Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is Working for Families contributing to poverty in New Zealand?

August 1, 2018

Political Roundup: Is Working for Families contributing to poverty in New Zealand? – Analysis by DrBryce Edwards.

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Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption] The people who are most concerned about poverty and inequality in this country are also usually highly supportive of Working for Families. But what if the Working for Families (WfF) scheme was actually part of the problem? What if WfF contributes to this poverty by reinforcing and entrenching the low-wage economy? This is the argument put forward in today’s New Zealand Herald by Matthew Hooton who says: “A major but overlooked cause of the low-wage economy driving today’s worsening industrial strife is Helen Clark’s flagship 2004 Working for Families policy” – see: ‘Communism by stealth’ is here. [caption id="attachment_4043" align="alignleft" width="200"]

Sir Michael Cullen, finance minister in the Helen Clark-led Labour Government and architect of the Working for Families policy.[/caption] He explains how WfF acts as a subsidy to employers: “if there’s a job to do worth $60,000 a year, an employer can hire someone with two kids, pay them just $38,000 a year, and they’ll end up with almost the same pay in the hand. Union bosses rightly feared that it would be difficult to get workers with children to sign up for a pay campaign if it made little difference whether they earned $38,000 or $60,0000 a year. Worse, if government subsidises something, there will be more of if, in this case low-paid jobs.” Hooton also argues that the effect of WfF payments is to discourage employers from investing in improved productivity measures: “From an employers’ perspective, Working for Families screams out: ‘Don’t buy more plant and machinery or invest in on-job training; just hire a few more low-skilled labour units and get the government to pick up a big hunk of the tab.’ This means there is very little doubt Working for Families had led to lower productivity and before-tax wages across the economy than had Clark not launched it”. The WfF scheme is being discussed a lot more at the moment, partly because this month saw the Ardern Government inject $370 million more into it on an annual basis. Last week I wrote a column for Newsroom arguing that Working for Families is corporate welfare. In this column I drew a parallel between the scheme and the Accommodation Supplement: “This has parallels with other modern welfare initiatives – such as the accommodation supplement, which is a subsidy paid by the state to private landlords of those tenants on low incomes. The left blames such payments for contributing to the rapid increases in rentals, because it effectively allows landlords to increase rents for low-income tenants beyond what they can actually pay.” And I posed the question “what would happen if WfF didn’t exist?”: “One test of the impact of a policy is to look at what would happen if it wasn’t in place. Short term, obviously low-income families would be hit hard if WFF no longer existed. But, beyond that, it’s clear that wages for the lowest paid would have to rapidly increase, otherwise a huge proportion of the workforce would simply not be able to meet their basic costs. Just affording to get to work would be a problem, with higher housing costs pushing workers further and further away from their work locations. Rents at the lower end of the market would likely also fall rapidly, particularly in the bigger cities.” Former Labour Party activist Shane Te Pou recently wrote a Newsroom column that also explained how the scheme operated as a subsidy for business: “The policy basically worked as a subsidy of employers so they could pay lower wages than otherwise, including below a living wage, knowing that it would be topped up by the state” – see: Let’s keep welfare for the poor. In this column he explains how some unions have been unhappy about the scheme, and how WfF abatement rates punish the recipient. Economists also seem increasingly critical of its impact. For example, late last year, leading economist Ganesh Nana, who runs the BERL consulting group, gave a speech in which he said WfF “is essentially a subsidy to prop up businesses that adopt a low wage business model” – this is covered in Brian Rudman’s column, Policies for fiscal fairness only right. Nana called for businesses to break out of the low-wage “cul-de-sac” simply by paying much higher wages, and called for more debate on how to do this. So, how did this low-wage economy come about? This was all explained by Chris Trotter in an Otago Daily Times column last month – see: It’s time to stop subsidising New Zealand’s least efficient employers. According to this account, the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s instituted this low-wage economy by destroying the power of unions. This set New Zealand on a path which enabled inefficient businesses that are reliant on low-wage workers. Trotter says this approach is at variance with other countries that have maintained the labour market power of workers to bargain, while pushing inefficient employers out of business to allow productive high-wage ones to prosper. Trotter says that when the Clark Labour Government came to power they took the easy option, in not attempting to reverse this but simply paying out money to those negatively affected by it: “Regrettably, the Labour-led government of Helen Clark and Michael Cullen failed to reverse National’s low-wage strategy. Not only did they decline to restore the trade unions to anything like their former strength, but they augmented National’s low-wage strategy by introducing ‘Working For Familie’ which was nothing more nor less than a massive wage-subsidy to New Zealand’s worst employers”. And writing in the Herald, Josie Pagani has also reported on how this historic battle between “capital” and “labour” is being won by capital: “The Council of Trade Unions has pointed out that working people’s share of the economy has fallen from around half thirty years ago to barely 40 per cent today, a difference in wage packets of $20 billion a year, which is worth $6000 to $10,000 a year to an average family. That is wealth our economy produces each year, but is no longer going to working people. The Government can’t fix wages in its budget. Only significant changes in the way wages are agreed between working people and employers will increase returns to work compared to returns to capital” – see: Labour won’t have enough in the pie to satisfy all hungry kids. If this all seems too abstract or esoteric, then the must-read article on all of these issues and how they are playing out for those in lower-income jobs, is Joel Ineson’s When a $16k payrise only gives you $50 a week extra in hand after credits reduced. This provides the account of one worker who got a promotion at work, which had her “moving from a 30- to a 40-hour week and having her pay increased from $36,000 to $52,000”, yet because of WfF abatement rates, her actual weekly income went from $911 to only $962. She says that WfF has “the unintended result of trapping people in poverty”. The same article reports on the experiences of a Christchurch budget advisor, David Marra, who says “Whether it was intentional or whether it was an unintended consequence… Working for Families has worked as a mechanism to keep wages down because it removes motivation”. He says that WfF, together with labour laws that aren’t particularly worker-friendly, has contributed to a low-wage economy being entrenched in New Zealand. We need much more debate about WfF and the low-wage economic model. Helpfully, the Government has promised a review of WfF. However, as Simon Chapple reports, “We’re still waiting to be told when that review will begin, who will be conducting it and what its terms of reference will be. Nor do we know how it will tie in with the Tax Working Group (TWG), even though this will be critical if either is to fulfil its potential. One review disengaged from the other doesn’t make sense” – see: Time to tackle ‘incoherent’ tax policies. Finally, not everyone is so critical of WfF. And Susan St John of the University of Auckland has taken issue with my own column discussing the problems with the scheme – see: Working for Families perversely misunderstood.]]>

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is the National Party changing enough?

By Bryce Edwards -

August 1, 2018

Simon_Bridges — Current National Party leader, Simon Bridges.

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is the National Party changing enough?

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Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption] Having been turfed out of government last year, the National Party is doing what all parties do when dealing with failure – re-evaluating what they are doing wrong and making some necessary changes. During their annual conference at the weekend, some new directions were signalled, but are the changes enough? Political commentators are divided about whether the conference heralded the beginnings of a bold new future for National, or whether it was just more of the same. Change is happening – a swing to the centre [caption id="attachment_15887" align="alignleft" width="150"]

National Party Leader, Simon Bridges.[/caption] There is no doubt that National is now presenting itself, under new leader Simon Bridges, as a more centrist party. For veteran party conference attendee, Richard Harman, this shift is quite considerable: “National’s policy rewrite is underway, and the party is showing signs of making a dramatic swing to the centre” – see: The Nats’ difficult road to 2020. Harman points to Bridges’ announcement of National’s new policy to prioritise smaller school class sizes as indicative of this new ideological mood: “That was a remarkable statement from someone who had been a junior Minister when then-Education Minister Hekia Parata announced in 2012 that she wanted to increase class sizes. Then the National Government argument was that class sizes didn’t matter.” Harman suggests other policy discussions showed a similar shift underway: “Some of the policy breakout sessions were equally revelatory. A session on foreign trade and defence policy was prompted by its chair, Todd McClay, to offer ideas on what an independent foreign policy would look like.” Harman also quotes Bridges emphasising the need for other policy changes: “We have to be a 56 strong MP policy machine”. But Bridges’ best line of the conference was this: “I don’t want to win in 2020 just because the Government is incompetent. I want to win a contest of ideas, to demonstrate that National has the vision and the team to deliver a better future for everyone.” To former National staffer, Ben Thomas, this speech by Bridges “sought to move beyond relitigating the fights of the past” – see: Simon Bridges’ big conference speech: did he drum up a new National vision? He points out that “the speech was setting up a softer public image for the opposition leader. He was joined onstage by his wife Natalie, who he described as a ‘leftie’.” Thomas believes Bridges’ softer and more moderate positioning was also evident in the big move by National last week to gazump Labour’s medicinal cannabis bill with something that was arguably better and more liberal. This was, “an unexpected and largely successful raid into Labour territory. Far from being an obstructive ‘opposition from hell’ as some had worried, Bridges seems intent on getting National ready to take the reins again in 2020.” Thomas does point to other parts of the conference that contradict this forward-looking and more centrist positioning. Apparently, John Key also endorsed Bridges’ attempts to jettison old, unpopular policy and come up with fresh thinking. Tim Murphy reported from the conference: “Key’s message to Bridges was that he should not at all be afraid of changing policies. He, from Opposition, has to deal with the New Zealand that we have in 2018” – see: A change comes over the National Party. Murphy also paints a picture of the rejected National Party going through the stages of “the grief of losing power”, saying that they are now firmly in the “acceptance” phrase, which means they realise the need to listen to the public. And he quotes Judith Collins: “The best thing about being in Opposition is we have got a couple of things we can use – and they are called ears.” Murphy details the “policy advisory group” work going on under Nick Smith’s leadership, but points out that some of this is being overshadowed: “the emergent humility was swamped at times at the weekend as National mimicked an old general, fighting the last war: pledging to reintroduce charter schools, repeal the Auckland regional fuel tax, green light oil and gas exploration and borrow Labour’s policy from 2014 of reducing class sizes in schools.” Despite the desire in National’s leadership to move towards the centre of the political spectrum, there is going to be a continued social conservatism inherent in the party’s positioning, especially because of Simon Bridges’ own personal politics. This is explained well in Audrey Young’s Saturday column, National leader Simon Bridges needs to handle his legacy with care. Young points out that “Bridges was brought up in the Baptist church and remains a Christian with conservative views who has never smoked cannabis and voted against gay marriage.” And suddenly there are three very polarising social issues rising up the public agenda: cannabis, euthanasia and abortion. On top of this, other polarising issues of welfare and law and order will push National to represent a more rightwing position. For the moment, Bridges’ decision to focus on education was a smart one according to former National staffer Brigette Morten, who says “A focus on education reflects National’s record. Over their last term, education spending increased by over a third. However, specifically announcing that more money would go in to tackling class sizes shows that the party has gained a fresh perspective” – see: Bridges meeting the needs of party faithful and new breed. For Morten, the new policy also signalled to voters that National is going to be different under the new leadership, and also that Bridges has been listening to the feedback of parents. Is that all? Has National really changed that much? Simon Wilson was at the conference and saw little evidence of any substance in the party’s new slogan “new team. new ideas. new Zealand” – see: National’s Old Zealand problem. Not only does Wilson point to the traditional policy messages being aired at the conference, he is scathing of the new leaders’ speech: “His first big party speech, the moment he would put his stamp on the party. He didn’t do it, instead producing a stock speech that any party leader since Jim Bolger might have made. Maybe that was the point. The world is changing, but don’t worry, the National Party is not going to upset you with surprises. Even his big announcement – support for smaller class sizes – was equivocal. Asked afterwards what it meant, he said the current Government’s plan to have 1500 more teachers over five years was ‘roughly the right ballpark’. So did that mean the Government is already doing what he’d like to see done? He fudged the answer. He did wear an orange tie. That was different.” Claire Trevett also pointed out the lack of detail about the new thinking: “No figures, no targets, no anything. It is a rare thing to see a leader release a policy at a big conference without any details. Bridges simply flagged the intention and said the party would work on the details over the next two years. That would normally be fine, if Bridges had not criticised Labour for doing exactly that in Government. National has railed against Labour over the number of working groups it put together to work out the mechanics of how its policies will work” – see: PM Jacinda Ardern gatecrashes Simon Bridges’ party. Trevett reports that “Bridges’ speech was full of the usual phrases that warm the cockles of the hearts of National’s rank and file” and, like Wilson, says the speech “could have been delivered by any of his predecessors”. Finally, “What does the National Party stand for?” Gallery journalist Jason Walls asked the question in a column late last week. Walls says that, “aside from clashing with the Government on seemingly all and every matter – as well as a few areas of direction change within the party – there is not a lot more National has on show”. Nonetheless, he does outline National’s new plan for change: “Year two: It’s now all about ‘discussion’ and formulating more details on some of the party’s ideas. Year three: Now it’s time to unveil the policy so ‘New Zealanders feel they have a real choice in the 2020 election’.” – see: With no new policies to fall back on, National has become trapped in an endless cycle of just opposing anything the Government says.]]>

Nine-Fairfax merger warning for investigative media – and democracy

By Pacific Media Centre -

August 1, 2018

kate-mcclymont-theconversation-680wide-jpg — ]]>

If you value the media’s watchdog role in democracy, then the opening words in the deal enabling Channel Nine to acquire Fairfax Media, the biggest single shake-up of the Australian media in more than three decades, ring alarm bells.

The opening gambit is an appeal to advertisers, not readers. It promises to enhance “brand” and “scale” and to deliver “data solutions” combined with “premium content”.

Exciting stuff for a media business in the digital age. But for a news organisation what is missing are key words like “news”, “journalism” and “public interest”.

Those behind the deal, its political architects who scrapped the cross-media ownership laws last year, and its corporate men, Fairfax’s and Nine’s CEOs, proffer a commercial rather than public interest argument for the merger. They contend that for two legacy media companies to survive into the 21st century, this acquisition is vital.

Perhaps so. But Australia’s democratic health relies on more than a A$4 billion media merger that delivers video streaming services like Stan, a lucrative real estate advertising website like Domain, and a high-rating television programme like Love Island.

The news media isn’t just any business. It does more than entertain us and sell us things. Through its journalism, it provides important public interest functions.

