ADRIAN ORR : WE'RE ALL MAORI CAPITALISTS NOW

This week Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr said that the Reserve Bank had 'embraced te ao Maori'. It further underlines how Maori economic interests have been integrated into a neoliberalism that has benefited a Maori elite at the expense of working class Maori.

IT IS INTERESTING how the capitalist world view neatly meshes with the Maori world view. That's according to Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr. 

This week he delivered a speech to explain to his fellow central bankers around the world why the Reserve Bank had 'embraced te ao Maori'. Said Orr : 'Aotearoa is slowly embracing the richness our diverse cultures bring. That is why we, as New Zealand's central bank, talk about these issues.'

Who knew that Maori culture and capitalism were at one with each other in terms of  ideological and political outlook? 

In an another era, left wing Maori activists would have strenuously opposed having their ideological philosophy and political goals hijacked by a capitalist institution like the Reserve Bank. But this is 2022, and after more than three long decades of neoliberalism, Maori political and economic interests has been integrated into the capitalist framework and benefit a small Maori elite. 

So its not surprising that Orr's speech has gone without comment by those who claim to speak for all Maori. Given his devotion to the free market its also not surprising we've heard nothing from multimillionaire and Maori Economic Development Minister Willie Jackson. But we've also heard nothing from Green co-leader Marama Davidson. During her first year as an MP she told the media that she didn't mind being described as a 'radical' and even likened herself to socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She too has been seduced by 'the baubles of office' and has failed to defend the interests of working class Maori who she still claims to represent.

But Maori politicians like Jackson and Davidson are not opposed to capitalism - they just want a bigger share of its spoils. As Professor Elizabeth Rata observes this is the politics of a Maori elite that has 'acquired considerable economic and political capital at the expense of all Maori'.

Ironically, of our present set of ' Maori political representatives', it has only been the conservative and much maligned ACT leader David Seymour who has had something to say about Orr's speech. Recently described as 'a useless Maori' by Willie Jackson, Seymour made some observation's about Orr's economic track record this week including:

'Adrian Orr as a central banker has presided over horrendous inflation, that has hammered young and poor New Zealanders without assets. It has probably hammered Maori the most. That fact makes Orr’s rhetoric so galling.'

Of course David Seymour and ACT are not calling for the tipping over of neoliberalism but for a different set of policy priorities in running it. He is offering criticism from the right but where is the criticism from the left? Why have none of those who claim to speak for Maoridom made the simple point that the market economy that the Reserve Bank presides over has of been of next to no benefit to working class Maori who remain disproportionately poor? The silence has been deafening.

This Friday is Matariki Day, a public holiday intended to celebrate the Maori New Year and all things Maori. But it will be 'all things Maori' as approved by the capitalist state and its cheerleaders in civil society. The desperate poverty and deprivation of working class Maori, if referred to at all, will be not be attributed to our present economic model.  

So what is the way forward?  Perhaps the answer lies, as John Moore wrote in 2017 : '.. in a rejection of the obsession with difference and with culture that has dominated leftwing and Maori political discourse over the last few decades, and the need for a leftwing renaissance that focuses instead on radical egalitarian and emancipatory politics.'

But we certainly won't see any expression of 'radical egalitarian and emancipatory politics' on Matariki Day. Rather, it will be a confirmation and promotion of the capitalist status quo.