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Showdown between two former coup leaders in fight for Fiji’s democracy

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Cafe Pacific Publisher
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Fiji political rivals Sitiveni Rabuka (left), a former prime minister, and Voreqe Bainimarama, the current Prime Minister
Fiji political rivals Sitiveni Rabuka (left), a former prime minister, and Voreqe Bainimarama, the current Prime Minister . . . both former military coup leaders. Image: Vanguard/IDN

By Ravindra Singh Prasad in Suva

It is an ironic fact in Fiji, a multiethnic Pacific nation of under one million people, that coups don’t work and ultimately lead to constitutional reforms and democratic elections.

As Fiji goes to the polls this Wednesday, the choice is between choosing one former coup leader or another to govern Fiji for the next five years.

Both fought the same battle in 2018, and the incumbent Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama won in an election considered largely free and fair.

The two combatants are Prime Minister Bainimarama and his challenger Sitiveni Rabuka, a former prime minister.

Bainimarama staged a coup in 2006 when he was the commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), and after changing the constitution, he was elected as prime minister twice in 2014 and 2018 in national elections.

Rabuka, at the time a lieutenant colonel in the Fiji Military, staged two coups in 1987, claiming to reassert ethnic Fijian supremacy.

Following the adoption of a constitution in 1990 that guaranteed indigenous Fijian domination of the political system, he formed the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) political party of indigenous Fijians and won two elections in 1992 and 1994 to become prime minister.

Rabuka lost power
Rabuka lost power at the 1999 election, and he was succeeded ironically by the Fijian Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry who fought the elections on a nonethnic platform and became Fiji’s first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.

A few months later, in May 2000, he was ousted by businessman George Speight with the help of rogue troops.

Significantly, Speight was not a soldier and was backed by only one faction of the army. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and remains in jail. Both Bainimarama and Rabuka were clever and powerful enough after their coups to ensure that Fiji’s constitution was rewritten to absolve them of any legal wrongdoing.

Fiji is a unique country where a Hindu Indian population known here as “Indo-Fijians” have established themselves as part and parcel of the country.

Their ancestors were brought to the islands as indentured labour by the British to work in the new sugar cane plantations. But now they have established themselves in the business sector and in politics, so much so that the economic czars of both political camps are Indo-Fijians.

The four coups of the 1980s and 1990s led to a massive out-migration of Indo-Fijians and their ratio of the population has now dropped from 50 per cent in 1987 to about 35 per cent. Ethnic tensions have in recent years diluted with the Bainimarama government’s “One Fiji” policy and the recognition of the role Indo-Fijians have played in building modern Fiji.

Though race politics is still in the background, Bainimarama and Rabuka are fighting the forthcoming elections on mainly an economic platform, with the incumbent government arguing that they have protected Fiji better than many other countries of its size from global economic currents of recent years.

Economic ‘volcano’
However, Rabuka’s opposition alliance is arguing that Fiji is in the grip of an economic volcano about to erupt.

The December 14 general election is being contested by 342 candidates from nine political parties. Bainimarama’s ruling FijiFirst Party (FFP) and Rabuka’s Peoples’ Alliance Party (PAP) will each contest 55 seats, while the National Federation Party (NFP) led by former University of the South Pacific’s economics professor Biman Prasad will field 54 candidates.

Rabuka and Prasad have formed a strong political alliance and have been campaigning together for months leading up to this election. If the PAP-NFP alliance wins, Prasad is expected to be Rabuka’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

Meanwhile, Bainimarama’s Deputy Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for the Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum — an Indo-Fijian Muslim — has been accused of running the government for Bainimarama and expanding the influence of Indo-Fijian Muslims with money from Arabs at the expense of the Hindu Indo-Fijians.

Rabuka and Prasad have been campaigning across the country, asking the people to vote out the FijiFirst government to rid Fiji of the “damaging legacy of Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum”.

They are offering a “consultative government” and a democracy — as opposed to Sayed-Khaiyum’s “dictatorship”.

The message seems to have hit a chord, even though the Fiji economy has not been doing badly compared to many other countries, and Rabuka is strongly tipped to win a close election.

‘Unstoppable’, claims leader
“We are unstoppable all over the land,” Rabuka said at a recent election rally in Lautoka, an Indo-Fijian stronghold.

“We are ready to make history on December 14,” he added, “tell the people about our plans and keep emphasising that they are the centre of our mission.”

In an interview with Fiji Live, Professor Prasad revealed that if his party forms the next government with the PAP, Sitiveni Rabuka would be the Prime Minister, despite any party having more seats than the other after the election.

He confirmed that the two parties have decided that between the two of them, they will form the government, and that is the bottom line. Prasad is optimistic that they will win substantially more seats in this election and will be in a very strong position when they form the government with their partners, the PAP.

Something that is worrying Fijians is whether an unfavourable result for the government would trigger another coup. Bainimarama’s 2013 constitution has given the Fijian military constitutional rights to be its custodian:

“It shall be the overall role of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians.”

It goes on to say the armed forces will perform its “Constitutional Role locally and also ready to tackle the modern-day security challenges brought about by Climate Change, Radicalism and Transnational Crime”.

Honouring democracy
In an address on December 5, the RFMF commander, Major-General Jone Kalouniwai, ordered his soldiers to honour the democratic process by respecting the outcome of the votes in the 2022 general election. This comment has been widely welcomed across the political spectrum.

Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry says the statement by Major-General Kalouniwai is reassuring for the party.

He told Fiji Broadcasting Corporation that FLP was twice robbed of its mandate to govern by coups executed or supported by the military.

People’s Alliance deputy party leader Manoa Kamikamica said: “Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai has voiced what the bulk of Fiji want to hear — which is, we wait for the ballot box to decide.”

Professor Prasad said: “That’s an absolutely fantastic statement from the commander, and I want to thank him because everybody who believes in democracy, who believes in good governance, who believes in a free and fair election, will respect the outcome of the election.”

In a commentary published by The Fiji Times, Professor Wadan Narsey, a senior economist and political analyst in Fiji, expressed some views that reflective many of the voters, which may ultimately tip the scales of who governs after next week.

He argues that under the 2013 Constitution, the government has been able to stifle freedom of expression by the public and the media, with a large section of the taxpayer-funded public media being brought under the control of the government, effectively acting as government propaganda and to attack opposition parties and MPs.

Proper dialogue promised
“There were no such restrictions or control in the Rabuka government era, and these are unlikely to happen in the Rabuka/Prasad era,” argues Professor Narsey.

He points out that “in his recent public statements, Rabuka has promised to govern through discussion, dialogue, proper debate and compromise when necessary”.

He points out that the views of the people are not respected, even though Fiji is functioning under a “democracy”.

The government has arrested those who express views that the government does not like.

Pointing out to the MOU between PAP and NFF, Professor Narsey believes “they would not rule by fear or imposition of two men’s views on the whole country.

“They would focus on providing good health services, education, water and infrastructure like roads and electricity, which have all been failures under the current government, despite massive expenditures using borrowed money”.

“Whether it is a yearning for improvements to infrastructure, construction and allocation of school quarters, assistance to construct a bridge, issues on education, or discussions over manifestos, it is encouraging to note that many Fijians are actually making an effort to be part of the voting process,” The Fiji Times noted in an editorial last week.

