The image of Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, a New Zealand MP performing a haka in the middle of a parliamentary session on November 14, went around the world. This traditional choreography was performed in protest against a bill that reinterprets the founding text of the New Zealand nation to the detriment of the Maori people. Although it has almost no chance of being voted on, this proposal has caused historic protests in the country.
The origin of this anger dates back to February 6, 1840, the date of the signing, by the British and 540 Maori chiefs, of the Treaty of Waitangi, which converted New Zealand into a British colony. It also guarantees equality between all the Queen’s subjects, settlers and Māori.
It is a fairly short text, comprising only three articles, written at the time in English and Maori. But it is also a very ambiguous text. It is all the more subject to interpretation as the English and Māori versions are not identical.
In this video, we remember the creation of this nation, the balance guaranteed by this text, and we explain what would change the bill by the country’s Minister of Regulation, David Seymour, that caused these demonstrations.
To learn more about the protests of recent days, we invite you to read the article below.
“Understand in three minutes”
The explanatory videos that make up the “Understanding in three minutes” series are produced by the Vertical Videos department of the World. Mainly spread on platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, their goal is to contextualize big events in a short format and make the news accessible to everyone.
