randomly perform a stunt/dance/song in a public place, and just as fast as they appeared, they dissolve back into the crowd, as if nothing ever happened.

There’s one where a couple of hundred people suddenly freeze for a few minutes in the middle of Grand Central Station in New York.  Bewildered passer-byer walk past in wonder.  While others take a quick glimpse and walk off.  Another Flash Mob, this time set in a train station somewhere in Europe, has two couples starting off dancing to “Do-Re-Me”, shortly joined by another couple, then 5 others, then 10, 20.  And you’re never too sure who’s really a stunned innocent passer-byer, or who’s in on the act, as one by one people join in the dance.  Another similar dance happens in Liverpool, England, with the whole station filled with people dancing to a medley of songs, and once the music stops, they all walk off into different directions as if nothing ever happened.

It’s amazing because in these modern western societies we live in, it is the self that is paramount.  Individualism, private rights, self-freedom, are tenants of the modern western civilisation.  While there have been great advancements, many can list the negatives of such a society: materialism, corporate greed, environmental impacts etc.  And yet in this highly competitive world, where the pursuit of the dollar is the driver for many, Flash Mob brings a fun form of anarchy to otherwise mundane lives.  It’s reminding society that although we are a society of individuals, together we can accomplish great things.

I had one of the best experiences in my short life on Monday night at the “I Love the Islands” concert at Vector Arena, Aukilani/Auckland.  In an arena full of 10,000 kiwi’s, we came together to not only enjoy New Zealand/Niu Sila music, but we came together to support the Samoan Tsunami relief effort.  Although not quite a Flash Mob, the coming together of the Niu Sila public to show their support for the relief effort had that strong communal feeling of achieving great things together, just like a Flash Mob.  People from all walks and life, different ages, ethnicities, social backgrounds, all came together to dance and sing with one another.  To our right were two Palagi women in their 40’s, while to our left were a young Maori couple.  Behind us were very noisy young Samoan girls, and directly in front were an Asian couple.  Yet every song we all sang, whether we knew the words or not.  Every act, we danced liked no-one was looking.  Every cheer, we shouted and yelled up to the heavens.

Always keen to be where the party’s at, my wife and I got there early and were near front of the stage.  And sure enough we were head banging through the Rock songs, jumping up and down to the Hip-hop jams, and swaying side to side to the country music.  And they were all Niu Sila performances too!  From Dave Dobbyn, Neil & Tim Finn, to reggae band Sweet and Irie, pop urban Hip-hop Nesian Mystic, Soul sounds of Holly Smith, to the rap battle between Scribe and Savage.  J Williams got the whole arena to wave their cellphones in the air, creating an awesome spectacle for us on the floor.  The sweet sounds of Adeaze singing in Samoan, followed by Feelstyle’s raps in Samoan.  $250,000 was made only on door sales, not including the money put into the donation boxes.  The concert has already performed in Christchurch/Kalaisitete, and Tauranga, and will end in Wellington/Ueligitone.  A smaller scaled fundraiser concert is being planned for this coming Monday (Labour Day holiday), $10 at Telstra Pacific, Manukau.  Other fundraisers included containers full of donated food, clothes, utensils etc, school and church rallies, art exhibitions etc, with one little boy raising $30,000 in his region.

But it was great to be part of a special night, where random people, had come together to show their love and support to our family back in Samoa, while enjoying the eclectic range of music we have here in Niu Sila.  The communal reaction and outpouring of assitance from our homeland here in Niu Sila to our homeland of Samoa allows us to take a little glimpse of the bigger picture.  That sometimes, there’s more to life than being in the rat-race, that life can have so much more meaning, that great things can be achieved when we come together.

Thank you to the performers and organisers who volunteered to make the concerts happen.  But also on behalf of Samoans, if I may, thank you to the people of Niu Sila, for sharing the love.