“Now, as we look ahead to next Wednesday, there is a sense of ownership in the air. There appears to be a willingness to cast a ballot. There is a willingness to be part of the process,” The Fiji Times added.

Ravindra Singh Prasad is a correspondent of InDepth News (IDN), the flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate. This article is republished with permission.

The Doctrine of ‘Discovery’, Te Moana and the people’s fight for climate crisis action

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David Robie
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Peace Action
Peace Action: Struggles for a decolonised and demilitarised Oceania and East Asia

Reviewed by Dr David Robie

As the editor, American-Kiwi anarchist, dissident and activist Valerie Morse notes in the preface to Peace Action, this practical treatise on the struggle for Moana liberation, justice and peace has a clear target. It is aimed at “deepening connections and amplifying impact for the urgent work of building a radically different ‘new world in the shell of the old’ (p. 11).”

Peace Action cover
Peace Action cover

However, it is the opening chapter, “Setting the Scene”, by researcher and environmental advocate Tina Ngata (Ngāti Porou), which sets the tone for this indictment of settler colonialism with an introduction to the 11th-12th century Crusades and the following notorious Doctrine of “Discovery”. She lays the blame on Pope Urban II for unleashing the seizure of lands for Christendom and converting people living there “by force if necessary (p. 13).”

In the name of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope “excused” people from the punishments of mortal sins carried out as “acts of war” on behalf of God and the Bible. He issued Papal Bulls — church laws — that gave divine authority for “not just murder, not just theft, not just dispossession, not just rape” in church-ordained crusades in the Holy Lands against the Muslim Saracens (p. 13).

Following in the 15th century, Pope Nicholas granted three Papal Bulls giving permission to “invade, to subdue, to dispossess and to commit to perpetual slavery any people that the crusaders encountered” for profit. These Papal Bulls became known as the Doctrine of Christian “Discovery” and led to the transatlantic slave trade that claimed the lives of 30 million Africans (p. 14).

It was the application of these three Papal Bulls — Dum Diversas, Romanus Pontifex and then Inter Caetera — beyond West Africa to the New World and so-called Age of Discovery that eventually reached the Pacific. Not only did these laws “give permission”, but they imposed a Christian duty on European royalty to “acquire land and souls”.

When Ferdinand Magellan “discovered” Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa in 1519 and rebranded it the “Pacific”, the Doctrine of Discovery had arrived in this part of the world and explains the context of James Cook’s first voyage in 1768 and the two others that followed. Ngata writes:

“Cook’s modus operandi was to abduct the leaders of communities to force the local people into doing something for him as a means of collective punishment. In Tahiti, he abducted Poetua, the young pregnant daughter of the local ariki [chief], Oreo, in order to force the local people into bringing back two of his men who ad absconded of their own free will to evade Cook’s increasingly irrational behaviour. (p. 17)

Ngata stresses that Cook carried out these kidnappings numerous times across the three voyages until he was “murdered while trying to abduct Kalani’ōpu’u, the high chief of the island of Hawai’i” (p. 17).

This introductory chapter about the “toxic, imperial masculinity and infection” (p. 18) of the Palagi and resistance by Moana people leads seamlessly into the third chapter, “Protecting Ihumātao”, by Qiane Matata-Sipu, Pania Newton and Frances Hancock, an inspirational account of how a 1100 acre “food bowl for the developing city of Tāmaki Makaurau [Auckland]” was unjustly seized in 1863 by the colonial government under the New Zealand Settlement Act (p. 37).

“Our tūpuna [ancestors] were exiled to the Waikato, their homes destroyed and their whenua [traditional lands] granted to settlers. Upon their return to Ihumātao, effectively landless and reduced to subsistence living, our tūpuna took up the struggle to reclaim their whenua.” (p. 38)

Subsequent injustices followed with the ancestral lands being subjected to quarrying for roads, pollution of moana for Auckland’s wastewater treatment plant, and industrial encroachments, including a chemical dye spill. “We were told these were our sacrifices for the greater good of Auckland,” lament the co-authors (p. 37).

In 2015, the Indigenous and youth-led, community supported campaign with peaceful, passive and positive resistance “touched hearts and called tens of thousands of New Zealanders to action” (p. 49).

Seven years on, the #ProtectIhumātao campaign has thwarted the property development scheme of a multinational, and achieved the highest heritage listing status for the contested lands and Ōtuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve. A feature of this chapter is the articulated campaign strategy plan — a recipe for activist success.

However, these are just two of the 13 chapters by 23 contributors and a photoessay, “Reclaiming the whenua at Ihumātao”, by social justice photographer Jos Wheeler in this wide-ranging Pacific peace activism manifesto. In addition, there are two superb colour plates, Arama Rata’s “Watery Grave” and Marylou Mahe’s “Te Temps Kanak/Kanak Time”. Topics range from French, Indonesian and US colonialism and militarism, feminist resistance, peace gardening at Parihaka, and climate crisis action.

Some of the chapters feature anti-militarism in South Korea (Jungmin Choi); stories of “heartbreak and hope” in Hawai’i (Emalani Case); weaving an ‘upena [fishing net] of Oceanic solidarity in response to the imperial militarisation of Hawai’i (Kyle Kajihiro); and Takae residents struggling against US militarisation of Yanbaru forest in Japan’s Okinawa by Mizuki Nakamura, who quotes a fellow activist saying, “when the pandemic is over, we must not go back to destroying the environment but try to build a different world” (p. 97).

For me, three of the highlights are the essays “Standing with Ma’ohi Nui: Practising Moana solidarity in Aotearoa” (Tony Fala, Tokelauan/Palagi); “Papuaphobia: Colonial mythology behind Papuan holocaust” (Yamin Kogoya, Yikwa/Lani); and “Forever fighting France: the coloniser par excellence” (Ena Manuireva, Mangarevian/Aotearoa). All three authors are regular contributors to the independent Asia Pacific Report.

Writing about how “Ma’ohi Lives Matter”, Manuireva outlines the strategies of Oscar Temaru’s Tavini Huira’atira — the only Tahitian political party “still standing against French colonial governance”, including an appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. He concludes:

“Colonisation is a deadly virus that spreads through the social, cultural and economic and above all political arenas of Indigenous societies to gain control of our vital resources. France has been doing this to the Ma’ohi people since November 1843. Fighting against colonialism/neocolonialism is an extension of our ancestors’ battle: they wanted to be their own masters and to decide their own future for themselves. So do we.” (p. 104)

While this book’s target audience is primarily Aotearoa New Zealand, many of the essays have a wide Asia-Pacific relevance and there is an extensive glossary of Māori words and phrases. It is an invaluable and beautifully illustrated handbook of “peace action”, summing up the mahe (work) that needs doing for decolonisation and demilitarisation.

It is very well timed too having been published just weeks before a “reborn again” Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) conference at Otago University in November (Ōtepoti Declaration, 2022). The fight for Te Moana is in good guardianship hands with a new generation of activists and advocates.

Reference
Ōtepoti Declaration (2022). Indigenous Caucus of the Nuclear Connections Across Oceania Conference, Asia Pacific Report. https://asiapacificreport.nz/2022/12/01/oceania-indigenous-guardians-call-for-self-determination-on-west-papua-day/

Fate of NZ research centre highlights university ‘blindness’, media freedom

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Cafe Pacific Publisher
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The PMC Project
The Pacific Media Centre project . . . 13 years of achievement and then gutted by an AUT management decision. Image: Asia Pacific Report/PMC

SPECIAL REPORT: By Dr Lee Duffield

The launch of a New Zealand project to produce more Pacific news and provide a “voice for the voiceless” on the islands has highlighted the neglect of that field by Australia and New Zealand — and also problems in universities.

