Whaling hui smells fishy
A Maori fisheries commissioner says he's smelling a whiff of hypocrisy from the International Whaling Commission.
Ngahiwi Tomoana has just got back from the commission's meeting in Santiago, Chile, where Te Ohu Kaimoana had observer status.
He says the former colonisers who hunted the whales to the brink of extinction now tell indigenous people how they should interact with their environment.
In Aotearoa, Maori see stranded whales as gifts from Tangaroa which they have a right to use every part of.
“That's not the position of the New Zealand government, who under the Marine Mammals Protection Act say that whales should be turned around and sent out to sea, which is like picking a koha up on the marae and throwing it back, and we’re still, the ones that do arrive here, they bury. Once the buried whale breaks down, it pollutes the environment around it, so it's a double kino,” Mr Tomoana says.
He says while Japanese whalers are pushing the limits, they are condemned while the whaling practices of other countries such as Norway are ignored by the IWC.
ROTORUA WARD VOTE SHALLOW
An advocate for Maori wards says the Rotorua District Council's consultation on establishing separate electorates was shallow and superficial.
The council's finance committee voted unanimously against establishing Maori wards, after its Te Arawa standing committee voted 4-3 vote against the idea.
Hawea Vercoe says the issue highlighted the problems faced by the Maori minority.
He says many on the Te Arawa standing committee have to answer to mainstream voters, rather than Maori.
Mr Vercoe says a referendum would only prove Maori are a minority in the area, and the decision should be given over to those registered on the Maori roll.
CRIME PROBLEM COULD HIT CLOSE TO HOME
An expert in gang culture says south Auckland's Asian communities should look closer to home if they want to tackle crime.
Denis O'Reilly says a weekend anti-crime march in Botany Downs would have people think that the region is awash with Maori and Polynesian gangs out hunting Asian shopkeepers.
But he says much if the violent crime is driven by methamphetamine use and distribution.
“Look if we could stop the stuff from coming across our border, which is where it mainly seems to be coming from, it mainly seems to be coming from Asia, and so if there’s one mission the Asian anti-crime group could have is let’s stop meth, and then from that you’ll see, one would presume, a reduction in crime against all New Zealanders, including Asian New Zealanders,” Mr O'Reilly says.
He says suggestions Triad gangs could be employed to protect Asian communities ignores the role of the triads in New Zealand's P epidemic.
WHALING CUSTOMS POINT TO WHANAUNGATANGA
The deputy chair of Te Ohu Kaimoana says indigenous people round the Pacific should join together to defend their rights to beached whales.
Ngahiwi Tomoana says the issue came up at the 60th International Whaling Committee meeting in Chile, to which the Maori fisheries settlement trust had observer status.
He was able to share the Maori experience with representatives of other Pacific nations, including those on the Chilean territory of Rapanui or Easter Island.
“The Rapanui people have a beached whale culture too, but the Chilean government has stopped them taking whales, and if this is consistent throughout the Pacific, we need to take a Pacific wide view to it and try to buy wider support outside the country, but with our whanunga,” Mr Tomoana says.
Te Ohu Kaimoana will organise a national whaling wananga to talk about the International Whaling Commission hui.
TYPING IN DRAG SCARES RANGATAHI FROM COMPUTER COURSES
Maori boys are being steered away from computer studies because of the way it's taught in secondary schools.
That's one of the findings of an investigation by Chris McCarthy from the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology into the low levels of Maori studying information and communications technologies, presented to a conference of computer educators in Auckland at the weekend.
He says factors include the low socioeconomic status of many Maori, the lack of computers in homes, and the shortage of capable teachers.
But the tendency of many schools to treat computer studies as "typing in drag" puts boys off.
“Because the computer suite is used for typing, it’s seen as a girls’ subject, and a Maori boy worth his salt wouldn’t be seen anywhere near a computing suite, because if he ever was seen walking out of a computing suite, his mates would say ‘you’ve been doing girls stuff,’” Mr McCarthy says.
Some schools and tertiary institutions have had success by including computer skills within a total te reo Maori immersion setting.
TAINUI CONSULTED ON NAMING PRACTICES
If a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet... what ingoa could you use?
The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research is consulting with iwi on ways to name new species.
Tom Roa, the chair of Tainui's Te Kauhanganui parliament and a lecturer at Waikato University's School of Maori and Pacific Development, says Maori have a process which should be able to work alongside the western scientific tradition usually employed by NIWA.
“For example, does it have to do with the colour, the texture, what it looks like, what it smells like? Does it have to do with the genealogy of the particular species, to which grouping it should be properly linked?” Mr Roa says.