Ideally, news should accurately inform Australians. A healthy democracy is predicated on the widest possible participation of an informed citizenry. According to liberal democratic theorists, the news media facilitate informed participation by offering a diverse range of views so that we can make considered choices, especially during election campaigns when we decide who will govern us.

-Partners-

Check on power
Journalists have other roles too, providing a check on the power of governments and the excesses of the market, to expose abuses that hurt ordinary Australians.

This watchdog role is why I am concerned about Nine merging with Fairfax. To be clear, until last week, I was cautiously optimistic about the future of investigative journalism in Australia.

Newspapers like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Newcastle Herald and the Australian Financial Review have a strong record of using their commercial activities to subsidise expensive investigative journalism to strengthen democratic accountability by exposing wrongdoing. Channel Nine does not.

Since the formation of The Age’s Insight team in 1967, Fairfax investigations have had many important public outcomes after exposing transgressions including: judicial inquiries, criminal charges, high-profile political and bureaucratic sackings, and law reforms. Recent examples include the dogged work of Fairfax and ABC journalists to expose systemic child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and elsewhere, leading to a royal commission and National Redress Scheme for victims.

Another was the exposure of dodgy lending practices that cost thousands of Australians their life savings and homes, which also triggered a royal commission.

The problem with Nine’s proposed takeover of Fairfax (if it goes ahead) is that it is unlikely to be “business as usual” for investigative journalism in the new Nine entity. First, there is a cultural misalignment and, with Nine in charge, theirs is likely to dominate.

With notable exceptions such as some 60 Minutes reporting, Nine is better known for its foot-in-the-door muckraking and chequebook journalism than its investigative journalism. In comparison, seven decades of award-winning investigative journalism data reveal Fairfax mastheads have produced more Walkley award-winning watchdog reporting than any other commercial outlet.

Financial fortunes wane
Second, even as the financial fortunes of Fairfax have waned in the digital age, it has maintained its award-winning investigative journalism through clever adaptations including cross-media collaborations, mainly with the ABC. This has worked well for both outlets, sharing costs and increasing a story’s reach and impact across print, radio, online and television.

How will this partnership be regarded when Fairfax is Nine’s newlywed? Will the ABC be able to go it alone with the same degree of investigative reporting in light of its successive federal government budget cuts?

Third, my latest research (see graph) has shown that in Australia, as in Britain and the United States, investigative stories and their targets have changed this decade to accommodate newsroom cost-cutting.

Investigative story targets in three countries: 2007-2016; n=100. Andrea Carson/Journalism Studies

Investigations are more likely to focus on stories that are cheaper and easier to pursue. This means some areas such as local politics and industrial relations have fallen off the investigative journalist’s radar. Here and abroad, this reflects cost-cutting and a loss of specialist reporters.

Echoing this, The Boston Globe’s Spotlight editor, Walter Robinson, warned:

There are so many important junctures in life where there is no journalistic surveillance going on. There are too many journalistic communities in the United States now where the newspaper doesn’t have the reporter to cover the city council, the school committee, the mayor’s office …

we have about half the number of reporters that we had in the late 1990s. You can’t possibly contend that you are doing the same level or depth of reporting. Too much stuff is just slipping through too many cracks.

Smaller topic breadth
Of concern, Australian award-winning investigations already cover a smaller breadth of topics compared to larger international media markets. The merger of Fairfax mastheads with Channel Nine further consolidates Australia’s newsrooms.

If investigative journalism continues, story targets are likely to be narrow.

Finally, investigative journalism is expensive. It requires time, resources and, because it challenges power, an institutional commitment to fight hefty lawsuits. Fairfax has a history of defending its investigative reporters in the courts, at great expense.

Will Nine show the same commitment to defending its newly adopted watchdog reporters using earnings from its focus on “brand”, “scale” and “data solutions”? For the sake of democratic accountability, I hope so.

Andrea Carson is incoming associate professor at LaTrobe University and has previously worked as a journalist at Fairfax Media at The Age (1997-2001). She is a former lecturer, political science, School of Social and Political Sciences; Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne. This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons licence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Noumea visitors help Vanuatu celebrate 38 years of freedom

By Pacific Media Centre -

August 1, 2018

Families celebrating Vanuatu’s 38th Independence Day in the same named Port Vila park yesterday. Image: Vanuatu Daily Post

By Len Garae in Port Vila

An estimated more than 4000 strong crowd threatened to spill over into the parade grounds at Independence Park during the 38th Independence Anniversary Ceremony yesterday.

Police had to be posted to keep excited adults and children within their space.

Planeloads of celebrants from Noumea were flown in to be part of the celebrations too.

People from the islands also arrived to also share in the festivities.

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai’s address was welcomed as “to the point and short” because formalities ended about 10.30am.

The Prime Minister specifically mentioned Ambae’s volcanic ash eruption aas one of the challenges facing the country at present.

-Partners-

He thanked the government for its stability and solidarity.

Infrastructure resilience
He underlined infrastructure resilience as everyone’s business and listed the following examples of positive impact:

Infrastructure resilience is an opportunity to create employment;
Infrastructure resilience boosts economic development as it opens economic opportunities, it increases productivity, it improves accessibility and services;
Infrastructure resilience is a preparedness for disasters, including cyclones, strong winds, heavy rain, earthquakes or flooding;
This means feeder roads, wharves and airports such as Norsup, Motalava, North Ambrym and extensions to existing airports and classrooms, health units, health centres, hospitals and laboratories, infrastructures of national security and justice including court houses, National and Provincial Government buildings and structures of telecommunications, which include radio and television as they connect local farms with market access and water supply and energy.
Infrastructure resilience has a strong link with sustaining the productive sector through an easy access to the market place;
Infrastructure resilience also promotes the movement of tourists to the islands.

Prime Minister Salwai named Korman Sports Facilities, Lapetasi Wharf, Port Vila Urban Road Infrastructure, Bauerfield International Airport, Pekoa International Airport, Whitegrass International Airport and road developments on Tanna and Malekula and submarine cable as classic examples of infrastructure resilience.

“We must change our traditional approach to doing things. It means we must improve our designs to allow the new buildings to withstand stress and disaster and respect the environment,” he said.

Prime Minister Salwai said the government was aware of the different challenges and needs of the business communities and infant industries and medium size industries (SMEs) as the drivers of the economy and job creation and would continue to address them.

He said the financial inclusion policy he launched this year was aimed at improving access and services for the infant industries and SMEs.

Enriching livelihood
“The Vanuatu government has the duties and responsibilities to create a conducive environment for business investment and an enabling and secure environment for enriching the livelihood for all citizens,” he said.

“Vanuatu must remain the better place in which to live and work and share equal benefits,”

The Prime Minister reminded the nation that celebrating independence was a unique moment to unite everyone.

“It is a special occasion for us to celebrate together as one people, one nation and one family sharing the same values of custom and Christianity. We must unite at all times to build a better Vanuatu for future generations – the children of tomorrow,” he said.

“To conclude, may I remind all of us that we belong to a united and free country founded on traditional Melanesian values, faith in God and Christian principles, in line with our motto of “Long God Yumi Stanap”.

Despite the current challenges, he called on the nation to have confidence that “with God nothing is impossible”.

“Be proud of yourselves!”, Prime Minister Salwai added.

Asia Pacific Report republishes Vanuatu Daily Post news items with permission.

The crowd in Port Vila’s Independence Park yesterday. Image: Vanuatu Daily Post

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Keith Rankin’s Chart for this Month: Income Distribution of New Zealand Taxpayers

By Keith Rankin -

July 31, 2018

Taxpayer-Incomes — Taxpayer Incomes. Chart by Keith Rankin.

Median income: $30,000. Graph by Keith Rankin.

We often hear that the average annual wage in New Zealand is around $55,000; slightly more than $1,000 gross per week. This is misleading, it is the average for people in regular fulltime employment.

This month’s chart shows incomes as understood by Inland Revenue. The data includes “New Zealand Superannuation and major social welfare benefits, but excludes ACC levies, Working for Families and Independent Earner tax credits” (and excludes Accommodation Supplements).

The included benefits, at least for Inland Revenue accounting purposes, are grossed up to make them comparable to wages. Thus the data include self-employed people, casually employed people, students and beneficiaries; people who work variable paid hours.

Ten percent of taxpayers now declare zero (or less) income; many of these will be people claiming business losses to offset salary or rental income. The intent of running a landlording enterprise or a business at a loss is almost certainly to avoid paying income tax, and being liable for other tax-like payments such as Child Support.

The most common (modal) income bracket is between $10,000 and $20,000. This is the income bracket of most beneficiaries, including superannuitants and tertiary students.

The median taxable income (50th percentile) is $30,000; up from $23,000 ten years ago. While this represents a 30% increase in nominal median income, after allowing for 17% inflation over those ten years, it’s a 13% real increase.

Median taxable real incomes have increased on average just over 1% per year, from one very low figure to another very low figure. Most of this small real income gain will be due to increased toil – more toil means both more paid hours and more onerous employer expectations per paid hour – rather than as the productivity dividend that economic growth is supposed to yield. (Though not able to be read from the chart, the average taxpayer gross income for 2018/19 comes out at $43,500, 28% higher than in 2008/09, 11% higher after accounting for inflation. The chart shows that more than 60% of income earners receive less than this average income, reflecting the high level of skew in the income distribution.)

The 90th percentile income has reached $94,000, up from $72,000. 8½ percent of taxpayers pay tax on annual incomes over $100,000, compared to 4 percent in the year to March 2009. (Actual incomes in 2008/09 will have fallen well short of Treasury projections, however, given the financial crisis that was not predicted by Treasury at the time of the 2008 Budget.)

A typical household – calculated here as two people grossing $60,000 – will net about $51,000 per year (after tax and ACC levies). After $25,000 rent, they are left $26,000 ($500 per week) to pay for everything else, and for dependents. For many, that’s 80 hours of weekly time in paid work (or being available for work, preparing for work, or travelling to work) to create a household disposable income of $500 per week (less if paying Child Support or repaying a loan).

While transfers in the form of Family Tax Credits and Accommodation Supplements help, they are withdrawn as such households increase their taxable incomes.

Many median-income households are stuck in an income trap not much above the line of financial poverty, and inside the line of time poverty.

What of below-median income households? What of those individuals disconnected from whanau? It can be no surprise that central Auckland has the feel of a third‑world city.

Freedom Flotilla leader condemns Israeli brutality – Treen in jail

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 31, 2018

The Al Jazeera interview about the Israeli “hijacking” of the Freedom Flotilla in international waters on Sunday.

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Freedom Flotilla Coalition spokesperson David Heap has accused Israeli forces of brutally attacking the international campaigners on board the Al Awda (The Return) fishing boat trying to breach the illegal blockade of Gaza Strip with humanitarian supplies.

He also said from past experience the first action after the military boarded the boat was to cut off satellite communications: “They don’t want the world to see what is going on.”

Heap told Al Jazeera in an interview that the actions of the Israeli military were driven by “guilt”.

Unite Union leader Mike Treen … attacked and detained, says union.

Meanwhile, RNZ reports that the Unite Union says the Israeli military had detained its leader Mike Treen among the 40 protesters, parliamentarians and journalists on board.

He was part of the Freedom Flotilla stopped by Israeli forces as they were nearing Gaza where they planned to deliver medical supplies.

-Partners-

Kia Ora Gaza spokesperson Roger Fowler said Treen and other detainees were being held in Givon Prison.

Unite’s national secretary Gerard Hehir said the boats were in international waters when they were detained and taken to the southern Israeli port of Ashod.

Unite is calling on the government to demand the Israeli authorities release Treen and the other international campaigners.

Breaking the blockade
The flotilla, carrying protesters from 15 countries, wants to break an 12-year-old Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave.

The Green Party wants the government to demand a safe passage for the flotilla which has been intercepted by Israeli forces on its way to Gaza.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was detained in 2016 when part of a similar flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Mike Treen’s blog claimed that he had been “kidnapped by Israeli Navy”.

Unite’s Hehir said Treen was on a “peaceful mission” to deliver medicine and was “attacked and detained” by Israeli forces.

“This is not about security, it is about Israel treating Gaza as the world’s biggest prison, killing, maiming and kidnapping anyone who even approaches the walls, wires and blockades they have built around Gaza territory [that] the rest of the world has clearly said is illegally occupied by Israel.”

Hehir said the union was “very proud” of Treen, who was expected back in New Zealand next week.

Interception deaths
Davidson told RNZ past flotilla interceptions had ended in deaths.

“While in October 2010 10 peace flotilla activists were killed when their vessel was boarded by Israeli commandos, there haven’t been any killings I understand since then, although there have been further flotillas,” she said.

“We were very clear on my flotilla that we were a peace flotilla, and that we were not going to resist any detention, but that we were going to request safe passage to break the illegal blockade that is preventing the Palestinian people of Gaza living full lives.”

Davidson said the international community should be demanding an end to the illegal blockade, and asking Israel to stop impeding the flotilla’s passage to Gaza to deliver medical supplies.

The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing arrangement with RNZ and is also sharing with the humanitarian group Kia Ora Gaza.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Israeli forces blockade the Gaza ‘blockade busters’

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 30, 2018

PressTV report.

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Israeli forces have reportedly stopped the three-vessel Freedom Flotilla which was nearing the Gaza Strip, report news media.

According to Palestinian media, Israeli troops have blocked the way of the boats and directed them toward the port of Ashdod, some 40 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, says PressTV.

Reports say all connections with Freedom Flotilla have been stopped.

About 40 activists from 15 countries are on board the vessels.

The flotilla left the Italian city of Palermo on July 21. The flotilla aimed to break the Israeli regime’s blockade on the coastal enclave.

