Harawira Hone: InquiryInquiries — Inquiry into New Zealand's Relationship with Latin America Consideration of Report of Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee 
Harawira Hone: InquiryInquiries — Inquiry into New Zealand's Relationship with Latin America Consideration of Report of Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee 
[Volume:629;Page:1869] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Three months ago the Maori Party joined with our indigenous brothers and sisters right around the world to celebrate the resounding victory of Bolivia’s new indigenous President Evo Morales. Morales’ victory was a real buzz and not just in Bolivia. His victory was a sign of hope in a world strangling itself to death with pollution and war and his victory gives all tangata whenua hope for the future. We join with his people in celebrating a return to humanity. 
The Maori Party is pleased to stand tonight to talk to the inquiry into New Zealand’s relationship with Latin America and we ask the House to note the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee recommendation that we formulate proposals for promoting interaction between indigenous peoples of Latin America and New Zealand. Unfortunately though if our record of interaction with indigenous peoples from overseas is anything like it is with the indigenous people of Aotearoa then we are in deep trouble because our Government’s record here at home is nothing to boast of. In fact earlier today we heard from other indigenous delegations that New Zealand is doing all it can to stall any consideration of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the current session of the Commission on Human Rights. The feedback about our Government’s performance is a matter of shame to all caring people in Aotearoa and to make it worse we hear that New Zealand officials are actively trying to block the call by other States for another meeting on the text. So I am forced to ask where are the voices of Labour’s Maori MPs when their own people’s rights are being ignored? What is the value of Labour’s much-vaunted Maori Potential Framework when that very potential is being throttled by their own party? If we were a mature society we would accept that there is no harm in admitting that we do not have all the answers and that we can learn from others. 
The original terms of reference for this inquiry sought the fostering of cultural ties including links between indigenous people. There are many areas for nurturing such ties and I touch on just a few of those tonight. Te Wananga o Aotearoa created links with Cuba to introduce a programme that has earned Cuba international awards including one from the United Nations for eradicating illiteracy. In fact Te Wananga o Aotearoa was brave enough even to bring some of Cuba’s own literacy experts to Aotearoa to help launch the programme. 
Another fertile area for developing links is the media. The director of Venezuela’s television networkTelesur recently made a statement that resonates clearly with our own Maori radio network and Maori television when he said that Telesur’s reason for being is the need to see Latin America through Latin American eyes. He said: “It is our right to have our own vision of what happens in Latin America and not what Europeans or Americans or whoever tell us how we are or who we are.” 
Indeed how we are and who we are is determined very much by the way we are represented and how we represent ourselves. In Latin America many countries have large indigenous populations including Bolivia Ecuador Guatemala Mexico and Peru. Those nations have hundreds of different indigenous groups—in fact in Mexico alone there are 56 indigenous groups and 62 living languages. Even the World Bank has identified that the political influence of the indigenous people in Latin America as in Aotearoa has grown remarkably over the last two decades. The Maori Party is keen to learn more about the revival and renaissance of indigenous people and the political growth constitutional development and health and educational policies of other members of the world’s indigenous community. 
Mexico is developing programmes to place indigenous people into significant roles in school management and in Guatemala indigenous students enrolled in bilingual schools have higher attendance and graduation levels and reduced dropout rates in exactly the same way as those in our own fabulous kohanga reo and kura kaupapa movement. We can learn from Ecuador’s use of a mix of modern and indigenous medicines to help grow our own knowledge in health practice. 
 Unfortunately though the chances are that if one is born indigenous in Latin America one will be poor and almost 35 million indigenous people there are living in poverty. A World Bank report issued last year entitled  
Indigenous Peoples Poverty and Human Development in Latin America in 1994-2004  
noted that 74 percent of indigenous people in Bolivia live in poverty. 
It also noted that during economic crises those who take longest to recover are always the indigenous populations. Theirs is a reality of social and political division; a reality where racism discrimination and social exclusion are a daily occurrence. Indeed these are some of the greatest political challenges of the 21st century. It is no wonder then that we see the rise of organised indigenous movements such as the Zapatista National Liberation Army in Mexico and the activist movements in Bolivia and Ecuador. Peru elected its first indigenous president in 2000. The Guatemala peace accords included the recognition of indigenous people’s rights and now we have this success in Bolivia. 
The heart of those movements in Latin America—as in Aotearoa—is rooted in longstanding traditional values. When one whanau is in strife everyone turns up to help them out. In Ecuador they call this “minga” a term that refers to collective work. In Aotearoa we might call it kotahitanga. We need to treasure these unique cultural values and to establish links that will strengthen those values for the benefit of us all. It is timely that Aotearoa now has a party that gives voice to its own indigenous people on matters of national interest and we challenge the Government to be bold enough to let that voice be heard in the forums considering the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 
It is also time to review the free-trade agreements that are tearing apart the fabric of Latin American countries and to ask the hard questions about how such arrangements maintain a level of poverty that kills the potential of the indigenous world. I want to finish with the words of Bolivia’s new President Morales who said: “I believe only in the power of the people. I have seen the importance of the power of a whole people of a whole nation. For those of us who believe it important to defend humanity the best contribution we can make is to help create that popular power. We need to be led by the people not use or manipulate them.” Tena koe tena koutou katoa.