Tyranny of the Majority

My final point about authority from the Maori point of view is the Pakeha's commitment to the tyranny of the majority under the guise of democratic rule. Democratic societies of West-European origin accept the principles of majority rule as a functional convention by which social life is ordered to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number. While the convention of majority rule may have been valid in racially homogenous societies such as Victorian England it is questionable in modern racially heterogenous societies. Since most societies of the world, because of the effects of colonialism or migration are heterogeneous, the effect of majority rule in the overall political structure is to create outvoted minorities. Minority rights have no safeguard in democracies and depend entirely on the whim or altruism of the majority. Because of the modern conditions of plural societies what is needed is a United Nations convention on the rights of minorities.

Maoris in New Zealand constitute an outvoted minority who for a hundred years since the civil disturbances created by Te Kooti have waited on the altruism of the Pakeha majority. When they suffered from a sense of grievance, Maoris in accordance with due process have gone with petitions to Parliament. When they failed to gain redress there, they took their petitions to the Queen of England and more recently in 1972 to the United Nations. There are many illustrations of the operation of the tyranny of the majority in New Zealand, how the Pakeha decides on behalf of the Maori what is good for him. Mention has already been made of the treatment of Maori language and culture, so I will pass on to other matters.