Maori seeking return of ancestral lands raided and arrested

UPDATE: New Zealand Radio

The two men charged and named after police carried out raids across New Zealand remain in custody. A total of 17 people were arrested after 300 officers searched properties in eastern Bay of Plenty, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Palmerston North and Christchurch on Monday.
On Tuesday, an Auckland High Court judge revoked bail for Jamie Lockett, while Maori activist Tame Iti is still awaiting a decision on his bail application. Both are facing firearms charges.
Mr Lockett was granted bail at a hearing in Rotorua District Court on Tuesday morning, but bail was revoked that evening after police appealed against the decision.
Mr Iti is still in custody waiting on a decision on his bail application in the same court.
The other 15 have not been identified.

ABC RADIO: Maori MP sceptical over terror claims

16/10/2007 An MP in New Zealand says the police operation aimed at what have been described as guerilla style training camps in the eastern Bay of Plenty was over the top. Te Ururoa Flavell, the Maori Party MP for the Maori electorate of Waiariki, where the main police operation was carried out, says the whole thing could be a misunderstanding and he's sceptical about the idea of a terrorist training camp in his electorate.
Presenter - Bruce Hill Speaker - Te Ururoa Flavell, the Maori Party MP for Waiariki.
Listen:
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/s2061077.htm

New Zealand police raided Maori groups seeking the rights to their ancestral land on Oct. 15. Maori have been arrested and jailed. This comes after New Zealand voted against the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Maori land claims are at the heart of the attacks by the government of New Zealand, now trying to brand the Maori as "terrorists."

http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/73860/index.php

On 14 September 2007, New Zealand was one of only four nations to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, speaking against the declaration just prior to the vote.
The landmark declaration, approved after 143 Member States voted in favour, outlines the rights of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous people and outlaws discrimination against them – a move that followed more than two decades of debate. The Declaration emphasizes the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions and to pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations. It also prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them, and their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development.
In other words, the declaration gives the weight of the United Nations to the notions of Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake.
But how is this connected with the October 15 raids?
Well, Ngai Tuhoe have a claim before the Waitangi Tribunal for their ancestral land. Land that was never ceeded to the crown. Ngai Tuhoe did not sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the land that is now in crown hands was stolen. Submissions on the claim closed in 2005 and the report on their claim is expected back at the end of 2007.
There is no moral or law (domestic or international) which can justify the crowns continued possession of the Tuhoe nation. By the occupation of Tuhoe land, the NZ Government imposes a pakeha colonial system of taxation, schooling, education and health upon Ngai Tuhoe. And these systems have been shown again and again to be failing Maori.
What the new UN Declaration sets out, what the Waitangi Tribunal must find, what justice should prove, is that these lands, the control of their communities, the Mana Motuhake, of Tuhoe must be returned. Of course, the government is not prepared to allow an alternate system to exist within our national boundaries. They are not willing to admit to the heinous wrongs of our predecessors, and they are not willing to return these lands, and Tino Rangatiratanga, to it's rightful heirs.
THIS is why there must be a fight for the rights of the Tuhoe nation, THIS is why, in my opinion, the police and government decided to act now - to cast a light of their making ("terrorists") upon those people who are brave enough to stand up for the justice for which the Tuhoe nation has been waiting so long.
KIA KAHA FREEDOM FIGHTERSME WHAWHAI MO TE TIKA!Links:
NZ votes against indigenous peoples' rights at the UN as Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by overwhelming majority www.converge.org.nz/pma/in140907.htm
Tuhoe claims at the Waitangi tribunal
www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/resources/urewera_panui.asp