On Thursday evening, the New Zealand parliament was temporarily suspended after Māori MPs performed the haka dance. This traditional dance, deeply rooted in Māori culture, became globally popular largely due to its performance by New Zealand’s national rugby team, the All Blacks.
The haka dance was performed while parliament was in session and is meant to demonstrate the Māori community’s anger toward a bill that aims to re-interpret the country’s founding treaty with the indigenous Polynesian people of the island.
The performance took place during the first reading of the proposal. When the speaker asked Māori lawmaker Hannah-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke how her party would vote, the MP proceeded to rip her copy of the bill to shreds. In the midst of a New Zealand parliament session, which was then suspended, she and her fellow party members began dancing the Polynesian haka dance.
New Zealand MPs led a Māori haka on the Parliament floor as thousands march to the capital for Māori rights. pic.twitter.com/f3SvjZHMqe
— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 14, 2024
New Zealand Māori lawmakers joined by other MPs in parliament performing the haka dance
The action was not exclusive to Maipi-Clarke’s party, as she was joined by other MP’s in New Zealand’s parliament in her performance of the dance, and certain individuals witnessed the session in the gallery that overlooks the chamber.
In the aftermath of the Haka performance by the MP, Gerry Brownlee, who is the speaker, took it upon himself to temporarily suspend the session in parliament. Brownlee also decided to suspend MP Maipi-Clarke for the haka performance, with the speaker describing the protest as disrespectful.
The bill being discussed involves The Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed by Māori chiefs and the British Crown in 1840. This treaty is widely regarded as New Zealand’s foundational document.
The treaty builds the basis of the laws and policies which aim to pay reparations of historical mistakes and offenses made by colonizers toward Māori peoples.
A right wing party says that special provisions for people with ethnic heritage should end
At the moment, New Zealand is ruled by a conservative coalition, and within this coalition, the most right-wing party, ACT, has called for special provisions to be ended for Māori peoples. The party argues that there should be equal rights far all, and thus, these measures should be put to rest.
In November, ACT proposed the bill in parliament. Political analysts argue that passing this act could severely hinder race relations in New Zealand and erase years of work put in to pay reparations for Māori peoples in the country.
Māori people are a significant demographic in New Zealand. They make up roughly 20 percent of the 5.3 million New Zealand nationals and experience worse material conditions than the average New Zealander. This bill has already sparked protests from Māori citizens across the country.
Despite the National Party, which is the largest coalition party in New Zealand, agreeing to go through with the bill, it is unlikely to pass and/or become law, especially after Prime Minister Christoper Luxon’s recent comments.
PM Luxon said “You do not go and negate, with a single stroke of a pen, 184 years of debate and discussion with a bill that I think is very simplistic,” adding that he wanted the bill to be drowned in the second reading.