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New Caledonia independence ‘in their hearts’, but also a ‘scary’ future

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Kanaks and long-time New Caledonian settlers get to vote on their future on November 4. But, as Michael Andrew of Asia Pacific Journalism points out, if Kanaks don’t get their wish for independence this time around, they have two more chances in 2020 and 2023 to vote for a new nation.

In Noumea, two main flags fly outside the Territorial Congress building of New Caledonia: the national Tricolore of France and the flag of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, or FLNKS.

With the long-awaited independence referendum set for just three months away – on November  4 – New Caledonia will have an opportunity to move into the future with the Kanak flag flying solo.

In keeping with the 1998 Noumea accord, the upcoming referendum is part of France’s promise to restore political power to the original, indigenous population – the Kanaks.  If the result is no for independence, there will be an opportunity to vote again in 2020 and 2023.

READ MORE: Decolonisation vote looms – what lies ahead?

If the result is yes, the French territory will become a new Pacific country.

According to local woman Delphine Afchain, however, the consequences of such an outcome are causing concern and doubt in some sections of the community.

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“The people don’t know what will happen,” she says. “The politicians haven’t exposed to us what will happen if we get independence. It’s a bit blurry to us.”

Afchain lives in Kone, the provincial seat of the Northern Province of the main island, Grande Terre. Since the 1980s, the north, along with the Loyalty Islands has been administered with relative autonomy by the Kanaks, who elect representatives to the Territorial Congress.

Kanak pride, identity
Although Kanak pride and identity is widespread throughout the province, Afchain says many people have grown accustomed to the perks of French influence.

“Our young people are going to university in France to do studies. And they come back here to get jobs. That’s the normal way,” she says.

French education is one of several benefits granted Kanaks since the signing of the Noumea accord, and its predecessor, the Matignon accord, in 1988. Under those agreements – established to reduce historical unrest and division – Kanaks have been granted full French citizenship, special land rights, custom identity and access to healthcare and infrastructure in the wealthiest island state in the Pacific.

If the vote for independence succeeds, critics fear some of those  those benefits will be swept away.

Yet some Kanaks believe this is a necessary cost if it means they can have their own country. For these indépendantistes, too much has been sacrificed to falter so close to their goal.

Jaimie Waimo is a Kanak journalist who works for the territorial television channel Caledonia. He explains that although he doesn’t know exactly what will happen if independence is achieved, he will still vote “yes” to honour the historical struggles of his people.

“As a Kanak person, I have the duty to follow what has been fought for in the past,” he says through a translator. “My choice is there to mark the respect to the dead Kanaks who fought for it.”

Hienghene massacre
The grievous deaths of independence campaigners in the 1980s remain a powerful reminder of the true cost of the campaign; in 1984, 10 unarmed Kanak militants were slaughtered by a group of white and mixed-race settlers, or Caldoches, in a premeditated ambush known as the Hienghene massacre.

A few years later, 19 Kanaks were slaughtered on Ouvéa Island after an offensive by the French military to free captured gendarme hostages.

Political leaders have even been assassinated; Jean-Marie Tjibaou, then leader of FLNKS, and his deputy Yeiwene Yeiwene were gunned down in 1989 not long after negotiating the Matignon Accord.

Another Northern resident, Sylvie Brier, likens the conflict during that period to civil war. However, she says much of it was necessary to enact the changes that came with the Matignon and Noumea accords.

“Since the Matignon-Oudinot agreement, there has been the creation of a training plan with funds for improving skills of the Kanak community in many sectors – public administration, business management, and teaching,” says Brier.

Working for a Northern-based economic development organisation, she is neither pro nor anti-independence. She belongs to a third group who are in favour of independence but believe the move would be economically unwise at this time.

“I think we don’t have enough information about the days after the referendum.”

Crucial role
Economics plays a crucial role in the independence debate; New Caledonia is one of the five biggest producers of nickel in the world. Currently, five mines operate throughout the territory with the total output accounting for more than 80 percent of all export commodities and almost 10 percent of the GDP.

While pro-independence parties would like to use such wealth for the new country’s benefit, some Kanaks are wary about doing this without the technology, investment and expertise provided by France.

The loss of French financial support in general concerns all parties involved in the independence debate.

