The Second Coming
Words by Vic Bell | Kāi Tahu | She/Her
N.A.C. Airliner, Wednesday 9 November 1955, 8:18pm
You pretend you don't see your husband's hand pinch the air hostess' bottom. It's your first time on an airplane and you're excited, even called your girlfriend on the telephone to ask what you should wear. The other women are perfectly made up, hands folded in their laps as they sit next to chain smoking husbands.
Out the window, a bright green light hovers.
"What on earth is that?"
Whispers rise in the cabin.
In the cockpit, the pilot known in NZDF records only as “Capt. Rainbow” radios in the control tower. But there is no WP beacon operating tonight. He turns ghostly white and asks his co-pilot what to do.
"Don't tell the women on board, we don't want to distress them."
***
The New Zealand Defence Force declassified their UFO files in 2010 and anyone with a valid NZ photo ID can go read them in The National Archives. They started recording flying saucer correspondence in 1952, so there's a lot to chew through.
I wasn't very interested in writing on UFOs per se, or even debating the existence of aliens. I think it’s arrogant to think that we are the only form of sentient life in existence. What I'm really interested in is what would happen if extraterrestrials arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand. Most Māori would say we've already undergone an alien invasion once before, so is it that far fetched to think it could happen again?
I spoke with experts in the fields of immigration, politics, and science fiction to get a better understanding of how our society might react to unexpected visitors.
Immigration
"We like to think we're a compassionate society, but New Zealand has a history of not treating anyone different very well."
Professor Jim McAloon teaches at VUW, and has research interests in New Zealand's history of immigration and race relations. I managed to catch Professor McAloon on a Friday afternoon, and he was good natured enough to humor me and my stupid thought experiment.
New Zealand actually has a lot of legislation referring to ‘aliens’, which is technically still active and could be applied to extraterrestrial visitors. This legislation can be separated into two: that applying to “Race Aliens” (anyone not Māori or from the UK), and “Enemy Aliens” (anyone from countries the Commonwealth was at war with during the World Wars). Statutes include the Alien Act 1948, the Alien Registration Act 1940, and the Aliens Restriction Act 1905. There is even a charming pamphlet titled “From Alien to Citizen” from the 1950s which tells any extraterrestrials what to expect as they adapt to New Zealand society.
As a God-botherer, I believe there is a reason for everything. Usually that reason is racism.
“New Zealand immigration policies truly were not even close to ‘colour blind’ until the 1980s. There was a general assumption that the best immigrants were from the United Kingdom. There was a racial hierarchy, with the United Kingdom at the top, followed by those from Northern Europe. Southern Europeans, such as the Italians, were considered a little bit suss, and Chinese, South Asian and Middle Eastern migrants were at the bottom.”
When Germans first arrived in New Zealand, they were welcomed with open arms, as many were wealthy and invested that wealth in local businesses. They were white, many spoke English, and mixed well with the locals. A little too well. Although they were targeted for their possible threat to national security as tensions rose between England and Germany, their close associations with Māori communities up North was given as even more reason for Pākehā to show patriotism through hatred. Professor McAloon noted close relationships between Germans and Māori as one factor in many iwi choosing not to send their men in the initial recruitment for troops in WWI.
Māori also had close relationships with Chinese immigrants initially attracted to Aotearoa during the gold rushes of the 1800s. As McAloon adds, “of all groups most persecuted in New Zealand history, the Chinese had to be number one.” They were considered to be the most different in terms of appearance, culture and religion, and racial assumptions led to a climate of distrust and discrimination, such as a poll tax specific to Chinese residents.
In terms of immigration status, it is clear that actual, literal aliens would be considered stateless refugees. How favourably they would be treated would really come down to two big questions. Which human race/ethnicity are they closest to in terms of phenotypes, religion, and cultural customs? And what do they have to offer in the way of resources, technologies, or material wealth?
Supplied with a good overview of New Zealand’s immigration history and our treatment of human “aliens”, it was time I asked McAloon the big question. What would happen in the event of extraterrestrial aliens landing here?
“I can’t answer that! It’s one of the biggest philosophical questions of the ages. All I can say is that when people from other parts of the world arrive here, our reactions are distinctly varied. That’s the extent to which I can comment on that.”
Despite not wanting to speculate too much (under government instruction, perhaps?), Professor McAloon's prediction seemed pretty optimistic compared to the ominous picture painted by Professor Richard Hill, who I spoke with next.
Government / Military Response
“The state will procure whatever powers and coercive forces it needs to contain a… situation. As Lord Scarman stressed in enquiry into London’s Brixton Riots, the needs of ‘order’ will prevail over the requirements of the law.”
So much for legislation.
“At first thought, I guess that any extraterrestrial aliens arriving would be seen as breaching immigration laws. If those laws were seen as inadequate, because of (say) sheer numbers and/or hostility, legislation could be rushed through that gave the political executive emergency powers, as happened in wartime and public-order emergencies in New Zealand’s past.”
