Pacific women show off the colours of the Morning Star flag of West Papuan "independence" at MACFEST2023 in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in July 2023. Image: Stoen/Melanesian Spearhead Group
Research on climate crisis as the new target for disinformation peddlers, governance and the media, China’s growing communication influence, and journalism training strategies feature strongly in the latest Pacific Journalism Review.
Byron C. Clark, author of the recent controversial book Fear: New Zealand’s Hostile Underworld of Extremists, and Canterbury University postgraduate researcher Emanuel Stokes, have produced a case study about climate crisis as the new pandemic disinformation arena with the warning that “climate change or public health emergencies can be seized upon by alternative media and conspiracist influencers” to “elicit outrage and protest”.
The authors argue that journalists need a “high degree of journalistic ethics and professionalism to avoid amplifying hateful, dehumanising narratives”.
PJR editor Dr Philip Cass adds an article unpacking the role of Pacific churches, both positive and negative, in public information activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest Pacific Journalism Review . . . 29(1&2) July 2023.
Several articles deal with media freedom in the Pacific in the wake of the pandemic, including a four-country examination by some of the region’s leading journalists and facilitated by Dr Amanda Watson of Australian National University and associate professor Shailendra Singh of the University of the South Pacific.
They conclude that the pandemic “has been a stark reminder about the link between media freedom and the financial viability of media of organisations, especially in the Pacific”.
Dr Ann Auman, a specialist in crosscultural and global media ethics from the University of Hawai’i, analyses challenges facing the region through a workshop at the newly established Pacific Media Institute in Majuro, Marshall Islands.
Repeal of draconian Fiji law
The ousting of the Voreqe Bainimarama establishment that had been in power in Fiji in both military and “democratic” forms since the 2006 coup opened the door to greater media freedom and the repeal of the draconian Fiji Media Law. Two articles examine the implications of this change for the region.
An Indonesian researcher, Justito Adiprasetio of Universitas Padjadjaran, dissects the impact of Jakarta’s 2021 “terrorist” branding of the Free West Papua movement on six national online news media groups.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, media analyst Dr Gavin Ellis discusses “denying oxygen” to those who create propaganda for terrorists in the light of his recent research with Dr Denis Muller of Melbourne University and how Australia might benefit from New Zealand media initiatives, while RNZ executive editor Jeremy Rees reflects on a historical media industry view of training, drawing from Commonwealth Press Union reviews of the period 1979-2002.
Across the Tasman, Griffith University communication and journalism programme director Dr Kasun Ubayasiri presents a powerful human rights Photoessay documenting how the Meanjin (Brisbane) local community rallied around to secure the release of 120 medevaced refugee men locked up in an urban motel.
Monash University associate professor Johan Lidberg led a team partnering in International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) studies about “the world according to China”, the global media influence strategies of a superpower.
The Frontline section features founding editor Dr David Robie’s case study about the Pacific Media Centre which was originally published by Japan’s Okinawan Journal of Island Studies.
Pacific Journalism Review, founded at the University of Papua New Guinea, is now in its 29th year and is New Zealand’s oldest journalism research publication and the highest ranked communication journal in the country.
A strong Obituary section featuring two personalities involved in investigating the 1975 Balibo Five journalist assassination by Indonesian special forces in East Timor and a founder of the Pacific Media Centre plus nine Reviews round off the edition.
The Solomon Star office in Honiara . . . pledges to use Chinese-funded printing equipment to promote China’s “goodwill” and role as “the most generous and trusted development partner” in Solomon Islands. Image: OCCRP
By Bernadette Carreon and Aubrey Belford
A major daily newspaper in Solomon Islands received nearly US$140,000 in funding from the Chinese government in return for pledges to “promote the truth about China’s generosity and its true intentions to help develop” the Pacific Islands country, according to a leaked document and interviews.
Solomon Islands journalists have complained of a worsening media environment, as well as what is perceived to be a growing pro-China slant from local outlets that have accepted funding from the People’s Republic.
A document obtained by OCCRP shows how one of these outlets, the Solomon Star newspaper, received Chinese assistance after providing repeated and explicit assurances that it would push messages favorable to Beijing.
Reporters obtained a July 2022 draft funding proposal from the Solomon Star to China’s embassy in Honiara in which the paper requested SBD 1,150,000 (about $137,000) for equipment, including a replacement for its aging newspaper printer and a broadcast tower for its radio station, PAOA FM.
The Solomon Star said in the proposal that decrepit equipment was causing editions to come out late and “curtailing news flow about China’s generous and lightning economic and infrastructure development in Solomon Islands.”
The document shows the Chinese embassy had initially offered SBD 350,000 in 2021, but revised this number upward in recognition of the newspaper’s needs.
A dozen pledges
In total, the proposal contains roughly a dozen separate pledges to use the Chinese-funded equipment to promote China’s “goodwill” and role as “the most generous and trusted development partner” in Solomon Islands.
