Settler Colonialism, Indigeneity and Activist Purity Laws
Part 1 of a 2 Part Series
Dr Sheree Trotter responds to accusations made by Tina Ngata and demonstrates why the settler colonialist model is deeply flawed and dangerous.
The YouTube video is an abridged version of the following article.
Several months ago, Tina Ngata published an article entitled, ‘Make No Mistake - there is no Indigenous support for Israel’. It was a ‘hit piece’ on those Māori who support Israel, including me. At the time I decided Ngata’s accusations, including the libelous claim that our organisation is affiliated with the far right and white supremacists, were so ludicrous, they should not be dignified with a response. But evidently Ngata’s academically weak and spurious content is being spread via workshops and on university campuses. So, somewhat reluctantly, for the sake of those ingesting this poison, I offer this response.
At first reading, Ngata’s statement ‘Make No Mistake - there is no Indigenous support for Israel’, appears to be simple ignorance. Of course there is Indigenous support for Israel historically and in the present, within Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. However, it soon becomes clear that Ngata’s intention in making her claim is to undermine the indigenous status of those with whom she disagrees. Her comments flow from a narrow worldview that judges a Māori person or group by a particular set of criteria. Māori who do not conform to her radical agenda are magisterially deemed ‘colonial Māori’. Ngata’s stated criterion to be recognised as indigenous is that one must be a political activist who holds to settler colonial ideology.
One of its chief proponents, Patrick Wolfe, called settler colonialism a structure, not a single event. The goal is not simply to address past wrongs. Indeed, few today will deny that grievous wrongs were inflicted upon Māori, as the government supported the land-hungry settlers to divest Māori of land, whether through warfare or legislation. However, settler colonialism sets out not simply to purge society of that ‘original sin’ of dispossession of indigenous peoples, but to destroy the society that was built thereafter. It demands hatred of ‘western values’ and has in its sights the dismantling of the entire system that colonialism is purported to have constructed. Every non-indigenous person is implicated as part of that structure.
This totalising system is an all-encompassing dogma, with doctrines of sin, guilt, punishment, rewards, and apostasy, but - importantly - no redemption. For example, Ngata has produced a ‘Tangata Tiriti Checklist’, a post-colonial “ten commandments”, which devoted adherents can use to strive for purity. The document contains an explicit set of dos, don’ts and affirmations, including “I acknowledge that the Crown government is a Treaty violation”.
By Ngata’s criteria, thousands of Māori would fail to make the grade, including my Māori mother, kuia and koro and many of my tupuna. Those tupuna who fought with the Crown would likely be labelled ‘colonial Māori’, while my other ancestors who fought against the Crown and were punished with the loss of lands would probably pass muster. Rejected also, would be recently deceased Ngapuhi kaumatua Patrick Ruka who organized several hui for Israeli ambassadors, including a whakapāha ceremony to apologise for NZ’s 2016 sponsorship of UNSC Resolution 2334 and to welcome back the ambassador following his recall.
The Māori queen Dame Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu had great affection for Israel and hosted Israeli ambassadors. At the 1996 three thousand year Jerusalem celebration that took place in Hamilton, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, Prof Dov Bing, Hamilton Mayor Dame Margaret Evans and others, planted three olive trees as a symbol of the friendship between Hamilton, Tainui and Israel.
Highly respected leader Monte Ohia was a force within Māoridom as an educator. He was standing as a candidate for the Māori Party at the time of his death in 2008. He was also the instigator and leader of the World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People movement, which began in 1996 at Tamatekapua meeting house in Rotorua, to which I whakapapa. Ohia recognised Jews as an Indigenous people and supported their inclusion in the movement. These respected leaders would certainly not pass Ngata’s “purity laws”.
