A major conference on the state and future of Pacific media is taking place this week in Fiji.
Dr David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report and deputy chair of Asia Pacific Media Network, joins #PacificMornings to discuss the event and reflect on his work covering Asia-Pacific current affairs and research for more than four decades.
Pacific Journalism Review, which Dr Robie founded at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994, celebrated 30 years of publishing at the conference tonight.
Other Pacific Mornings items on 4 July 2024: The health sector is reporting frustration at unchanging mortality rates for babies and mothers in New Zealand. PMMRC chairperson John Tait joined #PacificMornings to discuss further.
Labour Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni joined #PacificMornings to discuss the political news of the week.
We are one week into a month of military training exercises held in Hawai’i, known as RIMPAC.
Twenty-nine countries and 25,000 personnel are taking part, including New Zealand. Hawai’ian academic and Pacific studies lecturer Emalani Case joined #PacificMornings to discuss further.
Republished from Pacific Media Network’s Radio 531pi and Asia Pacific Report with permission.
Global Voices interviews veteran author, journalist and educator David Robie who discusses the state of Pacific media, journalism education, and the role of the press in addressing decolonisation and the climate crisis.
INTERVIEW: By Mong Palatino in Manila
Professor David Robie is among this year’s New Zealand Order of Merit awardees and was on the King’s Birthday Honours list earlier this month for his “services to journalism and Asia-Pacific media education.”
His career in journalism has spanned five decades. He was the founding editor of the Pacific Journalism Review journal in 1994 and in 1996 he established the Pacific Media Watch, a media rights watchdog group.
He was head of the journalism department at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1993–1997 and at the University of the South Pacific from 1998–2002. While teaching at Auckland University of Technology, he founded the Pacific Media Centre in 2007.
In 2015, he was given the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) Asian Communication Award in Dubai. Global Voices interviewed him about the challenges faced by journalists in the Pacific and his career. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MONG PALATINO (MP): What are the main challenges faced by the media in the region?
DAVID ROBIE (DR): Corruption, viability, and credibility — the corruption among politicians and influence on journalists, the viability of weak business models and small media enterprises, and weakening credibility. After many years of developing a reasonably independent Pacific media in many countries in the region with courageous and independent journalists in leadership roles, many media groups are becoming susceptible to growing geopolitical rivalry between powerful players in the region, particularly China, which is steadily increasing its influence on the region’s media — especially in Solomon Islands — not just in development aid.
However, the United States, Australia and France are also stepping up their Pacific media and journalism training influences in the region as part of “Indo-Pacific” strategies that are really all about countering Chinese influence.
Indonesia is also becoming an influence in the media in the region, for other reasons. Jakarta is in the middle of a massive “hearts and minds” strategy in the Pacific, mainly through the media and diplomacy, in an attempt to blunt the widespread “people’s” sentiment in support of West Papuan aspirations for self-determination and eventual independence.
MP: What should be prioritised in improving journalism education in the region?
DR: The university-based journalism schools, such as at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, are best placed to improve foundation journalism skills and education, and also to encourage life-long learning for journalists. More funding would be more beneficial channelled through the universities for more advanced courses, and not just through short-course industry training. I can say that because I have been through the mill both ways — 50 years as a journalist starting off in the “school of hard knocks” in many countries, including almost 30 years running journalism courses and pioneering several award-winning student journalist publications. However, it is important to retain media independence and not allow funding NGOs to dictate policies.
MP: How can Pacific journalists best fulfill their role in highlighting Pacific stories, especially the impact of the climate crisis?
DR: The best strategy is collaboration with international partners that have resources and expertise in climate crisis, such as the Earth Journalism Network to give a global stage for their issues and concerns. When I was still running the Pacific Media Centre, we had a high profile Pacific climate journalism Bearing Witness project where students made many successful multimedia reports and award-winning commentaries. An example is this one on YouTube: Banabans of Rabi: A Story of Survival
Banabans of Banabans of Rabi: A Story of Survival. Video: Pacific Media Centre
MP: What should the international community focus on when reporting about the Pacific?
