Saturday, July 14, 2012

New Zealand Day ...

RANT WARNING AHEAD:

Ok so I kept my last post kind of short not because I did not enjoy my Canada Day but because it kind of made me angry. If you scratch the surface in Canada you will find that there is tension between the 'First Nations' and the other Canadians and then there is the tensions between the French and the English people. However when it comes to Canada Day all of that bull is set aside and everyone celebrate being Canadian. It doesn't matter if your First Nation, French Canadian, English Canadian or recently a new Canadian on 1st July everyone can celebrate being Canadian.

It made me think how we in New Zealand have no National Day ok yes we have Waitangi Day when New Zealand as such was formed and its similar to Canada Day as 1st July is when they united to form Canada. However Waitangi day is the day the treaty between the English and the Maori was signed. So Waitangi day is pretty much the day that the English screwed over the Maori. Yes we still need to sort all that out but why is it our National Day I'm all for it to be a day of remembrance so that shit like that don't ever happen again. But why can't we have a day where we celebrate being kiwi and it doesn't matter who you are as long as you are proud to be called a kiwi. Waitangi Day doesn't celebrate our unity it celebrates the tension that still exist between the two peoples of New Zealand.

Like I said I don't believe we should get rid of Waitangi Day just that we need another day where all tension can be put aside and we can celebrate what it means to be kiwi. It will never happen though as New Zealand is a deeply divided nation and each year that gaps just gets bigger. But what do I know I'm just a South African, to most New Zealander's it doesn't matter that I'm legally a New Zealander and that I have lived here longer then I did in South Africa. To them I'm just a South African and in that it shows me that there is no unity in New Zealand.

Anyways that's my rant for the day ...

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