Ngahiwi Tomoana has just got back from the commission's meeting in Santiago, Chile, where Te Ohu Kaimoana had observer status.
He says the former colonisers who hunted the whales to the brink of extinction now tell indigenous people how they should interact with their environment.
In Aotearoa, Maori see stranded whales as gifts from Tangaroa which they have a right to use every part of.
“That's not the position of the New Zealand government, who under the Marine Mammals Protection Act say that whales should be turned around and sent out to sea, which is like picking a koha up on the marae and throwing it back, and we’re still, the ones that do arrive here, they bury. Once the buried whale breaks down, it pollutes the environment around it, so it's a double kino,” Mr Tomoana says.
He says while Japanese whalers are pushing the limits, they are condemned while the whaling practices of other countries such as Norway are ignored by the IWC.
ROTORUA WARD VOTE SHALLOW
An advocate for Maori wards says the Rotorua District Council's consultation on establishing separate electorates was shallow and superficial.
The council's finance committee voted unanimously against establishing Maori wards, after its Te Arawa standing committee voted 4-3 vote against the idea.
Hawea Vercoe says the issue highlighted the problems faced by the Maori minority.
He says many on the Te Arawa standing committee have to answer to mainstream voters, rather than Maori.
Mr Vercoe says a referendum would only prove Maori are a minority in the area, and the decision should be given over to those registered on the Maori roll.
CRIME PROBLEM COULD HIT CLOSE TO HOME
An expert in gang culture says south Auckland's Asian communities should look closer to home if they want to tackle crime.
Denis O'Reilly says a weekend anti-crime march in Botany Downs would have people think that the region is awash with Maori and Polynesian gangs out hunting Asian shopkeepers.
But he says much if the violent crime is driven by methamphetamine use and distribution.
“Look if we could stop the stuff from coming across our border, which is where it mainly seems to be coming from, it mainly seems to be coming from Asia, and so if there’s one mission the Asian anti-crime group could have is let’s stop meth, and then from that you’ll see, one would presume, a reduction in crime against all New Zealanders, including Asian New Zealanders,” Mr O'Reilly says.
He says suggestions Triad gangs could be employed to protect Asian communities ignores the role of the triads in New Zealand's P epidemic.
WHALING CUSTOMS POINT TO WHANAUNGATANGA
The deputy chair of Te Ohu Kaimoana says indigenous people round the Pacific should join together to defend their rights to beached whales.
Ngahiwi Tomoana says the issue came up at the 60th International Whaling Committee meeting in Chile, to which the Maori fisheries settlement trust had observer status.
He was able to share the Maori experience with representatives of other Pacific nations, including those on the Chilean territory of Rapanui or Easter Island.
“The Rapanui people have a beached whale culture too, but the Chilean government has stopped them taking whales, and if this is consistent throughout the Pacific, we need to take a Pacific wide view to it and try to buy wider support outside the country, but with our whanunga,” Mr Tomoana says.
Te Ohu Kaimoana will organise a national whaling wananga to talk about the International Whaling Commission hui.
TYPING IN DRAG SCARES RANGATAHI FROM COMPUTER COURSES
Maori boys are being steered away from computer studies because of the way it's taught in secondary schools.
That's one of the findings of an investigation by Chris McCarthy from the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology into the low levels of Maori studying information and communications technologies, presented to a conference of computer educators in Auckland at the weekend.
He says factors include the low socioeconomic status of many Maori, the lack of computers in homes, and the shortage of capable teachers.
But the tendency of many schools to treat computer studies as "typing in drag" puts boys off.
“Because the computer suite is used for typing, it’s seen as a girls’ subject, and a Maori boy worth his salt wouldn’t be seen anywhere near a computing suite, because if he ever was seen walking out of a computing suite, his mates would say ‘you’ve been doing girls stuff,’” Mr McCarthy says.
Some schools and tertiary institutions have had success by including computer skills within a total te reo Maori immersion setting.
TAINUI CONSULTED ON NAMING PRACTICES
If a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet... what ingoa could you use?
The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research is consulting with iwi on ways to name new species.
Tom Roa, the chair of Tainui's Te Kauhanganui parliament and a lecturer at Waikato University's School of Maori and Pacific Development, says Maori have a process which should be able to work alongside the western scientific tradition usually employed by NIWA.
“For example, does it have to do with the colour, the texture, what it looks like, what it smells like? Does it have to do with the genealogy of the particular species, to which grouping it should be properly linked?” Mr Roa says.
posted by Adam | 9:33 am
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