NZCPR Newsletter: Mana or Money

When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. 

After receiving a financial payment from the company however, the Ngai Tahu sub-tribe changed its mind and publicly supported the scheme.

Guest Post: What Drives the Leaders of Minority Groups

JD writes on BFD as a Guest Post:

We are continually told that various groups in New Zealand suffer from systemic discrimination and that whatever is wrong in their lives is the fault of others, not of themselves.

Politicians and political parties of a certain stripe are regularly in the news promoting these ideas and demanding that these inequalities be addressed.

We ask ourselves why this latter group exists and what is their motivation for this pursuit of grievances and ‘advocacy for the downtrodden’.