In interviews, both the Solomon Star’s then-publisher, Catherine Lamani, and its chief of staff, Alfred Sasako, confirmed the paper had made the proposal, but declined to speak in detail about it.
Sasako said the newspaper maintained its independence. He said any suggestion it had a pro-Beijing bias was “a figment of the imagination of anyone who is trying to demonise China.”
Sasako said the paper had tried unsuccessfully for more than a decade to get assistance from Australia’s embassy in the country. Other Western countries, such as the United States, had neglected Solomon Islands for decades and were only now showing interest because of anxiety over Chinese influence, he added.
“My summary on the whole thing is China is a doer, others are talkers. They spend too much time talking, nothing gets done,” he said.
Press delivered
OCCRP was able to confirm that the printing equipment the Solomon Star had requested was indeed purchased and delivered earlier this year.
“I can confirm what was quoted was delivered in February and the payments came from the Solomon Star,” said Terry Mays, business development manager of G2 Systems Print Supply Division, the Brisbane, Australia, based supplier named in the proposal.
The Solomon Star funding is just one part of a regional push to get China’s message out in the Pacific Islands, as well as build relationships with the region’s elites, reporters have found.
Earlier this month, OCCRP reported on an aborted deal in the northern Pacific nation of Palau involving the publisher of the country’s oldest newspaper and a Chinese business group with links to national security institutions.
Bernadette Carreon and Aubrey Belford report for the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). OCCRP is funded worldwide by a variety of government and non-government donors. OCCRP’s work in the Pacific Islands is currently funded by a US-government grant that gives the donor zero say in editorial decisions.
Indonesia has stepped up its campaign of repression against West Papuans peacefully rallying for full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), says a Papuan advocacy leader.
Benny Wenda, interim president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), said a “massive military and police presence” greeted Papuans who had taken to the streets across West Papua calling for full membership.
In Sorong, seven people were arrested — not while raising the banned Morning Star flags of independence and shouting Merdeka (“freedom”), but for holding homemade placards supporting full membership, according to Wenda.
“Eyewitnesses reported seeing two police cars arrive in the vicinity and shoot Keiya without provocation,” Wenda said in the statement.
“This crackdown follows the mass arrest of KNPB (West Papua National Committee) activists handing out leaflets supporting full MSG membership on July 12.
‘Ocean of violence’ “But Keiya and those arrested are only the latest victims of Indonesia’s murderous occupation — single drops in an ocean of violence West Papuans have suffered since we rose up against colonial rule in 2019.”
Papuan people throughout the territory of West Papua have held huge demonstrations of support for full membership of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) pic.twitter.com/tUqpQ7Fv5j
Both Indonesia and the ULMWP are members of the MSG – the former as an associate and the ULMWP as an observer.
The full members are Fiji, FLNKS (New Caledonia’s Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
“Melanesian leaders must ask themselves: is this how one group member treats another? Is this how a friend to Melanesia treats Melanesians?” asked Wenda.
“The fact that they brought an Indonesian flag to the Melanesian Arts Festival in Port Vila, only shortly after their soldiers shot Keiya dead, is an insult.
“They’re dancing on top of our graves.”
Wenda said West Papua was entitled to campaign for full membership by virtue of Melanesian ethnicity, culture, and linguistic traditions.
“In all these respects, West Papua is undeniably Melanesian — not Indonesian,” he said.
14/7/23 Dogiyai, West Papua
Two more people, Fredi Pekei and Stefanus Pigome, were shot dead by Indonesian forces in the aftermath last night.
“While Indonesia won its independence in 1945, we celebrated our own independence on December 1, 1961. Our separateness was even acknowledged by Indonesia’s first Vice-President Mohammed Hatta, who argued for West Papuan self-determination on this basis.
“More than anything, this crackdown shows how much West Papua needs full membership of the MSG.
“Right now, we are defenseless in the face of such brutal violations; only as a full member will we be able to represent ourselves and expose Indonesia’s crimes.
“West Papuans are telling the world they want full membership. By coming out onto the streets with their faces painted in the colours of all the Melanesian flags, they are saying, ‘ We want to return home to our Melanesian brothers and sisters, we want to be safe.’ It is time for Melanesian leaders to listen.”
The MACFEST 2023 — the Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival — ends in Port Vila today.
The MSG meeting to decide on full membership is due to be held soon although the dates have not yet been officially set.
Although the world’s nuclear powers agree “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”, there are still about 12,500 nuclear warheads on the planet. This number is growing, Image: Getty Images/The Conversation
ANALYSIS: By Alexander Gillespie
J. Robert Oppenheimer — the great nuclear physicist, “father of the atomic bomb”, and now subject of a blockbuster biopic — always despaired about the nuclear arms race triggered by his creation.
So the approaching 78th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing invites us to ask how far we’ve come — or haven’t come — since his death in 1967.
The Cold War represented all that Oppenheimer had feared. But at its end, then-US President George H.W. Bush spoke of a “peace dividend” that would see money saved from reduced defence budgets transferred into more socially productive enterprises.
Long-term benefits and rises in gross domestic product could have been substantial, according to modelling by the International Monetary Fund, especially for developing nations.
Given the cost of global sustainable development — currently estimated at US$5 trillion to $7 trillion annually — this made perfect sense.
Unfortunately, that peace dividend is disappearing. The world is now spending at least $2.2 trillion annually on weapons and defence. Estimates are far from perfectly accurate, but it appears overall defence spending increased by 3.7 percent in real terms in 2022.
J. Robert Oppenheimer . . . the approaching 78th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing invites us to ask how far we have come since his death in 1967. Image: Getty Images
The US alone spent $877 billion on defence in 2022 — 39 percent of the world total. With Russia ($86.4 billion) and China ($292 billion), the top three spenders account for 56 percent of global defence spending.
Military expenditure in Europe saw its steepest annual increase in at least 30 years. NATO countries and partners are all accelerating towards, or are already past, the 2 percent of GDP military spending target. The global arms bazaar is busier than ever.
Aside from the opportunity cost represented by these alarming figures, weak international law in crucial areas means current military spending is largely immune to effective regulation.
The new nuclear arms race Although the world’s nuclear powers agree “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”, there are still about 12,500 nuclear warheads on the planet. This number is growing, and the power of those bombs is infinitely greater than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
According to the United Nations’ disarmament chief, the risk of nuclear war is greater than at any time since the end of the Cold War. The nine nuclear-armed states (Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — as well as the big three) all appear to be modernising their arsenals.
Several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapons systems in 2022.
The US is upgrading its “triad” of ground, air and submarine launched nukes, while Russia is reportedly working on submarine delivery of “doomsday” nuclear torpedoes capable of causing destructive tidal waves.
While Russia and the US possess about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, other countries are expanding quickly. China’s arsenal is projected to grow from 410 warheads in 2023 to maybe 1000 by the end of this decade.
Only Russia and the US were subject to bilateral controls over the buildup of such weapons, but Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the arrangement. Beyond the promise of non-proliferation, the other nuclear-armed countries are not subject to any other international controls, including relatively simple measures to prevent accidental nuclear war.
Other nations — those with hostile, belligerent and nuclear-armed neighbours showing no signs of disarming — must increasingly wonder why they should continue to show restraint and not develop their own nuclear deterrent capacities.
As AI weaponry enters the arms race, America is feeling very, very afraid | John Naughton https://t.co/lbJLCcucia
The threat of autonomous weaponry Meanwhile, other potential military threats are also emerging — arguably with even less scrutiny or regulation than the world’s nuclear arsenals. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) is sounding alarm bells.
AI is not without its benefits, but it also presents many risks when applied to weapons systems. There have been numerous warnings from developers about the unforeseeable consequences and potential existential threat posed by true digital intelligence. As the Centre for AI Safety put it:
Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.
More than 90 countries have called for a legally binding instrument to regulate AI technology, a position supported by the UN Secretary-General, the International Committee of the Red Cross and many non-governmental organisations.
Plagues and pathogens Similarly, there is a fundamental lack of regulation governing the growing number of laboratories capable of holding or making (accidentally or intentionally) harmful or fatal biological materials.
There are 51 known biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs in 27 countries — double the number that existed a decade ago. Another 18 BSL-4 labs are due to open in the next few years.
While these labs, and those at the next level down, generally maintain high safety standards, there is no mandatory obligation that they meet international standards or allow routine compliance inspections.
Finally, there are fears the World Health Organisation’s new pandemic preparedness treaty, based on lessons from the COVID-19 disaster, is being watered down.
As with every potential future threat, it seems, international law and regulation are left scrambling to catch up with the march of technology — to govern what Oppenheimer called “the relations between science and common sense”.
The beginning of a journey to resolve the land issue in Vanuatu’s Southern region . . . French President Emmanuel Macron, Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jotham Napat discussing the way forward at Saralana Park in Port Vila yesterday. Image: Doddy Morris/Vanuatu Daily Post
By Doddy Morris in Port Vila
French President Emmanuel Macron and Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau have reached an agreement to settle the “land problem” in the southern region of Vanuatu before the end of this year.
Prime Minister Kalsakau made this declaration during his speech at the 7th Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival (MACFEST) in Saralana Park yesterday afternoon, coinciding with President Macron’s visit to the festival.
“We have talked about a topic that is important to the people of Vanuatu in relation to the problem for us in the Southern Islands. The President has said that we will resolve the land problem between now and December,” he said.
President Macron of France and Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau at MACFEST 2023 at Saralana Park yesterday afternoon. Image: Doddy Morris/Vanuatu Daily Post
Though not explicitly naming them, it is evident that the southern land problem mentioned refers to the islands of Matthew and Hunter, located in the southern portion of Vanuatu, over which significant demands have been made.
In addition to this issue, the boundary between New Caledonia and Vanuatu remains unresolved.
The hope was that during President Macron’s visit, Prime Minister Kalsakau — carried in a traditional basket by Aneityum bearers during the opening of MACFEST 2023 — would address the Matthew and Hunter issue with the French leader.
As part of Vanuatu’s traditional practice, Kalsakau and President Macron participated in a kava-drinking ceremony, expressing their wish for the fruitful resolution of the discussed matters.
Matthew and Hunter are two small and uninhabited volcanic islands in the South Pacific, located 300 kilometres east of New Caledonia and south-east of Vanuatu.
Both islands are claimed by Vanuatu as part of Tafea province, and considered by the people of Aneityum to be part of their custom ownership. However, since 2007 they had also been claimed by France as part of New Caledonia.
Elation over statement
The announcement of the two leaders’ commitment to resolving the southern land issue was met with elation among the people of Vanuatu, particularly in the Tafea province.
“France has come back to Vanuatu; President Macron has told me that it has been a long time, but he has come back today with huge support to help us more,” said Prime Minister Kalsakau, expressing gratitude.
The Vanuatu government head revealed that France had allocated a “substantial sum” of money to be signed-off soon, which would lead to significant development in Vanuatu.
This would include the reconstruction of French schools and hospitals, such as the Melsisi Hospital in Pentecost, which had been damaged by past cyclones.
In response to the requests made by PM Kalsakau and President Macron, the chiefs of the Tafea province conducted another customary ceremony to acknowledge and honour the visiting leaders.
President Macron at MACFEST 2023 More than 4000 people gathered yesterday at Saralana Park to witness the presence of President Macron and warmly welcome him to MACFEST 2023.
He delighted the crowd by delivering a speech in Bislama language, noting the significance of Vanuatu’s relationship with France and highlighting its special and historical nature.
“Let me tell you how pleased I am to be with you, not only as a foreign head of state but as a neighbour, coming directly from Noumea,” President Macron said.
He praised Prime Minister Kalsakau for fostering a strong bond between the two countries amid “various challenges and foreign interactions”, emphasising that their connection went beyond bilateral relations, rooted in their shared history.
President Macron further shared his satisfaction with the discussions he had with Kalsakau, expressing joy that his day could culminate with the celebration of MACFEST, symbolising the exchange between himself and Vanuatu’s PM.
“My delegation is thrilled to participate in the dances and demonstrations that bring together delegations from across the region, celebrating the strength and vitality of Melanesia and the spirit of exchange and sharing,” he said.
The President expressed his pride in being part of the region, particularly in New Caledonia, and witnessing the young teenagers of Melanesia coming together, dancing, and singing, driven by the belief that they will overcome the challenges of today and tomorrow.
Last night, President Macron departed for Papua New Guinea to continue his historic Pacific visit. He expressed his happiness in meeting members from PNG, Solomon Islands, Fiji, and other participating nations during MACFEST.
"Activism is not terrorism" . . . five Filipino indigenous peoples’ leaders and advocates have been branded as "terrorist" individuals and their property and funds have been frozen. Image: CIVICUS
CIVICUS, representing some 15,000 members in 75 countries, says the harassment is putting the defenders “at great risk”.
It has also condemned the “draconian” Republic Act No. 11479 — the Anti-Terrorism Act — for its “weaponisation’ against political dissent and human rights work and advocacy in the Philippines.
The CIVICUS open letter said there were “dire implications on the rights to due process and against warrantless arrests, among others”.
The letter called on the Philippine authorities to:
Immediately end the judicial harassment against 10 human rights defenders by withdrawing the petition in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84;
Repeal Resolution No. 35 (2022) designating the six human rights defenders as terrorist individuals and unfreeze their property and funds immediately and unconditionally;
Drop all charges under the ATA against activists in the Southern Tagalog region; and
Halt all forms of intimidation and attacks on human rights defenders, ensure an enabling environment for human rights defenders and enact a law for their protection.
President of the Republic of the Philippines Malacañang Palace Compound P. Laurel St., San Miguel, Manila The Philippines.
Dear President Marcos, Jr.,
Philippines: Halt harassment against human rights defenders
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is a global alliance of civil society organisations (CSOs) and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society worldwide. Founded in 1993, CIVICUS has over 15,000 members in 175 countries.
We are writing to you regarding a number of cases where human rights defenders are facing judicial harassment or have been designated as terrorists, putting them at great risk.
Judicial harassment against previously acquitted human rights defenders CIVICUS is concerned about renewed judicial harassment against ten human rights defenders that had been previously acquitted for perjury. In March 2023, a petition was filed by prosecutors from the Quezon City Office of the Prosecutor, with General Esperon and current NSA General Eduardo Ano seeking a review of a lower court’s decision against the ten human rights defenders. They include Karapatan National Council members Elisa Tita Lubi, Cristina Palabay, Roneo Clamor, Gabriela Krista Dalena, Dr. Edita Burgos, Jose Mari Callueng and Fr. Wilfredo Ruazol as well as Joan May Salvador and Gertrudes Libang of GABRIELA and Sr Elenita Belardo of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP).