-Partners-

The embargo has been in place since 2007. It has led to a catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Asia Pacific Report, through the Pacific Media Centre, is sharing Gaza Freedom Flotilla coverage with Kia Ora Gaza and Scoop Media. New Zealander Mike Treen is on board Al Awda.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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PMC Seminar series: Folk wisdom: Superstition and ‘old wives’ tales’ across the Pacific

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 30, 2018

Event date and time:

Wednesday, August 29, 2018 – 16:30 – 18:00

PACIFIC MEDIA CENTRE SEMINAR: Why is folk wisdom important? In this presentation, Jourdene Aguon will explore and discuss the intersection between Pacific island communities (Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and the Cook Islands, Guam and the Marianas) and their oral traditions, focusing on folk wisdom and its two variants: superstition and “old wives’ tales”. Interpreting a collection of historic and modern reports of these islands’ folk wisdom, we determine the commonality among them: what was important to these colonised places and what it means to have certain folk wisdom survive today.

Who: Jourdene Rosella Cruz Aguon

When: Friday, August 29, 2018, 4.30pm-6pm

Where: Sir Paul Reeves Building,
Auckland University of Technology,
City Campus
Room, WG903A

Contact: Dr Sylvia Frain

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>

Plea for help from NZ protester on board ‘hijacked’ Gaza peace boat

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 30, 2018

Mike Treen’s message via YouTube. (Distorted audio – click on subtitles).

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

New Zealander Mike Treen, national director of the Unite Union and a veteran human rights defender, has made a dramatic plea for help from on board the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza flagship Al Awda (The Return).

He pre-recorded this urgent SOS message in case of being hijacked by Israeli forces.

Treen pleaded for action early today over the illegal force reportedly by news media being used by the Israeli Navy.

His Kia Ora Gaza supporters also called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, to demand the Israeli government immediately release flotilla participants and ensure their cargo of medical aid worth $15,000 is delivered to Gaza.

-Partners-

Al Jazeera reported early this morning that Israeli naval ships had surrounded the flotilla and communications had been cut.

The news channel said the some 16 countries were represented by the flotilla including peace activists, parliamentarians and journalists.

Israeli Navy confirms ‘seizing’ flotilla
The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli Navy had confirmed stopping a boat that was trying to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip and had started to tow the vessel to the port in Ashdod.

Freedom Flotilla organisers said that the boat had been “hijacked” and “seized” and that the ship had earlier received a warning from the navy before the interception.

According to the flotilla, the navy had warned it would “take all necessary measures” if the boat, reportedly the Al Awda, did not adjust its course.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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‘Why we’re protesting over Gaza’, Swedish feminist, flotilla skipper tell

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 30, 2018

Dimitri Lascaris Reporting From the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Video: The Real News

Pacific Media Centre Newdesk

Real News reporter Dimitri Lascaris on board the Al Awda (The Return) continues his “freedom” series by talking to a candidate of Sweden’s Feminist Party and one of the flotilla’s boat captains about their participation in the effort to break the Gaza blockade.

Swedish feminist Oldoz Javidi says she is keen to take some peaceful “action” in support of the people of Gaza.

“I am interested in making actual changes. I’m not interested in a political career,” she says.

Jens Marklund, Swedish skipper of The Freedom, says: “A man has got to do something for refugees all over the world … and the Palestinian situation seems to be one of the worst at the moment.”

Asia Pacific Report, through the Pacific Media Centre, is sharing Gaza Freedom Flotilla coverage with Kia Ora Gaza and Scoop Media. New Zealander Mike Treen is on board Al Awda.

-Partners-

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Reconciling New Caledonia: A vote to clear the air on independence?

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 30, 2018

In the final instalment of a three-part series, Dr Lee Duffield in Noumea assesses some of the options and omens.

It looks like a simple case of voting yes or no to clear the air on independence for this French-governed territory less than four months away.

But, not so easy.

What about the “day after”?

New Caledonia: What next? Part 3 of Lee Duffield’s series

The referendum on November 4 plainly is looking much more complicated than that, with any and every observer constantly talking about the “lendemain”, the day-after: what will start happening then?

In its background, this prospective new country of just under 300,000 citizens has to deal with the existence of two distinctly different main cultures and some history of violent conflict.

Much is at stake for many where a healthy economy, maintained by heavy mining of nickel, makes it overall a “First World” environment.

-Partners-

Predictably the battle lines exist between conservative political parties that want a “no” vote and centre-left or socialist ones that want “yes”; comfortably-off European settlers lead the “no” side, organisations representing “have-not” indigenous Kanaks are the standard-bearers for “yes”.

What about the money from France?
Some 100,000 Europeans, overwhelmingly French, have access to a comfortable “post colonial” kind of life where the French state still contributes directly, and strategically a hefty percentage of the territory budget – more than A$1.5-billion a year. Much of it is salary for public employees.

As polling day fast approaches, debates have started about this money and the existence of first class government services, from parks to roads, extensive electrification, a new hospital, and steadily improving provision of education.

The right-wing side are suggesting it might well be pulled out, on the “day after” if the vote is “yes”, and have been circulating a certain saying, about the Kanaks’ claim to New Caledonia and its riches.

It is, that they want “le beurre et l’argent du beurre”, both the butter and the money for it, or something like having your cake and eating it too.

It is a rejection of claims by indépendentistes that on the “day after” they would be looking to keep up a close association with France – or would be able to.

Different argument – different agenda
As an argument, it has bumped onto a semi-submerged reef, in the form of a counter-argument that supports having negotiated settlements, and underneath that a more basic moral argument about personal identity: that Kanaks are the original owners, collectively wealthy stakeholders entitled to high status, who have in fact already contributed heavily to the entire deal.

Five Kanak school leavers in Noumea’s main park, Place des Cocotiers – Kanaky Daita Weinane, Edouard Kate, Eta Roine, Noel Wazone and Siwene Wayaridge … all back independence. Image: Lee Duffield

Five young Kanak men, school leavers encountered in Noumea’s main park, Place des Cocotiers – Kanaky Daita Weinane, Edouard Kate, Eta Roine, Noel Wazone, Siwene Wayaridge – explained their support for “yes” in such basic terms.

Comments: “This country belongs to us. We are in our own homeland here. We are at home.”

As well: “It is always the same, like the Australian Aborigines, white is higher up and black is lower down”.

Five Kanak high school girls nearby – Zanako Laue, Sevena Hnalep, Eliane Read, Rosemary Wenehoua, Morgane Maperi — “voted” three-two for “no”. The “yes” advocates said it was for the “freedom of the people”, the “no” supporters said “we are not ready”.

Everybody needs a place in the sun
Andre Qaeze Ihnim as a Kanak leader and part of the management of the Kanak broadcaster Radio Djiido, says “both the Kanak community and French should find a place in the sun”.

He is concerned about strong expectations being raised and a possible return to ethnic conflicts at a time of independence — “if there is not enough to share”.

“We are talking to our young people.

“In our movement some people are more hard. They do not any more want to talk about sharing, and say we want the French to go home”, he says.

“We ask them, if you would do it like that, then what would you do after that? They may give expression to anger in their hearts, but are always asked what they would do.

Not angry for nothing
“They do have some very good ideas but those would still need finance, technology and organisation. They are not angry for nothing, and we take the time to listen and explain.”

What would the Kanak indépendentiste movement itself set out to do, if they found on the “day after” that independence had been achieved, and they could lead government?

“We would want to manage through consultation and a kind of negotiation, and would say, if you want to stay in the country, for it to be managed like this, then come and stay.”

A priority would be to improve conditions for more people with higher priorities given to jobs, health, housing and education.

“You can see around Noumea that people don’t have houses to live in, plenty of youngsters don’t have jobs, there are basic needs like eating and clean running water — we have to find solutions to this social and economic difficulty.”

Funding independence
He mentions a tax plan being proposed to bring down 80 percent of proceeds from mining that was leaving the territory, which would split proceeds 51 percent to state finances and 49 percent to companies – but acknowledged obstacles to getting such revenue.

“We have had 30 years participation in government and can show we have the experience to do this.

“We know that when you invest in a coconut tree you might have to wait over 15 years to be getting enough fruit to sell, but our opponents are trying to say we think it will be possible to get it right away.”

Indépendentiste political parties have been publishing economic proposals, like a recent document from the Caledonian Union (UC), premised on a continuation of French contributions through state budgets or a development programme, suggesting some budget re-prioritisation, a possible state development bank, and reduction of salaries budgets affected by structural bonuses paid to French public servants, (those bonuses also currently being challenged in France itself by the government of President Emmanuel Macron).

In other considerations: income from hosting French warships and military bases, where that country sought to maintain a geopolitical interest in the Pacific region.

Campaign warfare
In the campaign warfare now starting to roll out in news media, none of that is accepted as detailed or costed well enough to explain an anticipated financial hit from French withdrawal.

In a territory where conservative interests have a majority among French voters, anti-indépendentistes are the most at home in campaign politics run through media, and have rolled up a strong lead in opinion polls for the “no” vote.

Some of those want to get a convincing win that would persuade opposition politicians to give up on obtaining a repeat referendum – which they would be able to do under the terms of the Accords, the long-standing agreements on New Caledonia brokered by France.

The strongest expectation on almost all quarters is that “no” will win, and the “morning after” will see a new edition of the present system – cooperation, participation and a drive for consensus where it can be got.

Many public comments now coming from individual community leaders are in step with an intervention in the media earlier this month by Philippe Gomes, a centrist, former conservative member of the French National Assembly, and long-time political figure in New Caledonia:

“Quand on ne dialoguait pas, on a connu la violence. Quand on a dialogue, cela s’est traduit par la paix.” (When there was no dialogue there was violence. When there was dialogue it enabled keeping the peace.) (Ribot, 19 July 2018)

Dissatisfaction
What follows from such advice is that past the short-term, there must be reform to meet grievances and allow major change if necessary.

A taste of the potential dissatisfaction that can follow the referendum was given out this week by the pro-independence Labour Party which has a seat on the 54-member New Caledonia assembly. It has decided on a boycott of the poll, saying their side had been given to think independence was meant to follow the Accords – but they’d been “led up a blind alley”.

That disruptive act formed part of the current political mood, where members of the political community, already, are also jostling for position ahead of general elections next year. One of the conservative parties changed leader, elected members from another boycotted a round of negotiations with the indépendentistes, a senior parliamentary officer was removed from service with the Senate – all part of “normal” politicking in potentially very abnormal times.

Scenario on the ground
A way of seeing the scenario for New Caledonia is in its geographical expression on the main island, Grande Terre.

The South, taking in Noumea and surrounding areas, is well set up, running like any prosperous regional city in France.

The services are adequate and there is a buoyant civil society: this month saw active public debates over school canteens or government moves on agricultural policy; there is self-management by groups of citizens, in arts or sport, help for the homeless, business networking or service clubs, nature conservation groups or teams like the volunteer first-aiders Action Secours Oxygene (ASO2) who turn up at community events.

The North is a strongly “Kanak” area with an active provincial government, but by far the less developed , calling to mind parts of Papua New Guinea though with better infrastructure.

The cultural mode there is communitarian based in villages, in the words of Qaeze, undergoing a “transition to modernity” while retaining culture.

In any future settlement those are the two parts of a single world still wanting to be reconciled.

Reference
Samuel Ribot, “Entretien avec Philippe Gomes …”, Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, Noumea, 19 July 2018, p 7

Dr Lee Duffield is an independent Australian journalist and media academic. He is also a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre and on the Pacific Journalism Review editorial board. The author thanks Rose-Marie Barbie, a former journalism student and higher degree graduate in Australia, for assistance with these articles in Noumea. The expert backgrounding and local knowledge, contacts and suggestions were all invaluable.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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2018 Freedom Flotilla: A predictable end to an unpredictable journey?

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 29, 2018

lotilla-skipper-herman-nw-680wide-jpg — ]]>

By Chris Graham on board the Al Awda

If you’re an optimist, then I’m about 24 hours from Gaza. If you’re a pessimist, then I’m about 24 hours from witnessing a violent raid by the Israeli Defence Force on the Al Awda, the lead boat in the 2018 Freedom Flotilla which is aiming to break the decade long naval blockade imposed on the Palestinian people of Gaza.

I joined the Flotilla a week ago, in Sicily, Italy. We’ve sailed for seven days, straight down the middle of the Mediterranean. As I write, we’re not far off the coast of Egypt.

Contrary to popular belief, the Freedom Flotilla’s primary aim is not to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, although it is carrying much needed medical supplies on board (and the boats, if they make it through, will be donated to a Palestinian union to help contribute to an economic base for a ravaged people).

The Flotilla’s primary aim is to break the naval blockade and bring international attention to the plight of Palestinians, a people who have suffered under a brutal Israeli occupation since 1967, the last time the Gaza sea port was officially open for business.

On that front, the Freedom Flotilla does very well.

This is not a big story in Australia (or New Zealand) – we find our own ways to oppress people, like those detainees on Manus and Nauru. So the indefinite detention of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza is hardly newsworthy in Australian media eyes.

-Partners-

Indeed, we only really ever hear about Gaza when Israel unleashes another slaughter, like it did a few weeks ago when more than 140 unarmed Palestinian protesters were shot dead – and thousands more injured – for approaching the border fence between Gaza and Israel to protest their right to return to their lands.

Significant story
But the Flotilla is a significant story internationally. Thousands and thousands of column centimetres have been filed in papers around the globe as, for the past two months, four ships – Al Awda, Freedom, Falestine and Mairead – have sailed throughout Europe, visiting multiple countries including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

It’s also captured the imagination of the television media – on board Al Awda is a crew from Al Jazeera, an international news service based in Qatar. On board Freedom is a crew from Press TV, a service out of Iran.

Notably though, I’m the only western journalist on board (although the Press TV journalist is British, based in London). Richard is Muslim, brown and a journalist for a service beamed from a nation that has long been at war with Israel – I won’t be surprised if he’s singled out for a special welcome by the IDF, an army that describes itself as ‘the most moral on earth’, while imposing a ‘perfect Apartheid’ on the people of Gaza and the West Bank, and while shooting unarmed men, women and children for approaching a fence.

This is the same IDF that, eight years ago, raided the 2010 Freedom Flotilla, killing 10 passengers including two journalists. At least six of those passengers were found by a United Nations report to have been summarily executed. Hundreds more, the same UN report found, were tortured by Israeli soldiers and officials, while dozens were badly beaten at Tel Aviv airport by Israeli police – a kind of ‘Israeli farewell’ for peace activists with the audacity to try and shine a light on the actions of a state that daily breaches countless international laws, and basic human rights.

