A leading academic has sparked outrage after comparing the Holocaust that killed six million Jews to Britain's colonisation of New Zealand.
Language lecturer Keri Opai claimed that New Zealand's native indigenous Maori were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following the 'holocaust' of British rule.
During the New Zealand Wars of 1845-1872, which saw the Maori defended their tribal lands from British colonial forces, 20,000 Maori were killed while hundreds of thousands more were driven from their homes.
Lecturer Opai told the Radio New Zealand programme what had happened to Maori during colonisation could be forgiven - but not forgotten
The debate on national identity was part of a special broadcast on Waitangi Day - the holiday that marks the signing of the first treaty between representatives of the British Crown and Māori chiefs in 1840.
The document has always been disputed because the English and Māori versions of the treaty differed significantly.
The British believed it gave it sovereignty over New Zealand and gave their appointed Governor the legal power to rule the country.
But Māori believed they ceded to the Crown a right of governance in return for protection, without giving up their authority to manage their own affairs.
Opai's comment's have incensed Jewish leaders who have branded his comparison with the extermination six million Jew were killed during World War II as 'totally unacceptable'.
Stephen Goodman, the president of the New Zealand Jewish Council, said: 'It is totally unacceptable for anyone to attempt associating European colonisation of New Zealand with the Holocaust.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097261/Academic-sparks-outcry-comparing-Britains-colonisation-New-Zealand-Holocaust.html#ixzz1lfHsExpG
Oh ... the despair of man's inhumanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment