Read David Robie's blog Cafe Pacific for how some people saw the media coverage of the recent UN Geneva Human Rights conference. Link. This is what I had to say:
The real Fiji issue here is not human rights (though some, affecting very few people, have been abused). The real issue is the abuse of " media rights" that have been allowed, if not encouraged, to so distort the situation in Fiji, past and present. -- Photo AUT.
5 comments:
David Robie, like you Croz, invariably gets it right. The real issue is how a country like Fiji can confront the tsunami of distortion and misinformation that we all saw the human rights lobby unleash in Geneva. A more sophisticated national information effort is obviously part of the solution. But I'm afraid little else can be achieved until an election process is in place, deaths in military custody are dealt with properly, Netani Rika can publish the Fiji Times without restraint and the Fiji Methodist hierarchy can no longer portray themselves as martyrs. As a journalist himself, Robie should know that the media don't concern themselves too much with subtleties and areas of grey. So long as they can credibly run stories on "human rights violations", that'll be the angle and the headline. I'm sure Robie would concede that " Fiji Under the Boot" is a lot better story for most journos than "Enlightened Dictator Rebuilds Divided Country".
I think Australia should give political asylum to all those people like Netani Rika who believe their rights have been abused in Fiji. If Stephen Smith believes that the situation is dire in Fiji for these people he should stand up and do the humane thing, put these people out of their misery.
They should all be sent to Christmas Island and join the 1400 or so refugees currently being processed for immigration.
Following their stint on Christmas Island they should be reloacted to the Riverina where they can be given jobs as fruitpickers and rice planters.
Netani Rika is half Australian anyway ( his mother ) so there's no need for him to go to Christmas island and get in any refugee queue. But as usual, Qanibulu, you've totally missed the point.
Qanibulu, why should everyone who doesn't agree with Frank have to seek asylum abroad? It's what the Soviets used to do and every other totalitarian state for that matter. It's really disturbing that people like you keep going on about the new, progressive, multiracial Fiji while advocating the Gulag for anyone who doesn't fall into line. Talk about husks in your head!
A healthy government needs opposition to make it justify its actions.
No critism of the current government is allowed. The censors even stop stories about investorss leaving the country as they are considered negative. I fowarded one such story that was stopped to FijiToday.
BASA
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