All of these facts about modern day Israel are known by the people participating in the 2018 Freedom Flotilla, and yet still, they come.

Three dozen of them from countries all over the world – New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, America, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Morocco, Algeria.

They also know what awaits them if (and when) the IDF does attack – a brutal boarding, and a stint in an Israeli prison followed by deportation which will make any future international travel to nations aligned with Israel substantially more difficult.

Talking to activists
I’ve spent days talking to activists like Joe, and Jan, and Charlie, and Jonathon, each of whom have already completed one Flotilla (some of them multiple Flotillas).

They keep coming back because nothing has changed. In fact, things have gotten worse, and not just in Gaza.

Every day, Israel expands more and more Jewish settlements into Palestinian land in the West Bank, a flagrant breach of international law done under the watchful and helpful eye of the United States, which uses its power within the United Nations to block any sanctions – and most criticism – of Israel.

For Australia’s part, we generally side with the Americans, either by voting with her or abstaining – we’re not a big enough, powerful enough nation to bully on a truly global scale, so we hide behind one instead.

That’s been one of the more eye-opening parts of this trip – with so many people from so many parts of the world living in such close quarters for an extended period, you get to learn a lot about other nations, and what they think about yours.

There’s a Kiwi on board with me, Mike Treen, a union leader from NZ. He’s really the only passenger with any deep understanding of Australia and the crimes our nation commits – and the ones we choose to ignore from others – in order to ensure a life of privilege and relative wealth.

Most of the rest of the crew and passengers see us as not much more than a “friendly nation of convicts” with kangaroos, BBQs and dangerous wildlife.

Lunar eclipse
Talk turned to that last night, as the crew and passengers gathered on the top deck to watch a full moon lunar eclipse, an event predicted decades ago, and not to be repeated for more than 100 years.

I enjoyed the irony of the symbolism. The ultimate outcome of the Freedom Flotilla – a raid by the IDF and the assault and jailing of peace activists – was also predicted a long time ago. Although it’s likely to be repeated again next year, or the year after.

Under the lunar eclipse, I asked the captain of the Al Awda, a 27-year-old Norwegian sailor named Herman, why he would risk jail, and worse, to bring attention to the brutalization of a people he’s never met, a nation he’s never visited.

“Change starts with the people. It always has,” said Herman.

“The point of this trip is to inspire people to bring about that change.”

New Matilda editor Chris Graham reported earlier today from the Al Awda, a lead ship steaming through the Mediterranean Sea about 24 hours [at that time] from an attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade on the Palestinian people of Gaza.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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‘My message to the Israeli soldiers – what will you tell your grandchildren?’

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 29, 2018

Ex-Israeli Air Force pilot Yonatan Shapira is on board the international Freedom Flotilla boat, Al Awda, now heading for Gaza in a bid to peacefully break to Israeli blockade. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

An open letter from former Israeli Air Force “rescue” pilot Yonatan Shapira on board the Al Awda bound for Gaza.

My name is Yonatan Shapira and I’m an Israeli citizen. I was a captain and a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in the Israeli Air Force.

I never shot anyone and was flying mostly rescue missions but nevertheless, I realised that I was part of a terrorist organisation.

Fifteen years ago in 2003 I organised a group of 27 air force pilots who publicly refused to continue to take part in the oppression of the Palestinian people.

Since then I’ve been active in different organisations that struggle against the Israeli occupation and apartheid. I am a member of Boycott from Within – Israeli citizens who support the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions.

This is my fourth attempt to break the Gaza blockade from the sea.

-Partners-

My message to the Israeli soldiers who are now training and preparing to board our boats and arrest us:

“Think about what you will tell your grandchildren in many years from now and not about what your friends will say about you today.

“Refuse to take part in this ongoing war crime. Refuse to continue murdering people who are locked in the biggest prison in the world.

“I was once one of you and I know that among you there are some who can still think.

“Refuse to be the guards of the Gaza ghetto.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has warned the body that his country “will use all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty should the flotilla with 45 peace activists, parliamentarians, trade unionists and journalists now sailing to Gaza from Norway attempt to breach the illegal Gaza blockade.

The Freedom Flotilla coalition includes members from 15 countries – among them Mike Treen from New Zealand – and began the sea voyage on May 15.

Asia Pacific Report, through the Pacific Media Centre, is sharing Gaza Freedom Flotilla coverage with Kia Ora Gaza and Scoop Media.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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No injuries in Vanuatu ‘runway excursion’ emergency landing

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 28, 2018

Nobody was hurt, but three commercial aircraft were damaged when an Air Vanuatu ATR-72 made an emergency landing at Bauerfield airport, Port Vila, today. Image: Dan McGarry/VDP

By Dan McGarry in Port Vila

An Air Vanuatu ATR-72 made an emergency landing in Port Vila today. The aircraft, which had 39 passengers and 4 crew aboard, landed in a gentle tail wind.

According to a statement issued by Air Vanuatu Ltd, the aircraft “was involved in a runway excursion. The incident occurred at the end of the runway on landing”.

Neither the pilots nor the passengers on board suffered any injuries. The Civil Aviation Authority Vanuatu is investigating the incident.

The aircraft was inbound to Port Vila from Tanna. It apparently suffered loss of power to one engine as it overflew the island of Erromango, about 20 minutes away from Bauerfield airport in Port Vila.

Multiple sources told the Vanuatu Daily Post that there was smoke in the cabin when the aircraft landed.

Passenger Janis Steele added some details on a Daily Post social media discussion board:

-Partners-

“The cabin was filled with smoke from a fire below and they cut off the starboard engine mid flight. No oxygen masks dropped and visibility in the cabin was only a couple of meters and breathing was difficult.

“The plane went off the runway during the emergency landing and cut through the front half of a [Unity Airlines] plane before we stopped. We then (elderly included) had to jump down from the cabin with about a meter and a half drop.

“So relieved that everyone appears to be physically OK.”

Medical assessment
All passengers were given an emergency medical assessment by first responders. ProMedical staff report no injuries, but confirmed that 13 people reported discomfort due to the smoke, and requested further medical assessment.

The plane landed at 11am and after it had run a significant distance, it veered to the left, into an area in which several small charter aircraft were parked.

One plane belonging to Unity Airlines was a “write off” according to its owner. The nose section of the plane was obliterated, and there is a visible dent in one engine enclosure.

Another aircraft, operated by Air Taxi, suffered significant damage to its tail section. The owner of the aircraft told the Daily Post that she had not been allowed to approach her aircraft to assess damage.

In an update received by the Daily Post shortly after 1pm today, Air Vanuatu offered additional detail:

“Air Vanuatu has advised all domestic and international services are continuing after the re-opening of Bauerfield airport.

“Passengers booked to travel on domestic services are advised to reconfirm their flights with Air Vanuatu by calling 22000.

“Air Vanuatu management is working closely with authorities to investigate the runway excursion of one of their ATR-72 aircraft.

“Chief Executive Officer Derek Nice has spoken with passengers and the operating crew of the flight and praised the crew for their professionalism and skill which contributed to no injuries from the incident.”

No comment
The Daily Post visited the emergency operations centre established by Airports Vanuatu Ltd, which operates Bauerfield airport.

Staff refused to comment, except to confirm that an incident had occurred. They declined to confirm the number of aircraft involved or, curiously, whether airport operations were resuming.

They referred the newspaper to Air Vanuatu for this last piece of information.

Air Vanuatu Ltd later confirmed that the airport had reopened, and they confirmed that one flight, from Port Vila to Nadi, was cancelled. All other flights were going ahead according to schedule, they said.

First responders spoke glowingly of the professionalism of the AVL fire crew. One person with professional firefighting experience told the Daily Post that the ground personnel acted with professionalism and at the highest standard.

The identity of the pilots on board the aircraft has not yet been released.

Dan McGarry is media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post group.This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Komo Airfield landowners give PNG government ‘last warning’ over deal

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 28, 2018

Komo landowners spokesman John Pipija calls for “no more excuses”. Video: EMTV News

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Komo International Airfield landowners in Hela have given the Papua New Guinea government a last warning, EMTV News reports.

Spokesperson John Pipija said the government must stop making excuses and compensate the 16 clans who had been left out from benefits.

Chairman Pipija said that for eight years no development forum was held, three moemorandum of understanding (MOA) agreements had been signed but the landowners had not been recognised.

LoopPNG’s Freddy Mou reported last month that landowners had closed the Komo airfield in Hela on June 19 after the government had failed to respond to their petition. He wrote:

The landowners gave their petition on May 10, 2018, calling on the government and the developer, ExxonMobil, to review the UBSA agreement and make Komo Airfield Facility a standalone project.

-Partners-

Talking to this newsroom from the Komo airfield [today], chairman of the Komo landowners, Michael Tiki, is urging the government to respond to their petition or the closure of the airfield will be definite.

“We have given the government ample time but they haven’t responded to our petition,” he reiterated.

Standalone project
“Our position still stands and that is we want Komo airfield to be a standalone project.”

Chairman of Undupi Telia clan, Paranda Uripako, has also shared similar sentiments, calling on the government to at least listen to the landowners.

“We want the government to respond to our petition quickly and don’t want to be deceived again.”

Asia Pacific Report has permission from EMTV News through the Pacific Media Centre to republish this news item.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Decolonisation in New Caledonia – who decides the future?

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 28, 2018

In this second of three articles from Noumea, Dr Lee Duffield learns about multicultural New Caledonia and the events that led to their referendum on independence due on November 4.

What is the shape of decolonisation in the present time, now long after the rush to independence that went on in countries around the world from 1960 to 1980?

Who will be there on November 4 and how did they come to the point where they will be voting together on a still uncertain future?

New Caledonia: What next? Part 2 of Lee Duffield’s series

The thoughts of three best-informed persons are consulted here to provide answers – an historian, a lawyer and a leader in the indigenous Kanak community.

History of troubles and reforms
Luc Steinmetz, the historian and jurist has made detailed studies of the territory’s contested, sometimes blood-stained story.

He gave a recent long interview analysing the progression of different laws made in Paris for ruling the territory to the Noumea newspaper Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes.

It traces repeated changes, following the swinging interests of French governments, left-wing or right-wing, with one main event – a new law in 1963 transferring power back from a local elected government to French administration – that set off a period of conflict.

Historian Luc Steinmetz … France “did not want to provide loudspeakers to voices that would be too critical.” Image: France TV 1

-Partners-

Nuclear testing – political trouble in New Caledonia
That was done after France having “lost” Algeria decided to move its nuclear testing programme to the Pacific, and, says Steinmetz, it “did not want to provide loud speakers to voices that would be too critical.”

While the nuclear decision generated trouble and harm all over the Asia-Pacific, many historians also saw the taking-back-of-powers as the beginning of campaigns by Kanaks in New Caledonia for “revendication” – give us back our land.

Optimistic beginnings
The story had begun optimistically in 1958 with the conversion of New Caledonia from a colony to a partly-autonomous territory immediately after the Second World War. New Caledonia and its people had supported General Charles de Gaulle and the Allies against the Japanese.

It got an elected governing Council, including local ministers — and for the first time allocation of French citizenship to the Kanak population.

Kanaks were a majority then, and most of their leadership did not show much interest in independence at the time being achieved by former colonies in Africa.

In this analysis the change in 1963, reducing the elected Council to consultative status only, produced bad blood, and despite later changes back towards autonomy, it came to violence during elections held in 1984, after an “active boycott” by the Kanak political alliance, the FLNKS.

Insurrection and reforms
That was the time of an insurrectionist movement; the “outside” population from France had grown and received the vote, beginning to outnumber the local Kanaks, and in 1988 the tragic conflict on Ouvea Island saw the deaths of six police and 19 pro-independence militants.

The following reforms – the Matignon and Noumea agreements –which set up the referendum process, included creation of “custom” territories for Kanak tribal groups and the present elected system of government.

Futures
The historian judges the present system to be the best ever tried. He suggests that if the referendum supports staying with France, it could be improved with more revenue and power shifted from the Noumea government to the three provinces, and a possible new federal constitution.

A move to full independence with changing elected governments would need guarantees of stability and individual rights, against the risk of break-down, such as the military takeovers in Fiji.

French lawyer Philippe Bernigaud representing indigenous Kanak groups negotiating over land rights. He has lived in Noumea for 17 years but cannot vote in the referendum. Image: Lee Duffield

Two cultures, two systems and the land
Philippe Bernigaud is a French lawyer from Burgundy, aged 50, who has lived in Noumea for 17 years and represents indigenous Kanak groups negotiating over land.

Like at least three other long-term residents consulted for this inquiry, he cannot vote, under provisions of the Accords restraining the number of French electors not in residence before 1988 – but he avers that the law was made clear at the time he moved there and so cannot complain.

Identity and land rights under the law
He explains a system with two distinct sets of official identity for persons (Kanak and others), and a strategic, strict land rights law for indigenous communities.

Kanak citizens have full rights and obligations under French law but also have an official “Custom” status, and can share in owning land zoned as “Reserve” property.

There are extensive Reserve lands, in the case of Northern province covering probably more than half the territory, which can only be held jointly by a tribe or clan, not individually, and cannot be mortgaged, subdivided or sold.

“When village owners have wanted to develop their land, and bring in outside investors, we have had to be creative”, Bernigaud said this week.

Working on cases
“For example in a district called Bako it was possible to enable investment in buildings for a shopping centre, for a set time, but not to buy or even lease the land underneath.”

A process has also been going on, the “revendication”, where tribal groups can get back land taken up by settlers, to make it a Reserve.

When there is an application to sell Private land, the lawyers are obliged to report it, a state agency called ADRAF may investigate and determine there is a case for returning it to custom ownership, and so it will exercise a priority right to make the purchase, and hand it to a claimant tribe, at no cost to them.

Bernigaud said such acts, now not too frequent, became important during a time of crisis.

“Especially in the East Coast region, around 1988, when New Caledonia was close to civil war, a lot of settlers left their land and it was handed back”, he said.

One ‘big day’
He had worked on a large claim, for half of one valley, three years ago, where under French law he was required to hold a meeting with owners to explain the transaction.

“This became a big day”, he recalled.