DR: It is important for media to monitor the Indo-Pacific rivalries, but to also keep them in perspective — so-called ”security” is nowhere as important to Pacific countries as it is to its Western neighbours and China. It is important for the international community to keep an eye on the ball about what is important to the Pacific, which is ‘development’ and ‘climate crisis’ and why China has an edge in some countries at the moment.
Australia and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand have dropped the ball in recent years, and are tying to regain lost ground, but concentrating too much on “security”. Listen to the Pacific voices.
There should be more international reporting about the “hidden stories” of the Pacific such as the unresolved decolonisation issues — Kanaky New Caledonia, “French” Polynesia (Mā’ohi Nui), both from France; and West Papua from Indonesia. West Papua, in particular, is virtually ignored by Western media in spite of the ongoing serious human rights violations. This is unconscionable.
Mong Palatino is regional editor of Global Voices for Southeast Asia. An activist and former two-term member of the Philippine House of Representatives, he has been blogging since 2004 at mongster’s nest. @mongsterRepublished with permission.
“If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth.” — Julian Assange. Image: @sahouraxo
COMMENTARY:By Caitlin Johnstone
Julian Assange is free. He is en route to Australia after appearing in court in Saipan, capital of Northern Mariana Islands, a remote US territory in the western Pacific where he pleaded guilty to a single charge of espionage as part of a deal with the US Justice Department.
He is now returning to his home country of Australia a free man.
Shortly after the guilty plea, WikiLeaks shared the flight schedule for his onward flight showing the aircraft arriving in Canberra in Australia at 6.41pm today.
Importantly, according to experts I’ve seen commenting on this astonishing latest development it doesn’t appear that his plea deal will set any new legal precedents that will be harmful to journalists going forward.
Joe Lauria reports the following for Consortium News:
“Bruce Afran, a US constitutional lawyer, told Consortium News that a plea deal does not create a legal precedent. Therefore Assange’s deal would not jeopardise journalists in the future of being prosecuted for accepting and publishing classified information from a source because of Assange’s agreeing to such a charge.”
I’ve obviously got a lot of big feels about all this, having followed this important case so closely for so long and having put so much work into writing about it. There’s so very, very much work to be done in our collective struggle to liberate the world from the talons of the imperial murder machine, but I am overjoyed for Assange and his family, and it feels good to mark a solid win in this fight.
None of this undoes the unforgivable evils the empire inflicted in its persecution of Julian Assange however, or reverses the worldwide damage that has been done by making a public example of him to show what happens to a journalist who tells inconvenient truths about the world’s most powerful government.
So while Assange may be free, we cannot rightly say that justice has been done.
Justice would look like Assange being granted a full and unconditional pardon and receiving millions of dollars in compensation from the US government for the torment they put him through by his imprisonment in Belmarsh beginning in 2019, his de facto imprisonment in the Ecuadorian embassy beginning in 2012, and his jailing and house arrest beginning in 2010.
Justice would look like the US making concrete legal and policy changes guaranteeing that Washington could never again use its globe-spanning power and influence to destroy the life of a foreign journalist for reporting inconvenient facts about it, and issuing a formal apology to Julian Assange and his family.
Judge asked Assange what Assange did to constitute crime charged: “Working as a journalist I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information. I believe that the First Amendment protected that activity… “
— Thomas Mangloña II (@thomasreporting) June 26, 2024
Justice would look like the arrest and prosecution of the people whose war crimes Assange exposed, and the arrest and prosecution of everyone who helped ruin his life for exposing those crimes. This would include a whole host of government operatives and officials across numerous countries, and multiple US presidents.
Justice would look like a hero’s welcome and a hero’s honours from Australia upon his arrival, and a serious revision of Canberra’s obsequious relationship with Washington.
Justice would look like formal apologies to Assange and his family from the editorial boards of all the mainstream press outlets which manufactured consent for his vicious persecution — including and especially The Guardian — and the complete destruction of the reputations of every unscrupulous “presstitute” who helped smear him over the years.
— Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان (@Marwa__Osman) June 25, 2024
If these things happened, then we could perhaps argue that justice has been served to some extent.
As it stands all we have is the cessation of one single act of depravity by an Empire who’s only backing off to make room for newer, more important depravities. We all still live under a globe-spanning power structure which has shown the entire world that it will destroy your life if you expose its criminality, and then stand back and proudly call this justice.
So I personally think I’m just going to take this one small victory in stride with a quick “thank you” to the heavens and get back to work. There is still so much to do, and vanishingly little time to do it.
A demonstration in Paris not far from the Justice Ministry calling for the release of the Kanak political prisoners. Image: NC la 1ère TV screenshot APR
By Patrick Decloitre
A group of pro-independence leaders charged with allegedly organising protests that turned into violent unrest in New Caledonia last month have been indicted and transferred to mainland France where they will be held in custody pending trial.
CCAT leader Christian Téin, organiser of a series of marches and protests, mainly peaceful in New Caledonia . . . transferred to prison in Mulhouse, north-eastern France. Image: NZ La 1ère TV screenshot APR
‘If this was about making new martyrs of the pro-independence cause, then there would not have been a better way to do it.’
— A defence lawyer
The indicted group members are suspected of “giving orders” within a “Field Action Coordinating Cell” (CCAT) that was set up last year by Union Calédonienne (UC), the largest and one of the more radical parties forming the pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) unbrella group.
On behalf of CCAT, Téin organised a series of marches and protests, mainly peaceful, in New Caledonia, to oppose plans by the French government to change eligibility rules for local elections, which the pro-independence movement said would further marginalise indigenous Kanak voters.
Late on Saturday, New Caledonia’s Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas told local media the indictment followed a decision made by one of the two “liberties and detention” judges dedicated to the case on the same day.
A heavy security cordon around Nouméa’s courthouse last Satuday. Image: NC la 1ère TV/RNZ
The judge had ruled that Christian Téin should be temporarily transferred to a jail in Mulhouse (northeastern France), Téin’s lawyer Pierre Ortet told media.
Téin was seen entering the investigating judge’s chambers on Saturday afternoon, local time, and leaving the office about half an hour later after he had been told of his indictment.
Other suspects include Brenda Wanabo-Ipeze, described as the CCAT’s communications officer, who is to be transferred to another French jail in Dijon (southeast France).
Frédérique Muliava, described as chief-of-staff of New Caledonia’s Congress President Roch Wamytan (also a major figure of the UC party), is to be sent to another jail in Riom (near Clermont-Ferrand, Central France).
The “presumed order-givers of the acts committed starting from 12 May 2024” are facing a long list of charges, including incitement, conspiracy, and complicity to instigate murders on officers entrusted with public authority.
The transfer was decided to “ensure investigations can continue in a serene way and away from any pressure”, Dupas said.
‘Shock’, ‘surprise’, ‘stupor’ reactions Thomas Gruet, Wanabo-Ipeze’s lawyer, commented with shock about the judge’s decision: “My client would never have imagined ending up here. She is extremely shocked because, in her view, this is just about activism.”
He said his client had “spent the whole of her first night (of indictment) handcuffed”.
Gruet said he was “extremely shocked and astounded” by this decision.
“I believe all the mistakes regarding the management of this crisis have now been made by the judiciary, which has responded politically. My client is an activist who has never called for violence. This will be a long trial, but we will demonstrate that she has never committed the charges she faces.”
About midnight local time, Gruet was seen bringing his client a large pink suitcase containing a few personal effects which he had collected from her house.
The transferred suspects are believed to have boarded a special flight in the early hours of Sunday.
Téin’s lawyer, Pierre Ortet, said “we are surprised and in a stupor”.
“We have already appealed (the ruling). Mr Téin intends to defend himself against the charges. It will be a long and complicated case.”
Another defence lawyer, Stéphane Bonomo, commented: “If this was about making new martyrs of the pro-independence cause, then there would not have been a better way to do it.”
On the French national political level and in the context of electoral campaigning ahead of the snap general election, to be held on 30 June and 7 July, far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the decision to transfer Téin was “an alienation of his rights and a gross and dramatic political mistake”.
