The March That Wasn't

By Crosbie Walsh

For most of last week we were the victims of a preposterous hoax that rolled out of Sydney's FDFM blog to Wellington's Fiji Coup 2006 blog (and Auckland's CoupFourPointFive) and on to its final destination in Suva.

There was to be an anti-Government march on Friday at Sukuna Park of some 10,000 to 20,000 people (including 10,000 school children!), timed, purely by accident, to coincide with an authorised Human Rights march of women and children.  Government banned both the real and unreal marches — just to be sure.

The ban, however, did not stop Fiji Coup 2006 blogger Sai Lealea,  strengthened from singing Psalm 91:1-16, urging the troops onwards from behind.

"We will March tomorrow in force," Sai wrote from Wellington, "and let the government know that we mean business and will not be deprived of our rights to be heard by the President. To all ordinary men and women of Fiji – the cancellation only depicts that Frank Bainimarama’s government is very afraid and wishes to cling on to power by removing the only legal authority our President." Sai seemed unaware that strictly speaking the President is no more legal than the PM.

Of course, there was no march. In "free" Sydney the bloggers could only muster 60 people, including children.

It could have been the ban, but more likely few ordinary people in Fiji took the bloggers seriously,  and no one turned up — other than those photoed above. I doubt the  blogs would have much support for a march other than from those whose gravy trains were upset  by the Coup.  I'm surprised, however,  that Government did take them seriously, and even more surprised at their stated reason: the release of a travel advisory by the US Embassy.

The Ministry of Information said the US Embassy sent out an alert on Wednesday 8th warning American citizens that "these marches may have an anti-government tone and it is possible that assembled groups may become unruly". This may be so but the advisory was little different that the one issued on 19 January that advised: "American citizens in Fiji should remain vigilant -- particularly in public places and near military activities in the greater Suva area -- and should avoid demonstrations and large crowds. Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful could turn confrontational and escalate into violence unexpectedly."

The only updated advisory I could find was the Australian: "A protest march may take place in Suva on 10 December 2010. We recommend Australians avoid demonstrations, street rallies and public gatherings." The NZ advisory remained unchanged from 3 November 2009: "There is some risk to your security in Fiji and we advise caution."

But Government went further and summonsed the US Ambassador Steven McGann  to a meeting with Foreign Affairs officials "amid a widening rift between the Embassy and our Government." The PM even thought there was a link between the advisory and the earlier refusal to grant visas to senior government people seeking to attend UN and UN-related conferences.  Sorry, Prime Minister, this is most unlikely.  The US advisory on the 19th January and 8th December were standard issue, just like the Australian. It is the duty of all government to warn their citizens about possible dangers when overseas. The visas are a separate issue.

It was, of course, the Fiji Government's prerogative to remain quiet about the supposed anti-government march, but I think they would have hurt blogger credibility and won support had they exposed the blogs' preposterous claims the day before.  The anti-government blogs are visited by over 5,000 people a day, well over a thousand of them in Fiji. They would be visited by fewer people if their ongoing misinformation were exposed, and if the Fiji media  published more information and opinions on important issues. Anti-government sentiment feeds on rumour.

Far better to have arrested those without a licence to march (if any turned up) than ban the women's march. The Embassy was just doing its job, and its advisory seems a most unlikely excuse for the ban.

My own opinion is that is was a great pity the Human Rights march was cancelled. It could not have been on a worse day and for a more worthy cause. There is little doubt the cancellation will receive wide international coverage and will be used as further evidence of Government intractability. Government's rating among moderate people in Fiji is also likely to have dropped.  Looked at in this way the FDFM (and anti-Government forces generally) won the day — without the march.   Government lost an opportunity and was shown to be nervy and heavy-handed.

 Unless Government really expected the parade to be hijacked by busloads  of anti-Government protesters (and their security antennae should know whether this was a possibility),  they should, in my opinion,  have let the women’s march go ahead.   And if any of Pita Waqatairewa or Sai Lealea’s SDL bati turned up to misuse the march, sheltering behind the women's sulus, they should have been arrested for breaking PER.  This way Government would have exposed them for what they are.

Government seems slow to realize that it is fighting a propaganda war where its good work is too often being crowded out by its inappropriate reactions to challenges like this. Far more subtlety is needed.  And once again PER shows itself to be a clumsy instrument.  All the new and upgraded roads, electricity, water, better schooling and health access in the world will count for little, in the long run, unless Government also “wins the hearts and minds” of the people.  Last week was not the way to go.