Protests at Sikh parades sign of push for NZ war on immigration – Editorial
KEY FACTS
- A Destiny Church-linked group disrupted Sikh parades in Tauranga and Manurewa, Auckland.
- The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 affirms the right to freedom of religion.
- A general election will be held this year, with the date yet to be announced.
Assimilation is a process whereby people of a different ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society.
It’s a method colonising forces have used to oppress indigenous people and ways of life all over the world for centuries, including in New Zealand.
Mandating English instruction under the 1867 Native Schools Act and punishing students for speaking te reo Māori were examples.
It was odd, then, to see a protest demanding complete assimilation from immigrants (or, it would seem, any Kiwi with immigrant heritage) use haka to underscore its message.
That was the scene in Tauranga on Sunday and in Manurewa last month, as a group calling itself the True Patriots of New Zealand disrupted Sikh religious parades.
Protesters carried a large banner proclaiming that “This is New Zealand Not India”.
The demonstrations attracted criticism from MPs, local politicians, Sikh groups and the Free Speech Union, the last of which called the Manurewa event an “obstruction that limits others’ legal expression”.
The True Patriots group claims multiculturalism has “failed” and that displays of “foreign” religions (any that are not Christianity) should not be allowed.
The group is linked to Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki, who has defended its demonstrations as protecting Kiwi culture. He claimed “India” could “rule over NZ in [the] next 100 years”.
“If people migrate to New Zealand, they need to assimilate into the Kiwi Way of Life,” Tamaki posted after the Tauranga protest.
The statement begs many questions. One is how to define the “Kiwi way of life” as though it is a concept that could be enforced on all residents.
The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 affirms the right to freedom of religion and protects the right to express religion.
The Human Rights Act 1993 bans discrimination based on religious belief in access to places (among other areas).
If the laws of the land are one way to define an enforceable national culture, then it follows that a group freely expressing its faith in a public place is as Kiwi as fush and chups at the beach on Waitangi Day.
It is no coincidence that these demonstrations are ramping up in the run-up to this year’s general election.
Immigration will be a topic of the election, as it always is.
What’s unknown is what shape and tone that debate will take, or how influential it will be when voters go to the ballot box.
Some would like to import foreign wars on immigration, such as the one tearing the United States apart, to this country.
That’s what is happening when we see specific racial, ethnic or religious groups being targeted, othered, turned into bogeymen figures.
That’s what happens when assimilation is demanded, and attempts are made to erase public celebrations or expressions of New Zealand’s diverse and tolerant culture.
All patriots should keep that in mind.