For fourth generation Caldoches Stephane Nea and Cheryl Young, this is the main reason they will be voting “no”. They say that although they don’t have much allegiance to France and are proud to be from New Caledonia, the ramifications of independence are too unpredictable.

“No one has told us how they will replace the money France gives every year,” they say through a translator.

“We are scared of the future.”

This uncertainty is reflected in the latest opinion polls. Conducted in late April through I-Scope, the results show a “no” vote is likely with 22.5 percent for independence against 59.7 percent opposed and 17.8 percent undecided.

Peace outcome
However, according to academic and journalist Dr Lee Duffield, a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre and who visited New Caledonia last month, this result will not silence many indépendantistes.

“If it’s no, it’s the peaceful outcome of continuity but it doesn’t solve the problem of the Kanak spiritual feeling,” he says.

“They haven’t got their own country. They can’t take an equal place in the Melanesian world as a free sovereign state.

“Also they’re very dissatisfied that they’re poorer than the French.”

With another referendum set for 2020 and many of these issues unlikely to be resolved by then, the quest for a sovereign country under one flag is certain to go on.

“They’ve got that burning fire,” says Dr Duffield.

“It’s in the hearts and in the passion.”

Michael Andrew is a student journalist on the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies (Journalism) reporting on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University.

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Media freedom groups protest over detained Bangladeshi photojournalist

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Alongside his social media coverage of the protests, Dr Shahidul Alam apparently angered the authorities and the ruling party after he gave a TV interview with Al Jazeera when criticised the government. Image: Global Voices

By Global Voices

Late on the night of August 5, 2018, award-winning Bangladeshi photographer and activist Dr Shahidul Alam was forcibly abducted from his house in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, by 20 men in plainclothes, sparking protests from media freedom and human rights groups.

Alam is the founder of both the Drik Picture Library and the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and a vocal journalist on issues related to rule of law and the public interest.

It was soon confirmed that a team of the Detective Branch (DB) of police had detained Shahidul from his residence, with the intention of interrogating him over his Facebook posts about ongoing student protests in the capital, Dhaka.

READ MORE: RSF protests over shocking press freedom violations during Bangladeshi student protests

Secondary school students of different educational institutions in the Bangladesh capital have taken to the streets since July 29 demanding improved road safety and rule enforcement, after two of their classmates were killed due to reckless driving by public bus. The students are also demanding justice for the victims.

Excessive police force
Shahidul Alam has been covering the ongoing student protests in Bangladesh in his Facebook and Twitter accounts and discussing the protests on Facebook Live.

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More than one hundred students were injured over the weekend as the police resorted to excessive force, including firing rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of peaceful student protesters.

The protests took a violent turn on August 4 when rumours of student protesters being kidnapped, raped and killed began to spread online, but independent media sources at the Dhaka Tribune along with students themselves and a fact-checking Facebook group called Jaachai (fact-check) have denounced these messages as false and debunked doctored photographs.

Nevertheless, many students came out to the streets to protest the deaths. Several violent confrontations between protesters and police have ensued since.

Mobs allegedly associated with Bangladesh’s ruling party have also attacked demonstrators and journalists who were covering the attacks.

Emergency medical teams say they have treated more than 100 protesters who have been injured.

In an attempt to curb rapidly-spreading rumors, mobile internet speed was brought down to a minimum level (2G) shutting down 3G and 3G broadcasts.

Angered authorities
Alongside his social media coverage of the protests, Alam apparently angered the authorities and the ruling party after he gave a TV interview on Sunday evening with Al Jazeera where he talked about the recent situation in Bangladesh and criticised the government.

Expat blogger Rumi Ahmed posted a transcript of the interview on Facebook. Here is an excerpt:

I think what we need to do is to look at what has been happening in the streets today. The police specifically asked for help from these armed goons to combat unarmed students demanding safe roads.

I mean how ridiculous is that? Today, I was in the streets, there were people with machetes in their hands chasing unarmed students. And the police are standing by watching it happen.

In some cases, they were actually helping them…

According to the latest reports, the police have received a seven-day remand to question Shahidul Alam in connection with an ICT Act case filed on August 6, 2018. He was taken to the court barefoot and barely able to walk.

He appears to have been beaten while in custody.

