Category: South Pacific

New Zealand Rocked by "Anti-Terror" Raids

  New Zealand Herald 15 Oct 2007 @ 09:09 GMT | Permalink | Comments

It's hard to imagine the otherwise peaceful country to be a hot bed of weapons and military training for anarchist, extreme environmentalists and other activists. But that's what the local and Australian press are splashing their front-pages with today. Among those arrested was the self-proclaimed Maori rights activist, Tame Iti, who shares his place in history with misguided, pro-China/Soviet "terrorists" of the 1970s and 1980s.

Regardless, New Zealand arrested these "terror" suspects under the 2002 Suppression of Terrorism Act, which like in neighboring Australia and the allied United States was born of political expediency. To the government, however, which apparently did not have laws to deal with armed training camps before, the post-9/11 law was useful and the easiest to use to make the sweeping arrests.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 09:09 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Arms | New Zealand | Terrorism

Fiji: Big Trouble in Paradise

05 Dec 2006 @ 15:20 GMT | Permalink | Comments (4)

The former British colony in the South Pacific is beautiful, but its ugly, coup-loving political landscape retards development and hinders unity. The latest coup by Commodore Josaia "Frank" Voreque Bainimarama makes it all the more urgent for the Great Council of Chiefs to find a leader who can unite the divisive island state.

Commodore Bainimarama, commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, is suppressing "propaganda" from ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's camp by vetting news reports. The News Corporation-owned Fiji Times shut down its operations in protest, after the military threatened to do so.

In his propaganda (PDF just in case), Mr. Qarase uses "democracy" four times and "constitution" six times and fails to address key issues. He is right about one thing: The economy will be the loser.

Mr. Qarase is no saint either. The former banker and his cronies have fanned Fijian nationalism under false pretenses in order to usurp land rights from ethnic Indians who have been the backbone of the economy since independence.

The latest putsch -- one "native" Fijian overthrowing another -- shows that the fight has almost always been among non-Indian Fijians, not between the "natives" and ethnic Indians. Portraying the coup as a fall of democracy is simplistic; corrupt democracy gone wild may be better suited.

Read more

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 15:20 | Permalink | Comments (4)
TAGGED: Australia | Corruption | Coup d'Etat | Fiji | Politics

How the Global Kava Market Crashed

24 Aug 2006 @ 10:39 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Root of a kava plant (Piper methysticum). (Photo: Courtesy University of Hawaii)

Corporate greed and consumer demands for miracle cures (in a pill) have led to unnecessary deaths and the collapse of the kava market in Asia, Europe and North America. South Pacific nations and researchers in the West are presenting a united front to reintroduce the Pacific Elixir to the world.

A 2001 German study on liver toxicity associated with kava (Piper methysticum G. Forster) prompted Germany to ban all kava products in 2002. Several countries followed suit. The study missed a critical aspect of the herbal supplement industry. They would do almost anything to meet demands.

New studies since then have shown that kava root and the drink made from it are safe, just as they have been for at least 2,000 years. But the U.K. is holding out and last month upheld its ban on all kava products.

Read more

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 10:39 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: 'Awa | Fiji | Germany | Kava | Vanuatu

Mr. Howard: Remember the Tampa

12 Dec 2005 @ 15:16 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A dark-skinned male, who appears to be of Indian descent, is beaten up by a flash mob of white Australians. (Photo: The Age)

Australian Prime Minister John Howard's response to Cronulla, the country's worst race riots since the 1860-1861 Lambing Flat rebellion, amounted to a denial of the closet racism that guts through this former penal colony. Instead of addressing the seeds of violence, Mr. Howard passed on the problems -- just like he did with MV Tampa in 2001. Mr. Howard did everything in his power, including force, to keep 430 mostly Afghan asylum seekers from reaching Australia and, under the "Pacific Solution," paid other countries to accept them.

Read more

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 15:16 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Vanuatu: First "Climate Change Refugees"

07 Dec 2005 @ 16:43 GMT | Permalink | Comments

The tribal chief went first. And his people followed. They were the first "climate change refugees," who had to be relocated to a higher ground due to rising sea levels. The U.N. Environment Program said the move was the first of many relocations planned in the South Pacific where low-lying coastal areas are being devoured by soil erosion, higher sea levels and increasingly menacing storms.

Read more

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 16:43 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Climate Change | Global Warming | Vanuatu