Maori-The New Dawn Reporter Michael Dean New Zealand Maoris have always had a cosy image abroad (the beautiful soprano singing at the Royal Wedding, muscular rugby players in All Black jerseys, graceful dancers in flaxen skirts), but it's one they've come to resent. They never were the happily integrated minority of popular legend and now in the 80s, as their White-dominated society falters in the grip of long recession, Maoris are beginning to assert themselves.
New Zealand, long regarded as a model of social harmony, is beginning to rumble with discontent. Maoris who dominate the social casualty lists - the ill, the jobless, the imprisoned - are demanding a better deal. They want their language and culture revised, and their tribal lands restored. Their faith in themselves is growing, as more and more educated young Maoris embrace old tribal traditions. MICHAEL DEAN , a New Zealander himself, reports on what Maoris believe is a new dawn in the land that for 1,000 years was theirs alone.
Film cameraman MIKE SPOONER Film editor PADDY WILSON Producer TOM CONWAY
Series editor ANTHONY ISAACS