The new development is the non-government, non-university Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), a research base and publishing platform.

Its opening followed the cleaning-out of a centre within the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) — in an exercise exemplifying the kind of micro infighting that goes on hardly glimpsed from outside the academic world.

Cleaning out media centre
The story features an unannounced move by university staff to vacate the offices of an active journalism teaching and publishing base, the Pacific Media Centre, in early February 2021.

Seven weeks after the retirement of that centre’s foundation director, Professor David Robie, staff of AUT’s School of Communication Studies turned up and stripped it, taking out the archives and Pacific taonga — valued artifacts from across the region.

Staff still based there did not know of this move until later.

The centre had been in operation for 13 years — it was popular with Pasifika students, especially postgrads who would go on reporting ventures for practice-led research around the Pacific; it was a base for online news, for example prolific outlets including a regular Pacific Media Watch; it had international standing especially through the well-rated (“SCOPUS-listed”) academic journal Pacific Journalism Review; and it was a cultural hub, where guests might receive a sung greeting from the staff, Pacific-style, or see fascinating art works and craft.

Its uptake across the “Blue Continent” showed up gaps in mainstream media services and in Australia’s case famously the backlog in promoting economic and cultural ties.


The PMC Project — a short documentary about the centre by Alistar Kata in 2016. Video: Pacific Media Centre

Human rights and media freedom
The centre was founded in 2007, in a troubled era following a rogue military coup d’etat in Fiji, civil disturbances in Papua New Guinea, violent attacks on journalists in several parts, and endemic gender violence listed as a priority problem for the Pacific Islands Forum.

Through its publishing and conference activity it would take a stand on human rights and media freedom issues, social justice, economic and media domination from outside.

The actual physical evacuation was on the orders of the communications head of school at AUT, Dr Rosser Johnson, a recently appointed associate professor with a history of management service in several acting roles since 2005. He told the Australia Asia Pacific Media Initiative (AAPMI) in response to its formal complaint to AUT that it was “gutting” the centre that the university planned to keep a centre called the PMC and co-locate its offices with other centres — but that never happened.

His intervention caused predictable critical responses, as with this comment by a former New Zealand Herald editor-in-chief Dr Gavin Ellis, on dealing with corporatised universities, in “neo-liberal” times:

“For many years I thought universities were the ideal place to establish centres of investigative journalism excellence … My views have been shaken to the core by the Auckland University of Technology gutting the Pacific Media Centre.”

Conflicts over truth-telling
The “PMC affair” has stirred conflicts that should worry observers who place value on truth-finding and truth-telling in university research, preparation for the professions, and academic freedom.

The Independent Australia report on the fate of the PMC
The Independent Australia report on the fate of the PMC last weekend. Image: Asia Pacific Report

The centre along with its counterpart at the University of Technology Sydney, called the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), worked in the area of journalism as research, applying journalistic skills and methods, especially exercises in investigative journalism.

The ACIJ produced among many investigations, work on the reporting of climate policy and climate science, and the News of the World phone hacking scandal. It also was peremptorily shut-down, three years ahead of the PMC.

Both centres were placed in the journalism academic discipline, a “professional” and “teaching” discipline that traditionally draws in high achieving students interested in its practice-led approach.

All of which is decried by line academics in disciplines without professional linkages but a professional interest in the hierarchical arrangements and power relations within the confined space of their universities.

There the interest is in theoretical teaching and research outputs, often-enough called “Marxist”, “postmodern”, “communications” or “cultural studies”, angled at a de-legitimisation of “Western-liberal” mass media. Not that journalism education itself shies away from media criticism, as Dr Robie told Independent Australia:

“The Pacific Media Centre frequently challenged ‘ethnocentric journalistic practice’ and placed Māori, Pacific and indigenous and cultural diversity at the heart of the centre’s experiential knowledge and critical-thinking news narratives.”

Yet it can be seen how conflict may arise, especially where smaller journalism departments come under “takeover” pressure. It is a handy option for academic managers to subsume “journalism”, and get the staff positions that can be filled with non-journalists; the contribution the journalists may make to research earnings (through the Australian Excellence in Research process, or NZ Performance Based Research Fund), and especially government funding for student places.

There, better students likely to excel and complete their programmes can be induced to do more generalised courses with a specialist “journalism” label.

Any such conflict in the AUT case cannot be measured but must be at least lurking in the background.

The head of school, Dr Johnson, works in communication studies and cultural studies, with publications especially about info-advertising. He indicates just a lay interest in journalism listing three articles published in mass media since 2002.

What is ‘ideology’?
Another problem exists, where a centre like the former PMC will commit to defined values, even officially sanctioned ones like inclusivity and rejection of discrimination.

Undertakings like the PMC’s “Bearing Witness” projects, where students would deploy classic journalism techniques for investigations on a nuclear-free Pacific or climate change, can irritate conservative interests.

The derogatory expression for any connection with social movements is “ideological”. This time it is an unknown, but a School moving against an “ideological” unit, might get at least tacit support from higher-ups supposing that eviscerating it might help the institution’s “good name”.

What implications for future journalism, freedom and quality of media? Hostility towards specific professional education for journalism exists fairly widely. The rough-housing of the journalism centre at AUT is indicative, where efforts by the out-going director to organise succession after his retirement, five years in advance, received no response.

The position statement was changed to take away a requirement for actual Pacific media identity or expertise, and the job left vacant, in part a covid effect. The centre performed well on its key performance indicators, if small in size, which brought in limited research grants but good returns for academic publications:

“On 18 December 2020 – the day I officially retired – I wrote to the [then] Vice-Chancellor, Derek McCormack … expressing my concern about the future of the centre, saying the situation was “unconscionable and inexplicable”. I never received an acknowledgement or reply.”

Pacific futures
Journalism education has persisted through an adverse climate, where the number of journalists in mainstream media has declined, in New Zealand almost halved to 2061, (2006 – 2018). AUT celebrated 50 years of journalism teaching this week.

Also, AUT is currently in turmoil over the future of Māori and Pacific academics and the status of the university with an unpopular move to retrench 170 academic staff.

The latest Pacific Journalism Review July 2022
The latest Pacific Journalism Review . . . published for 28 years. Image: PJR

However new media are expanding, new demands exist for media competency across the exploding world “mediascape”, schools cultivating conscionable practices are providing an antidote to floods of bigotry and lies in social media.

The new NGO in Auckland, the APMN, has found a good base of support across the Pacific communities, limbering up for a future free of interference, outside of the former university base.

It will be bidding for a share of NZ government grants intended to assist public journalism, ethnic broadcasting and outreach to the region. While several products of the former centre have closed, the successful 28-year-old research journal Pacific Journalism Review has continued, producing two editions under its new management.

The operation is also keeping its production-side media strengths, such as with the online title Asia Pacific Report.

Independent Australia media editor Dr Lee Duffield is a former ABC correspondent and academic. He is a member of the editorial advisory board of Pacific Journalism Review. This article is republished with the author’s permission.