The petition also includes the judge that presided over the case Judge Aimee Marie B. Alcera. They alleged that Judge Alcera committed “grave abuse of discretion” in acquitting the defenders. The petition is now pending before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84 Presiding Judge Luisito Galvez Cortez, who has asked the respondents to comment on Esperon’s motion this July and has scheduled a hearing on 29 August 2023.
Human rights defenders designated as terrorists CIVICUS is also concerned that on 7 June 2023, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) signed Resolution No. 41 (2022) designating five indigenous peoples’ leaders and advocates – Sarah Abellon Alikes, Jennifer R. Awingan, Windel Bolinget, Stephen Tauli, and May Casilao – as terrorist individuals. The resolution also freezes their property and funds, including related accounts.
The four indigenous peoples’ human rights defenders – Alikes, Awingan, Bolinget and Tauli — are leaders of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA). May Casilao has been active in Panalipdan! Mindanao (Defend Mindanao), a Mindanao-wide interfaith network of various sectoral organizations and individuals focused on providing education on, and conducting campaigns against, threats to the environment and people of the island, especially the Lumad. Previously, on 7 December 2022, the ATC signed Resolution No. 35 (2022) designating indigenous peoples’ rights defender Ma. Natividad “Doc Naty” Castro, former National Council member of Karapatan and a community-based health worker, as a “terrorist individual.”
The arbitrary and baseless designation of these human rights defenders highlights the concerns of human rights organizations against Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act, particularly on the weaponization of the draconian law against political dissent and human rights work and advocacy in the Philippines and the dire implications on the rights to due process and against warrantless arrests, among others.
Anti-terrorism law deployed against activists in the Southern Tagalog region We are also concerned about reports that the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) has been deployed to suppress and persecute human rights defenders in the Southern Tagalog region, which has the most number of human rights defenders and other political activists criminalised by this law. As of July 2023, up to 13 human rights defenders from Southern Tagalog face trumped-up criminal complaints citing violations under the ATA. Among those targeted include Rev. Glofie Baluntong, Hailey Pecayo, Kenneth Rementilla and Jasmin Rubio.
International human rights obligations The Philippines government has made repeated assurances to other states that it will protect human rights defenders including most recently during its Universal Periodic Review in November 2022. However, the cases above highlight that an ongoing and unchanging pattern of the government targeting human rights defenders.
These actions are also inconsistent with Philippines’ international human rights obligations, including those under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which Philippines ratified in 1986. These include obligations to respect and protect fundamental freedoms which are also guaranteed in the Philippines Constitution. The Philippines government also has an obligation to protect human rights defenders as provided for in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and to prevent any reprisals against them for their activism.
Therefore, we call on the Philippines authorities to:
Immediately end the judicial harassment against the ten human rights defenders by withdrawing the petition in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84;
Repeal Resolution No. 35 (2022) designating the six human rights defenders as terrorist individuals and unfreeze their property and funds immediately and unconditionally;Drop all charges under the ATA against activists in the Southern Tagalog region;
Halt all forms of intimidation and attacks on human rights defenders, ensure an enabling environment for human rights defenders and enact a law for their protection.
We urge your government to look into these concerns as a matter of priority and we hope to hear from you regarding our inquiries as soon as possible.
Regards,
Sincerely,
David Kode Advocacy & Campaigns Lead CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Cc: Eduardo Año, National Security Adviser and Director General of the National Security Council Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, Secretary, Department of Justice of the Philippines Atty. Richard Palpal-latoc, Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines
French President Emmanuel Macron with French President Emmanuel Macron with the President of Vanuatu, Nikenike Vurobaravu, in Port Vila. Image: France 1ere TV screenshot.
By Eleisha Foon
French president Emmanuel Macron says he will forge ahead with processing a new statute for New Caledonia, replacing the 1998 Noumea Accord.
New Caledonia held three referendums on independence from France under the Noumea Accord, and all resulted in a vote against it.
But the last referendum result, held in December 2021, is disputed, as it was boycotted by the indigenous Kanak people due to the devastation caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
Islands Business correspondent Nic Maclellan told RNZ Pacific that Macron, speaking in Noumea yesterday, threw out a challenge to them.
He said independence leaders, particularly from the Caledonian Union party, the largest pro-independence party boycotted the president’s speech.
“Macron threw out a challenge to them, basically saying that the French state would forge ahead with the process to introduce a new political statute for New Caledonia, replacing the Noumea Accord, the framework agreement that’s lasted for three decades,” Maclellan said.
The President of the New Caledonia territorial government, Louis Mapou, did welcome Macron.
“[The French President] talked about the reform of political institutions. A major step which won large applause from the crowd was to unfreeze the electoral rolls for the looming provincial and congressional elections to be held in May next year,” Maclellan said.
“That will allow thousands more French nationals to vote than are currently able to under under the Noumea Accord.
“And he basically said that he would be moving ahead to review the Constitution in early 2024.
“The Noumea Accord is entrenched in its own clauses of the French constitution, so there needs to be a major constitutional change. He suggested he was going to move forward pretty strongly on that.”
