Bastion Point — a peoples movement

Mana (Auckland), Volume 2, Issue 4, 18 May 1978, Page 2

Bastion Point — a peoples movement

The Bastion Point Land controversy has created a social action movement, that seeks to demonstrate that the ordinary citizen is not powerless! This statement was made by Christine Marriner-Grubb, Values Party spokesperson on Race Relations, when questioning the validity of a big centralised Government that is no longer the servant of the people. Our present system of Government is not truly democratic. People have been discouraged from making decisions, and an increasing number of restrictive laws have been created to make sure that power remains in the hands of a few. Laws such as the Public Works, Town and Country

Planning, Maori Affairs, Maori Trustee and Maori Reserved Land Acts, restrict the freedom of Maoris to their rights of ownership and control of much of their land. From the beginning, the Government has applied its well known divide and rule tactics on the Ngati Whatua, by focusing personal attacks on selected members of the action group. The Orakei Marae Elders group, that was forced to bend under pressure, is an example of this divisive lever. It has become clear that such tactics have little effect and cannot shift the people in their stand for justice. On Thursday, 20 April, the Crown won its injunction against the four leaders of the, Bastion Point land occupation.

Acting with the assurance that the legal system was stacked in its favour, the Government was able to apply this injunction as a way of carrying out its eviction threats undercover of the law. In particular, it was once again trying to avoid its responsibility to find a just political solution to the issue. Although the Government has tried to magnify the minority, radical syndrome, it has become apparent that the Bastion Point issue is no longer a personal battle, but a nationwide peoples struggled against a beaurocratic. system that places heavy emphasis on executive power. On close scrutiny, the roots of the national problem lie in ownership and control of lands and the whole field of Maori Land policy needs to be constructively re-examined.