‘It’s time to be the crowd’, Knitting Nannas tell protest against jailing of climate activist

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Cafe Pacific Publisher
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Australian protesters at the Sydney
Australian protesters at the Sydney "Free Violet Coco" rally over climate change activism and the anti-protest laws. Image: Zebedee Parkes/City Hub

SPECIAL REPORT: By Wendy Bacon

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is pleased that a Sydney magistrate jailed protester Deanna “Violet” Coco on Friday. But he is out of step with international and Australian human rights and climate change groups and activists, who have quickly mobilised to show solidarity.

On Monday, protests were held in Sydney, Canberra and Perth calling for the release of Coco who blocked one lane of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for half an hour during a morning peak hour in April.

She climbed onto the roof of a truck holding a flare to draw attention to the global climate emergency and Australia’s lack of preparedness for bushfires. Three other members of the group Fireproof Australia, who have not been jailed, held a banner and glued themselves to the road.

"Free Coco" protesters
“Free Coco” protesters at Sydney’s Downing Centre. Image: Zebedee Parkes/City Hub

Coco pleaded guilty to seven charges, including disrupting vehicles, possessing a flare distress signal in a public place and failing to comply with police direction.

Magistrate Allison Hawkins sentenced Coco to 15 months in prison, with a non-parole period of eight months and fined her $2500. Her lawyer Mark Davis has lodged an appeal which will be heard on March 2, 2023.

Unusually for a non-violent offender, Hawkins refused bail pending an appeal against the sentence. Davis, who will again apply for bail in the District Court next week, said refusal of bail pending appeal was “outrageous”.


Climate change protester sentenced to jail over Sydney Harbour Bridge protest. Video: News 24

‘People shouldn’t be jailed for peaceful protest’
In Sydney, about 100 protesters gathered outside NSW Parliament House and then marched to the Downing Centre. The crowd included members of climate action groups Extinction Rebellion, Knitting Nannas and Fireproof Australia but also others who, while they might not conduct a similar protest themselves, believe in the right of others to do so.

Marching "Free Coco" protesters in Sydney
Marching “Free Coco” protesters in Sydney. Image: Image: Zebedee Parkes/City Hub

One of the protest organisers, Knitting Nanna Marie Flood, was unable to attend due to illness. Her message called for the release of Coco and an end to the criminalisation and intimidation of climate activists.

It was read by another Knitting Nanna, Eurydice Aroney:

“Nannas have been on Sydney streets protesting about gas and coal mines for about 8 years now. Over that time we’ve had lots of interactions with the Sydney Events police, and not a lot of trouble.

“You could say we are known to the police. We were amused and surprised at the recent climate emergency rally at town hall, when one of the police said to some Nannas that he thought we’d fallen in with the wrong crowd!

“Looks like we better clear some things up.”

"Knitting Nannas" protesters Helen and Dom
Knitting Nannas protesters Helen and Dom at a previous protest. Image: Environmental Defenders Office/City Hub

“We ARE the crowd who knows that climate action is urgent and it starts with stopping new gas and coal. We know the importance of public protests to bringing about social and political change.

“We will stand up against any move to take away the democratic right to protest. What is happening to Violet Coco is a direct result of the actions of the NSW government with the support of the ALP opposition.”

The message ended with a call to all climate activists: “Now is the time to BE THE CROWD — we can’t afford to fall for attempts to divide the climate movement. We all want to save the climate, and to do that we need to protect democracy.”

The Knitting Nannas have launched a challenge to the validity of the protest laws through the Environmental Defenders’ Office.

One of those attending the protest was Josh Pallas, president of NSW Council for Civil Liberties. Civil Liberties has been defending the right to protest in NSW for more than half a century.

In a media release, he said: “Peaceful protest should never result in jail time. It’s outrageous that the state wastes its resources seeking jail time and housing peaceful protesters in custody at the expense of taxpayers.

“Protesters from Fireproof Australia and other groups have engaged in peaceful protest in support of stronger action on climate change, a proposition that is widely supported by many Australians across the political divide and now finding themselves ending up in prison.

“Peaceful protest sometimes involves inconvenience to the public. But inconvenience is not a sufficient reason to prohibit it. It’s immoral and unjust.”

Deputy Lord Mayor and Greens Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore told the crowd that they had the support of the City of Sydney which recently passed a unanimous motion calling for the repeal of the NSW government’s draconian anti-protest laws.

“If you are a group of businesses in the City of Sydney and you want to close the street for a street party, this state government will give you $50,000. If you are a non-violent protester who cares about climate change and you are blocking one lane of traffic for 25 minutes, they will give you two years [in jail].

“We know these laws are designed to intimidate you… Thank you for being the front line in the fight. you are the ones to put your bodies on the line to protest about issues we all care about, ” she said.

Amnesty International support for democracy
Amnesty International spokesperson Veronica Koman emphasised how important it was to see the defence of democratic rights from a regional perspective. She said that Amnesty was concerned that severe repression of pro-independence activists in West Papua was spreading across to other parts of Indonesia.

She fears the same pattern of increasing repression taking hold in NSW.

Human Rights Watch researcher Sophie McNeil, who has won many awards for her journalism, was another person who was quick to respond.

“Outrageous. Climate activist who blocked traffic on Sydney Harbour Bridge jailed for at least eight months” she tweeted on Friday.

Since then she has followed the issue closely, criticising the ABC for failing to quote a human rights source in its coverage of the court case and speaking at a protest in Perth on Monday.

Today she posted this tweet with a short campaigning #FreeVioletCoco video that has already attracted nearly 13,000 views:

‘If you’re reading this, you’ll know I am in prison’
In jailing Coco, Magistrate Hawkins went out of her way to diminish and delegitimise her protest. She described it as a “childish stunt’ that let an “entire city suffer” through her “selfish emotional action”.

Coco has been involved with climate change protests for more than four years and has been arrested in several other protests. On one occasion, she set light to an empty pram outside Parliament House.

Rather than fight on technicalities, she chosen to plead guilty, knowing that if the magistrate was hostile, she could be taken into custody at the end of Friday’s hearing.

Several steps ahead of her critics, she made a video and wrote a long piece to be published if she went to prison.

The piece begins: ”If you are reading this, then I have been sentenced to prison for peaceful environmental protest. I do not want to break the law. But when regular political procedure has proven incapable of enacting justice, it falls to ordinary people taking a stand to bring about change.”

She describes how her understanding of the facts of climate science and the inadequacy of the current response led her to decide to give up her studies and devote herself to actions that would draw attention to the climate emergency.

“Liberal political philosopher John Rawls asserted that a healthy democracy must have room for this kind of action. Especially in the face of such a threat as billions of lives lost and possibly the collapse of our liveable planet.

“But make no mistake — I do not want to be protesting. Protest work is not fun — it’s stressful, resource-intensive, scary and the police are violent. They refuse to feed me, refused to give me toilet paper and have threatened me with sexual violence.

Jailed Australian climate protester Deanna "Violet" Coco
Jailed Australian climate protester Deanna “Violet” Coco . . . “Protest work is not fun — it’s stressful, resource-intensive, scary and the police are violent.” Image: APR screenshot

“I spent three days in the remand centre, which is a disgusting place full of sad people. I do not enjoy breaking the law. I wish that there was another way to address this issue with the gravitas that it deserves.”

She describes how she has already been forced to comply with onerous bail conditions:

“I was under 24 hour curfew conditions for 20 days in a small apartment with no garden. After 20 days effectively under house arrest, my curfew hours changed — at first I could leave the house for only 5 hours a day for the following 58 days, then 6 hours a day under house arrest for the following 68 days.

“This totalled 2017 hours imprisoned in my home for non-violent political engagement in the prevention of many deaths. Cumulatively, that is 84 days or 12 weeks of my freedom.”

Premier Perrottet says he does not object to protest so long as it does not interfere with “our way of life”.

If it does, individuals should have the “book thrown at them.”

His “way of life” is one in which commuters are never held up in traffic by a protest while endlessly sitting in traffic because of governments’ poor transport planning.

A way of life in which it is fine for governments to take years to house people whose lives are destroyed by fires and floods induced by climate change, to allow people to risk death from heat because they cannot afford air conditioners, open more coal and gas operations that will increase carbon emissions and turn a blind eye to millions of climate refugees in the Asia Pacific region.

It involves only protesting when you have permission and in tightly policed zones where passers-by ignore you.

Labor still backs anti-protest laws
Leader of the Opposition Chris Minns also says he has no regrets for supporting the laws which he says were necessary to stop multiple protests.

But laws don’t target multiple actions, they target individuals. He has not raised his voice to condemn police harassment of individual activists even before they protest and bail conditions that breach democratic rights to freedom of assembly.

There was no visible Labor presence at Sydney’s rally.

Perrottet and Minns may be making right wing shock jocks happy but they are out of line with international principles of human rights.

They also fail to acknowledge that many of Australia’s most famous protest movements around land rights, apartheid, Green Bans, womens’ rights, prison reform and environment often involved actions that would have led to arrest under current anti-protest laws.

They display an ignorance of traditions of civil disobedience. As UNSW Professor Luke Macnamara told SBS News: “[V]isibility and disruption have long been the hallmarks of effective protest.”

He believes disruption and protest need to go hand in hand in order to result in tangible change.

“There’s an inherent contradiction in governments telling protesters what are acceptable, passive, non-disruptive means of engaging in protests, when the evidence may well be that those methods have been attempted and have proven to be ineffective,” he said.

“It’s not realistic on the one hand to support the so-called ‘right to protest’, and on the other hand, expect the protest has no disruptive effects. The two go together.”

Wendy Bacon was previously a professor of journalism at the University of Technology Sydney and is an editorial board member of Pacific Journalism Review. She joined the protest. This article was first published by City Hub and is republished with the author’s permission.

As Fiji prepares to vote, democracy could already be the loser

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Fiji's third election since the “coup to end all coups” in 2006
Fiji's third election since the “coup to end all coups” in 2006, which followed two earlier coups in 1987 and a civilian overthrow of the elected government in 2000. Image: Getty Images/The Conversation

ANALYSIS: By Dominic O’Sullivan, Charles Sturt University

When Fijians elect a new Parliament on December 14, it is likely their votes will be counted fairly — yet the country will remain a conditional and fragile democracy.

This will be the third election since the “coup to end all coups” in 2006, which followed two earlier coups in 1987 and a civilian overthrow of the elected government in 2000.

After the 2006 coup, Fijian military head Voreqe Bainimarama appointed himself prime minister. In 2013 he rejected a new constitution commissioned to support a democratic state.

Instead, he promulgated his own. Section 131(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji states:

It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians.

FIJI ELECTIONS 2022

In other words, overall responsibility for the wellbeing of Fiji and its people does not belong to the government or Parliament. The military interprets this as meaning it is “mandated to be the guardian of Fiji”.

Democracy’s fragility is entrenched. Furthermore, Fiji’s unicameral Parliament is not big enough to support robust parliamentary checks on government, even though it will grow from 51 to 55 members at this year’s election.

Freedom and the military
Bainimarama went from self-appointed to elected prime minister in 2014 when his FijiFirst party won the first election under the new constitution. It won again in 2018 with just over 50 percent of the vote in the country’s proportional representation system.

Voreqe Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party
From self-appointed to elected prime minister: Voreqe Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party is likely to form a government after December 14. Image: Getty Images/The Conversation

International observers found votes were fairly counted, but the campaign was marred by intimidation of opposition candidates.

Shortly before the 2018 election, opposition leader Sitivini Rabuka was charged with electoral fraud. He was acquitted just in time to take his place as a candidate.

Rabuka was prime minister between 1992 and 1999, having led the coups in 1987 and having described democracy as “a foreign flower unsuited to Fijian soil”. In 2022, however, Rabuka’s People’s Alliance, in coalition with the National Federation Party, is the most likely alternative government.

Cost of living, poverty and peaceful and orderly government are important election issues.

Significantly, though, the People’s Alliance manifesto suggests exploring amendments to the constitution. It also wants to remove measures that suppress human rights, previously highlighted by Amnesty International and others.

Land rights and the protection of the indigenous iTaukei culture are also important in this campaign, to the extent they have prompted an outburst typical of Bainimarama’s florid rhetorical style. At a campaign rally last week, he said of an opponent’s land rights policy:

This conversation will cause stabbing, murder and blood spilled on our land, and unlawful entering [of property] will happen if that conversation is condoned.

Sitiveni Rabuka’s People’s Alliance
Sitiveni Rabuka’s People’s Alliance could form an alternative government in coalition with the National Federation Party. Image: Getty Images/The Conversation

Fragile free speech
There are also restrictions on political reporting. As the Fiji Parliamentary Reporters’ Handbook (published in 2019) explains: “As in rugby, knowing the rules is the difference between enjoying the game and not being able to follow it.”

Journalists are reminded that the right to free speech does not allow “incitement to violence or insurrection”. The handbook goes on to remind them:

There is scope in the Constitution to “limit […] rights and freedoms […] in the interests of national security, public safety, public order, public morality, public health or the orderly conduct of elections”.

Interpretations of these limits can be broad. In November, for example, longstanding government critic and election candidate Richard Naidu was convicted of “contempt scandalising the court” following a lighthearted Facebook post in which he pointed out a spelling mistake in a High Court judgment.

The charge — which Amnesty International says should be withdrawn — was brought by the attorney-general.

Towards a more stable democracy
In my 2017 book, Indigeneity: a politics of potential – Australia, Fiji and New Zealand, I argued that political stability requires ordered and principled measures for protecting iTaukei (ethnic Fijian) rights to land and culture. This is a matter of respecting human dignity, but also to ensure those rights are not used as a pretext for settling wider and sometimes unrelated conflicts.

Stability does not arise only from the freedom to vote and from being confident one’s vote will be fairly counted. It comes also from well-informed expectations of what governments should do and what constitutions should protect, including:

  • a free and diverse media, with a culture of detailed and critical investigation and reporting on public affairs
  • a politically independent military, police and judiciary that aren’t called on to intimidate opponents
  • a larger parliament that is more representative and allows stronger checks on the executive.

For now, while the military enjoys considerable credibility and support, its role as defender and arbiter of the public good ensures perpetual instability.

The diplomatic and economic value of its contributions to United Nations peacekeeping missions means it remains an important national institution. And the recent gift of military peacekeeping vehicles from the US is an example of the soft diplomacy used by democratic states, including Australia and New Zealand, to influence contemporary Fiji.