Exiled journalist Tasneem Khalil tweeted:

The police have not yet mentioned why he was detained but referred to the case which accuses him under section 57 of the ICT Act of “abusing” an electronic platform in order to spread “lies” among the population and with the intent to “invalidate and question” the government on the international stage, damage law and order, spread “fear and terror”.

The provisions of Section 57 of Bangladesh’s notoriously broad 2013 Information and Communication Technology Act of Bangladesh have been used to slap hundreds of lawsuits against journalists and online activists to curb the freedom of speech online over the past few years.

Blogger and activist Vaskar Abedin writes on Facebook:


Amnesty International has released a statement which read:


Asia Pacific Report republishes this article with permission under a Creative Commons licence.

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Controversial ‘Confucius’ doco gets mixed response at NZ universities

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In The Name Of Confucius trailer for the 52-minute documentary.

A Chinese government-sponsored cultural and education programme offers Mandarin lessons around the world. But a new film raises questions about a darker side of the Confucius Institutes, reports Rahul Bhattarai of Asia Pacific Journalism.

Chinese-born Canadian film director Doris Liu has had her visa to China denied but has never faced a direct threat or interference from the Beijing government over her controversial documentary In the Name of Confucius screened in Auckland last month.

Her visa to China has been rejected because of her investigative work, she told Asia Pacific Report.

Her documentary criticises Chinese policy and political influence through the multibillion dollar Chinese government-supported Confucius Institute programmes attached to 1600 universities and schools across the globe.

READ MORE: In The Name of Confucius

Three universities in New Zealand have ties with CI – University of Auckland (UOA), Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Victoria University of Wellington.

-Partners-

AUT and Victoria University welcomed the screening of the documentary.

But the University of Auckland cancelled its public screening on the day of the event – just hours before the documentary was due to be screened.

“I had already been rejected for a Chinese visa to enter China because of my journalism before making this film,” film maker Liu said.

Recorded, threatened
However, she added that during her interviews in one of the Canadian institutes, the Confucius Institute director had video recorded her and threatened that she would report her back to Beijing.

“The director used her smartphone to film me conducting an interview with the school board representatives,” Liu said.

“She told me that she would report back to Hanban in Beijing about my media presence.”

Liu added that “the interview didn’t end happily as the school representatives stopped the interview and they all walked away.

“After that I couldn’t get access to any Canadian Confucius Institutes, except for a couple of telephone interviews.

“I could imagine that Hanban informed all its Chinese directors working at the Canadian Confucius Institute not to accept my interview requests.”

Suppressing teachings
While talking to Mack Smith of 95bFM, Dr Catherine Churchman of Victoria University said about the institute policy, “you have to teach Mandarin, you are not allowed teach Cantonese or Hokkien”, or any of the other Chinese languages and “you have to teach in the simplified Chinese characters set”.

Dr Churchman said the main reason the institutes did not allow the teaching of traditional Chinese was to “suppress people” from being able to read documents from Taiwan or Hong Kong, or many other overseas countries.

Until the 1980s, the Chinese diaspora, including in New Zealand, used traditional Chinese characters to publish their literature.

Liu said that many of the texts published in China, including the literature from the Chinese Communist Party and its foreign affairs, were only in traditional Chinese.

Suppressing the traditional Chinese was a form of “censorship that the Chinese Communist Party has over things written inside China”, she said.

“They [CI] have a lot of influence over the institute itself, they pay for half of it usually, and they pay quiet a lot of money,” she said.

Liu claimed that Victoria University received about “half a million” dollars in 2016.

Institute ‘controlled’
The Confucius Institute was controlled by Hanban, which was controlled by the Chinese Ministry of Education, she said.

While the ministry might not necessarily have had direct influence over the institute, it did provide rules about what was allowed to be taught in the institute.

A Chinese protest placard among several against the Confucius Institutes on display at the end of the Auckland film screening. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

After Auckland University cancelled the public film screening, an official statement by
Associate Professor Phillipa Malpas said: “The event was prematurely advertised as being open to the public before it had been approved and confirmed by my faculty.

“It was subsequently approved for screening to University of Auckland staff and students.”

AUT screened the documentary at a public event on July 26 with a packed auditorium, including an Asia Pacific Report journalist present.

