“WE
SPEAK ENGLISH HERE.”
Natalie Soto, aged 20 was the subject
of a brutal tirade from another Sydney train passenger this
Thursday. Soto was speaking to her
mother in Spanish during a phone conversation when a passenger fired a verbal
missile. The woman was caught on video
saying, “Get that dirty wog off the train, she's giving me a headache!”
The issue of racial intolerance in
Australia flares its ugly nostrils again with video of the multilingual
Australian-born woman being abused. Soto
was told, "Why should we have to listen to this f***ing rambling? We speak English in this country. If you can't
speak it, don't speak it at all."
Soto told the infuriated passenger that she spoke several
languages. The woman replied:
"Speak it in your own home, don't speak it in public." The oppressive abuse was caught on video
which went viral.
Not long ago this unkind and intemperate
sort of expletive was common here. I
recall an event which fuelled public outrage in our media when Hinewehi Mohi
dared to sing our national song in a foreign language at Twickenham the holy
grail of all rugby at the RWC opening in 1999.
The language happened to be Maori.
Today kiwis stand self righteously with right hand on chest and patriotically
sing E Ihowa Atua then God of Nations. Maori, an official language of Aotearoa New
Zealand is grudgingly making progress.
Do we expect this disingenuous behaviour
from Oz? No, but before we condemn, first
let’s clean up in our own patch.
Tuaiwa Rickard, Ripeka Evans, Syd and Hannah Jackson,
Titewhai Harawira and Hone Harawira neo-Maori activists had a blunt message, “The
colonial oppressive abuse of our lands, our language and our people has to
stop.” Ken Mair of Whanganui, a
recidivist agitator for Maori rights was there with his cohorts for peace. They pointed out that what was happening here was analogous to
apartheid.
Maori
activism highlighted Maori land grievance for more than 155 gruelling years of
broken promises at the round-table of Pakeha legislators. They highlighted deliberate (yes deliberate)
Pakeha wrongdoing against a generous and giving people. For Maori and for so long, parliament
represented oppression. “And we have a
responsibility to highlight these issues,” he says. An interviewer
asked Mair, “Where will it all end?” Mair Replied, “Certainly not in another arms struggle, not
ever again. In war innocent people
suffer, our people suffer. ”
In
war the first casualty is truth. Parihaka, Ngatapa, Maungapohatu, Waitara, Wairau, Bastion Point, Raglan, all the way to
Moutoa, names that stand for a peaceful Maori stance against oppression.
The Maori language has endured the war against it. Maori words are now used increasingly in
common discourse. Some words sit easily
with Pakeha ideas, others add a different strength, there are of course ideas
which may be better in dealing with some of our contemporary challenges like dealing
with dying, death, grief and healing to name one. While these
are not quantum leaps forward, they add up as small but incremental changes
towards increased understanding.
But, relative judgement is unimportant compared with a willingness to acknowledge
and accept difference.
Sadly though, many Pakeha New Zealanders still see language of no use as
strictly utilitarian – like a spade or a cash register. They are reluctant to use Te Reo here but
happily burlesque it when they travel overseas.
They prefer that our kids learn Japanese, Chinese, French, and German (and
yes) Spanish or some other language we can do business in.
Are we missing the
opportunity to make coming generations of New Zealanders multilingual by not
using teaching that is successfully done in Kohanga Reo (language nests) to
teach resurgent Maori to all pupils in primary schools? With the knowledge of two languages New
Zealand kids could more readily learn another and other languages. A subsidiary spin off would be a richer
texture of our cultures with more stories available from Maori sources and an
expanded consciousness with echoes of meaning from a plethora of Maori words
and names.
It was wananga, not universities that provided second
chance tertiary education for iwi with an anchor that met local, cultural and
Te Reo needs. The loss of language is cancerous and as we have
seen has led to intergenerational alienation which is difficult to break and
costly to keep.
I commend the taonga (jewel) of Te Reo to all kiwi kids and not to leave
it just to MLW (Maori Language Week).
While
many Maori still feel a sense of powerlessness, many without the taonga of
language, I have no concern if the obelisk for George Nixon
on the roadside in Otahuhu is blown away.
Thanks
Ken.
The good side in the Sydney-side
train blast is that another passenger offered Natalie Soto her support by
challenging the abuser, "So, her speaking another language is not okay but
your saying the ‘f’ word in front of children is ok?"
So, when
learning try something new, try another language. Try listening. Try speaking. Try it.
It will change your life for the better. Hei kona mai.
Haare Williams
Papakura 19/12/15