The effectiveness of that influence will be tested at some point. In the meantime, the Fijian people are free to change their government on December 14. But the possibility they will not be free to keep that government means, whatever the election outcome, democracy has lost before a vote is cast.The Conversation

Dr Dominic O’Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Domestic violence, isolation hit Pacific women during pandemic, says USP survey

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Dr Hilary Smith
Researcher Dr Hilary Smith . . . also evidence of the “shadow pandemic” of domestic abuse in the Pacific. Image: AUSPS

By Sri Krishnamurthi

While some women at the University of the South Pacific’s 14 campuses found working from home enjoyable during the covid-19 pandemic, others felt isolated, had overwhelming mental challenges and some experienced domestic violence, a Pacific survey has found.

Titled “University Women Remote Work Challenges”, the survey was funded by the Council of Pacific Education (COPE) and was supported by the Association of the University of the South Pacific staff (AUSPS)

The research report, released last month, was conducted by Dr Hilary Smith (an honorary affiliate researcher at the Australian National University and Massey University) for the women’s wing of AUSPS.

AUSPS women’s wing chair Rosalie Fatiaki
AUSPS women’s wing chair Rosalie Fatiaki . . . “Women with young children had a lot to juggle, and those who rely on the internet for work had particular frustrations.” Image: AUSPS

“This survey confirms that many of our university women had support from their family networks while on Work From Home, but others were left feeling very isolated,” said Rosalie Fatiaki, chair of the AUSPS women’s wing.

“Women with young children had a lot to juggle, and those who rely on the internet for work had particular frustrations — some had to wait until after midnight to get a strong enough signal,” she said.

Around 30 percent of respondents reported having developed covid-19 during the Work From Home periods, and 57 percent had lost a family member or close friend to covid-19 as well as co-morbidities.

‘Feelings of shame’
“That was because of the feelings of shame (reporting domestic violence). In the Pacific Islands families and communities tend to be very close-knit groupings,” Dr Smith said.

Only two of the 14 USP campuses in 12 Pacific countries avoided any covid-19 closures between 2020 and 2022 — the shortest closure was two days in Tokelau and the longest at the three Fijian campuses of Laucala, Lautoka and Labasa lasting 161 days.

There had been no cases on the Tuvalu campus until the second quarter of this year.

“For women who had older children they said they enjoyed the time with their families,” Dr Smith said.

“And it was more difficult for those with young families,” she said.

She stressed the importance of being careful with the survey in relation to domestic violence.

“With this kind of survey, we had to be a little bit careful. We can’t say we got evidence of how much there is because it is a very tricky thing to survey and especially in this kind of survey,” Dr Smith said.

‘Sensitive issue’
“And because it is a sensitive issue and people tend not to identify and it is something that people tend to be ashamed about pretty much.

“The survey was totally confidential, and we set it up so no one would who the respondents were.

“It was impossible to find out through the ANU programme we used.

“But the fact people did give some evidence then I think that we know that it is actually quite significant, and we assumed that the prevalence was quite higher.”

She said that she was not saying there were more incidents, but from media reports, particularly in Fiji, she had suspicions that it was higher than reported in the survey.

“We were responding to the fact that there were other news reports in Fiji we referenced, and there has been the other report by the UN (United Nations) women about it,” she said.

The report “Measuring the Shadow Pandemic – violence against women during Covid-19” was released by the UN in December 2021 and the Violence Against Women Rapid Gender Assessments (VAW RGA) were implemented in 13 countries spanning all regions — Albania, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand and Ukraine.

There was general support of national statistical offices (NSOs) or national women’s groups and funding from the policy and Melinda Gates Foundation, which found an incidence of 40 percent of reported domestic violence.

‘There in Pacific”
“So, we weren’t saying that it was more than in other countries, but we were saying it was there in the Pacific.

“It could be more, or it could be less but because the evidence had been already highlighted in Fiji, we were just picking up on that.”

AUSPS had specifically asked for it to be followed up because of “widespread murmuring” that domestic violence was occurring.

“My colleagues at USP had indicated they wanted to follow it up because they had heard that it was an issue for some women,” Dr Smith said.

In her recommendations she had suggested counselling for women and a safe space on campus, but she was unsure if it would be acted on.

Limited counselling
There was limited counselling available already and some had suggested that it should be done through religious denominations, she said.

She said internationally people had struggled with mental health issues during the pandemic, so it was common to all communities.

“There was a relatively high incidence in Fiji, and we reported the findings from the survey,” Dr Smith said.

Among the recommendations for support during isolation was the setting up of a helpline and regular calls from senior personnel and support staff.

She said even if this pandemic had passed there were other events like natural disasters, politics, and wars to be mindful of.

“Human-made or nature-made or the prevalence of other pandemics, we are basically saying the university should be prepared,” Dr Smith said.

Sri Krishnamurthi is an independent journalist and a former Pacific Media Watch editor.

Yamin Kogoya: Happy West Papua Day – and the brutal truth about where we are now

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West Papua Independence Day
Another sacred day for West Papua . . . but Jakarta is shattering the Papuan people's unifying name for their independence struggle by splitting the region into five provinces. Image: Papua Voulken

COMMENTARY: By Yamin Kogoya

On 30 June 2022, the Indonesian Parliament in Jakarta passed legislation to split West Papua into three more pieces.

The Papuan people’s unifying name for their independence struggle — “West Papua” — is now being shattered by Jakarta’s draconian policies. Under this new legislation, the two existing provinces have been divided into five, which include South Papua, Central Papua, and Highland Papua.

Indonesia’s Vice-President, Ma’ruf Amin said while addressing an audience at the Special Autonomy Law Change in Jayapura, Papua’s capital, on Tuesday, 29 November 2022, “right now, we are building Papua better”,  reported the Indonesian news agency Antara.

“Changes to special autonomy are a natural thing and are in the process of the national policy cycle to make things even better,” continued the Vice-President.

While Jakarta is busy tearing apart West Papua with these deceitful words, Papuans everywhere are called to raise the banned Morning Star flag today to commemorate West Papua’s 61st Independence Day on 1 December 1961, stolen by Jakarta in May 1963.

The day is significant and historic because it was on 19 October 1961 that the first New Guinea Council, known as Nieuw Guinea Raad, named West Papua as the name of a new modern nation-state — the Papuan Independent State was founded.

It was before Papua New Guinea (PNG) gained independence in 1975 from Australia.

Papuans were subjected to all kinds of abuse and violations due to how this island of New Guinea was named and described in colonial literature.

Foreign reinventions
Foreign powers continue to dissect West Papua, renaming it, creating new identities, and reinventing new definitions by making it merely an outpost of foreign imperialism in the periphery where abundant food and minerals are extracted and stolen, without penalty or consequence.

Papuans do not appear to give up their sacred ancestral land without a fight.

The name “West Papua”, however, remains a burning flame in the hearts of all living beings who yearn for freedom and justice. The name was chosen 61 years ago because of this reason. This is the name of a newborn nation-state.

After Indonesia invaded West Papua on May 1, 1963, the name West Papua was changed to Irian Jaya. West Papua had been called The Netherlands New Guinea up to the point of the first New Guinea Council in 1961.

The year 2000 marked another significant period in the history of West Papua. The former Indonesian president, Abdurrahman Wahid — famously known as Gusdur — renamed it from Irian Jaya to Papua, a move that etched a special place in the hearts of Papuans for Gusdur.