In Samoa, if you want to swim at a beach you have to ask the village for permission, and sometimes a small fee.  If you want to take a photo of a historic landmark (lava ruins etc), you also have to ask permission and/or pay a small fee.  If you want to climb the banyan trees of Falealupo, you have to pay a fee.  If you want to see the Taga blow holes and have coconuts blown up 25 metres into the air, you have to pay a fee.  If you want to go to Aganoa surf beach in Sa’aga, you have to pay a fee.  If you want to relax on in the beach fales on Saleapaga, you have to pay a fee.

The village is the ultimate authority (although after the creation of the modern State of Samoa the boundaries are unclear).  This is because after you’ve had your little swim, after you’ve snapped your photo’s to take home to show your friends, after you’ve had your little snooze on the beach, it is the village that looks after and maintains the area.  It is the village that lives there day in and day out.  It is the village that reaps the benefit, and pays for the costs. 

The village has total authority, and total responsibility.

Here in Niu Sila however, the imposition of the British constitutional make-up, legal structure and civil governance has whittled away Maori customary authority over their lands and beaches.  For centuries non-Maori individuals and the State alienated much of the land, to the point where only less than 5% of land is still Maori land.

However, it wasn’t until a Court of Appeal decision earlier this decade that Pakeha New Zealanders assumed the foreshore and seabed was vested in the Crown / State of New Zealand.  The Court said Maori customary title may still exist for some tribes as it had never been extinguished by the Crown.

In a knee jerk reaction Pakeha were up in arms at the prospect of losing access to the beaches.  The then Labour Government immediately passed a law extinguishing any Maori customary title in the foreshore and seabed and vesting it in the Crown.  Leading up to the passing of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, there were protests by Maori against another confiscation of their rights, and protests by Pakeha about the possibility of not being able access to the beaches of Niu Sila.

Nevermind extremely wealthy people already owned coastline restricting public access and were not affected by the new law.  Nevermind that companies such as ports have already been given exclusive title to seabed, but no-one kicked up a fuss then.  Nevermind that the Court believed it was unlikely many Maori would be successful in claiming an unbroken exercising of customary title over the foreshore and seabed.  Nevermind that there were clear examples of Maori co-managing foreshore and seabeds with local authorities.  Nevermind that farmers owned great tracts of land which hindered public access to beaches than any potential Maori ownership of foreshores would have.

From that debacle grew the Maori Political Party.  Six years on, the Maori Party is in coalition with the governing National Party.  As part of the coalition agreement, National promised an independent review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004.  The independent panel released their report yesterday recommending the Government repeal the legislation and find a better solution, including co-managing of foreshore and seabeds; and a mixture of Court process and Crown negotiations for Maori claimants (things many Maori had argued for to begin with).

Polynesian concepts of ownership do not equate to that of the European concepts.  The Polynesian concept included guardianship which encapsulates ideas of responsibility as well as authority.  European concepts are of commodities that can be bought and sold, changed amongst different people - no ancestral links, no need have responsibility to it and therefore no need to exert authority.  Currently, there are popular inner-city artificial beaches in Auckland (in the affluent areas of St Heliers and Mission Bay) that needs to have truckloads of sand dumped on it every 5 years or so.  The sand comes from a beach north of Auckland where the local iwi say their ancestors were buried.  The council didn’t care and allowed the sand to be taken for the rich yuppies in Auckland.

Samoans and many other Polynesians are lucky to still have that authority and responsibility over their lands.  But for Maori (and Hawaiians) European laws and customs have taken precedent over Polynesian laws and customs.

If National is brave enough to take on the recommendations of the independent panel, this could be another victory won for Maori in trying to defend their rights in a European setting.

Congratulations Maori Party!

One of my favourite comedians is Russell Peters.  Despite the name, he is a Canadian of Indian descent.  Apart from his skillful and hilarious impersonations of Indians, Chinese, Jamaicans, Canadians, Americans, South Africans (etc), the funniest part is his re-telling of the time when as a kid he took advice from a Palagi friend, Ryan, on how to deal with his parents.  The gist of the joke is that Palagi’s have a different relationship between the kids and parents, compared to nearly every other ethnic/immigrant family.  Palagi kids are sent to their room or the time out corner, while everyone else’s kids are given a good old fashion beating. 

