Memorial of Right
The Memorial of Right is a document that representatives of the Māori in New Zealand presented with 60,000 signatures to then Prime Minister Bill Rowling on October 13, 1975 on the steps of the Wellington Parliament building after a 29-day protest march .
background
The protest march, known as the Māori Land March of 1975 , opposed the further expropriation, land grabbing, and sale of Māori land. Two laws, the Maori Affairs Act 1953 and the Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967 , further weakened the Māori rights to their land. After 135 years of British colonization , the Māori owned just 2.5 million acres of the 66 million acres in New Zealand in 1975 . The fear of becoming landless in their own country was great and therefore many felt that it was time to act.
Memorial of Right
The document, which contained two general political demands (see below), was signed by the tribal elders of the respective Iwi at the various stopovers of the march in respective assemblies . In this way more than 200 signatures from the most important representatives of the Māori tribes of the country were collected. This was intended to document the unity of the tribes and to emphasize their demands.
“Greetings to you to whose Assembly is vested all the powers to amend and adjust all laws which inflict injustice and hardship upon the Maori people, and in whom is vested the power to confirm all promises which were made to give relief to the indigenous people of New Zealand under Her Majesty's Magna Carta "Long Live The Queen"
Your maori people pray:
Firstly: That an enactment of Parliament which enshrines the spirit and intendment of this Memorial shall incorporate in it the protective principal of entrenchment whereby it shall not suffer repeal or amendment without the assent of the maori people, such assent to be forthcoming by the expression of the majority of all those persons eligible to vote as Maoris in a National Referendum.
Secondly: That all pernicious clauses in every statute of the present day or in new Statutes in the future, which have the power to take maori land, designate maori land, or confiscate maori land, be REPEALED and never to be administered on the remaining Maori Land at the present day and whereas Management, Retention and Control remain with our Maori People and their Descendents Perpetuity. Ake Ake ”
"Greetings to you, whose assembly is endowed with the power to rectify and adapt all laws that cause injustice and severity to the Maori people, who are further endowed with the power to redeem all promises made in the Magna Carta" Long Live The Queen "were given to bring relief to the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Your Maori people ask that:
First: That a resolution of parliament, in which the spirit and intention of this memorial are anchored, should contain the safeguard clause that this memorial may neither be repealed nor modified without the consent of the Maori people. In the future, this approval will be given by the expression / expression of the majority of people who are entitled to vote as Maori in a national referendum.
Second: That all harmful clauses in the current statutes or in future statutes with the possibility of taking, marking, or confiscating Maori land will be INVALIDATED and never applied to the remaining Maori land at this time, with administration, reservation and supervision remain permanently with our Maori people and their descendants. Forever."
literature
- Michael King: Whina - A Biography of Whina Cooper . Hodder and Stoughton , Auckland 1983, ISBN 0-340-33873-3 , Chapter 11 - Maori Land March , pp. 206-228 (English).
Web links
- Memorial of Right . (JPG)National Library of New Zealand, October 16, 1975,accessed July 4, 2010(Photo with Acting Speaker Jonathan Huntpresentingthe unrolled Memorial of Right documentby Te Roopu Ote Matakite to a photographer from theEvening Post.).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael King: Whina - A Biography of Whina Cooper . Hodder and Stoughton , Auckland 1983 p 206/207 (English).
- ^ Memorial of Right . (No longer available online.) ReoCities, archived from the original on February 12, 2015 ; Retrieved July 4, 2010 (English, text copied from the original document). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Translation of the original text by Michael Tampier, Bochum, from July 6, 2010.
