Stolen from the Herald

And on the matter of the flag debate I give it until Saturday for the issue to die off for another year.

Check it out at NBR: http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/david-farrar/symbols-national-unity

But the flirtation by the Maori Party of having a Maori flag fly not just on Waitangi Day, but on all important days, is a different issue. Many people would read that as saying the New Zealand flag and a Maori flag are of equal status. Or worse it raises the often unspoken fears that this is about separatism – dividing a country by race instead of uniting it.

Quite interesting to read this today:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10590496

Call to fly Maori flag with NZ Flag flies

The Maori flag should fly on all days of significance, not just Waitangi Day, Maori say.

“People are saying (the flag should fly on) days of significance and other times as well.

“Some are saying that whenever or wherever the New Zealand flag is flying, the Maori flag should also be able to fly,” Ms Katene told The Press newspaper.

“If that’s what people want, we (the Maori Party) would certainly push for that.”

Flying the flag on Waitangi Day is one thing. It is about bringing together two peoples and the birth of a nation. It is about unity and that is why the flags representing the two peoples who came together should fly. I have no issue with that.

However a separate flag to fly all the time? This isn’t a them an us game. We came together as a nation, there is one flag of this nation. That is the flag that should fly that represents the nation. It is as simple as that. And if you do not like the current flag by all means join the campaign to change it, but don’t go arguing that your own separate flag should fly at all times.

If Maori want their own flag to fly at all times why can this not be extended to Pakeha, to Pacific Islanders, to Asians, to all those ethnic groups that over the last 150 years have made New Zealand into what it is today. There is no possible way that you could argue that they should because they are Tāngata Whenua because I am certain that prior to European arrival Maori had no flag, let alone knew what one was or what it symbolised in European culture.

So coming back to Civil War for a minute. The instant that I read this I remember this quote from 2004:

“could unleash civil war on the scale of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” – Margaret Mutu

That quote was in relation to the Seabed and Foreshore act. The war didn’t happen (but a good book on it was written by David Slack). However, part of me is waiting for some fool to try and say a similar thing again over this.

It seems that John Key’s decision to allow Maori to agree on a flag to fly on Waitangi Day has reignited debate on one flag for New Zealand and what it should be.

The Herald has an article about the history of some of the flags:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10552244

And Wikipedia also has a good background article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_New_Zealand

When the debate last fired up in 2005 I was in favour of retaining the current flag.

However my views have changed over the last four years and now I believe that NZ should be independant of the U.K. and this should be displayed in a change of the flag.

My favourite flag was one that U2 showed when they played in Auckland:

However I will the first to admit that it is a little bland.

An alternative flag that has got quite a positive response was designed was a few years ago:

Now at first I like this it has some powerful images, the red represents Maori, the fern being white represents the land of the long white cloud, and the blue and stars represent the sea. However I think this design is too messy with two many different features.

Currently there is a call for the Tino Rangatiratanga flag to represent Maori:

However I think that while this flag current represents some Maori groups it does not represent all of New Zealand.

As a response to this there has been a call for NZ to revert back to the old United Tribes flag, the first official flag of NZ which pre-dates the treaty.

However with this flag I still don’t think it shows our true independace.

So how about this:

It has the red representing Maori on it, The cross of St George representing European, The sea, the sky, and the white for the land of the long white cloud.

However I believe that this post and the entire debate on the flag is pointless. I don’t imagine we will change the flag until we declare indpendance, and that is unlikely to happen in the next decade at least. So round and around the debate we go.