“I was in front of hundreds of people, with heads of the provincial government, there was music, dancing and a custom welcome, a big meal, and special symbols were brought out.

“Every participant had to plant a tree on the land and I had my tree.

“The chief explained why I had intervened, and I was given an honorary membership in that Tribu.

“It was a great memory.”

Marriages, births and deaths
He outlines other aspects of enforceable traditional law that applies to Kanaks as persons with Custom status.

Identity is with the tribe or clan, an individual does not exist under this system. In marriage, all property acquired after the wedding must be jointly owned by the couple, nothing separate. In death, the tribal group decides who will benefit from the estate, a provision causing difficulty now in the case of mixed couples with a “non-custom” partner or others wanting to act individually to give something to their own children. A recent law is being tested, which aims to provide some priority rights to spouses and children in such cases.

Future times
Bernigaud believes coexistence is possible under provisions like the 1988 Matignon Accord where the Kanak and settler communities recognised each other’s right to be in New Caledonia and agreed to live together.

If there was full independence, the laws would probably change only slowly, but both communities could endure hardship at the level of day-to-day life, for a long time, as investment and French government funding was withdrawn.

“For example you might pay double for the internet, and in an accident there would be no helicopter to take you to a beautiful hospital,” he says.

“Being prepared might have needed more than the 30 years at first thought, in 1988, but after some hard years people may succeed through working together.”

The experience might be seen differently, he says, in Kanak communities, where younger people – who would “watch Disney channel in the Tribu” and use modern audio-visuals in school – were becoming more “occidental” than their elders, but where a priority in life continued to be belonging to your land and having ownership there.

Kanak community leader and Radio Djiido coordinator Andre Qaeze Ihnim … sharing is key to the Melanesian way of life and is the main argument of the Kanak political organisation, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front – FLNKS. Image: Lee Duffield

Sharing as a way of life
Andre Qaeze Ihnim confirms that sharing is key to the Melanesian way of life and is the main argument of the Kanak political organisation, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front – FLNKS.

A leader in the Kanak community and coordinator of the famed indépendentiste media outlet Radio Djiido, he says the community has been maintaining a traditional way of life while also in transition to modern practices.

“We have been following the route laid out when our leaders signed the documents in 1988, as a kind of guideline to go on to sovereignty and independence”, he says.

‘We are ready … we are not against them’
“We recognised the differences between ideology and reality, and have spent 30 years getting experience in managing the country — and showing that now we are ready.

“That is our understanding of what our leaders signed on to.

“You know that French interests want to maintain the status quo; we can understand that, and we want to explain that we are not against them — we just ask that now we can do things together.

“We can share and we can manage it together.”

Qaeze says the idea of sharing is in step with the Melanesian way of life and can include sharing with other French people.

‘Importance of the human being’
In terms of spending and wealth, his movement demanded more priority be given to public welfare – better access to work, health care and education, where there was still “not enough sharing”.

“The most important things is the human being”, he said.

“With not even 300,000 people, we are a small society and cannot do things like a big society; we have provided the country, the land, French people have brought technology and expertise, and we must cooperate. “

A main part of identity for Kanak people also was to be part of the Melanesian society throughout Oceania, to share culture and work on equal terms with neighbours, in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji or Papua New Guinea, and Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Lee Duffield is an independent Australian journalist and media academic. He is also a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre and on the Pacific Journalism Review editorial board. This second article in his series was first published by EU Australia, and the final article will be published by Asia Pacific Report tomorrow.

Reference
Philippe Frediere, En Caledonie, les statuts successifs ont fait le yoyo, (In New Caledonia constitutional laws have come up and down like a yoyo). Interview with Luc Steinmetz. Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, Noumea, 18 July 2018, pp 2-3.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Lifetime of devotion to Māori and Pacific student success

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 27, 2018

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Tui O’Sullivan (right) with Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop at the Pacific Media Centre recently when retiring. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

PROFILE: By Leilani Sitagata

Educator and kuia Tui O’Sullivan has recently retired from Auckland University of Technology after close to 40 years of service.

Born and breed up North in the heart of Ahipara, she says choosing to do tertiary study was the right choice for her.

“Growing up as a young girl you were told to pick from three directions – academic, commercial or homecraft,” O’Sullivan says.

“I never had a burning desire to become a teacher, but it just seemed like the best fit for me to follow that path.”

Over the years, O’Sullivan (Te Rarawa and Ngati Kahu) gained a Bachelor of Arts, Master’s in Education (Māori), a Diploma in Ethics and a Diploma in Teaching.

“Coming from a town where you didn’t know names, but everyone was Aunty or Uncle, Auckland was by far a change of scenery.”

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O’Sullivan was appointed as the first Māori academic at AUT, then AIT.

Tui O’Sullivan at her recent Auckland University of Technology farewell on Ngā Wai o Horotiu marae. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Evening classes
She says she taught evening classes on literacy twice a week and had many people from the Pacific wanting to improve their written and oral skills.

“A number of them were members of church groups who wanted to polish up for competitions involving writing and speaking.”

Alongside the night classes, O’Sullivan was involved in the formation of the newspaper Password.

“We formed a newspaper which explained certain things about living in New Zealand, among other things like the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori culture.”

O’Sullivan says there was an increasing number of immigrants to her English classes and Password helped with their immersion into a new culture.

While working in general studies, she says she helped teach communications English and basic skills to full time students, predominantly young men.

However, women started to come along to O’Sullivan’s teaching and the numbers slowly grew.

Tui O’Sullivan (right) with fellow foundation Pacific Media Centre advisory board member Isabella Rasch. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

First women’s group
O’Sullivan was part of the creation of the very first women’s group on campus.

“A senior lecturer approached a couple of us women staff asking if we could keep an eye out for the young women and be an ear should they need that.

“From there Women on Campus developed which looked after the interests of women students and staff members.”

She said they switched the name of the group over the years because what they originally chose didn’t have a ring to it.

“We were called Women’s Action Group for a while, but WAG didn’t sound too good.”

Another first for the university was the establishment of the Ngā Wai o Horotiu marae in 1997 which Tui said she’ll forever remember.

When the marae was officially opened more than 1000 people turned up to celebrate the momentous occasion.

Students and staff at the Pacific Media Centre’s farewell for Tui O’Sullivan. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Emphasis on diversity
The marae opening signified AUT acknowledging the Treaty of Waitangi and further emphasised the diversity within the university.

“The majority of staff here have had this willingness and openness to support and promote success for Māori and Pacific students.”

When asked what was one of the most gratifying times for her during her time at AUT, O’Sullivan simply says applauding the young people who cross the stage.

“I always seem to end up with lots of those lolly leis because people end up with so many, and they get off-loaded to me.”

O”Sullivan says that over the years she’s never missed a graduation for her faculty regardless of how many there are.

“Seeing students wearing their kakahu or family korowai, and others who have grown to learn more about their whakapapa and their place in the world.

“Those are the most rewarding times for me.”

O’Sullivan was the equity adviser for the Faculty of Creative Technologies and lectured in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and community issues. She was also a strong advocate of the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) and a foundation member of the advisory board for AUT’s Pacific Media Centre from 2007.

She insists she hasn’t left a legacy but has been part of an ever evolving journey that AUT is going through.

Tui O’Sullivan (centre) with Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie and advisory board chair Associate Professor Camille Nakhid. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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New Caledonia celebrates Bastille Day and thinks about independence

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 27, 2018

By Dr Lee Duffield, recently in Kanaky/New Caledonia

The Quatorze Juillet (14 July) events in Noumea this month, as in any small French city, reflected the grand military parade down the Champs Elysees in Paris – ranks of soldiers and a senior officer taking the salute.

It was like a refrain from colonial times, kepis under the coconut palms, as if no breath of a wind of change was anywhere being felt.

The impression of total normality was strong also the evening before at the informal public celebrations concentrated on Noumea’s town square, the Place des Cocotiers.

This was patriotic enough, red-white-and-blue everywhere, (even with a can-can, and a visiting Army band from Australia), anticipating the joy of France’s victory in the World Cup football a few nights later. Mostly a big fete being enjoyed by a highly multicultural community.

Signs of the future
A taste of the inter-communal character of New Caledonia was given at the tail-end of the day’s parade, by a local cadet platoon slow-marching to a Melanesian chant.

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It was not in the tradition of the Grande Armee of Napolean; it was imaginably the young officer corps of an independent country.

Not that a full independence is greatly expected from the coming vote, mandated under agreements made by the country’s political groups with the French government – the Matignon Accord (1988) and Noumea Accord (1998).

Opinion polls have been running strongly against it and even many in the indigenous Kanak community can be heard to say it is “not yet the time”.

Voices from other times

Dr Lee Duffield’s New Caledonia seminar to be hosted by the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology today.

Certainly the weekend events of Bastille Day and then the World Cup made it “France Week”, not the best time to talk change.

“People realise the independence idea is not practical”, said “Jacques”, a fifth-generation member of the European settler society, the Caldoches.

A well-established and prominent business owner, he was uneasy about speaking under his own name on the divisive issue of the referendum – exposure would create difficulties of one kind or another.

But he was prepared to recite the standard analysis of the anti-indépendentiste cause, beginning with the observation that French investment and a high standard of living had won a lot of hearts.

“Even in the Loyalty Islands province, which is a big Kanak area, the opinion polls which always showed a strong ‘yes’ vote for independence – as much as 70 percent, are now showing 50/50 or even a slight ‘no’,” he says.

“Things have been slowly improving with the circumstances of life for most people, and I would agree some change and reform is a good thing, but slowly — it needs to be long-term.

“Women are helping. In the tribus, the villages, they do so much of the work providing for the household and raising children, and they are the practical ones.”

Three flags of Noumea – European Union, French tricolour and the independent Kanak ensign. Image: Lee Duffield

Keeping watch on the future
Jacques admits to being worried about what the future may hold, “only a little worried” over the idea of violence or revolt affecting his family.

He does take some comfort being able to tell of a precautionary doubling of the paramilitary Gendarmerie and National Police forces, reinforced from France with the approach of referendum day on November 4 – together with the availability of an extra intervention force in Tahiti.

Yet his most serious concern is about what can be agreed on next among the different parties.

“We don’t know what will take place after November 4, or what it will be like here in another 10 or 20 years.

“We definitely need a road map, and we should manage all this together.”

That is a common position of the Caldoche and the general settler community, which began falling back on prepared positions after the violent confrontations of the 1980s that brought new Caledonia close to civil war.

Even the most strongly “French loyalist” anti-indépendentiste parties, barring a few on the margins, want just the status quo – no fast forward but no winding back the clock.

They have committed to abiding by decisions of the referendum and have not talked of any attempts at stamping out the independence movement.

Gone are the days when the local European gentry had the ear of French ministers who were themselves brought up in the colonial era, and could hold off change.

New order
Instead the territory has been through 30 years of managed change, including ingenious and effective reforms, all falling short of a full independence, but all focused on the referendum process now about to start.

The changes:

Power sharing in an elected territory parliament and executive Council, with both indépendentiste and anti-indépendentiste members.
The formation of a consultative Senate for customary or traditional Kanak leadership (not unlike the body envisaged by Indigenous Australians in their Uluru proposals – struck down unexpectedly this year by Prime Ministerial decree). It gives additional representation to people from the Tribus, tribes or clans, who have a special customary legal status as well as their full French citizenship, and are subject to customary laws.
Major funding of the government from France.
A safety valve provision that says, independence will follow a “yes” vote, but after a “no” indépendentistes in the parliament can still get it reconvened, to have a second, or even third referendum.
Three provinces with extensive powers and sustainable budgets set up after 1988, one of which (South province on the main island, Grande Terre) is predominantly “French”, the other two (North province and the Loyalty Islands) are Kanak territory and mostly run by local Kanak politicians.

Experience in government, money and Big Nickel
It all amounts to actual experience in governing a modern democratic state, more than just practising, with the idea that over the three decades the whole society would be “ready” for the decision to be taken at the referendum.

Money is important in setting up the lines of argument and conditioning people’s views about what they hope to obtain in their future.

Three big nickel mines with refining plants and modern ports produce more than 10 percent of the territory’s wealth but crucially well over 80 percent of its export earnings. All arguments come back to the importance of the industry to the economy and ways to get good returns that will benefit the local population.

The point is made everywhere on the anti-indépendentiste side and among neutral observers that actual independence would prompt likely reductions in French government support, over time, and a fall in investor confidence in France or countries like Australia.

Investment from China would almost certainly fill the gap – there is much worry about Chinese interest and ambitions in the Pacific region. Would a newly independent government, strapped for cash to provide benefits to its people, use its powers over immigration and economic policy to admit more participation from China?

What is the direct French financial commitment at this time?

Future security
France has already handed over all powers to the autonomous government in New Caledonia, except for military and foreign policy, immigration, police and currency – and the specific issue in this year’s referendum is whether those will be passed on as well.

The bulk of French national spending on the territory is to pay the soldiers, police and public servants including teachers – bringing up again the sound of marching boots on July 14.

Also various grants come to the local treasury through Paris, like $80 million over 4-5 years for economic development and professional development of personnel, from the European Union.

France is partnered with Australia and New Zealand in guaranteeing security in the South Pacific region. These have a protective role for the 278,000 French citizens in New Caledonia, but the regional connections are strong, so their decision-making this year is being watched closely far and wide.

Dr Lee Duffield is an independent Australian journalist and media academic. He is also a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre and on the Pacific Journalism Review editorial board. This article was first published by EU Australia, and the next two articles will be published by Asia Pacific Report over the weekend.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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An open letter to Israel: The global ‘blockade busters’ sail in peace

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 26, 2018

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By Chris Graham on board the Al Awda

By the time you read this, I’ll be sailing on an old, converted fishing trawler from Sicily, Italy, headed for Gaza, Palestine, the tiny sea port in the bottom right corner of the Mediterranean Sea.

I’m on board the Al Awda as a journalist, covering the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, an event staged every year or so to challenge the Israeli naval blockade that has been imposed on the Palestinian community for just over a decade.

Gaza is home to more than 2 million Palestinians. It’s a small strip of land that takes less than an hour to drive, from north to south. It borders Israel in the north, and Egypt in the south and is regarded as the world’s largest open air prison.

