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Waitangi protest speaking to power
An Otago University political scientist and blogger says this year’s chaos at Waitangi is a sign race relations are gearing up at a political level.
Bryce Edwards says the current arrangements at Waitangi are being questioned, but people need to stop trying to think of it as a national day rather than a time when the Treaty of Waitangi is considered.
He says the protest which has become a part of the event is an expression of the powerless that many Maori feel.
"When you see these negotiations with John Key on whether he can talk and whatever, it's powerless people who are in some ways finally flexing their muscles and the little bit of power they do have, so I think that's understandable. It does become a bit farcical but it's coming from that situation where they are frustrated over many years of disempowerment," Dr Edwards says.
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