Late hearings at the Nouméa court last Saturday . . . accused pro-independence leaders being transferred to prisons in France to await trial. Image: NC la 1ère TV/RNZ
Other indicted persons Among other persons who were indicted at the weekend are Guillaume Vama and Joël Tjibaou, the son of charismatic pro-independence FLNKS leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, who signed the Matignon Accord peace agreement in 1988 and was assassinated one year later by a hardline member of the pro-independence movement.
Tjibaou and several others have asked for a delay to prepare their defence and they will be heard tomorrow.
Pending that hearing, they will not be transferred to mainland France and will be kept in custody in Nouméa, Tjibaou’s lawyer Claire Ghiani said.
Why CCAT leaders are targeted The indicted group members are suspected of giving the orders within the CCAT.
The constitutional amendment that would allow voters residing in New Caledonia for a minimum period of 10 years to take part in New Caledonia’s provincial elections, has been passed by both of France’s houses of Parliament (the Senate, on April 2 and the French National Assembly, on May 14).
But the text, which still requires a final vote from the French Congress (a joint sitting of both Houses), has now been “suspended” by President Macron, mainly due to his calling of the snap general election on June 30 and July 7.
Violent riots involving the burning, and looting of more than 600 businesses and 200 residential homes, erupted mainly in the capital Nouméa starting from May 13.
Nine people, including two French gendarmes, have died as a result of the violent clashes.
More than 7000 people are already believed to have lost their jobs for a total financial damage estimate now well over 1 billion euros (NZ$1.8 billion) as a result of the unrest.
CCAT has consistently denied responsibility for the grave ongoing and violent civil unrest and Téin was featured on public television “calling for calm”.
Fresh clashes in Nouméa and outer islands Meanwhile, there has been a new upsurge of violence and clashes in Nouméa and its surroundings, including the townships of Dumbéa (where about 30 rioters attempted to attack the local police station) and the neighbourhoods of Vallée-du-Tir, Magenta and Tuband, reports NC la 1ère TV.
On the outer island of Lifou (Loyalty Islands group, northeast of the main island), the airstrip was damaged and as a result, all Air Calédonie flights were cancelled.
Patrick Decloitre is the RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Former Green Party MP and foreign affairs spokesperson Keith Locke . . . While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand's involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights including in the case of Ahmed Zaoui. Image: RNZ/Green Party
“He will be greatly missed by his partner Michele, his family, friends and colleagues. He kept up his interest and support for the causes he was passionate about to the last.
“He was a man of integrity, courage and kindness who lived his values in every part of his life. He touched many lives in the course of his work in politics and activism.”
The son of activists Elsie and Jack Locke of Christchurch, Keith was politically aware from an early age, and was involved in the first anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid marches of the 1960s.
After a Masters degree at the University of Alberta in Canada, he returned to New Zealand and left academia to edit a fortnightly newspaper for the Socialist Action League, a union he had joined as a meatworker then railway workshop employee.
He joined NewLabour in 1989, which later became part of the Alliance party, and split off into the Greens when they broke apart from the Alliance in 1997, entering Parliament as their foreign affairs spokesperson in the subsequent election two years later.
Notable critic of NZ in Afghanistan
While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights including in the case of Ahmed Zaoui.
He also long advocated for New Zealand to become a republic, putting forward a member’s bill which would have led to a referendum on the matter.
Commentators dubbed him variously the ‘Backbencher of the Year’ in 2002 — an award he reprised from a different outlet in 2010 — as well as the ‘Politician of the Year’ in 2003, and ‘Conscience of the Year’ in 2004.
He was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to human rights advocacy in 2021, received NZ Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender award in 2012, and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand’s Harmony Award in 2013.
In a statement today, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick said Locke was a dear friend and leading figure in the party’s history, who never wavered in holding government and those in positions of authority to account.
“As a colleague and friend, Keith will be keenly missed by the Greens. He has been a shining light for the rights of people and planet. Keith Locke leaves a legacy that his family and all who knew him can be proud of. Moe mai ra e te rangatira,” they said.
“From 1999 to 2011, he served our party with distinction and worked extremely hard to advance causes central to our kaupapa,” they said.
