Testing the Strength of the Fiji Government Opposition

"Hundreds" protest ... including a "handful" of expat Fijians

Sailea Lealea at Wellington Protest

Rallies were held in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Wellington over the weekend, bringing together trade unionists, Amnesty International, church leaders and overseas itaukei to protest recent  Fiji government's alleged abuses of human rights, in particular actions against trade unions and the Methodist Church.

"Prevent people praying"?
 In Canberra, United Church mininster Rev.Gregor Henderson spoke of the denial of human freedoms.  "There are problems in Fiji but the way to solve those difficulties is not to repress civil rights, not to lock people up, not to prevent people from having meetings, not to prevent people praying, for God's sake!"



"All (worker) rights removed"?
 In Wellington, CTU president Helen Kelly said the protest would let the Fiji government know its actions are being monitored and also to put pressure on New Zealanders who are "continuing to holiday in Fiji and are being served now by hotel workers who have had all their rights removed, being transported there by transport workers who've had all their rights removed". She urged New Zealanders to pressure the regime by refusing to holiday in Fiji.

Hundreds at meetings over four cities, incuding a handful of expat Fijians
The Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement (FDFM)  organized the Australian meetings which were apparently very poorly attended. One report had the protesters totalling "hundreds" across the four centres.
The Wellington meeting, organized by the CTU, attracted 60 people, including what was described as a "handful" of Fijians. I presume they were itaukei because previous protests attracted no support from other ethnic groups.

Absent because they were afraid?
Elisapeti Samununu Waqanivalu of the Wellington-based anti-Government blog Luvei Viti, put the poor attendance outside the Fiji High Commission down to people's fear that their relatives in Fiji would be  persecuted.

“They’re scared to be identified, they’re scared to be intimidated, or their families, that’s the reason why they’re not here."

Yet these are the same people who are urging their  relatives in Fiji to actively oppose the government.

Who are the FDFM wallahs?
The identity of the non-ethnic Fjian church and union groups protesting is known and principled, even though they have limited knowledge of the complexities of the Fiji situation.

The identity of the "handful" of itaukei supporters is becoming increasingly clear. It would seem Tui Savu's FDFM is a front for the SDL party, ousted from government by the 2006 Coup.

The SDL in exile?  A branch of the FDFM is being formed in NZ.  Its interim president is Sai Lealea whose blog Fiji Coup 2006 boasts two pages of SDL material, one the SDL Constitution.  There's nothing wrong, of course, with linking a cause to a political party (or a political party to a cause); but it would be presumptuous to then claim any broad-based support, even among overseas itaukei. It would seem the FDFM movement is the SDL in exile. I doubt the Rev. Henderson or Helen Kelly will be aware of this.

From Sai's blog
Sai Lealea says people in Fiji are showing they’ve had enough.

“The Viti Revolutionary Forces, you know, the kind of actions that have never happened since the coup, the anti-regime graffiti, labelling Bainimarama and Khaiyum as liars and evil and murderers, that’s never happened.

"And now the burning of state assets, that proves to you that people are getting fed up and there are other ways they’re going to be expressing themselves.” But Sai Lealea says the key thing is that protesters preserve some semblance of law and order." Oh, Yeah!

 Approving the use of explosive devices. On a slightly different tack, Sara'ssista,  a long-time anti-Government commentator on this blog, has at long last revealed his true self. It came in response to this challenge by someone signing himself The key to help Fiji:

" @ sara'ssista. It was always a 'given' that the use of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)  would surface. The style and the substance of the messages were leading in that direction. Now, the advocacy is overt.

So, how does this potential horror sit with you? Think long and hard before you reply. Next come the threats and the bombs and ultimately, the suicide bombers? Is that where all this leads? No way can this elicit 'back to barracks'!

The ordinary people deserve better and after twenty years, they shall have better! The safety and the welfare of ordinary Fijians will be prioritised ahead of anything else.

This only serves to clarify the position and our near neighbours in the the Pacific Forum need to know this and to digest it and to think what they propose to do constructively to assist: tell the ordinary people that they propose to help and set a time frame for this support. Entertaining extremists is hardly helpful?

To which Sara'ssista replied he was not concerned about methods:
"I have no issue whatsoever with attacking the regime. The methods don't much concern me at all, if they indeed want to step up the pressure and make the regime feel nervous and insecure, then go for it.

"Capital punishment for coup plotters would have solved this issue long ago and served as a very real deterrent.

"Libya is doing just fine, maybe they need some tips. Or perhaps CRoz would have the libyans negotiate with a tyrant and use the pacific technique of talking him to death and begging for forgiveness after."

So, now we have it. Saras'sista, who previously has expressed concern about Government methods, has no problems about these methods, and oh so moderate Sai now applauds the work of the miniscule Viti Revolutionary Forces who are probably no more than a handful of teenagers armed with spray cans.

It seems like a worn tape. Coups were okay in 1987 and 2000 when they were  our coups, and the democracy once destested (when it led to the election of two governments of which we did not approve, and called a "foreign flower" with no place in Fiji) is now approved — because it's a catchword that appeals to the Commonwealth, the EU, Australia, NZ and the US who think we are genuine democrats because we call for elections with the old "democratically elected parties"involved.

Today, Fiji is by no means a democracy, and there is no guarantee it will be even after 2014,  but it never will be with people whose primary goal is to restore ethnic Fijian hegemony. These people are —and never were— democrats. At least with Bainimarama there's a chance.--- Crosbie Walsh.