In 2003, not only did West Papua’s name change. But West Papua was split in half — Papua and West Papua. This fragmentation was achieved by Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the first Indonesian president, Sukarno, the man responsible for 60 years of Papuan bloodshed.

She violated a provision of the Special Autonomy Law 2001, which was based on the idea that Papua remain a single territory. As prescribed by law, any division would need to be approved by the Papuan provincial legislature and local Papuan cultural assembly.

Tragic turning point
They were institutions set up by Jakarta itself to safeguard Papuan people, language, and culture.

One significant aspect of the first Special Autonomy Law was, any new policy introduced by the central government in relation to changing, adjusting, or creating a new identity of the region (West Papua) must be approved by the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP). But this has never happened to date.

The year 2022 marks another tragic turning point in the fate of West Papua. West Papua is being divided again this year under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, in the same manner that Jakarta did 20 years ago.

It is common for Jakarta elites to act inconsistently with their own laws when dealing with West Papua. Jakarta violated both the UN Charter and the New York Agreement, which they themselves agreed to and signed.

For example, chapters 11 (XI), 12 (XII), and 13 (XIII) of the UN Charter governing decolonisation and Papua’s right to self-determination, as specified in the New York Agreement’s Articles 18 (XVII), 19 (XIX), 20 (XX), 21 (XXI), and 22 (XXII) have not been followed. The words, texts and practices all contradict each other — demonstrating possible psychological disturbance — traumatising Papuans by being administered by such a pathological entity.

The disdain and demeaning behaviour shown by Indonesian governments towards Papuans in West Papua over the past 61 years are unforgivable and stained permanently in the soul of every living being in West Papua and New Guinea island.

“Right now, we are building Papua better,” declared Indonesia’s Vice-President, a narcissistic utterance from the highest office of the country, and this illustrates Jakarta’s complete disconnect from West Papua.

Random Morning Star flag-waving images from West Papua Day 2022
Morning Star flag-waving images from West Papua Independence Day 2022. Images: Papua Voulken

What led to this tragic situation?
West Papua has endured a lot for more than half a century, having been renamed and re-described numerous times by foreign invaders, from “IIha de papo” and “o’ Papuas” to “Isla de Oro”, or “Island of Gold”, to New Guinea, and New Guinea to Netherlands, English and German Papua and New Guinea. From this emerged Papua New Guinea, West Papua and Irian Jaya, and from Irian Jaya to Papua and West Papua.

As a result of renaming and colonial descriptions of Papuans as unintelligent pygmies, cannibals, and pagan savages; people without value, different foreign colonial intruders were able to enter West Papua and exploit and treat the Papuan people and their land, in accordance with the myth they created based on these names.

In addition to fostering a racist mindset, this depiction misrepresented reality as it was experienced and understood by Papuans over thousands of years.

The Jakarta settler colonial government continues to engage with West Papua with these profoundly misconstrued ideas. Hence the total disregard for what Papuans want or feel regarding their fate is a result of colonial renaming and accounts.

Now the eastern half remains under one name: Papua New Guinea. Jakarta’s settler colonial rulers just created five more settler provinces on the Western side of the island: South Papua Province, Central Papua Province, and Central Highlands Papua Province.

All these new settler colonial provinces are in the heart of New Guinea. Looking at West Papua’s history, we see so many marks and bruises of abuse and torture on her sacred body. In the future, West Papua is likely to suffer yet another grim fate of more torture with such dishonest words from Indonesia’s Vice-President.

Another sacred day
Today, December 1, marks yet another sacred day where we hold West Papua in our hearts and rally to her defence as her enemy marches to cut her into pieces on the settler colonial’s bed of Procrustes.

Let us remember and give glory to West Papua with the following words:

West Papua is an ancient and original particle, an atom of light and hope. It is a story about survival, resistance, betrayal, destruction, genocide, and survival against the odds. It is the last frontier where humanity’s greatness and wickedness are tested, where tragedy, aspiration, and hope are revealed. Papua is an innocent sacrificial lamb, a peace broker among the planet’s monsters, but no one knows her story — hidden deep beneath the earth – supporting sacred treaties between savages and warlords. West Papua is the home of the last original magic, the magic of nature. West Papua is the home of our original ancestors, the archaic Autochthons, the spiritual ancestors of our dream-time spiritual warriors — the pioneers of nature — the first voyageur across dangerous seas and land — the first agriculturalist — the most authentic, the original — we are the past and we are the future. West Papua is the original dream that has yet to be realised — a dream in the process of restoration to its original glory.

This is where West Papua is now. You cut me into pieces millions of times in millions of years, I will rebuild West Papua with these pieces a million times over again.

Happy West Papua Independence Day!

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.

‘Against propaganda, there are facts’ – RSF’s new global campaign video

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The new Reporters Without Borders campaign video about Russian’s invasion propaganda. Video: RSF

Pacific Media Watch

As Russia’s propaganda and crackdown on journalism continue to wreak havoc, the Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its new campaign video.

Devised and produced by the Paris-based advertising agency BETC, this powerful video takes just a few seconds to demonstrate the importance of journalism in combatting propaganda.

In the new video, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mendacious speeches to the Russian people about the invasion of Ukraine are contrasted with images of reporters covering the war.

Only the facts reported by journalists can thwart the Kremlin’s propaganda. Like the #FightForFacts campaign video that RSF released at the end of 2020, this new video aims to get viewers to appreciate the importance of journalism in raising awareness and in motivating the public about issues that are decisive for their future.

RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said:

“Without journalists to cover the war in Ukraine, we would be powerless against disinformation and propaganda, we wouldn’t know whether the bombing of civilians in Ukraine was true or false, or whether the Bucha massacres really took place.

“After the world was stunned by the war in Ukraine, RSF wants to raise awareness about the other war being waged by the Kremlin, the information war.”

The cruel reality of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
The cruel reality of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Image: RSF

Eight journalists have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war.

In the occupied territories, journalists are hunted down, arrested and given an impossible choice: collaboration, prison or death.

From day one, RSF teams mobilised. In Lviv and Kyiv, press freedom centres set up by RSF provide protective equipment, first aid kits, digital safety training and psychological support to both Ukrainian and foreign journalists covering the war.

This campaign video is intended to help RSF raise part of the funds it needs to continue its work in Ukraine and the rest of the world.

Targeted at the general public, it is being carried by TV channels, shared on social media and available to all websites that want it.

And it is available in 13 languages (French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Romanian, Azeri, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Mongolian).

The video was produced by and with the support of the BETC agency.

About BETC
An ad agency created in 1994, BETC was named Adweek’s International Agency of the Year in 2019 as well as the Effie Agency of the Year for the second year running.

BETC looks to renew the relationship between brands and creation.

Out of desire, curiosity and commitment, BETC creates new synergies and produces its own content in the fields of music, film, publishing, design… BETC is at the heart of the Magasins Généraux project in Pantin, where it moved in July 2016.

It is a new space for creation, innovation, production and sharing that is located at the heart of Greater Paris.