Highlighting ‘human rights crises’
“Not only did Keith work to defend civil liberties at home, but he was vigilant in highlighting human rights crises in other countries, including the Philippines, East Timor, West Papua and in Latin America.
“We particularly acknowledge his strong and clear opposition to the Iraq War, and his commitment to an independent and principled foreign policy for Aotearoa.”
They said his mahi as a fearless defender of civil liberties was exemplified in his efforts to challenge government overreach into citizens’ privacy.
“Keith worked very hard to introduce reforms of our country’s security intelligence services. While there is much more to be done, the improvements in transparency that have occurred over the past two decades are in large part due to his advocacy and work. We will honour him by ensuring we carry on such work.”
Former minister Peter Dunne said on social media he was “very saddened” to learn of Locke’s death.
“Although we were on different ideological planets, we always got on and worked well together on a number of issues. Keith had my enduring respect for his integrity and honesty. Rest in peace, friend.”
‘Profoundly saddened’
Auckland councillor Christine Fletcher said she was also sad to hear of the death of her “Mt Eden neighbour”.
“We worked together on several political campaigns in the 1990s. Keith was a thoughtful, sincere and truly decent person. My condolences to Keith’s partner Michele, sister Maire Leadbeater and partner Graeme East.”
Peace Action Wellington said Locke was a tireless activist for peace and justice — and the organisation was “profoundly saddened” by his death.
“His voice and presence will be missed,” the organisation wrote on social media.
“He was fearless. He spoke with the passion of someone who knows all too well the vast and dangerous reach of the state into people’s lives as someone who was under state surveillance from the time he was a child.
“We acknowledge Keith’s amazing whānau who have a long whakapapa of peace and justice activism. He was a good soul who will be missed.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Vale #KeithLocke, tireless and fearless campaigner for peace, justice and a sustainable future for a green planet … I’ll also remember him for friendship and commitment to independent truth publishing and OneWorld progressive bookshop. – @DavidRobie, editor, #AsiaPacificReportpic.twitter.com/SC0obJzfOA
A pro-Palestinian advocacy group has put the New Zealand government “on notice” over its alleged complicity with Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza now in its eighth month.
The PSNA said in the letter that “with the support of the Palestinian community,
human rights advocates, and community organisations, [we] hereby raise our concerns as to Aotearoa’s breaches of international law in relation to the unfolding situation in Gaza, as well as the individual criminal liability which may attach to New Zealand Government Ministers, Members of Parliament and other officials for aiding and abetting international crimes committed by Israel, including genocide, pursuant to the Rome Statute.
“This letter hereby puts you on notice for any relevant breach of the New Zealand domestic law or international law.”
PSNA’S National chair John Minto said that “in writing this letter to you, we have engaged the assistance of several legal experts, students, academics, and human rights advocates.”
In a separate explanatory statement, Minto said the letter of demand “signals our intent with the support of members of the Palestinian community to pursue legal accountability for the lack of actions taken by the government, and key government ministers, in their roles.
“PSNA is deeply concerned about New Zealand failing to uphold our legal responsibilities under the Genocide Convention which requires the government to take actions that ‘prevent and punish the crime of genocide’.”
The letter was addressed to nine cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
The other ministers are Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, Attorney-General Judith Collins, Immigration Minister Erica Standford, Regulation Minister David Seymour, Trade Minister and Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Todd McClay, Minister for Women Nicola Grigg, Associate Minister of Immigration Casey Costello, and Associate Minister of Defence Chris Penk.
‘We have never seen anything like this’: UN Commission of Inquiry head Video: Al Jazeera
NZ’s obligations
The letter stated that New Zealand’s obligations under international law were:
Its responsibility under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) to prevent and to punish the ongoing genocide in Gaza;
Its obligation pursuant to the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; and
Its obligations under customary international law to cooperate with other states to bring an end Israel’s ongoing serious breaches of peremptory norms, and to refrain from aiding or assisting Israel in those breaches.