It’s called that because the people of Gaza do not have freedom of movement, like other global citizens. Their nation is occupied by Israel, which has prevented travel to and from by an air and land, in addition to the sea.

Israel’s rationale is that Hamas, the democratically elected leadership of Gaza, is a “terrorist” organisation that fires rockets.

Hamas does occasionally fire home-made, unguided rockets into Israel. Israel, by contrast, fires shells, sends drones, tanks, soldiers, naval ships, and American-built jet fighters. It has one of the most powerful armies on earth, as the body count – hopelessly one-sided in favour of Israel – should remind anyone.

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That’s part of why I’m going to Gaza. I visited the West Bank in 2016, but was denied entry to Gaza by Israel. It is a nation with a long history of preventing journalists from scrutinising its actions.

Staring down Israeli army
I’m also going to report on the activists who are going to stare down one of the world’s great armies.

I’ve spent the past 10 days with dozens of them. I’m surprised at how inspired I’ve been.

In 2010, the Israeli Defence Force attacked the Mavi Marmara, a ship in the Flotilla with almost 700 activists on board. 10 were killed, at least six of them execution-style, including two journalists.

Israel was also subsequently found by the United Nations to have tortured hundreds of other activists in the days that followed.

The activists in the 2018 Flotilla also know that in the past few months, Israel has shot and killed more than 130 unarmed Palestinian protesters, during the Great Return protests, which have seen thousands more injured.

Footage of Palestinians – unarmed, waving flags – being sniped dead by Israeli soldiers on the other side of the border fence is shocking, and yet there has been barely any international response, including from Australia, which urged “both sides” to show restraint.

US ‘blind eye’
The Flotilla activists also know that there is little to no international sanction against Israel for its repeated violations of international and human rights law. Israel has a powerful friend in the United States, which routinely turns a blind eye to its violent excesses.

And yet, the 2018 Flotilla activists – featuring almost three dozen activists and three boats in total (a fourth has had to drop out) – are still prepared to get on boats and sail to Gaza, to try and break the Israeli blockade.

As a journalist, the threats I face are markedly reduced to those faced by the activists. I’m likely to be targeted in the initial raid by the Israelis, which, based on past experience, will be hyper-aggressive and violent.

But once the raid is over – once the Flotilla is under Israeli control – I’m likely to be treated far better than the activists on board.

I face at most a few days in jail, before being deported – ironically for illegally entering Israel. Of course, at no stage will I ever voluntarily enter Israel. I’m on a boat bound for Gaza, a city of another nation.

But instead, Israel will forcibly board the Flotilla in international waters, take the crew and passengers captive, and force them to an Israeli prison.

For this too, there will be no international sanction, although it pales into comparison compared to what the people of Gaza, and Palestinians in the West Bank face every day.

Deafening silence
The threat from Israel to journalists trying to report on the Freedom Flotilla is that all of your equipment will be confiscated, you’ll be jailed for a brief period, and you’ll then be deported, thus affecting international travel from that point forward.

But those threats are precisely why journalists should stare them down. They’re precisely why journalists should go on the Freedom Flotilla, and should find ways to get into Gaza, whether the Israeli military approve it or not.

Bad things happen when good people stay silent, as history well records. But horrendous things happen when media are prevented from scrutinising the actions of a state.

I hope to bring you stories from Gaza if the Flotilla breaks the blockade. But more likely, I’ll bring you stories of Israel once again flouting international and humanitarian law, and the deafening silence that inevitably follows from the international community.

I’ll file as soon as I’m able.

Chris Graham is the publisher and editor of New Matilda. He is the former founding managing editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine. Graham has won a Walkley Award, a Walkley High Commendation and two Human Rights Awards for his reporting. Asia Pacific Report republishes this article with permission. New Zealand trade unionist Mike Treen is also on board the Al Awda.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Mediterranean update from the Gaza ‘blockade busters’

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 26, 2018

Former Israeli Air Force “rescue” pilot Yonatan Shapira calls for a boycott of Israel. Video: RealNews

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The three Gaza “blockade busting” flotilla boats (the Al Awda, Falistine and Freedom) with prominent human rights defenders representing nearly 20 countries, are now on the eastern Mediterranean heading for the port of Gaza.

The fourth boat the Mairaed will not continue with the flotilla at this time.

Here is an update from the leading boat, the Al Awda, with the New Zealand representative, trade unionist Mike Treen, on board:

Update from the crew of #Alawda (25 July 2018):

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“We have now sailed 5000 nautical miles from Bergen towards Gaza – with solidarity and medical equipment.

“Morale is high on board. It’s hard to understand how our politicians can sit to look at what happens when we see all that support from ordinary people who want to help other ordinary people. People who put human rights in front of political decisions.

“Put pressure on our elected officials, end the blockade and let us through. Greetings from the ship, 600 miles from breaking the blockade.”

Asia Pacific Report, through the Pacific Media Centre, is sharing Gaza Freedom Flotilla coverage with Kia Ora Gaza and Scoop Media.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Sylvester Gawi: Papua New Guinea, a dream of the new Singapore?

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 25, 2018

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Silvester Gawi … “Our politicians should stop coming to Singapore for medical treatment alone, they should start focusing on making PNG become the next Singapore.” Image: Silvester Gawi

By Sylvester Gawi in Singapore

I hope you are reading this with ease and a positive mindset to help change the course of this beautiful country of ours – Papua New Guinea. My first time experience here has made me raise questions about how our economy has been mismanaged over the last 40years.

I’ve come to know this place from reading books, magazines, watching videos, documentaries and even looking it up on the internet.

From the countless travel magazines in secondhand shops in Lae in the 1990s to the LCD screens of the most sophisticated smartphones accessed by almost all school age kids in PNG today, Singapore has literally changed in front of our eyes.

I read with much interest about how Singapore has transformed itself from a small island nation to become one of the most developed countries in the world.

Singapore’s rise to power
Singapore has a rich history of civilisation. It was once colonised by the British empire. During the Second World War it was invaded by the Japanese, and later taken over again by the British after the war when Japan surrendered to the Allies.

The failure of Britain to defend Singapore during the war forced the people to cry for merdeka, or self governance. It 1963, Singapore became part of Malaysia, ending 144 years of British rule on the island.

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Since gaining independence from Malaysia on August 9, 1965, Singapore has since progressed on to be the host of one of the biggest and busiest air and sea ports in the world.

Lessons for PNG
Papua New Guinea has some of the world’s largest natural resource deposits in gold, copper, timber and now the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or the PNG LNG Project which is worth US$19 billion.

Papua New Guinea’s GDP per capita in 2017 was US$2401. The highest so far was in 2015 when our GDP per capita was US$2402.

Singapore’s GDP per capita continues to grow annually and it is now US$55,235.

Singapore has been able to made its way to becoming a developed country in just under 53 years of Independence. Its government subsidises housing, medical bills, education, public transport and so on, and increases economic opportunities for middle to low income earners.

It is an island country without any gold, copper, nickel mines, LNG project, organic coffee, timber or any other natural resources. It is a very strategic port of transition where goods and raw materials are brought here first then transported elsewhere across the world.

We also have the Lae port in PNG, which is one of the the most most strategic ports in the Southern Hemisphere. It is where cargoes from across the world transit into the Australia and even the Pacific.

The Lae port and the production line of businesses operating in Lae generates well over K111 million for the national government coffers annually as internal revenue. The Lae port serves as the only seaport that controls import of raw materials and exports of organic coffee, cocoa and other organic products for international markets.

Better roads, schools
We could have better roads being built, good schools, hospitals and life improving facilities for every tax payer in the city. Our SME sector should have fully flourished by now if we have the government putting its paper policy to work.

Squatter settlements and law and order won’t be major impediments for growth and development. People’s mindset would have changed and people’s movement in search for better service delivery would have been narrowed down.

Everyone here in Singapore respects each other despite their color, ethnicity and religion. There is no littering, loitering or even people sleeping on the streets. You will get caned by the police if you don’t dispose your rubbish in the right place.

The Singaporean government has made it its responsibility to ensure every citizen learns to appreciate and look after the environment. There are separate rubbish bins for biodegradable and non-biodegradable. No smoking in public or even spitting as you will be fined and dealt with accordingly.

All this boils down is a need to for a change in attitude in Papua New Guinea. If we change our attitude and start respecting each other and the environment we live in, we will create a good future for our children.

Since we don’t change ourselves, we have kept on voting self-centered individuals to represent our interest in Parliament for the last 40 years.

A politician once told me, he has plans and dreams to reclaim the beauty of the city he grew up in the early 70s. But he added that that dream would only be achievable if the people changed their mindset. Also one member of Parliament won’t make the change happen, it needs the majority to stand up for the people’s needs.

Last generation
“represent the last generation of Papua New Guinean kids who have used a kerosene lamp, a payphone, drank from a Coke bottle and listened to music on cassette players while growing up. We have anticipated so much to change for the better, but we are seeing it the other way around.

Life is getting tougher.

Our politicians should stop coming to Singapore for medical treatment alone, they should start focusing on making PNG become the next Singapore.

A wise man once said, if we continue to tell lies, it will surely become the truth. If the government can fool us for 40 years, they might continue to sell PNG’s resources for their own interest.

Sylvester Gawi is a Papua New Guinean journalist who blogs at Graun Blong Mi – My Land.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Bid to unite Asia-Pacific press councils takes off in Timor-Leste

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 25, 2018

Former Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta (second from left) in the front row during the Dili Dialogue. Image: Bob Howarth/PMW

By Bob Howarth in Dili, Timor-Leste

The Dili Dialogue Forum, sponsored by UNESCO and organised by the Timor-Leste Press Council, will be held again next year after the inaugural successful one last week.

It is a forum of Asia/Pacific press councils and it hopes to become an alliance of all press councils in the region by next May. May 3 is World Press Freedom Day.

This year Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South East Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) and Thailand were represented. It was held in an US$8 million auditorium (capacity 400) in the high-rise new Ministry of Finance building.

Topics included country reports of press freedom, ethics, training, social media issues and cybersecurity for journalists.

The TL Press Council impressed delegates.

Timor-Leste at 95 has the highest Asian ranking in Reporters Sans Frontiers World Press Freedom Index.

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The TL Press Council was established two years ago with seven directors (two appointed by the government but possibly for the last time), mostly veteran newsmen.

Solid funding
It has solid funding sourced from the Timor-Leste government, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New Zealand, Japan and the Netherlands (but not Australia).

The council has 38 full time staff including media monitors, trainers, IT and a transport team with nine cars and 21 motorbikes in well-equipped premises (50 PCs) opposite Dili University.

The government has no influence over its operations and has enshrined freedom of speech in its national constitution.

The council runs regular monthly training and certification of graduates, backed by UNDP, for young reporters and students in all formats of print, TV and the most popular medium radio.

One objective is to become an avenue for resolution of media complaints instead of costly legal action, similar to Australia’s Press Council and New Zealand’s Media Council.

Current campaigns include lobbying Google to include Tetum, one official language alongside Portuguese, and seeking assistance from Facebook to include Tetum-speaking content monitors to quickly react to reported offensive posts, a major issue in the country’s recent elections.

Next year it is hoped countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon islands and Vanuatu will attend the Dili Dialogue.

The next forum will be held on May 9-10 next year.

Bob Howarth, a media consultant and correspondent for Reporters Without Borders, was a delegate at the Dili Dialogue Forum and is a regular contributor to Pacific Media Watch.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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‘Blockade busters’ flotilla on way to help provide relief for Gaza

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 24, 2018

On their way … bound for Gaza. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The four international Freedom Flotilla coalition boats have left Palermo in Sicily overnight in their bid to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.

A coalition statement said the boats that make up this year’s Freedom Flotilla are not only bringing much needed medical supplies with them, but the boats themselves will also be donated to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) that represents Gaza’s fishers) once they arrive in the Strip.

New Zealand unionist and peace activist Mike Treen is on board the Al Awda (Return) and is filing reports for Kia Ora Gaza.

Spokesperson for the Ship to Gaza-Sweden campaign Jeannette Escanilla said: “The illegal Israeli naval blockade has devastated the Palestinian economy, and in particular has hurt the fishing industry in Gaza, so these boats will provide important economic opportunities for Palestinians.”

The boats in this year’s “Just Future for Palestine” mission departed Sicily yesterday for the last leg to Gaza after more than 2 months at sea visiting 15 European ports.

Five times flotilla boats have successfully reached Gaza (before 2010) and organisers say they maintain the hope that it can be done again with this year’s mission, “but to do this we need our amazing network of passionate supporters to amplify our message”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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‘It’s up to God and the land’ on Vanuatu’s Ambae volcano isle

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 23, 2018

What the documentary team found on Ambae: “Volcanic ash is ever-present. Roads are carpeted with it, creating an uncannily smooth ride—where vehicles can still pass. Drone footage of an abandoned village on the approaches to the volcano shows a house constructed of timber and local materials that’s been flattened by the weight of ash upon it.” Image: Vanuatu Daily Post

By Dan McGarry in Port Vila

Over the course of a week earlier this month, a French/Ni-Vanuatu documentary team ventured to the summit of Ambae’s Mount Lombenben to see for themselves the effects of the Manaro-Vui volcano in Vanuatu.

What they saw was an island transformed.

One team member, a Ni-Vanuatu man, told the Vanuatu Daily Post how he had spoken to one Ambaean woman who was nearly ready to give up on trying to grow food.

The crops kept dying, she said, and she kept planting. All she can do now, she told him, is hope that her garden would survive.

“It’s up to God and the land,” she said.

The Ambae volcano article as it appeared in the Vanuatu Daily Post at the weekend.

-Partners-

Throughout Ambae, and particularly in the western half of the island, communications are sparse, travel is becoming increasingly difficult, and supplies are alarmingly short. Water is a particular concern in the west.

The two roads joining the western and eastern ends of the island are cut by mudslides.

According to eyewitnesses, the roads are impassable to vehicles, so all travel and transport between the two sides has to go by boat or by plane.

Supply shortages
This appears to be leading to supply shortages in the west. According to one report, a 36-litre carton of bottled water now costs VT2400 (NZ$32).