French President Emmanuel Macron hugs a ni-Vanuatu child in Port Vila today . . . historic visit to independent Pacific states. Image: Vanuatu Daily Post
Rebuilding the economy Maclellan said Macron also talked about the future role of the French dependency around two key areas.
The first was about rebuilding the economic and social models of New Caledonia, addressing an inequality, particularly for poor people from the Kanak indigenous community, questions of employment.
He said a major section of his speech focused on the nickel industry, and the need to solve the energy crisis that powered nickel with improved productivity in this key sector.
France 1 television, the state broadcaster, reports Macron confirmed more than 200 soldiers for the armed forces of New Caledonia.
But there will also be the creation of a military “Pacific academy, right here, to train soldiers from all over the region”.
Emmanuel Macron is also visiting Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with a traditional Kanak dancer during a visit to the Magenta suburb of Noumea. Image: Ludovic Marin/AFP/RNZ Pacific
RNZ Pacific
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged New Caledonia to forge a common future after the most recent “no” independence vote.
During his visit to the capital Noumea, AFP news agency reports Macron called the three independence referendums over the past five years “unprecedented”, and said “the choice that was expressed was to stay in France and the Republic”.
Pro-independence, indigenous Kanaks boycotted the third independence referendum in 2021, arguing a fair campaign was impossible during the covid-19 pandemic.
He held out the prospect of a “slow, humble, demanding” process to build a “shared history” for New Caledonia through a process of “truth and reconciliation”.
“It is not a full stop, it is a semi-colon”, Macron said.
“I am with our compatriots during these days to define together the basis for this new path, of this new project for the future of New Caledonia — respectful of its identity, of its history but in the light of the choice that has been made.”
Macron is also seeking to reassert his country’s importance in the Pacific region, where China and the United States are vying for influence.
1.5m ‘overseas’ citizens
France has nearly 1.5 million citizens in its Pacific and Indian Ocean territories, as well as several thousand troops, including 1600 in New Caledonia.
After his first stop in New Caledonia, Macron will travel to Vanuatu on Wednesday night for a two-day visit before heading to Papua New Guinea, where he is expected to lay out a “French alternative” for the region.
He is the first French President to visit non-French territories in the Pacific.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ and Asia Pacific Report.
French President Emmanuel Macron looks at the Webb Ellis Cup world rugby trophy during his visit to Noumea. Image: Ludovic Marin/AFP/RNZ Pacific
Morning Star flags of West Papuan independence on display at MACFEST2023 in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Image: MSG
SPECIAL REPORT:By Yamin Kogoya
“Rebuilding our Melanesia for our future” is the theme chosen by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) for their 7th Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival (MACFEST) this year.
Vanuatu is hosting the event in Port Vila, which opened last Wednesday and ends next Monday.
The event was hosted by the MSG, which includes Fiji, New Caledonia’s Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
This action — Indonesian exclusion — alone spoke volumes of the essence and characteristics of what constitutes Melanesian cultures and values.
This event is a significant occasion that occurs every four years among the Melanesian member countries.
The MSG’s website under the Arts and Culture section says:
The Arts and Culture programme is an important pillar in the establishment of the MSG. Under the agreed principles of cooperation among independent states in Melanesia, it was signed in Port Vila on March 14, 1988, and among other things, the MSG commits to the principles of, and holds respect for and promotion of Melanesian cultures, traditions, and values as well as those of other indigenous communities.
A screenshot of a video of a MACFEST2023 and Melanesian Spearhead Group solidarity display showing Papuans daubed in their Morning Star flag colours – banned in Indonesia. Image: @FKogotinen
MACFESTs
1998: The first MACFEST was held in the Solomon Islands with the theme, “One people, many cultures”.
2002: Vanuatu hosted the second MACFEST event under the theme, “Preserving peace through sharing of cultural exchange”.
2006: “Living cultures, living traditions” was the theme of the third MACFEST event held in Fiji.
2010: The fourth MACFEST event was held in New Caledonia with the theme “Our identity lies ahead of us”.
2014: Papua New Guinea hosted the fifth MACFEST, with the theme “Celebrating cultural diversity”.
2018: The Solomon Islands hosted the sixth edition of MACFEST with the theme “Past recollections, future connections”.
2023: Vanuatu is the featured nation in the seventh edition, with the slogan “Rebuilding our Melanesia for our future”.
Imagery, rhetorics, colours and rhythms exhibited in Port Vila is a collective manifestation of the words written on MSG’s website.
MSG national colours mark MACFEST2023. @WalakNane
There have been welcoming ceremonies united under an atmosphere of warmth, brotherhood, and sisterhood with lots of colourful Melanesian cultural traditions on display.
Images and videos shared on social media, including many official social media accounts, portrayed a spirit of unity, respect, understanding and harmony.
West Papuan flags have also been welcomed and filled the whole event. The Morning Star has shone bright at this event.
The following are some of the images, colours and rhetoric displayed during the opening festive event, as well as the West Papua plight to be accepted into what Papuans themselves echo as the “Melanesian family”.
