{"id":179,"date":"2025-08-24T11:51:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T23:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.takiora.co.nz\/?p=179"},"modified":"2025-08-25T08:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T20:11:08","slug":"a-moko-on-the-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.takiora.co.nz\/index.php\/2025\/08\/24\/a-moko-on-the-street\/","title":{"rendered":"A Moko On The Street"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Moko in the Street<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(James is P\u0101keh\u0101 and was raised in M\u0101ori education. He holds a master’s and is a Te Tiriti o Waitangi educator and cultural supervisor.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E te iwi t\u0113n\u0101 r\u0101 koutou katoa , E nga ihi, e ng\u0101 wehi, te niko makaurangi i ng\u0101 whakairo whare kia ora koutou, K\u0101ti, patua ki tahat\u016b o te rangi, waiho te tangata haere w\u0101 kia haere \u0101na , e rongo ai i te k\u014drero. Pai m\u0101rire ki a koutou katoa. H\u0113mi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post I share some thoughts on inequality in Aotearoa \u2014 a critique of capitalism, of liberal P\u0101keh\u0101 organisations, post-settlement iwi authorities, and a suggestion for what I think could be a fairer way forward. My starting point is simple: the most powerful force of misery in our country is material poverty. What follows is food for thought, and hopefully a spark for discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A Moko on the Street<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other day I was walking down the street and saw a fulla with a full moko on his face. His pants were slipping down, and he was begging for money. I don\u2019t carry cash, so I couldn\u2019t help him directly. But it got me thinking \u2014 about the bigger system that produces this reality, the cultural layers around it, and the aroha we feel for our iwi M\u0101ori and for anyone struggling on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

From \u201cThat\u2019s America\u201d to Here<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was growing up, we thought homelessness was something you only saw in America, not here. But after neoliberalism \u2014 capitalism on steroids \u2014 kicked in through the \u201980s and \u201990s, New Zealand now has over 100,000 homeless people: 36% P\u0101keh\u0101, 28% M\u0101ori, and 22% Pasifika.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Culture Rising, Poverty Rising<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, well-meaning P\u0101keh\u0101 organisations were learning how to do p\u014dwhiri, appointing kaum\u0101tua and M\u0101ori advisors after taking Treaty courses. I support this \u2014 I\u2019ve worked alongside many doing that mahi. But while these cultural shifts were happening, poverty kept rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In M\u0101ori circles, we worked hard to strengthen te reo and culture \u2014 both good and necessary. Still, I wonder: if M\u0101ori and P\u0101keh\u0101 had also come together around economic imperatives, pushing for real change through government, we could help the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of a recent comment from a M\u0101ori Party member that te reo me \u014dna tikanga<\/em> should be the priority. But when I think of our homeless \u2014 who now sometimes say \u201cwhaea\u201d or \u201cmatua\u201dwhen they are on the street begging \u2014 I can\u2019t help but ask: what comfort is a mihi back when you\u2019re living in a car?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Grotesque Wealth, Everyday Struggle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our economic system has created grotesque wealth at the top: just 311 families own as much as 2.5 million people at the bottom. Outrageous. And both major parties either defend this setup, or are too weak and subservient to change it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economics \u2014 the material wellbeing of people \u2014 is the foundation of wellbeing. Take wh\u0101nau on the benefit, raising kids at near-poverty levels. In a wealthy country, this is a disgrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Capitalism of the Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalism doesn\u2019t just exploit people materially; it colonises the mind. It reduces life\u2019s purpose to consumerism \u2014 competing over stuff, endlessly comparing ourselves on social media\u2019s big \u201ccompareathon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That mentality has hollowed out class-based, economic analysis \u2014 in earlier times, there was a critique of capitalism through trade union movements and grassroots M\u0101ori activism. Capitalism has done its job, though perhaps, as a broad-scale critique, like most organised left politics, has been largely destroyed and fragmented. Other than when people find personal meaning, like particular land block protests, for example (which I support). Most people just go along with what capitalism has to offer; it’s easier to get along than rebel, I guess. I also believe many see the contradictions but don’t have the tools