And as for the military? Professor Hill described the National Security response as very complicated. It is made up of a range of top-level committees and working groups, most prominently the Cabinet National Security Committee. The Officials Committee for Domestic and the External Security Coordination (ODESC) handles a coordinated response to any threats and convenes Watch Groups formed to handle specific crises.
“It's complex, but in the event of anything major the PM is in charge.”
“So the upcoming election would make a significant difference in how our alien visitors are received?”
“Yes, Vic, certainly! It would determine whether the response was a ‘kind’ one, or a crushing one!”
All of this really relies on this idea that we would be the superior power. If aliens have technology anywhere near what we have imagined, they could crush us. So a degree of humility wouldn’t go amiss.
Society
Oprah says that when someone tells you who they are, believe them. History tells us a lot about how we treat immigrants, but we've already written heaps about what we would do if aliens arrived. So literature is a good place to look.
Dougal McNeill is an English Literature lecturer who teaches a course in Science Fiction at VUW.
“I always think of English science fiction as coming from a place of ‘bad conscience’, an acknowledgment of the harm they were doing to the rest of the world through colonisation”.
H.G. Wells’ 1897 novel War of the Worlds is an example of a guilty society blurting out its own name. The novel imagines an alien invasion in contemporary London, and challenges ideas of racial superiority and escalating militarisation in late 19th century Britain. European science fiction is rooted in these ideas of colonisation, which is why the characters’ response to aliens in these stories is usually hostile.
But there are always the good ones. Like Elliot sheltering ET, or groups advocating for alien rights, there are always individuals who take risks to do the right thing.
One real life example is a fellow who has three volumes devoted to him in the NZDF’s UFO files. For nearly 30 years he wrote in detail about his dealings with aliens he sheltered on his farm in Canterbury. He described the 6 foot tall aliens as “good blokes” that healed his ulcer and helped fix his car.
Dougal is optimistic about a possibility where aliens receive a better outcome. One that is based in Te Ao Māori.
Māori
Dougal said Indigenous science fiction narratives are a stark contrast to western stories. Where European sci-fi focuses on hostile colonisation, Indigenous tradition frames alien encounters as an opportunity to show hospitality and form new relationships.
In Te Ao Māori, the separation between the world of man and the supernatural realm is not as definite as it is in the Pākehā worldview. Man is directly descended from our Atua. Experiencing the supernatural or having matakite experiences are normalised.
Concepts of time and space have always been speculated on by Māori. The first official UFO sighting was recorded by Pākehā in 1909. Perhaps Māori had seen this phenomenon before but were fairly unphased?
As well as being more open minded to the out-of-this-world, traditional Māori society is underpinned by values such as manaakitanga that dictate a code of conduct for visitors.
Māori have already provided a framework for positive interaction with our alien visitors. Through treaty relationship, Māori created a sense of space and belonging for Pākehā in Aotearoa.
A cynic would say that approach didn’t turn out terribly fucking well for Māori, but we’re going for blue sky thinking here. And we’ve already been given indication that extraterrestrials are down with the fight for Tino Rangatiratanga.
The Believers
Raëliens believe they are descendants and/or Earth’s representatives for the extraterrestrial species known as Elohim. But don’t confuse them with Scientology or Heaven’s Gate—they actually seem pretty cool.
They have publicly supported the rights of Māori, condemned Pākehā oppression and discrimination, and acknowledged the need for Māori to practice our original culture and spirituality. In 2004 their leader, His Holiness Rael, specifically instructed his followers to show support for Māori in response to that uncle you don’t invite to family BBQs: Don Brash.
Raëliens have given us a heads up that the aliens intending to visit Earth in the near future have good intentions. The Elohims’ main objectives for us are world peace and helping us with scientific advancement.
Although in the 1950s the majority of alien encounters consisted of probing, and tin foil hat wearers would cry doomsday prophecies, today the consensus seems to be that aliens do indeed come in peace.
Conclusion
Well, I think it’s fair to say I’ve done my due diligence. I’ve read countless sci-fi novels, spoken with three bemused academics, speculated with family and friends, and read a particularly cursed manga on the Raëlien website.
The experts all shared the same fears that aliens wouldn’t be treated very well, in line with New Zealand’s abysmal track record with immigrants and refugees. At best our ETs would face discrimination and be used for election time scare tactics. At worst they could be sent to internment camps on Matiu and Motuihe Islands, or be met with a violent military response that violated national and international law.
But who knows what gifts alien visitors could bring?
Dougal McNeill finished our phone call by saying it might be just the leap of faith that we need.
“My first question for an alien would be how have they managed to sustain their society? The world is in turmoil, the United States looks like something straight out of Blade Runner. I feel terrified of ecological collapse. Maybe they’ll have some answers.”