When stars aligned,
It’s time.
Melanesia has to make a stand to safe West Papua and the entire region. Bring West Papua back to the Melanesian family. pic.twitter.com/ilTZDNlW8Z
Wamena – West Papua on 19 July 2023 For West Papuans, July 2023 marks a time when the stars seem to be aligned in one place — Vanuatu. July this year, Vanuatu is to chair the MSG leaders’ summit, hosting the seventh MACFEST, and celebrating its 43rd year of independence. Vanuatu has been a homebase (outside of West Papua) supporting West Papua’s liberation struggle since 1970s.
Throughout West Papua, you will witness spectacular displays of Melanesian colours, flags, and imagery in response to the unfolding events in the MSG and Vanuatu.
Melanesian brethren also displayed incredible support for West Papua’s plight at the MACFEST in Port Vila — a little hope that keeps Papuan spirits high in a world where freedom has been shut for 60 years.
This support fosters a sense of solidarity and offers a glimmer of optimism that one day West Papua will reclaim its sovereignty — the only way to safeguard Melanesian cultures, languages and tradition in West Papua.
Although geographically separated, Vanuatu, West Papua and the rest of Melanesian, are deeply connected emotionally and culturally through the display of symbols, flags, colours, and rhetoric.
Emancipation, expectation, hope, and prayer are high for the MSG’s decision making — decisions that are often marked by “uncertainty”.
A contested and changing Melanesia
The Director-General of MSG, Leonard Louma, said during the opening:
The need to dispel the notion that Melanesian communities only live in Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and acknowledge and include Melanesians that live elsewhere.
I am reminded that there are pockets of descendants of Melanesians in the Micronesian group and the Polynesian group. We should include them, like the black Samoans of Samoa — often referred to as Tama Uli — in future MACFESTs.
In the past, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Australia, and Taiwan were invited to attend. Let us continue to build on these blocks to make this flagship cultural event of ours even bigger and better in the years to come.
MSG leaders may perceive their involvement in defining and redefining the concept of Melanesia, as well as addressing date postponements and criteria-related matters, as relatively insignificant.
Similarly, for MSG members, their participation in the Melanesian cultural festival could be considered as just one of four events that rotate between them.
For West Papuans, this is an existential issue — between life or death as they face a bleak future under Indonesian colonial settler occupation — in which they are constantly reminded that their ancestral land will soon be seized and occupied by Indonesians if their sovereignty issues do not soon resolve.
The now postponed MSG’s leaders’ summit will soon consider an application proposing that West Papua be included within the group.
Regardless of whether this proposal is accepted by the existing member countries of the MSG, the obvious international pressures that impel this debate, must also prompt us to ask ourselves what it means to be Melanesian.
United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) interim chair Benny Wenda being interviewed by Vanuatu Television during MACFEST2023. Image: VBTC screenshot APR
Decisions around unity?
Does the primacy of maintaining good relations with a powerful country like Indonesia, the West and China supersede Melanesian solidarity, or are we able to transcend these pressures to redefine and “rebuild our common Melanesia for our future”?
The Melanesian people must decide whether we are sufficiently united to support our brothers and sisters in West Papua, or whether our respective cultures are too diverse to be able to resist the charms offered by outsiders to look the other way.
The imminent decision to be made by the MSG leaders in Port Vila will be a crucial one — one that will affect the Melanesian people for generations to come. Does the MSG stand for promoting Melanesian interests, or has it become tempted by the short term promises of the West, China and their Indonesian minions?
What has become of the Melanesian Way — the notion of the holistic and cosmic worldview advocated by Papua New Guinea’s Bernard Narakobi?
The decision to be made in Port Vila will shine a light on the MSG’s own integrity. Does this group exist to help the Melanesian people, or is their real purpose only to help others to subjugate the Melanesian people, cultures and resources?
The task of “Rebuilding our Melanesia for our future” cannot be achieved without directly confronting the predicament faced by West Papua. This issue goes beyond cultural concerns; it is primarily about addressing sovereignty matters.
Only through the restoration of West Papua’s political sovereignty can the survival of the Melanesian people in that region and the preservation of their culture be ensured.
Should the MSG and its member countries continue to ignore this critical issue, “Papuan sovereignty”, one day there will be no true Melanin — the true ontological definition and geographical categorisation of what Melanesia is, (Melanesian) “Black people” represented in any future MACFEST event. It will be Asian-Indonesian.
Either MSG can rebuild Melanesia through re-Melanesianisation or destroy Melanesia through de-Melanesianisation. Melanesian leaders must seriously contemplate this existential question, not confining it solely to the four-year slogan of festival activities.
The decisive political and legal vision of MSG is essential for ensuring that these ancient, timeless, and incredibly diverse traditions and cultures continue to flourish and thrive into the future.
One can hope that, in the future, MSG will have the opportunity to extend invitations to world leaders who advocate peace instead of war, inviting them to Melanesia to learn the art of dance, song, and the enjoyment of our relaxing kava, while embracing and appreciating our rich diversity.