Alleged breaches
The PSNA letter alleged the following breaches of international law:
The opening page of the PSNA “letter of “intent” to the New Zealand government dated 20 June 2024. Image: Screenshot
Potential failure to prevent the export of military components for use in weaponry by Israel. Specifically, failure to adequately regulate Rakon Limited (a company based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland) regarding the export of components to the United States for use in military equipment, which may be being used in Israel’s genocide;
Sending New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel to train alongside Israel Defence Forces during the US-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercises beginning on 26 June 2024;
Sending NZDF personnel to assist in United States and United Kingdom-led military operations against the Houthis in Yemen, with the effect of suppressing regional protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza;
Withholding approval for funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA);
Failure to provide humanitarian visas to Palestinians in Gaza who have family members in Aotearoa (by contrast with the 2022 Special Ukraine Visa for Ukrainians fleeing from war);
Failure to take any measures of retortion against Israel, such as expelling diplomats or suspending diplomatic relations;
Continuing to allow shipping company ZIM to use New Zealand ports;
Failure to suspend the Israel Working Holiday Visa for Israeli citizens who have served with the Israel Defence Forces carrying out international crimes;
Relatedly, failure to implement a ban on investments in, and imports from, companies building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in line with UN Security Council resolution 2334 (UNSC2334 was co-sponsored at the UN Security Council by New Zealand in 2016); and
Failure to engage with proceedings in the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and failing to denounce Israel’s breaches of ICJ rulings, most notably by illegally continuing its military assault on Rafah.
Minto concluded the detailed 39-page letter including supporting appendices by saying, “It is not too late for Aotearoa to hold Israel to account and to help bring an end to its impunity, and its atrocities.
“New Zealand must defend the international rule of law. We may rely upon it ourselves one day.”
PSNA plans to take further steps if it fails to get a “meaningful response” from the government and the relevant ministers by 18 July 2024.
Former journalist and "media minder" of the 2000 coup Joe Nata . . . an "unwelcome blast from the past", says writer Graham Davis. Image: Grubsheet/FT
COMMENTARY: By Graham Davis
The Fiji Times totally crossed the line today by using a convicted felon who took part in the 2000 coup to call for the release of the coup frontman George Speight.
Journalist Josefa Nata spent 23 years in prison for his part in the rebellion. He has served his time and deserves his freedom.
But he does not deserve to have the front page of Fiji’s traditional newspaper of record for any reason at all short of naming the shadowy figures behind the rebellion or throwing new light on our understanding of what took place.
Does he do so? Not a chance. The headline says: “Nata on Coup”. Yet nowhere is there any detail of what occurred 24 years ago.
So why would The Fiji Times give him the front page for his pedestrian musings on how his “time in jail has helped him to realise his wrongdoings”? The answer is revealed on page 2 – Joe Nata’s call for his fellow conspirator, George Speight, to be released from prison.
He reveals that he has already had discussions with the ousted attorney-general, Siromi Turaga, and the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, to press Speight’s case. And now he wants to meet the Commander of the RFMF, Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai, to try to persuade him that the 2000 coup leader has done his time.
Until now, General Kalouniwai has insisted that Speight cannot be released without it being a threat to national security. The RFMF Commander has given undertakings to his fellow officers that he will not countenance Speight being set free.
And Grubsheet understands that he has conveyed that position to the government through the Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua.
Legalities clear
The legal position is clear. George Speight was the last person to be sentenced to death in Fiji. In 2002, he wept as High Court judge Justice Michael Scott donned a black cap over his horse-hair wig to protect him from the eyes of God and pronounced that for his treason against the state, Speight should “hang from the neck until dead”.
He then used the famous accompanying words: “And may God have mercy on your soul”.
Soon afterwards, Speight’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. That was a pardon in itself. So axiomatically George Speight cannot be pardoned again by being released with the other 2000 conspirators who were sentenced to long terms in jail.
The Mercy Commission instigated by Siromi Turaga at the urging of the nationalist hardliners in the Coalition may have released Joe Nata and most notably so far, the Qaranivalu, Ratu Inoke Takiveikata, who instigated the mutiny in the RFMF in November 2000. But it cannot release George Speight.