Of course it was a generalisation for the purposes of comedy, but my whole family cracked up when watching the Russell Peters show not only coz we could relate to a Canadian Indian guy from the other side of the world, but because it’s all true… it happened to us!

I remember as a kid, everyday after school me and my brothers and sisters would play with the kids of the neighbourhood: the Palagi kids nextdoor, a Palagi grunge-like girl from the house behind us, the Cambodian brother and sister from down the road, a Cook Island boy from further down, and the Niuean boy from across the street.  We would play anything and everything, from rugby, to cops and robbers, to games on the trampoline.  We had so much fun as kids that we would do stupid things like when playing rugby (or whatever else) on the front lawn, every time a bus drove past we would stop and freeze and do funny poses.  I’m sure the bus passengers thought there was something wrong with us all.

Of course, as with most games, someone usually gets hurt and goes home crying.  Me and my brothers (and the Niuean and Cook Island boys) unintentionally always found ourselves on one side of an argument, with the little scrawny Palagi’s on the other.  The Cambodians were always the sensible ones trying to act as peacemakers.  But more often than not, one of the Palagi kids would end up going home crying.  That subsequently was followed by my mum giving us a slap around the ears and telling us to “ka’alo faalelei” (play properly).  There were plenty of times she would make all of us, including the Niuean, Cook Islander and Cambodians, to go over and apologise to the Palagi kid.

Other than enjoying reliving my trip down memory lane, I noticed something that the Palagi kids said that us islander (and saiga / Asian) kids never did:  call your parents by their first names!

Coz sure enough, after every little argument between us kids in the neighbourhood, the very next day we would all be playing together again.  But the Palagi kid would always start off saying “Penny said you’re not allowed to tackle me so hard” or “Roger said you have to talk to me nicely”.  Penny?  Roger?  Who?

It was like they were talking about a family friend, or their older cousin… definitely didn’t occur to us at first that they were referring to their parents.  After a while we got used to it, but then it was totally weird when we heard them talk to their parents using their first names: “Penny, are we allowed to go to the shop?”  Maybe it wasn’t so much the use of the first names, but what really surprised us, was the tone the Palagi kids would talk to their parents, making the use of the first name even odder.  For example it wasn’t unheard of to listen to our Palagi friends demand things from or talk back to their parents.  “I am  hungry now!  I want some ice cream now Penny!”  “I hate you Roger, you never let me go to the park!”

If any of us kids tried pulling that off with my folks, we would be strung from the ceiling.  But adding our parents first names to such an encounter would have doomed us to hell and back! (Of course there is an argument about over-disciplining leading to child abuse - but I’ll leave that for another blog.)  And I do remember a few times where we picked up some of the courage our Palagi nextdoor neighbours had, and tried to talk back to my own parents.  Of course every time it would backfire.  Russell Peters joked about how his father responded to his attempt at talking back, his father said “Do I look like Ryan’s mum?”  I definitely know my parents never met Russell’s parents, but they’ve said the same things: “Do I look like Stuart’s mum?”  “Faapea oe, o kakou gi Palagi?” (You think we are like the Palagi family nextdoor?).

It must be a universal similarity or contrast between Palagi families and ethnic/immigrant families, or just a big fat coincidence!  Even on the calling-by-first-name front it seems to be prominent amongst Palagi’s.  I’ve even been reading a few Americans Peace Corps in Samoa blogs, where they too refer to their parents by their first names:

http://diplomatt.blogspot.com/ or http://seereeves.blogspot.com/

It always catches me by surprise when some Palagi’s refer to their parents by their first names.  Samoan families are not only opposite, they’re the extreme opposite.  Coz not only do we call our parents tina or tama (mum or dad), we call our grandparents tina and tama, even our aunties and uncles, and those who have raised us.  Calling those close to us in endearing terms is a sharp contrast to friends who call the same group of people by their first names.

I’ve course that was a long time ago, but heaven forbid the day my kids talk back to me… and use my first name!

Today is a national holiday here in Niu Sila / New Zealand.  It is a day to commemorate those people from Niu Sila and Ausetalia / Australia who gave their lives during the World Wars.

ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps.

All over Niu Sila and Ausetalia (and parts of Europe), dawn ceremonies are held in memory of those involved.  Surviving soldiers are only in their hundreds, but their children and grandchildren have taken the places in the ceremonies of those who have passed on.  The ceremonies are very touching events, haunting but more important reflective.

A number of Pacific men were drafted into the Maori Battalions during the war.  So while our contribution in terms of man power was not relatively significant, the Pacific was central to the war in terms of geography, especially World War 2 (Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, throughout Micronesia and Melanesia, Pago Pago as a military base etc).

In fact at the outbreak of World War 1, German Samoa (Samoa i Sisifo) was the first enemy territory to be annexed by the Allied forces, thanks to Niu Sila.  There was no battle over Samoa, in fact the Germans in Samoa were treated well by the invaders.  But that was the end of German influence in the Pacific.  There are many times where the loss of Samoa was seen by Germans as a loss of the crown jewel to the German Empire.  Such was the fondness of Germans to our islands (and the remenants of German Samoa are seen today through various family names etc).

As it says in Ecclesiates 3: “There is a time for everything… There is a time to be born.  And there’s a time to die… There is a time to be silent.  And there’s a time to speak.  There is a time to love.  And there’s a time to hate.  There is a time for war.  And there’s a time for peace.”

Every ANZAC morning, it is a time to be silent, a time for peace, and a time to remember - lest we forget.

Former Prime Minister (PM) of Niu Sila / New Zealand, Helen Clark is leaving her political career here, and will be off to New York to settle into her new role as the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the third highest position in the United Nations (UN).

She has an impressive political career.  She has been in parliament for 27 years.  She was the first female to be voted as Niu Sila’s PM.  She led the Labour political Party for 12 years, and got them into Government for nine of those years.  She was an intellectual who knew policy inside out.  Her great knowledge of her portfolio’s and those of her ministers was an asset to her as a leader.  She ran a tight ship, sanctioning those that had any clouds gathering over them, and rewarded those loyal to her.  She united a Labour Party that had been lurched to the far right under the Roger Douglas’ and David Lange’s.

As PM, Helen Clark made serious social reforms, and faced New Zealand in a progressive direction.  (I say “faced” because many of the free-market reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were still in place after Helen Clark was defeated at the polls last year.)  She strengthened unions, and empowered workers.  She redistributed wealth more evenly under schemes such as Working for Families (although this particular scheme disadvantaged those families on a benefit), especially after a period where the rich and wealthy few bought many of the States assets on the cheap only to run them down.  This also meant Labour bought back some of those assets, such as the trains, KiwiBank, shareholding in Air NZ etc and reinvested in them.  Assets which Labour deemed essential to Niu Sila’s economic outlook. 

Labour has always been the preferred political party of the majority of Samoans / Pacific Islanders.  But under Helen Clark, many felt they had a real champion of Pacific issues here in Niu Sila.  Nearly every major Samoan / Pacific Island event, Helen Clark would make an appearance.  Even beyond the little sniggers when she mis-pronounced Polynesian words, Pacific Islanders generally admired her, because making an attempt is better than not.

Under Helen Clark Niu Sila had the highest number of Members of Parliament (MP’s) of Pacific Island descent: Taito Philip Field, Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Vui Mark Goshe, Charles Chauvel, Carmel Sepuloni, Sua William Sio and others.  Helen Clark also visited Samoa and officially apologised to the people of Samoa, on behalf of Niu Sila for the poor way Niu Sila administered Samoa (allowing an influenza into Samoa killing 22% of the population, shooting of 11 peaceful Samoan protesters etc).  It was an important event in the relationship between Samoa and Niu Sila.

But some of the progressive policies under the Labour Government rubbed many Samoans / Pacific peoples the wrong way: the Civil Unions legislation which allowed same-sex couples to have legal rights like a married couple (but not marriage); the legalisation of prostitution; and changing the criminal law to make it an offence to assault a child, which infamously (and incorrectly) became known as the anti-smacking law.

