Tentacles of power: an extended case - study of the Ngati-Whatua land struggle at Bastion Point

Abstract

This study intends to show that the exercise of political power, particularly in the colonial context, can be maintained by the manipulation of the symbols of political reality. It shows how the basis of the fundamental political belief system of the traditional Maori society is destroyed and is replaced by that of the colonizers. This is shown to be done in two ways, firstly, by the involuntary interaction of two alien political cultures and secondly, by the deliberate introduction of new socialization processes and the destruction of the traditional ones. This exercise of power is seen in the resultant inability of the Maori traditional society to reproduce itself, in the form of its political belief system, successfully into succeeding generations. It is seen as the result of the loss of sovereignty and legitimacy of the Maori's traditional belief system. The paper also shows that in some studies of political power an historical and cultural perspective is a necessary prerequisite to discerning the mechanism of political power. This perspective has invariably introduced a Maori bias into the methodology; giving, in this instance, a more accurate picture of the mechanism of political power. The paper is organised into three chapters. The first chapter, divided into five sub-sections, gives a macro-view. It discusses the nature of the organization of political power within a polity. This first sub-section sets the general theoretical framework for the study of political power used in the paper. Sub-section two then discusses the fundamental political belief system organised into the traditional Maori society. Sub-sections three and four relate the structural impact of Pakeha colonization upon Maori society and the growth of new institutions and leadership to compensate the structural changes. Sub-section five deals generally with the socialization of the Maori into the political belief system of the Pakeha with special emphasis on the impact of this on the Ngati-Whatua hapu of Orakei. Chapter two is divided into six sub-sections. It deals with the historical relationship of the Ngati-Whatua of Orakei with the Pakeha colonizer, relating the systematic alienation of land from Maori communal ownership; culminating in the destruction of their marae. Chapter two is concluded by the discussion in sub-section six of an overview of the history of oppression of the Ngati-Whatua in terms of the process of decision-making. Chapter three, divided into eight sub-sections, relates the step by step development of the Bastion Point land struggle, exposing the factional politics that emerged. This chapter is concluded by an overview of the Bastion Point issue in sub-section eight.