In
Nieuw-Zeeland zijn wetten aangenomen waarmee de natuur echt beschermd wordt, met de aanname van de laatste heeft een slapende vulkaan dezelfde rechten gekregen als levende personen. Het gaat hier om de Mount Taranaki, een voor de Maori’s heilige berg, die ze als hun voorouder zien en als familielid.
Dit is de derde keer dat een voor de Maori’s heilig gebied
de status van een levend persoon heeft gekregen, eerder gebeurde dit
met een groot natuurgebied en een lange rivier…..
Zie het
verschil met de VS, waar de voorouders van een deel van de huidige witte bewoners de oorspronkelijke volken (aangeduid als ‘indianen’) bijna
hebben uitgemoord en die samen met deze zelfde massamoorden in Midden-
en Zuid-Amerika (in de loop van een paar honderd jaar), heeft geleid tot de grootste genocide, die de
aarde ooit heeft gezien…..
Wat betreft de VS en Canada werden deze
volkeren in de loop van de geschiedenis diverse gebieden
toegewezen, waar ze zich ook nog onder dwang moesten huisvesten,
echter zo gauw de witte ‘christelijke’ overheersers economisch gewin in die gebieden
zagen, werden de stammen die daar woonden weer weggejaagd dan wel vermoord……
Zelfs
heden ten dage hebben deze mensen totaal geen bescherming tegen de
kapitalistisch neoliberale verniel- en hebzucht, zoals we zagen bij de aanleg van de Dakota Access
Pipeline (DAPL.) en de Keystone XL pijpleiding, dwars door de gebieden en onder/over de rivieren van deze volkeren….. Deze oliepijpleidingen gaan zonder enige
twijfel lekken, zoals al die pijpleidingen doen in de VS* (en elders) en daarmee
zal een groot gebied inclusief een rivier van o.a. het Sioux volk zwaar worden vervuild……… Hetzelfde gebeurt overigens in Zuid-Amerika……
Tijd dat
de hele overgebleven natuurvolkeren en natuurgebieden op onze kleine aarde zo worden benaderd als men in Nieuw-Zeeland voor de Maori’s doet, zodat we
eindelijk eens echt kunnen werken aan natuurbehoud, i.p.v. alles naar
de kloten te helpen, zoals helaas nu nog steeds gebeurt…… (en dat voor fossiele brandstoffen, die bij verbranding een enorme milieuvervuiling veroorzaken en ons klimaat naar de gallemiezen helpt…..)
New
Zealand Grants Mountain the Same Legal Rights as a Person
December
27, 2017 at 3:25 pm
Written
by Darius
Shahtahmasebi
(ANTIMEDIA) — New
Zealand just granted a mountain the same legal rights as a person,
the Guardian reports.
Located in New Zealand’s North Island, Mount Taranaki will be the
third geographic landmark in the country to be deemed a “legal
personality.”
Mount
Taranaki is
120,000 years old and is also a dormant volcano that last erupted in
1775. Under the new designation, if a person or entity brings harm to
the mountain, the legal rights protecting the mountain will be the
same afforded to an ordinary individual. The move also entails that
the land “owns itself” and cannot be owned by another human.
From the New
Zealand Herald:
Guardianship
of the sacred mountain will be shared between eight local Maori
tribes (New Zealand’s indigenous population) and the government.
The decision is a long-awaited acknowledgment of the indigenous
people’s relationship with the mountain. They view it as an
ancestor and family member.
“All
Crown-owned land within the National Park will be vested in a legal
personality, meaning the land will own itself – a special legal
status that has previously been granted to Te Urewera and the
Whanganui River.
“The
concept was considered groundbreaking and was used to neutralise the
controversial issue of ownership. Instead of human ownership over the
environment, it embraces the Maori relationship with the land and
recognises its cultural and spiritual significance.”
The
acknowledgment was made through a record of understanding, which was
signed last week. The record of understanding also noted that
the mountain is an ever-present and personified ancestor that
“transcend[s] our perception of time, location, culture and
spirit.“
“Their
presence pervades our scenery, projecting mystery, adventure and
beauty, capturing our attention and our imagination in how humanity
can be closely bound to a landscape,” it
stated.
According
to Andrew Little, New Zealand’s minister for treaty negotiations
(in this case, the Treaty
of Waitangi),
Mount Taranaki will now become a “legal personality in its own
right,” offering the “best possible protection” for the
increasingly popular tourist attraction.
“As
a New Plymouth local I grew up under the gaze of the maunga
[mountain] so I’m particularly pleased with the respect accorded to
local tangata whenua [local people] and the legal protection and
personality given to the mountain,” Little
said.
“Today’s
agreements are a major milestone in acknowledging the grievances and
hurt from the past as the Taranaki iwi experienced some of the worst
examples of Crown behaviour in the 19th century.”
One
of the more successful aspects of the development is that as part of
the agreement, the New Zealand government is required to apologize to
local Maori for the previous breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi it
has made against the mountain. However, local tribes will not receive
any monetary redress as compensation.
The
recent move follows a Waitangi Tribunal report from 1996 that said
there was no valid basis for the government’s confiscation of the
Mountain from the Maori in the first place.
“It
[Mt Taranaki] provides that sense of place, social association and
identity,” Taranaki
Iwi’s (Tribe) Chief Negotiator, Jamie Tuuta, told Fairfax media.
Earlier
this year, New Zealand granted the
90-mile Whanganui River the same legal rights as a person in a
similar move. India followed suit
not long after. New Zealand also granted similar rights to a national
park known
as Te Urewera.
“We
can trace our genealogy to the origins of the universe, and
therefore, rather than us being masters of the natural world, we are
part of it,” stated
Gerrard Albert, who negotiated legal personhood for the Whanganui
river.
Missing
from the discussion on this issue is that the New Zealand government
will retain guardianship of the mountain — the same New Zealand
government that is working to cement the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Agreement (TPPA) with full
knowledge that
many Maori claimants view the agreement as detrimental to their
native rights.
Despite
its positive implications, also missing from this topic is the notion
of where such a move will lead the human race in the years to come,
particularly in relation to artificial intelligence (AI). Saudi
Arabia recently granted citizenship status to a robot,
and it is not too farfetched to assume that in the very near future
we will be seeing legal protection afforded to more than just our
sacred mountains and rivers.
Creative
Commons / Anti-Media / Report
a typo
=========================================
* Zie: ”List of pipeline accidents in the United States in the 21st century‘ (stuitend!!)