Ngata makes much of the Doctrine of Discovery, derived from a 1493 Papal Bull issued by Pope Alexander VI. It stated, ‘…any territories outside of Europe that were not inhabited by Christians were open to claims of ‘discovery’ (and implicitly, some form of sovereignty) by whichever Catholic power reached these territories first’.(1) However, historian Prof Paul Moon argues, ‘The persistent assertion that the Doctrine of Discovery applied to New Zealand’s colonisation is falsifiable on numerous evidentiary bases, and betrays among its advocates an extraordinarily uncritical and impoverished understanding of history’. While some of the ideas may have been held by a number of those who colonised New Zealand, it’s simply false to claim that the Doctrine of Discovery played a role in the settlement of New Zealand. This is an example of settler colonialism’s failure to deal with historical realities, nuance and detail. It is a politically driven, totalising worldview with a divisive and destructive agenda.
According to Ngata, Christianity is implicated as a tool of colonisation to subjugate Indigenous peoples. This view allows no room for historical agency, the choices made, and the various factors influencing those choices. It certainly does not honour the will of our tupuna, many of whom chose Christianity as a better way, rather, it infantilises our forebears. Matua Ruka shared the story of how his tupuna in the nineteenth century saw that Pākehā failed to live up to the teachings of the Bible. Their conclusion was that though the fruit may be bad, the seed was good. According to Ruka, they saw that seed as Israel and the Jewish people, and they embraced that seed.
Ngata’s attack on Christianity ignores the Māori-centric perspective of the faith, such as the story of Toiroa of Ngāti Rangi, who prophesied the arrival of Europeans and Christianity, with the saying, ‘Te ingoa o to ratou atua, ko Tama-i-rorokutia; he atua pai, otira, ka mate’, translated as ‘The name of their god will be Tama-i-rorokutia; he is a good God, but he will be killed’.(2) This prophecy was understood by many as a reference to Jesus Christ. ‘Tama-i-rorokutia’ can be interpreted as ‘the son who was ill-treated’ or ‘the son who was killed.’ Many Māori later saw this as evidence that their ancestors had foreseen the coming of Christianity and the Bible.
Indeed, not a few Māori embraced Christianity. Ngapuhi leader Ruatara in 1814 welcomed the missionaries, stating, ‘The teachings of (Samuel) Marsden are good; they will help our people’.(3) Piripi Taumata-a-Kura (Ngāti Porou, 1830s-40s), one of the earliest Māori evangelists learned Christianity from missionaries in the Bay of Islands and returned to the East Coast to teach his people long before European missionaries arrived in the region. ‘Taumata-ā-Kura persuaded the warriors to adopt a code of conduct which reflected Christian ideas of compassion towards enemies. The enemy were not to be killed; there was to be no cannibalism and no wanton destruction of the canoes or crops of Te Whanau-ā-Apanui’.
Wiremu Tāmihana Tarapīpīpī Te Waharoa known as the "Kingmaker" for his role in the Kīngitanga movement, was deeply influenced by Christianity. He applied biblical principles to his leadership, even using the Bible as the foundation for the Kīngitanga’s laws. He also played a diplomatic role, advocating for peaceful negotiations between Māori and the British government
Historians concur that Māori were the greatest evangelists of other Māori, sharing the message amongst their people with great zeal. Māori-run missions played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity in 19th-century New Zealand and were a testament to the agency of Māori converts. They were not merely passive recipients of European Christianity but active participants in its development. They adapted Christianity to their own needs, creating a uniquely Māori expression of faith. Further, missionaries were considered to have played a crucial role in bridging the gap between Māori and European culture, introducing literacy, and often advocating for Māori rights. Many missionaries worked as intermediaries, encouraging Māori to sign the Treaty of Waitangi, believing it would offer protection from unscrupulous settlers. They acted as advocates for Māori, believing that Christianity could provide a foundation for their protection and advancement. Some Māori saw missionaries as allies who could provide new knowledge, technology, and protection in a rapidly changing world.(4)
Ngata’s reference to ‘Euro-Christianity’ fails to understand that while the message came via European vessels, it was the Bible itself and its story that impacted our people. The original languages of the book, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, affirm its origin in or near the land of Israel. It tells a Middle Eastern story, not a European one. The writers of the book, the prophets, apostles and the one recognised as Messiah were all Jewish. As a Māori friend states, “the Bible changed us”. To deny this fact dishonours our tupuna by despising the choices they made.
