To most of the world we are a small island nation in Oceania, not far from Australia, We are New Zealand. but in recent months race has played out as an ongoing political campaign by opposition parties and some right-wing media organisations in Australia, America and other parts of the world.
Even more recently the Maori party (A somewhat radical Indigenous rights political party) has called for the Nations name to be changed to Aotearoa ( a Maori name meaning “Land of the Long White Cloud”) it has some historical relevance to Maori being the driving motivation and they also want all city and place names renamed to its Maori names.
This is not the first time this issue has come up in recent times, the National Party (Centre-Rightwing Party, main opposition to Govt Party) has also called for a referendum on what the country is called but they’re on the New Zealand Camp and in recent months have continued to politicise racial issues, in divisive and provoking messaging around the He Puapua Report.
Or revitalising old sayings like Iwi or Kiwi (Iwi being the name of the Maori use to describe tribal affiliation ) and (Kiwi being a informal term of referring to someone who is from New Zealand)
Needless to say its alot…. we Kiwis just aint use to all this politicking. As for my position on whether we should change the countries name to just Aotearoa, im afraid Maori Party my answer is no and let me tell you why:
Reason 1: The first and probably biggest reason is why? and why now, of all the issues facing the country now, food prices housing affordability and a yknow Global Pandemic, this is literally the last thing i care about… like an MP said about the issue “you can call it Timbucktu if you like as long as i can afford a house there” . Also a referendum costs millions of dollars and we just wasted millions on referendums a year or so ago when legalising Euthanasia and not legalising Cannabis…
Reason 2: I was looking at my passport today and this is what i see…
I got my passport like 6-7 years ago and “Aotearoa” is already on it. It is a name that is so frequently interchanged, in private enterprise, local government it is widely known amongst kiwis (New Zealanders). I think most people would agree its fine for now to be used quasi-formally… there is no need to rush a change and most simply don’t understand why we cant have both? we already use both casually its on the damn passports haha. It would also easily create confusion around the world, New Zealand is a brand name worth hundreds of millions.
Number 3: This is a divisive issue and it really shouldn’t be, at the end of the day we live in this country together, we grew up around each other, conversed, fought, played and learnt as we grew older, we are not strangers and honestly i hate to say it but it really is a generational thing, old preferences and just that whole discriminatory culture our parents generation were raised in. New Zealanders have fought and stood for things far greater and more significant and such a referendum would be a disservice to all that generations have forget to build for us here now.
“kia mau te rongo ake ake” Let there be Peace forever and ever”
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