Even within the Pacific, many island leaders saw Helen Clark as the iron lady at best and a bully at worst.  But I believe underlying this view is an admiration for Helen Clark, as a strong and straight talker, who’s steely eyes actually portrayed a highly intelligent mind constantly ticking, but also a person who noticed and appreciated the details and nuances of cultures and customs where ever she visited abroad.

It is such traits that I believe is why Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon sees as what is needed as the head of the UNDP.  Helen Clarks international role as PM for Niu Sila has made her many fans and admirers.  She elevated Niu Sila’s status in the world while PM, and has garnered respect and praise by countries that have never heard of Niu Sila, let alone find it on a map.

There are so many things that I have been disappointed in and almost outraged at with Labour under Helen Clark, but there is no doubt that she was a great leader.  She was a leader of our times, a leader of Niu Sila and a leader of the Pacific.

To those that despise her, they think of her as a cold hearted machine, the communist leader of Helengrad.  To many of her supporters, she was simply Aunty Helen.

Malo lava le tauivi, malo foi le onosai.

My younger (but bigger) brother has been wearing my black expensive work shoes out clubbing during the weekend.  He’s kinda stretched the shoes now, and the other day I walked through a puddle and felt the wetness soak through my left sock.

“Have to buy a new pair of shoes shammit!”

I love my shorts and se’evae tosotoso (jandals, flip flops, thongs).  So when I first started work it was pretty hard tryna get use to having to wear a suit a tie.  After years at varsity wearing what I felt comfortable in, I now had to conform to the stiff and proper attire of corporate wear.

Mind you it’s not too bad.  It’s kind of like back at high school, where wearing a school uniform meant you didn’t have to worry about wearing something different from what you wore the day before.  While you definitely had to have at least three sets of school uniform, being an active teenager often meant one day’s worth of wearing the school shirt, was enough for it to go in the wash when I got home.  On a hot summers day even a few sprays of deoderant couldn’t disguise it enough to justify wearing the same shirt the next day.

But also like a school uniform, wearing a suit and tie is damn expensive too.  Especially when trying to keep a selection of suits and shirts.  Not that suits come in a range of colours.  “Hmmm?  What should I wear today?  Black, dark grey or black?”  At work, we have casual Fridays.  While at other workplaces that might mean jeans and a tee, at my work it means your usual Monday to Thursday clothing… except a tie!

What the heck is a tie for anyway?  A strip of material to fasten around the neck to make you feel that much more uncomfortable in the hot suit?  Give me jandals and an ie faitaga / formal lavalava anyday.

This got me thinking about the time I lived in Samoa a few years back, and how my cousin stayed with us in Apia to attend the Le Iunivesite Aoao o Samoa / National University of Samoa (NUS).  The first morning I saw my cousin walk out the door in a blue pea (woman’s two piece dress).  Thought it must be an induction day thing.  But the next morning she wore it again.  It wasn’t till the second week of wearing the pea I got a bit suspicious.  Is she really going to NUS?

But sure enough, my aunty who lectured at NUS told me its the Iunivesite / University’s student uniform!  Uniform at varsity???  Try pulling that one off at a Iunivesite in Niu Sila / New Zealand, and you’ll see how far that’ll get you.  My aunty said it was student driven, and even worse, they were trying to make staff wear a uniform too!

I got a good chuckle that day.  But it shouldn’t have surprised me.  Walking through Apia you’d see nearly every worker, whether it’s for the private sector or the Government, all wearing a uniform.  My aunty says it’s a status thing.  To be known as the person that works for the bank, or the kid that got into NUS, or the other person that works for the Government… it gave you an elevated status, something to be proud of.

In Aukilani / Auckland, beyond most retail and service sector jobs, you’d be hard pressed by to get a workforce wanting to wear a uniform.  And you go to Iunivesite to be an individual after years of conforming, not to boast about in your clothing.

But I guess Samoan workers have something on those of us who have to wear corporate attire here in Niu Sila… comfort!

Meanwhile, I’ve gotta go buy a new pair of (expensive) work shoes…