This would be a positive shift from the current situation where MSG leaders may feel obliged to respond to the demands of those who wield power through money and weapons, posing threats to global harmony.
Can the MSG be the answer to the future crisis humanity faces? Or will it serve as a steppingstone for the world’s criminals, thieves, and murders to desecrate our Melanesia?
Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Nothing much changed in a 1News Verian poll released last Monday. However, some commentators treated the boring results as a blank canvas on which to express their creativity.
“It is just under three months until the election and Labour seems to have been dented by a series of ministerial distractions,” he said as he introduced the story at the top of the bulletin.
Despite that effort to dress up the poll as a tough verdict on the government, it was mostly notable for how un-notable it was.
Few parties moved more than the margin of error from the last 1News poll in May, which also showed National and Act with the numbers to form the next government — just. National and Labour both dropped the same amount: 2 percent.
You might have thought the damp squib of a result would put the clamps on our political commentators’ narrative-crafting abilities.
Instead, for some it proved to be a blank canvas on which they could express their creativity.
‘Centre-right surge’
At Stuff, chief politics editor Luke Malpass called the poll a “fillip for the right” under a headline hailing a “centre-right surge”.
One issue with that: the poll showed a 1 percent overall drop for the right bloc of National and Act.
“Fillips” generally involve polls going up not down. Similarly, a drop in support doesn’t traditionally meet the definition of a surge in support.
The lack of big statistical swings wasn’t enough to deter some commentators from making big calls.
On Newstalk ZB, political editor Jason Walls said Labour was plunging due to its disunity.
“All [Chris Hipkins] has been really able to talk about is what’s happening within the Labour Party — be it Stuart Nash, be it other ministers who are behaving badly. Jan Tinetti. Voters punish that. And we’ve seen that from the Nats in opposition. They punish disunity.”
It’s uncertain what National’s equivalent 2 percent drop was down to. Perhaps voters punish unity as well.
Wider trends context
Mutch-McKay’s own commentary was a bit more nuanced, placing the poll in the context of wider trends.
On TVNZ’s Breakfast the day after the poll’s release, she said some people inside Labour couldn’t believe the results hadn’t been worse for the party.
Perhaps that air of disbelief also extended to the parliamentary press gallery.
After all, the commentators are right: Labour has had a terrible few months, with high-ranking ministers defecting, being stood down, being censured by the parliamentary privileges committee, facing allegations of mistreating staff, or struggling with the apparently near-impossible task of selling shares in Auckland Airport.
Maybe a sense of inertia propelled some of our gallery members to keep rolling with the narrative of the last few months, in spite of the actual poll result.
Or maybe part of the issue is that hyping up the significance of these polls is a financial necessity for news organisations which pay a lot to commission them.
“You’ve got to squeeze the hell of it. You’ve paid $11,000 or $12,000 for a poll, it’s got to be the top story. It’s got to be your lead. It’s got to have the fancy graphics,” Stuff’s political reporter and commentator Andrea Vance said recently on the organisation’s daily podcast Newsable.
‘Manufacturing news’
“It just feels like we’re manufacturing news. We’re taking a piece of information that’s a snapshot in time and we’re pretending that we know the future,” she said.
Vance went on to say these kinds of snapshot polls don’t actually tell us all much — but she said long-term polling trends are worth paying attention to.
It’s probably no coincidence then that the most useful analysis of this latest poll focused on those macro patterns.
In a piece for 1News.co.nz, John Campbell noted the electorate’s slow drift away from the centre, with Labour losing 20 percent of the electorate’s support since 2020 and National failing to fully capitalise on that drop-off.
He quoted Yeats line, “the centre cannot hold”, before asking the question: “What do Labour and National stand for? Really? Perhaps, just perhaps, this is a growing section of the electorate saying — you’re almost as bad as each other.”
That sentiment has been echoed by other commentators. In his latest column for Metro magazine, commentator and former National Party comms man Matthew Hooton decried the major parties’ lack of ambition.
“At least Act, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori aren’t insulting you with bullshit. Instead they offer ideas they think will make your life better, even if they’ll never happen. So here’s a better idea than falling for the big scare from National or Labour.
‘Reward ideas-based parties’
“How about using your ballot paper to tell them to f*** off and reward one of the three ideas-based parties with your vote instead?” he wrote.
And on his podcast The Kaka, financial journalist Bernard Hickey and commentator Danyl McLauchlan criticised our major parties for their grey managerialism.
“You kind of have to go back to the mid-1990s when so many people just hated the two major parties because they didn’t trust them,” he said.
“We seem to be going through a similar phase now. The two major parties are just these managerial centrist parties. They don’t have much to offer by way of a vision.”
Maybe it’s a little shaky to say anyone’s surging or flopping on the basis of a couple of percentage points shifting in a single poll.
But if you zoom out a bit, at least one narrative does have a strong foundation — voters saying, to quote Shakespeare this time — “a plague on both your (untaxed) houses”.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ and Asia Pacific Report.