But the biggest worry is what is on top of the island. The Manaro-Vui volcano, situated at the summit of Mount Lombenben, has utterly transformed its immediate vicinity, and a growing area around it.

The approach to the summit is tortuous, according to Philippe Carillo, whose video production company, Fusion Productions, has operated in Vanuatu since June last year.

The team was advised that fog descends on the summit by mid-morning most days, so in order to ensure clear skies for the crew, they departed from the area of Ndui Ndui village shortly after midnight.

The team struggled for eight hours through a morass of mud, muck and ash. Ash has blanketed a substantial area, killing all vegetation in a ring that’s now several kilometres in diameter.

Outside that area, volcanic ash is ever-present. Roads are carpeted with it, creating an uncannily smooth ride—where vehicles can still pass. Drone footage of an abandoned village on the approaches to the volcano shows a house constructed of timber and local materials that’s been flattened by the weight of ash upon it.

In some villages, ash is ankle-deep on the ground.

Shocking transformation
The higher you go up the mountainside, the more shocking the transformation. Even kilometres away from the caldera, a deep blanket of ash has choked all life. Deep runnels carved by rainwater make the path a tricky one.

The ashfall is so heavy in some areas that even locals no longer recognise the place. The group’s guide lost his bearings at least twice, sending the team casting about across the hillside waste land, trying to find their way.

After a gruelling eight-hour slog, the team finally crested the last hill overlooking what used to be lake Vui. It has been replaced by a kilometre-wide ash plain, reminiscent of a lunar landscape.

A tiny vestige of the lake remains, coloured brilliant red because evaporation has left it super-concentrated with iron and other minerals.

The scale of the devastation is hard to grasp from the ground. But drone imagery shows the true size of the cone that’s risen from the waters. Human figures almost are almost vanishingly small in this post-apocalyptic landscape.

The visuals are stunning, but the implications for the island are cause for concern. With this volume of ash, much of it still not packed down by wind and rain, the prospect of further damage downhill rises as the rainy season approaches.

Tree trunks and large limbs killed by the ashfall could well accompany the large volumes of mud that will inevitably flow down the hillsides. These could block existing streams and creeks, sending mud and water elsewhere and potentially posing an additional danger to villages, which are often situated near watercourses.

Mud damage risk
The Geohazards Unit has already issued advisories concerning this risk, and has identified an area covering more than two-thirds of the island as being at risk of damage from mud and water.

The team returned from the summit the late in the day, and later shared their results with local villagers. One member, Terence Malapa, assured the Daily Post that the team had shown deep and sincere respect for the strong tabu associated with the volcano.

They performed kastom ceremonies with the relevant chiefly authorities, he said, and went nowhere without permission.

Will they be returning soon? No, says Philippe Carillo. The walk to the summit was arduous.
“It was a once in a lifetime journey,” he said.

The team voluntarily briefed the National Disaster Management Office, who thanked them for their contribution.

Dan McGarry is media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post group. This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Mike Treen: Gaza Freedom Flotilla sets sail from Sicily

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 23, 2018

By Mike Treen on board the Freedom Flotilla

After months of preparation and training, the Freedom Flotilla is ready to depart for Gaza today.

The converted fishing trawler I am travelling on, the Al Awda (Return), along with three sailing yachts have been under constant guard as previous flotillas have been sabotaged in foreign ports by the Israeli secret services trying to stop the attempts to break the blockade.

I have met up with my fellow Kiwi of Palestinian descent, Youssef Sammour, a sailor and yacht engineer currently working in Dubai, who leaves Palermo after 45 days at sea.

He has been sailing on the flotilla yacht Freedom since Amsterdam. If the boats are intercepted and the crew arrested they will all be subjected to a 10-year ban on re-entering Israel.

As a third generation refugee, Youssef does not want to rule out the possibility in the future of visiting his homeland.

-Partners-

Youssef considers himself a Kiwi as he has spent half his life in New Zealand at school and university. His father Khalil got work in New Zealand as a surgeon at Greymouth Hospital on the West Coast of the South Island.

My mum, Joan, grew up in Blackball, a small mining town just outside of Greymouth, and went to school in Greymouth. My Granddad, Walter Kirk, was a miner and a unionist, and part of the “red” Federation of Labour, the first national union federation formed in 1920 which had its national headquarters in Blackball.

Famous figures
Famous figures of the New Zealand Labour movement – Paddy Webb, Bob Semple, Walter Nash, Harry Holland – were household names, friends or colleagues.

Granddad was also one of the first, if not the first, Kiwi to play rugby league professionally in Australia for at least one season in the early 1900s.

For mum, Blackball was home, and it was where she wanted her ashes spread when she died which we were able to do five years ago. The only problem is she wanted them spread at the top of a steep mountain range behind Blackball known as The Creases.

I was back on May Day this year to commemorate the fifth anniversary of her death.

Youssef’s dad didn’t actually want to go to Greymouth – too small, isolated, and cold. He left his wife and son in Auckland and visited when he could.

Yet three years later, by the time he had finished his contract in Greymouth, Youssef says his father left in tears as he had come to love the place his colleagues, patients, and the wonderful people of Greymouth.

Youssef’s family’s story is both typical and special. Youssef’s dad was born on May 15, 1948 – the day known in Palestinian history as the Nakba – the day of “catastrophe”. The Jewish settlers proclaimed the state of Israel and presided over the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians.

Traumatised by events
Youssef’s grandmother went into labour while on the road from Palestine to Lebanon. She gave birth to Khalil and was so traumatised by the events that she could not breast feed her child. They were forced to crush almonds for the milk to feed him along the way.

His parents were childhood friends, growing up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Dad went to Cairo to become a surgeon and Samira, Youssef’s mum stayed in Beirut to study Chemistry. They ended up meeting again a few years later as they found themselves working in the same hospital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

They are still happily married today, Khalil is in his last year of work as chief of the surgical department in a private hospital in the Emirates.

They are looking to move back to NZ and finally get some well earned R&R. For a Palestinian family, home can be Beirut, Auckland or Greymouth, but often never Haifa, the home of their birth, even to scatter their ashes as I was able to do for my mum.

The Al Awda, one of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s four boats. Mike Treen is on board for the final leg of her voyage to Gaza. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

My own place on the Al Awda, I am taking over from another young Palestinian scholar, Awni Farhat, who grew up and Gaza and completed a master’s degree in human rights conflict studies in the Netherlands, but can’t return like a normal person to visit his family.

Such are the many small, but cruel, ironies of life in occupied Palestine.

Al Awda was a Norwegian fishing trawler. Scandinavians have been strong supporters of the decade-long campaign to breach the blockade from sea. Like New Zealand, these countries have strong fishing industries.

Blockade inhumanity
One aspect of the inhumanity of the blockade is stopping the fishing people in Gaza from plying their trade – even within the 12-mile maritime boundaries.

A reign of terror is maintained. Boats are fired on several times a day, dozens of fishers are wounded and a few killed each year. Just this last few weeks a limit of three nautical miles has been imposed. Several boats in Gaza that were planning to meet our small armada were singled out to be bombed in port.

Swedish sailors and campaign supporters were instrumental supplying the three yachts – Freedom, Mairead and Falestine – that have been part of the flotilla from the beginning of the journey in May. A Danish Socialist MP, Mikkel Gruner, is on the Al Awda. We have a professional chef from a leading restaurant as our personal cook.

Torstein Dahle, a city council member in the port city of Bergen and leader of the Red Party in Norway has spearheaded getting a fishing boat ready that can be donated to the fishers of Gaza and be able to carry the crew and volunteers to break the blockade.

This work to transform the ship began in January this year. A volunteer team of engineers, mechanics, carpenters and electricians have laboured for hundreds of hours to complete the work in time for the sailing part of the journey to begin.

In many ways this is a project of direct solidarity from workers and fishers in Scandinavia to the fishers of Gaza. They have generously allowed some others to join them because we have our own positions in our own societies and can amplify their message across the globe.

Workers intervene
Other workers have intervened to ensure the boats can reach their goal. The port authorities near Lisbon, Portugal, tried to prevent the ship’s entry until the port workers union Sindicato Dos Estivadores E Da Actividade Logistica told them they would have a serious problem if they tried.

That has been the pattern through the journey. Usually national governments and the police try to make life hard, while local governments and the people’s organisations welcome the boats.

One yacht was rammed and damaged by French police boats in Paris. In Palermo where we are at the moment, the mayor, Leoluca Orlando, who comes from people’s campaigns against corruption and Mafia control of the Church and the state in Sicily has announced that port will be renamed in remembrance to the historic Palestinian national leader Yasser Arafat who died, or more likely murdered by Israel, in 2004.

He is also fighting to preserve the city as a place of safe haven for refugees and beat back attempts by the right-wing and fascist forces in Italy to blame refugees for the social problems created by the capitalist Europe project which has resulted in nothing but austerity, welfare cuts and growing unemployment for working people across Europe.

The Freedom Flotilla participants were also warmly welcomed by thousands of Italian and Spanish supporters of refugee rights and open borders in a joint march through the fantastically beautiful city at night.

Everything is on Mediterranean time here. The place comes alive from 7pm when many central city streets are closed to cars, and families (including young children which made my Anglo-Kiwi mind a bit uncomfortable) enjoy meals on street tables until late at night.

Palermo is the capital city of Sicily and has a history going back 2700 years. It has been governed and settled by Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans. It is a historical and cultural centre for the meeting points between west and east in Europe.

Mike Treen (left) and Youssef Sammour with the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy, Dr Mai Alkailla. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

Ambassador’s visit
The Ambassador from Palestine to Italy, Dr Mai Alkaila, came to visit on July 18 during our training session to express solidarity and support. There was an unplanned and tearful reunion with Dr Swee Ang, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon; author of From Beirut to Jerusalem and the ship’s doctor.

Dr Ang’s journey with Palestine began as a volunteer surgeon in Gaza Hospital in Beirut’s Sabra Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in 1982. About three weeks after her arrival, more than 3000 of them were massacred.

These events traumatised the young surgeon and Dr Ang describes how the love and generosity of the Palestinian people helped bring her back to a purposeful meaningful life – but now one forever intertwined with the fate of the Palestinian people.

Dr Ang served in Gaza in 1988-89 during the first Intifada and again in 2009 after the Israeli invasion of Gaza in December 2008 that left thousands of casualties.

The ambassador generously offered to bring lunch the next day which she duly delivered and then served it herself – bodyguards discretely in the background. That day she spoke to Youssef and myself to say how she had delivered a special message of thanks to the NZ Embassy in Rome for New Zealand taking up the sponsorship of a UN Security Council resolution in December 2016 critical of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

This resolution was significant because the US abstained rather than veto it as they usually did anything critical of Israel. This is not a new stance for New Zealand but one of the original sponsors had pulled out and it seems that then NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully agreed to sponsor it without checking with the Prime Minister.

It led to Israel withdrawing its ambassador to New Zealand and barring the New Zealand ambassador in Israel. Diplomatic relations were restored in June 2017 after then Prime Minister Bill English wrote a cowardly letter to Israel expressing “regret” over the fallout from the resolution.

Peters not happy
The current Foreign Minister and NZ First leader, Winston Peters, who has a strong personal bias towards Israel, was not happy. The resolution features in the Labour-New Zealand First coalition agreement, which states a commitment to “record a Cabinet minute regarding the lack of process followed prior to the National-led government’s sponsorship of UNSC2334”.

Ambassador Alkaila also expressed her delight at the decision of NZ artist Lorde to boycott performing in Israel.

A city reception was also held and then the mayor and the ambassador joined and spoke at a support function in the evening of July 19.

We have had intensive training from US professionals in non-violent resistance. Tips have been given from those arrested, abused, or tasered by the Israeli military on previous expeditions on what might be expected.

Only one previous Gaza blockade shift saw casualties. In 2010, a six-boat flotilla led by a Turkish ship the MV Mavi Marmara, with almost 500 passengers was assaulted in the middle of the night and 10 were killed and dozens injured. This led to a prolonged diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel. Turkey as a NATO member is one of the few majority Muslim countries to maintain friendly relations with Israel.

Since then Israel has usually just boarded the ships, towed them to port and deported the participants after a few days of questioning.

My fellow passengers on the Al Awda are an extraordinary group. I hope to have a chance to talk to them more during our journey and get to tell their stories over the next few weeks.

Blockade must end
Whatever happens on this trip to Gaza, the siege and blockade will end.

lsrael is increasingly revealing its racist, authoritarian character. There are 13 million Palestinian people. Seven and a half million are displaced or in exile. Six and a half million Palestinians continue to live in historic Palestine alongside six and a half million people of Jewish descent.

A way must, and will be found to destroy the apartheid system that seeks to preserve the ethnic superiority of one group over another and allow that majority of people in the the region who want to live in peace and security to do so.

Mike Treen is the New Zealand representative on the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla determined to break through Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza. The national director of the Unite Union and a veteran human rights defender is reporting here in rthe first of a series of reports for Kia Ora Gaza. The reports are being shared on Asia Pacific Report by arrangement.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Kiwis on board Freedom Flotilla in bid to break illegal Gaza blockade

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 22, 2018

The situation in Gaza “is criminal and genocide”, says Injustice author Miko Peled in an interview about the latest Israeli bombing attack on Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip. Video: RT

BACKGROUND: By Lois Griffiths of Scoop Independent News

Once again, a small number of individuals from several countries are trying to break the illegal siege imposed on the people of Gaza by sailing from Europe to Gaza on four small Scandinavian boats: Al Awda (The Return), Freedom, Falestine (Palestine) and Mairead (named for Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire)

But this year? After what’s been happening, the killing and maiming of unarmed marchers – 140 dead since March 30, including children, medics, journalists – by expert IDF snipers?

Why don’t they give up?

Who are the activists, where do they come from and why are they doing this?

-Partners-

Uneasy calm in Gaza after Hamas-Israel deal

Mike Treen (left) and Youssef Sammour with the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy, Mai Alkailla. Image: Lois Griffiths/Scoop

Two New Zealanders are on board the flotilla. Kiwi-Palestinian Youssef Sammour, an experienced sailor, has been with the flotilla for the entire long journey, beginning at Copenhagen.

He has sent many photos of the friendly welcomings they have received at ports along the way.