Having been sentenced to death and having had that sentence commuted to life imprisonment, life means life for George. It is the law and for the Coalition to make an exception for the man who brought Fiji to its knees in 2000 would open a pandora’s box filled to the brim with a great many imponderables. Foremost of these would be the potential threat to national security.
George Speight isn’t some doddering and harmless old man but a super-fit and charismatic figure who is said to still command a great deal of authority in Naboro Prison. Those who have met him in recent years say he retains the strut and cockiness of the man who shot to global infamy by removing the former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, at gunpoint and holding the nation’s MPs hostage in the parliamentary complex for 56 days.
He is also said to be unrepentant about what he did and remains a hard-line indigenous supremacist. And there is clear evidence that he doesn’t regard himself as being bound by the normal strictures of what constitutes appropriate behaviour for most people.
Great deal of upheaval
A well-meaning New Zealand couple I know who shall remain nameless went to visit George Speight in Naboro a few years ago thinking they could help him. But George’s idea of help was to ask whether he could have sex with the woman with her husband’s consent.
So his virility isn’t in question. Neither is his potential to cause a great deal of upheaval in Fiji.
The Fiji Times front page today . . . “Nata on coup”. Image: Grubsheet/FT
So why is The Fiji Times actively, albeit indirectly, advocating for his release? Because it is evidently a mouthpiece for those elements in the Coalition who want to complete the agenda Sitiveni Rabuka and George Speight shared of entrenching iTaukei supremacy by any means, including their coups of 1987 and 2000.
Now that Sitiveni Rabuka has been restored to power, these elements now want George Speight freed. The difference is that Rabuka wasn’t sentenced to death for his treason. George Speight was.
It is the height of journalistic irresponsibility for The Fiji Times to provide a public soapbox for a criminal like Joe Nata to agitate for a course of action that is not only contrary to the law but has the potential to trigger all sorts of consequences that are contrary to the national interest.
There is already enough instability in Fiji right now without throwing fuel on the fire. And the Commander of the RFMF must be persuaded to hold the line against any attempt to free George Speight.
This is not ancient history. Indeed the man Speight removed at gunpoint, Mahendra Chaudhry, is still with us, still leads the Fiji Labour Party and still intends to contest the next election. He should be able to do so without the malignant presence of his tormentor.
Because far from intending to disappear quietly into the shadows in the event of his release, George Speight is evidently intent on a political comeback. And that must not be allowed to happen.
Fiji-born to missionary parents and a dual Fijian-Australian national, Graham Davis is an award-winning investigative journalist turned communications consultant who was the Fiji government’s principal communications advisor for six years from 2012 to 2018 and continued to work on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign up until the end of the decade. Republished from Grubsheet with permission.
Coup frontman George Speight (centre in tie). . . tearful after being handed his death sentence (later commuted to life in prison). Image: www.grubsheet.com.au
Palestinian lawyer and advocate Diana Buttu . . . "You could see from the 1990s, even up until 2006, that there wasn't free access or free flow of people or of goods into the Gaza Strip. To the contrary, Israel was controlling all aspects of that." Image: Freedom Flotilla Coalition screenshot Café Pacific
An international lawyer and former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Diana Buttu, says it is a myth that the siege on Gaza began in 2006/2007.
She has explained in a Gaza Freedom Flotilla video released on YouTube that Israel’s control and closure on Gaza started decades earlier.
The Israeli military closed Gaza off from the world, continuously ignoring international law and diplomatic efforts to end the blockade, making this current genocide possible, said Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian.
Geneva Convention 1949 . . . “Instead, what Israel has done is create a system of blockade and closure,” says lawyer Diana Buttu. Image: Freedom Flotilla screen shot APR
Buttu argued that this made global efforts to break the siege on Gaza — foremost among them, the Freedom Flotilla—all the more imperative.
“Look, the Israeli logic when it comes to Palestinians, is that what won’t be learned with force, will only be learned with more force.” she said.
“One of the most important things right now is to break that siege and break that blockade”.
Israel ‘could turn off the tap’
She also said: “The reason why they [Israel] could turn off the tap, so to speak, was because of the fact that they had been maintaining such a brutal siege and blockade on the Gaza Strip.