Many Māori identified particularly with the Israelite history of the Old Testament, leading to the development of several Māori prophetic movements including Ringatū, Iharaira faith and Pai Marire. Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, became known as a healer and founded a religion based on Christian ideas. He was also an indigenous activist who attempted to take the case of Treaty breaches to King George in London and to the League of Nations in Geneva. He later formed the Rātana party. He is said to have held the Treaty in one hand and the Bible in the other.
The Kiingitanga movement, arguably the most powerful Māori body in Aotearoa, had a Christian foundation, and also honoured the Queen. When Pōtatau was declared the king at Ngāruawāhia in 1858, Iwikau Te Heuheu spoke: ‘Potatau, this day I create you King of the Maori people. You and Queen Victoria shall be bound together to be one (paiheretia kia kotahi). The religion of Christ shall be the mantle of your protection; the law shall be the whariki mat for your feet, for ever and ever onward (ake, ake tonu atu)’ The following year Pōtatau was confirmed as king at Ngāruawāhia and anointed by Wiremu Tāmihana Tarapīpīpī Te Waharoa who held a Bible over Pōtatau’s head in the whakawahinga ceremony. This ceremony continues to this day.
Ngata claims Indigenous people recognise each other in the forums that matter, at Indigenous conferences and hui. Does she recognise the Rātana, Ringatū, Iharaira faiths and the many thousands of Evangelical and Pentecostal Māori who turn up to hui and meetings up and down the country? Or does she summarily dismiss all these and deny them their whakapapa, their heritage, because they don’t fit her narrow politicised worldview?
Unsurprisingly, many Māori Christians support Israel. In 2024, the Indigenous Coalition for Israel led the establishment of an Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem, as a platform for expression of indigenous solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people. The IEJ is non-sectarian and offers representation to all Indigenous peoples who support Israel, regardless of their belief system. We soon discovered that such an embassy had been a desire of Indigenous peoples for decades, and that in 1999, one hundred Native American chiefs and leaders went to Israel’s Knesset and expressed their desire for an embassy. The aforementioned Monte Ohia played a significant role encouraging Indigenous peoples to worship in their uniquely Indigenous ways; for Māori, with haka, poi and Te Reo Māori, and for the First Nations of Turtle Island, by taking up their drums and wearing their traditional regalia. Ohia had a massive impact on the Indigenous peoples of that network. This was an example of decolonisation without the totalising, harmful ideology of settler colonialism. It allowed for change and the embrace of new ideas, while affirming the historic identity of Indigenous peoples.
Settler colonialism is a political construct which fails to deal with the reality of complex histories, histories which do not fit within its binary modalities, whose necessary implication casts all settlers as oppressors and all Māori as victims. There are usually oppressors and victims on both sides. Ngata’s blanket statement “Western colonialism…is the source of all Indigenous oppression around the world” allows no room for agency and implies there was no oppression prior to colonisation. History tells us otherwise. Te Ao Māori was certainly no utopia prior to colonisation and our own Iwi histories sometimes shock us. Settler colonialism fails to take into account the numerous factors that contribute to oppression. It’s simply intellectually lazy to blame colonisation for all the ills experienced today.
In the 19th century, many Māori chose to engage with the Westminster parliamentary system. In 1867 Māori seats were created, one of the longest-standing examples of Indigenous representation in a modern national parliament. Our tupuna engaged with new and novel ideas, techniques, practices and were successful entrepreneurs. They did not all see themselves as victims. Settler colonialism’s blanket generalisations fail to deal with lived reality, the psychological forces at play and the ways in which cultures change and develop. Such an ideology must keep Indigenous peoples trapped in a mentality of grievance and victimism, otherwise it will collapse. The system lumps factors such as modernity and urbanisation under the one rubric of colonisation. It fails to acknowledge the benefits of these developments and the ways in which many Māori have embraced and exploited modernity and achieved great success internationally in multiple fields - arts, business, sport, music -all the while affirming their indigenous identity. Ngata rejects the ‘colonial economy’ leaving no room for Māori business leaders like Jamie Tuuta, Rukumoana Schaahausen, Tukuroirangi Morgan and Justin Tipa who at the recent Infrastructure Investment Summit advocated for foreign investors to partner with Māori.