Unite Union organiser Mike Treen has joined the flotilla for the last leg, from Sicily to Gaza. Both Kiwis can be followed at the Kia ora Gaza website.

Does New Zealand genuinely have an independent foreign policy?

Challenge to NZ
If so, I challenge the New Zealand government to demand that Israel allow the Freedom Flotilla to enter Gaza.

The flotilla hopes to deliver basic medical supplies – gauzes and sutures – to Gaza where the doctors have been overwhelmed by the number of direct killings and serious woundings from skilled Israeli snipers.

The Freedom Flotilla is on a humanitarian mission. They pose no threat to Israelis.

The Al Awda, one of the Gaza Peace Flotilla’s four boats. Mike Treen is on board for the final leg of her voyage to Gaza. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

At least three of the participants are Americans.

One of them, Joe Meadors, is a survivor of the 1967 Israeli deadly attack on the USS Liberty, that killed 34 American servicemen.

President Lyndon Johnson and his Defence Secretary, Robert McNamara, declared that the bombing was an “accident”. They refused to conduct an inquiry but the survivors have never forgotten what they believe really happened.

Meadors is a past president of USS Liberty Veterans Association, founded in 1982. In a Common Dreams interview on July 12, Joe Meadors said,

“This trip is happening right after the protests called the Great March of Return, when so many people in Gaza were killed and wounded because they were demanding the right to return to the villages they were forced to flee in 1948.

“The Great March of Return is part of a 70-year struggle for the Palestinians’ right to live in the ancestral lands their families left behind.”…

“I want to show the people of Gaza that we care, that we are willing to put our lives on the line for them. We are willing to face the risks that they face every day. I hope we make it to Gaza but even if we don’t, our effort will inspire the people there and help bring world attention to their cause.”

Ex-CIA analyst
Elizabeth Murray is a retired CIA analyst. She specialised in Middle Eastern political and media analysis. She is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Writing in Consortium News on May 22, Elizabeth Murray explains:

“I feel proud and privileged to join a group of international passengers aboard the Norwegian ship Al Awda.

“Along our route we hope to raise awareness and educate people about the plight of Palestinians, especially in Gaza, who are denied the basic freedoms and human rights the rest of us take for granted.

“As the Freedom Flotilla embarks on its peace odyssey, it is our hope to bring a light of hope and solidarity to the people of Gaza, who deserve the peaceful, dignified and joyful existence that is their right.”

Ann Wright is a retired US Army colonel and diplomat. She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone. She is one of three State Department officials who publicly resigned in direct protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

She has been active in Palestinian solidarity since 2009 helping take groups to Gaza. Ann Wright took part in the 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016 Gaza Flotillas

“As a US citizen, I must challenge my own government’s complicity in the horrific conditions imposed on Palestinians by Israel,” she said.

Canadian activist Ron Rousseau from Yukon … “as an Indigenous activist … we feel that it’s necessary to be defending Palestine.” Image: Scoop

First Nation activist
One of the Canadians taking part is Ron Rousseau, First Nation activist from Yukon, Canada. Rousseau is president of the Whitehorse Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Aboriginal vice president of the Canada Labour Congress.

When interviewed by journalist Dimitri Lascaris, Ron Rousseau said:

“You know, as an Indigenous activist, as you know, it is, we feel that it’s necessary to be defending and making people aware of what’s actually happening inside of Palestine, and the people that live there, and how they are under siege.

“As we look at our history, you know, we were some 200 million in North America. And you know, our people were slaughtered.

“Our people were, had bounties on us, and even up to the point of where they were moved onto reservations where we needed a pass system to leave the reservation, even to go off for medical, you needed to ask permission to leave.

“So we were inside like a landlocked jail as well, up until the ’50s.”

Ron Rousseau explained that he learned about Palestine through union activities.

“The first article I read was probably 10 years ago. It was a full bulletin put out to all members that went out to every postal worker in Canada, and then I went to an intensive four-week education for unionism, and we spent the whole day talking about Palestine.

“And I was, I was shocked, and I couldn’t take it off my mind, and been following it all the way along and making sure that people understood what was going on with family, friends, and everybody I talked to.”

Israeli participant
At least one Israeli is taking part. Zohar Chamberlain Regev is an Israeli citizen (born and raised in Kibbutz Kfar Hahoresh, near Nazareth) who has lived in Spain for the last 14 years. When asked why she was taking part, she replied,

“As a human being first of all, but also as an Israeli of Jewish origin, I am appalled by what is being done by Israel in Palestine in general and in Gaza in particular. We have always been told ‘how could the world be silent during the Holocaust’, now we know how…we have to stand by our Palestinian sisters and brothers in Gaza to save our own humanity.

“As an amputee, I can only begin to imagine what it is like for people in Gaza who have lost their limbs in the brutal attacks and are still waiting to be fitted with prosthetic limbs, as one of the many consequences of the illegal Israeli blockade.”

Malaysian Dr Fauziah Mohd Hasan is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She has received international recognition for her medical humanitarian work in many countries including Kosovo, the Moluccas islands, Acheh Indonesia, Afghanistan, Gaza, Syria and Bangladesh.

Before departing to take part in the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza, Dr Hasan explained,

“My participation is not in my individual capacity but representing my family, my women folks, my nation and all Muslims and humanity the world over.

“This humanitarian mission involves women only, just to show that there is a united voice in ending the blockade of Gaza, beyond gender, race, religion and geographical boundaries. It is purely a humanitarian mission to ensure freedom is given to all, for as Nelson Mandela once said:

‘We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

“To the people of Gaza, you are always in our prayers.”

Every participant – the Scandinavians, the two MPs, from Spain and Algeria – has a story to tell.

I’ve chosen the ones I thought would be most interesting to New Zealand readers.

Someone should write a book someday, about all the participants in all of the attempts to reach Gaza by sea, since the siege was imposed.

It’s inspiring to learn of humanitarian people from many parts of the world. Some efforts to reach Gaza have been successful.

Youssef Sammour’s boat Freedom. Image: Lois Griffiths/Scoop

The late Italian journalist Vittoria Arrigoni was overjoyed when his boat reached Gaza in August 2008 (see Freedom Sailors, edited by Greta Berlin).

History is us

History is not cowardly governments

with their loyalty to whoever has the strongest military

History is made by ordinary people

everyday people, with family at home and a reular job

who are committed to peace as a grat ideal

to the rights of all to staying human.

History is us who risked our lives

to bring utopia within reach

to offer a dream, a hope, to hundreds of thosands of people

Who cried with us as we reached the port of Gaza

Our message of peace is a call to action

for other ordinary people like ourselves

not to hand over your lives

to whatever puppeteer is in charge this time round

But to take responsibility for the revolution

First, the inner revolution

to give love , to give empathy

It is this that will change the world.

We have shown that peace is not an impossible utopia

Or perhaps we shown that sometimes

utopia can be possible

Believe this

Stand firm against intimidation, fear, and despair

And simple remain human.

Lois Griffiths is reporting for Scoop Independent News on the Freedom Flotilla. Other flotilla articles and images are at Kia Ora Gaza. Asia Pacific Report is sharing coverage with Kia Ora Gaza and Scoop.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Indonesia’s Papua ‘cover-up reflex’ prompts police dormitory raid

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 21, 2018

A video of a demonstration marking the bloody Biak massacre of 6 July 1998 staged last year. Video: BBB Times

By Michelle Winowatan

Dozens of Indonesian military and police personnel raided a student dormitory in Surabaya on July 6 to stop the screening of a documentary about security force atrocities in Papua.

It is the latest example of the government’s determination not to deal with past abuses in the country’s easternmost province.

Security forces carried out the raid following social media postings about the planned screening of the documentary Bloody Biak (Biak Berdarah).

The film documents Indonesian security forces opening fire on a peaceful pro-Papuan independence flag-raising ceremony in the town of Biak in July 1998, killing dozens.

A Guardian report about a “citizens’ tribunal” hearing about the 1998 Biak massacre published on 13 December 2013. Image: PMC

-Partners-

Security forces said the dorm raid was necessary to prevent unspecified “hidden activities” by Papuan students.

The raid is emblematic of both the Indonesian government’s failure to deliver on promises of accountability for past human rights abuses in Papua and its willingness to take heavy-handed measures to stifle public discussion about those violations.

The government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has not fulfilled a commitment made in 2016 to seek resolution of longstanding human rights abuses, including the Biak massacre and the military crackdown on Papuans in Wasior in 2001 and Wamena in 2003 that killed dozens and displaced thousands.

Killing with impunity
Meanwhile, police and other security forces that kill Papuans do so with impunity.

Media coverage of rights abuses in Papua are hobbled by the Indonesian government’s decades-old access restrictions to the region, despite Jokowi’s 2015 pledge to lift them.

Domestic journalists are vulnerable to intimidation and harassment from officials, local mobs, and security forces.

The government is also hostile to foreign human rights observers seeking access to Papua.

Last month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said he was “concerned that despite positive engagement by the authorities in many respects, the government’s invitation to my Office to visit Papua – which was made during my visit in February – has still not been honoured”.

The raid in Surabaya signals the government’s determination to maintain its chokehold on public discussion of human rights violations across Indonesia.

This suggests that the government’s objective is to maintain Papua as a ”forbidden island” rather than provide transparency and accountability for human rights abuses there.

Michelle Winowatan is a Human Rights Watch intern. The Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project monitors Asia-Pacific rights issues.

The scene at the Indonesian police raid on Papuan student quarters in Surabaya over the film Bloody Biak. Image: Suara.com

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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RSF condemns killing of radio journalist – shot in Philippines

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 21, 2018

Philippine radio journalist Joey Llana … shot at least 14 times in ambush as he drove to work at Radio DwZR in Legazpi City. Image: RSF Paris

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the killing of Philippine radio journalist Joey Llana near Legazpi City, at the southeastern tip of the island of Luzon, and has called on the authorities to do everything possible to find those responsible.

Joey Llana, 38, was gunned down yesterday as he drove to work at Radio DwZR in Legazpi City, where he hosted a morning radio programme, reports the Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF.

Local police said he was hit at least 14 times in the head and body by shots fired by five unidentified gunmen.

The police have not yet identified a motive but a relative said Llana had recently received death threats, which suggested that he had been targeted in connection with his work.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, condemned the murder and said it would be investigated by the Presidential Task Force on Media Security.

“We condemn radio journalist Joey Llana’s murder in the strongest terms as it is a serious press freedom violation, and we welcome the decision by the president’s office to open an immediate investigation and its declared desire to render justice to the victim,” a statement from RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk said.

-Partners-

“The Philippines, which is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in Asia, must do everything possible to effectively combat violence against the media and impunity for this violence.”

Third journalist killed
If the initial suspicions are confirmed, Llana will be the third journalist to have been murdered this year in the Philippines in connection with their work, reports RSF.

Newspaper journalist Dennis Denora was slain in a similar fashion in the southern province of Davao del Norte in June, as was radio show host Edmund Sestoso in the central province of Negros Oriental in May.

At least six other journalists have been killed in connection with their work since Duterte, who is prone to virulent verbal attacks on the media, was elected president in 2016.

The Philippines fell six places in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index and is now ranked 133rd out of 180 countries.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Connecting the dots – Pacific disasters, cyclones, climate featured in latest PJR

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 20, 2018

A “natural” seawall constructed out of giant bamboo poles built at the Semarang village of Demak Timbulsloko in an attempt to reduce “rob” flooding damage. Image: Del Abcede/PJR

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

“Rob” flooding in the Indonesian city of Semarang, Cyclone Winston’s devastation and social media in Fiji and “backpack journalism” in Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are among many issues featured in the latest Pacific Journalism Review.

This is the second edition of the New Zealand-based media research journal focused on climate change and global warming.

The first, published year, featured the Fiji and Pacific leadership at COP23 with a series of research papers.

Pacific Journalism Review 24(1)

This latest edition, published next week, is timely as the Pacific faces increasingly extreme and more frequent weather onslaughts.

Indonesian academics Dr Hermin Indah Wahyuni, Andi Awaluddin Fitrah and Fitri Handayani along with the Pacific Media Centre’s director, Professor David Robie, offer a comparative study on social adaptation to maritime disaster between Java and Fiji in a collaboration with the Centre for Southeast Asian Social Studies (CESASS) at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.

-Partners-

Another CESASS colleague, Dr Budi Irawanto, presents a paper on narratives of natural disaster survivors in Indonesian media.

The edition is also a collaboration with the University of the South Pacific whose Dr Shailendra Singh and Professor Vijay Naidu analyse the coverage of extreme weather in Pacific nations.

Post-disaster recovery
Dr Amanda Gearing of the Queensland University of Technology argues the case for a state-sponsored post-disaster recovery scheme and Monash journalism academic Dr Johan Lidberg offers a comparative study of Australian media coverage of COPs 15 and 21.

USP’s Glen Finau and colleagues analyse social media and disaster communication, Auckland University’s Norman Zafra analyses convergent technologies in disaster journalism while Unitec’s Dr Philip Cass assesses “a plan nobody hopes they will need” – what New Zealand needs to do about climate change migration and the future.

Dr Robie provides a case study of Bearing Witness 2017, the second year of a Pacific climate change storytelling project in Fiji that has produced dynamic and inspiring results.

Among unthemed articles, Dr Catherine Strong of Massey presents findings from a NZ women newspaper editors study and Steve Ellmers of Unitec offers a “tale of two statues” in Baghdad.

Two obituaries of two remarkable New Zealand journalists, investigative reporter and editor Pat Booth (profiled by A Moral Truth author Dr James Hollings) and Yasmine Ryan (penned by Evening Report editor Selwyn Manning) are also featured by PJR.

The journal has a strong review section including The General’s Goose on coup-struck Fiji, A Region in Transition, Grappling With The Bomb, “And there’ll be NO dancing” and After Charlie Hebdo.

This edition has been co-edited by Professor David Robie and Khairiah A. Rahman (AUT), Dr Hermin Indah Wahyuni and Dr Vissia Ita Yulianto (CESASS-UGM), Dr Philip Cass (Unitec) and Dr Shailendra Singh (USP).

Papers from the edition are available online at AUT’s Tuwhera platform.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Toktok No 37 / Winter 2018