“Add that together, and you can see that the impact and the intent is genocide.’
Kia Ora Gaza is the Aotearoa New Zealand affiliated member of the international Freedom Flotilla collective and several Kiwi participants re taking part.
Auckland activists Youssef Sammour and Rana Hamida being farewelled at Auckland International Airport on the first stage of their protest waka last Sunday. Image: Rana Hamida/Freedom Flotilla
“Currently about to head to the airport to take the last flight to La Rochelle, France, where we will be joining the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship Handala.
“Please share and keep an eye on the waka.
“The more you are courageous to follow up and open your eyes — the safer the mission is.
“A mission guided by love to all human beings.
“Guided by the deep knowing of the equally vital solidarity with those the most in need of it.
“Acknowledge your role — it’s time.
“More updates as we go.”
Republished in collaboration with Kia Ora Gaza.
Diana Buttu on the Biggest Myth About Israel’s Siege of Gaza. Video: Freedom Flotilla
Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths of Plains FM96.9 radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region.
Dr Robie has just been made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM) and Earthwise ask him what this means to him. Why has he campaigned for so long for Pacific issues to receive media attention?
Do Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia really feel like part of the Pacific world? What are the growing concerns about increasing militarisation in the Pacific and spreading Chinese influence?
And why is decolonisation in Kanaky New Caledonia from France such a pressing issue? Dr Robie also draws parallels between the Kanak, Palestinian and West Papuan struggles.
Interviewee: Dr David Robie, deputy chair of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) and a semiretired professor of Pacific journalism. He founded the Pacific Media Centre.
Interviewers: Lois and Martin Griffiths, Earthwise programme
New Zealand activists Youssef Sammour and Rana Hamida have been selected to join the volunteer crew on the international Freedom Flotilla ship Handala, currently visiting European ports and heading to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.
Youssef Sammour at a recent Auckland rally for Palestine. Image: Kia Ora Gaza
They will be farewelled at 10:30am upstairs at the Auckland International Airport today, reports Kia Ora Gaza.
Trevor Hogan, a former Irish rugby champion and pro-Palestinian activist who participated in several flotillas that were water cannoned and pirated by the Israeli military in the past, has sent a special message to the volunteers and those supporting the freedom missions in “a time of great, unquantifiable grief”.
“While our Handala has just left the Irish port of Cobh and we continue to work on reflagging the flotilla ships stuck in Istanbul, the decades of solidarity from Ireland remains palpable, unwavering and tremendously significant for Palestinians and the wider diaspora,” said Kia Ora Gaza.
“This is a reminder to everyone watching: on those dark days, take time to regroup, regather, and come back again. Until Palestine is free.”
Trevor Hogan’s message to the world in support of Palestine. Video: Freedom Flotila Coalition
Concerns raised over US ‘floating pier’
Meanwhile, Ahmed Omar in Monoweiss reports that in March 2024, US President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address that the US would be building a temporary “floating pier” on the Gaza shoreline to deliver “humanitarian aid” to the starving population in Gaza.
“No US boots will be on the ground,” he promised.
Since then, however, critics have raised concerns that the pier is not only being used for “humanitarian” purposes but is being employed for military activities that aid in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.
An intelligence source from within the resistance in Gaza, who spoke to Mondoweiss under conditions of anonymity, said there were mounting signs the US pier could also be used to forcibly displace Palestinians.
This would provide an alternative to the original Israeli plan of forcing Palestinians into the Sinai, which was rejected by Egypt early on in the war.
“The floating pier project is an American solution to the displacement dilemma in Gaza,” the source said.
“It goes beyond both the Israeli solution of displacing Gazans into Sinai . . . and the Egyptian suggestion of displacing [Gazans] into the Naqab [desert].”
Instead, the source said, the US pier would be used to facilitate the displacement of Gazans to Cyprus, and then eventually to Lebanon or Europe.
The US pier was at the centre of coverage of the massacre, as multiple news sources, videos, and eyewitness accounts from Gaza indicated that US forces may have been involved in the operation and that humanitarian trucks entering Nuseirat were hiding the Israeli soldiers that carried out the massacre.
