The role of the Maori in the modern New Zealand society is a controversial topic. On the one hand the Maori are proud of their culture and identity and want to keep it alive and distinct; on the other hand there are many social issues for which the Maori end up being a marginalized class with serious problems of alcoholism and domestic violence.
In recents years the New Zealand government has made efforts to improve the integration of the Maori and help them to bring back to life their culture which in the first years of colonisation was substituted by the European one. Since the 1960s there has been a revival of the Maori language (in the past the Maori language was prohibited in public areas). Now it is taught at school and road signs are bilingual in the towns which are mainly inhabited by the Maori. Furthermore, in all schools students can attend classes of “Te Reo”, where students learn Maori customs. It is nice to see children of different ethnic groups singing and dancing Maori songs.
Although this strong sense of cultural identity is from a certain point of view positive and admirable, on the other hand it has led the Maori to have difficulties in adapting to the New Zealand way of living that was imposed on them by the European colonizers.
In recent years a large amount of money and big pieces of lands have been given to the Maori community to help them and to atone for the violence and the dispossessions that the British had committed when they first landed in New Zealand. These interventions have led to a situation in which many Maori decide not to work, even though it is not so difficult to find a job in New Zealand, since they have enough money to live on.
This attitude creates disharmony between Pakeha, (non-Maori people) and Maori. Many Pakeha complain because of the fact that if you are are Maori or in part Maori you have benefits such as exemption from paying university fees. The Pakeh also complain about Maori lifestyle: it is too often true that the Maori have numerous children and they frequently spend all their money on smoking and alcohol instead of buying food or clothing for their offspring. In addition the Maori tend to organize parties with their fellows Maori and these often end up in brawls. Some data confirms that more than 70% of crime in New Zealand is committed by the Maori. They live on average 10 years less than the Pakeha, often because of preventable or treatable cancers and heart disease associated with a bad lifestyle. Every year between 18 and 35 thousand children experience domestic violence, it is a huge percentage in a country of just over 4 million inhabitants, furthermore the Maori children under five have the highest rate of hospitalization for ‘intentional injuries’ that goes up to double that of other ethnic groups.
As always it is difficult to solve the problems of minorities, it is difficult to predict whether any eventual intervention will provide necessary protection or if excessive intervention will isolate the group in difficulty even more.
Elisabetta Colonna (4B) – Correspondent from New Zealand