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National | Waitangi

Native Affairs - A Sovereign Nation Part 1

Te iwi Maohi are our neighbours, our whanaunga and they stand at the threshold of tino rangatiratanga.

French Polynesia was invaded by France in 1842 - and they might've done the same here in Aotearoa, if Māori hadn't signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the British two years earlier.

Since then, many Tahitian or Maohi leaders have campaigned to become independent and earlier this year an important milestone was achieved.  The United Nation reinstated the territory to the list for decolonisation.  But not everyone is happy to end the French connection.

In part one of this special report, Iulia Leilua traces the links between French nuclear testing and the Maohi struggle for independence - mana motuhake.