to articulate something different. Bringing the kind of unity we need to actually challenge this system. We need to be literate in what capitalism is, so we can deconstruct it and build something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding Marx and other critics of capitalism can help us \u2014 not just in critique, but in shaping a M\u0101ori response. Because whether we admit it or not, we are all influenced by these ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Settlements and Their Shadows<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when the Crown \u201csettled\u201d with iwi, the structures they required were modelled on capitalism. Over time, many iwi organisations joined the corporate world, chasing profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of figures like Thomas Russell, Frederick Whitaker, and other bankers who pressured Governor Grey into stealing millions of acres of land. Their profits laid the foundation for today\u2019s inequality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony is hard to miss: some iwi structures now resemble the very class of people who dispossessed M\u0101ori in the first place. They may be more benevolent than the average P\u0101keh\u0101 corporation, but poverty still sits at our doorsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be clear, the Crown is ultimately responsible for this inequality. But it\u2019s troubling how some iwi organisations now use M\u0101ori culture to justify capitalist structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Remembering a Different Way<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feels contrary to our M\u0101ori upbringing, which \u2014 for lack of a better English word \u2014 was socialist. And throughout Aotearoa\u2019s history, we\u2019ve had glimpses of socialist policy: my father studied at university for free, the state once ran electricity, and there was a major state housing programme. So hope is not lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A Fairer Share<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greens propose a modest 2.5% wealth tax on the richest elites, to fund things like an income guarantee, free childcare, and free dental. That would go a long way. Personally, I\u2019d go further. Considering today\u2019s obscene inequality, doubling it \u2014 say to 5% \u2014 seems fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The billionaires built their wealth on our labour, our shared infrastructure, and a system we all support with our taxes. Redistributing even a small share of that would help the homeless, the solo mother with hungry kids \u2014 and the matua with the moko I saw that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Whose Responsibility?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poverty is a government responsibility. Their policies created today\u2019s inequality: around 23% of M\u0101ori live in poverty, a similar rate for Pasifika, and about 14% for P\u0101keh\u0101. And since P\u0101keh\u0101 make up 70% of the population, they also represent the largest number of people in poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That matters, because it shifts how we think about solutions. From my perspective, universalism is the way forward. Picking winners and losers builds resentment and is how capitalism was established and how it is maintained. Anybody in poverty should be helped. Once people are freed from economic struggle, then I\u2019d support targeted funding for cultural and health reintegration for M\u0101ori, and similar programmes for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Tikanga and Unity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pakeke m\u0101tau i roto i te whanaungatanga \u2014 k\u0101ore i m\u0101wetewete. He taonga whoatu noa atu. K\u0101ti. Ki te m\u0101takitaki t\u0101ua i te tuhituhi a Reweti Kohere, he whakapai i te aroha, i te noho tahi, i ng\u0101 tikanga ataahua a te ao M\u0101ori \u2014 kua ui au I konei, he aha koia \u0113nei p\u016btake? He ture ohanga whakaora i te rawa kore i wawata ng\u0101 koeke. E te iwi, te runga, te raro , pakeke m\u0101 , ngai whakahuatau, kia ora koutou katoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We grew up in a sharing, caring environment. In te ao M\u0101ori it was so natural, so generous, it wasn\u2019t even questioned. Reweti Kohere, writing in Te Pipiwharauroa<\/em>, praised the more loving and generous nature of the M\u0101ori world compared to the P\u0101keh\u0101 world. And I totally agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the question I ask: what are the M\u0101ori ethics of the economy that will bring wellbeing to the least among us \u2014 the kind of world our old people once dreamed of? To everyone who has read to hear a big mihi, kia ora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a song that serendipitously came across as i was editing as a waiata tautoko, perhaps, a song about being poor, albeit in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Eyes bright, it seems like the fight is dim in em, I call my man cousin like I’m kin to him, he’s trying to stay straight, the streets have been in him”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n