Another stream of the political lineage Ngata espouses has a dominant Marxist foundation. It looks to the likes of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and PLO leader Yasser Arafat, two men responsible for the murder of thousands. These ideas were elaborated upon by Donna Awatere in her 1984 book ‘Māori Sovereignty’. Awatere created a platform for Māori sovereignty, modelled on the ideas of the terrorist group Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF). The founding document of the PLP designated Israel, Zionism, world imperialism and Arab reaction as the enemy. Awatere took this idea but identified the enemy as Pākehā New Zealand, Christianity, Britain, and colonial Maori.
These were the forces Awatere saw as obstructions to the possibility of establishing New Zealand as a Māori Nation State. Ngata builds on this activist heritage which sees ‘western civilisation’ as the source of all evil. Ironically, it is that same western culture, of freedom and open enquiry, that enables academics like Awatere and Ngata to develop and disseminate their views. In seeking to undermine the West, they threaten the very liberties they enjoy.
Te Pāti Māori also declares itself an activist party and claims that Māori did not cede sovereignty. Using the privilege, power and wealth afforded by their position as tax-paid servants of the state, Te Pāti Māori leaders are pushing for the overthrow of the system in which they operate, in the establishment of a separate Māori parliament.
Settler colonialism demands hatred of ‘western values’ and that the many structures of western society, including politics, education, media and church, be dismantled. However, it’s seldom made clear what would arise from the ash heap as a replacement. Herein lie the seeds of its downfall. The decolonisation movements of the 20th century often led to bloody conflict. The ideologically driven pursuit of an idealised future, in the manner exemplified by Ngata’s rhetoric, frequently leads to totalitarianism and destruction.
Not only does the decolonisation narrative leave no room for those Indigenous peoples who hold a different perspective, it is brutal for non-Indigenous who do not toe the line. Ironically, most Māori, including me, have Pākehā whakapapa, and yet we are expected to dishonour our Pākehā ancestors by adopting this hateful perspective. Non-Māori are held guilty for the crimes of a subset in the past. There’s no room for Pākehā who had been sold the lie propagated by the New Zealand Company, of a bucolic arcadia on the other side of the world where opportunity and wealth awaited them, who instead found themselves in a rugged land, living in makeshift shanties with limited access to the outside world and little chance of return to life and family back home. Meanwhile the New Zealand Company railed against all who stood in the way of their goals: British Colonial Office, successive governors of New Zealand, the Church Missionary Society and the missionary Reverend Henry Williams. It also vehemently and stridently opposed the Treaty of Waitangi. Settler colonialism homogenizes all settlers as rapacious and greedy, when many were simple migrant labourers looking for a better life.
There are many flaws in settler colonialism. It's an extremely judgemental and divisive view of the world, seeks the overthrow of the current system, and bears the seeds of violence and ultimately its own destruction. While the democratic system that has dominated the western world for the past 200 to 300 years has many flaws, it remains one of the most stable systems of government.
Is there racism in this country? Yes. Are there structural failures? Yes. However, settler colonialism offers no solution. It promotes hatred of the other, resentment and bitterness. We would do well instead to cultivate concepts of grace, mercy, forgiveness, restitution, reconciliation and respect. The totalising lens of settler colonialism should be rejected. It keeps Māori locked in a grievance culture and provides no vision of a future where Māori flourish as Māori, in relative harmony with non-indigenous New Zealanders.
There is no denying the wrongs of the past or difficulties of the present, but there is a better way than the myopic bitterness of settler colonialism. With respect and gratitude, we can forge a better path.
Footnotes:
https://openinquiry.nz/the-doctrine-of-discovery-in-new-zealand-a-case-of-historical-disinformation/
Binney, Judith, Encircled Lands, Wellington 2009, Redemption Songs, Wellington, 2013.
Marsden, Samuel, Journal.
Belich, James, Making Peoples, 1996; Orange, Claudia, The Treaty of Waitangi; Salmond, Anne, Between Two Worlds, 1987.