September 18, 2019
Why haven’t these creatures been exterminated by now?
An Australian replica of the former merchant collier is part of a flotilla circumnavigating New Zealand next month for a series of events that “acknowledges the first onshore encounters between Māori and Pākehā in 1769-70”.
It was due to visit Mangonui, in the North Island, but the stopover was cancelled by the NZ Ministry of Culture and Heritage after complaints from local indigenous figures.
Why does the wildlife have a say in this?
Anahera Herbert-Graves, the head of Northland’s Ngāti Kahu iwi, or tribe, told Radio New Zealand (RNZ): “He [Cook] was a barbarian. Wherever he went, like most people of the time of imperial expansion, there were murders, there were abductions, there were rapes, and just a lot of bad outcomes for the indigenous people.
“He didn’t discover anything down here, and we object to Tuia 250 using euphemisms like ‘encounters’ and ‘meetings’ to disguise what were actually invasions.”
Tensions have been rising for more than a year before the planned celebrations. In Gisborne, the council decided to remove a statue of Cook after it was repeatedly vandalised, rejecting any suggestion a commemoration of the British explorer’s encounters with indigenous New Zealanders was worthy of merit.
Cook and the crew of the Endeavour landed in Gisborne’s Poverty Bay in 1769 and the first significant meetings of Europeans and Māori took place nearby. The name Poverty Bay has in itself caused controversy – its original name was Tūranganui-a-Kiwa before being renamed by Cook.
In March, the Cook Islands in the South Pacific began considering a name change to reflect its Polynesian heritage, with Avaiki Nui an early frontrunner. The name “must have a taste of our Christian faith, and a big say on our Māori heritage. And it must instil a sense of pride in our people, and unite our people,” Danny Mataroa, chair of the name change committee, told RNZ Pacific.
A referendum was previously held in 1994, when Cook Islands voters opted against a name change.
James Cook contributed more to civilization than all of the Maori creatures who ever lived put together.
And here these savages, instead of being grateful they weren’t completely exterminated like they should’ve been, are attacking him, more as a proxy for attacking White people (I doubt most of them actually know much about him).
There is no shame in engaging in the banal competition for resources that all forms of life must engage in in order to survive, and no sane people do this, hence why there are no Maori who feel guilty about what their kind did to the Moriori.
The only thing we should be ashamed of is that there’s any of them left…