Revelations on the murky fate of flag ‘treason’ prisoners in West Papua

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Jailed flag-raiser Melvin Yobe and his friends took a group photo before undergoing a
Jailed flag-raiser Melvin Yobe and his friends took a group photo before undergoing a "treason" trial at the Jayapura District Court. Image: Melvin Yobe/Tabloid Jubi

Today marks 1 December 1961 when the West Papuan national flag, the Morning Star was first raised and the date has been honoured across the world ever since. The flag was raised by West Papuan legislators who had been promised independence by then-colonial ruler, the Netherlands, but this hope was dashed by Indonesian annexation in 1969. Today marks the 61st anniversary of that first flag-raising. West Papuans raising the flag risk prison sentences of up to 15 years. The following article from Tabloid Jubi newspaper in the Papuan capital Jayapura is part of a five-part series exposing the cruel and inhumane treatment of flag-raisers by Indonesian authorities.

By Tabloid Jubi in Jayapura

Seven West Papuan makar — “treason” — convicts who were found guilty of raising the Morning Star flag were released on September 27 this year after completing their prison term of 10 months.

Until today, Papua activist and treason convict Melvin Yobe still does not know the result of his medical check-up at Dian Harapan Hospital earlier this year on February 16.

Maksimus Simon Petrus You also doesn’t know what punishment was given to the prison guard who brutally beat him.

Even more disturbing, however, is the fate of Zode Hilapok. He was unable to stand trial as his health continued to deteriorate due to tuberculosis. Zode Hilapok died while undergoing treatment at Yowari Regional General Hospital in Jayapura Regency on October 22.

Since detaining Zode Hilapok on December 2, 2021, law enforcement officials at all levels failed to provide adequate health services for his recovery and he was never put on trial.

Melvin Yobe and his friends when they were released from Abepura Prison on 27 September 2022
Melvin Yobe and his friends when they were released from Abepura Prison on 27 September 2022. Image: Theo Kelen/Tabloid Jubi

Violating human rights
A law faculty lecturer at Cenderawasih University, Melkias Hetharia, says treason charges against Papuan activists violated human rights — namely the right to freedom of speech and expression. He argues the treason law enforced against Melvin Yobe and his seven friends was enacted by the Dutch colonial government to punish coups and revolutions and was based on the experience of the Russian revolution.

Hetharia told Jubi that the enforcement of the Dutch East Indies’ Criminal Code did not consider the social, cultural and philosophical aspects of the Indonesian nation.

“The formation of treason articles in the Criminal Code did not consider aspects of human rights, therefore it is oppressive and injures a sense of justice,” Hetharia said.

He said the term “treason” as regulated in articles 104, 106, 107, 108 and 110 of the Criminal Code had been interpreted very broadly and was not in line with the meaning of aanslag as intended in Dutch, which means “attack”. An attack in that sense was using full force in an attempt to seize power.

“If the term treason in the articles is interpreted not as aanslag or attack, then the articles on treason are indeed contrary to human rights guaranteed and protected in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said.

In fact, Melvin Yobe, Zode Hilapok, and their six friends are not the only Papuan activists who peacefully protested but have been charged with treason.

An infographic of Papuan activists who were charged with treason 2013-2022
An infographic of Papuan activists who were charged with treason at the Jayapura District Court, Central Jakarta District Court, and Balikpapan District Court during 2013-2022. Graphic: Leon/Tabloid Jubi

From 2013 to 2022, at least 44 Papuan activists have been charged with treason. Among them — from Jayapura District Court data — from 2013 to 2022 there were 31 people, while in Balikpapan District Court in 2020 seven people and in the Central Jakarta Court in 2019 six people.

Treason ‘structural criminalisation’
Emanuel Gobay, director of the Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua), who is also the legal counsel for Melvin Yobe and his friends, believes the treason charges against Papuan activists are part of a systematic and structural criminalisation.

“The majority of those accused of treason are human rights activists and political activists,” Gobay told Jubi.

Gobay said the Morning Star flag was a cultural symbol of the Papuan people. According to Gobay, these cultural symbols are guaranteed under Papua Special Autonomy Law No, 21/2001.

Gobay said the raising of the Morning Star by Melvin Yobe and other Papuan activists was part of the demand for the government to resolve Papua’s political problems.

“They are asking the state to immediately implement the Special Autonomy Law,” said Gobay.

On that basis, Gobay considered the use of the treason article against Papuan activists as a form of criminalisation. He also emphasised that the raising of the Morning Star flag did not automatically make Papua independent from Indonesia, therefore the element of treason was not fulfilled.

Apart from the controversy on the use of treason legal articles for Papuan activists, the discriminative treatment received by prisoners of treason cases is also inappropriate, argues Gobay.

Prisoners treated badly
Gobay, who often provides legal assistance to Papuan activists suspected or charged with treason, said his clients were often treated badly.

Zode Hilapok’s health condition was the worst of all, said Gobay. During his detention in Abepura Prison, Hilapok’s health condition deteriorated and he lost weight rapidly.

Gobay said Abepura Prison was not suitable for detainees with a history of tuberculosis, such as Melvin Yobe and Zode Hilapok.

“After we surveyed and compared the condition of the prison with the guidelines on handling tuberculosis patients, the prison is not suitable for accommodating prisoners with tuberculosis,” he said.

Minister of Health Regulation No. 67/2016 on Tuberculosis Patient Treatment Guideline states that the treatment centre for tuberculosis patients must be open and have good air circulation and sunlight.

Gobay said the regulation also stipulated that local health offices and hospitals provide special units to treat tuberculosis patients.

“We hope that judges, prosecutors, and hospitals can implement the regulation,” he said.

This report is supported by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), The European Union and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in the Anticorruption Residency programme “Reporting Legal Journalism”. It is the final article in a five-part series in Tabloid Jubi and is republished by Café Pacific with permission.

Peacemonger – a tribute to peace researcher Owen Wilkes out soon

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Owen Wilkes
Revered New Zealand peace researcher and archaeologist Owen Wilkes overlooking his beloved Kawhia harbour. Image: David Robie/Pacific Scoop

Raekaihau Press

Owen Wilkes (1940–2005) was known throughout the Pacific and across the world as an outstanding researcher on peace and disarmament.

His work:

• exposed plans to build a US Navy satellite tracking station in the Southern Alps
• identified a foreign spy base at Tangimoana (near Bulls)
• led to job offers from leading peace research institutes in Norway and Sweden — and an espionage charge for taking photographs during a cycling holiday, and
• supported local campaigns against foreign military activity in the Philippines, and for a nuclear-free Pacific.

Born in Christchurch, Owen Wilkes was an internationalist and a dedicated New Zealander — a subsistence farmer on the West Coast (where his self-built eco-home was demolished by the local council), an archaeologist, tramper and yachtsman.

In this forthcoming book, edited by historian Mark Derby and Wilkes’ former partner May Bass, experts in their own fields who knew and worked with him reflect on his achievements and his legacy. The contributors include:

Peacemonger book cover
Peacemonger . . . the first full-length account of peace researcher Owen Wilkes’ life and work. Image: Raekaihau Press

Ingvar Botnen
Nils Petter Gleditsch
Nicky Hager
Di Hooper
Murray Horton
Maire Leadbeater
Robert Mann
Neville Ritchie
David Robie
Ken Ross
Peter Wills

The book, published by Raekaihau Press in association with Steele Roberts Aotearoa, has a timeline, a bibliography of Owen’s publications in several languages, and an index.

The book is being published on November 23.

Owen Wilkes book poster

The Owen Wilkes book order flyer.

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