(o) Political Satire

Political satire in its many forms is a powerful weapon that has not escaped the attention of anti-Goverment people or the foreign media.  The English magazine Punch used it in the mid-1800s to ridicule and effectively destroy the Chartist Movement, and it has been used many times since. But not by the Fiji Governnment: there are no cartoonist or satirists at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks. And it takes humility and political wisdom to sometimes laugh at oneself.

This  link to the Cafe Pacific posting is an example of good political satire based, as much of it usually is, on a somewhat onesided selection of facts. I address one of these  is this comment I made to their post:

 Sas's Open Letter to the Prime Minister
The letter's brilliant. Pure satire, it exposes the numerous petty over-reactions of Government, but it  rests on one important misrepresentation: Ordinary pensions are not being stopped and ordinary people deprived of an income derived in part from their FNPF contributions. The pensions stopped are those of former politicians to which they made no financial contributions.  They are paid by the State they seek to undermine.

Enjoy the letter but be aware that  political satire is a powerful weapon that is sometimes aimed deliberately off-target."

I have a serious suggestion. Government should also use humour to attack its opponents and popularise its own perspectives. Recruit some cartoonists and other satirists, or mount public competitions around themes like: SDL ideas on democracy; Church keeps its head out of politics, Mataqali share of land rentals,  Fiji's "new" squatter and water supply problems; Qarase returns tabua. There are endless possibilities but keep them light and humourous.