However, Alison Sykora, head of communications in AUT, said the Chinese Vice-Consul-General spoke to the university before the screening of the movie. The Vice-Consul had been given an invitation but AUT had not yet received a reply.

Chinese soft power
The documentary shows how China has been using CI in order to influence foreign countries through soft-power initiatives.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former chief of the Asia Pacific Canadian Security Intelligence Service, says in the film: “CI were used to manipulate not only the academic world, where they were implanted, but to also emanate more influence outside of the campus as well.”

The documentary says that the CI is an “infiltration organisation” that was founded in 2004 by the Chinese government under the guise of teaching foreign students Chinese culture and language.

Institute teachers were also forced to sign a contract that they were not members of the banned and persecuted spiritual group Falun Gong.

Last November, the Chinese government pressured the Japanese government in an attempt to cancel an international conference due to the planned showing of the documentary, but in spite of the pressure the screening went ahead.

The film was shown in an international human rights conference in Tokyo, receiving a good response from the global audience.

In The Name of Confucius has been shown 57 times in 12 countries.

Film maker Doris Liu said that the movie had been well received, with review ratings of 8.7 out of 10 on Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and 4.8 out of 5 on Facebook.

Rahul Bhattarai is a student journalist on the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies (Journalism) reporting on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University.

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‘Don’t play with fire’ warning in Samoa’s social media threat

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Many Samoans are angry over a threat by the prime minister earlier this year to ban the social media platform Facebook amid growing pressure by politicians and officials across the Pacific against “fundamental freedoms”. Mike Mohr reports for Asia Pacific Journalism in the second of a two-part series on online media.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Maleilegaoi has warned  that the social media site Facebook may be banned, and has told users “not to play with fire”.

But the threat earlier this year has drawn mounting criticism from Samoans online.

Public opinion online is suggesting that the Samoan government is threatening people’s right to freedom of expression and their right to free speech.

The Samoa Alliance of Media Practitioner for Development (SAMPOD) opposes any possible ban.

“The right to free expression is fundamental to a democracy like Samoa,” says SAMPOD.

SAMPOD and others who are opposed to the possible ban have cited the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights for the right of the people of Samoa to express their opinions without fear of repercussion from the government.

-Partners-

The Facebook threat – first made in March – is in retaliation to online criticism and scrutiny of the Samoan PM and cabinet ministers by members of the public.

Discontent with officials
Facebook and other social media platforms are being used by members of the public to voice their opinions and discontent with Samoan government officials.

“So, I advise them not to play with fire. I want them to know that no matter where you hide, you will be caught,” he told the Samoa Observer in an interview attacking “faceless writers” on blogs.

The Prime Minister has rejected the opinions and views of online commentators. He has added that these individuals are offending government leaders with their accusations.

“Because it’s all based on lies, those affected are government leaders” he told the Observer.

Although the issue about the threatened ban has been quiet in past weeks, after a recent visit to London for a Commonwealth cybersecurity conference, he renewed his attack on anonymous bloggers.

However, Samoa Observer editor Mata’afa Keni Lesa asked in an editorial why was Tuilaepa so worried and why was he making himself “look like the biggest bully” on a crusade.

The editor said Tuilaepa was “thrilled to finally have learnt that it’s not just Samoa struggling with the issue of faceless writers”.

The prime minister had found that all 53 countries of the Commonwealth had been affected by social media problems ranging from “character assassinations” to many unfounded allegations.

Family insults
The threatened ban on Facebook would be not only for criticism for political decisions, but also for comments regarding family, allegations of corruption and personal insults that are aimed at cabinet members.

“The government will do what it takes to settle this matter once and for all, even if it means banning Facebook,” he told the Observer.

Tuilaepa’s concern is with online social media sites that provide a platform for personal attacks and accusations that he believes are unfounded, misleading and untrue.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa has insisted that these posts and comments had absolutely no truth in them.

Accusation of corruption and unethical relationships are the main reasons for Tuilaepa’s belief that eventually Facebook, and other social media platforms, will be banned.

Government officials are not the only targets of online posts but also their family members.

Alleged sexual relationships between family members is one of the accusation that has provoked feelings of anger by those who are accused of such acts.

He continued by adding that if any of the accusations aimed at government officials were true, they would have been published in the Observer.

The threatened ban would include blogs and other popular social sites and apps.

The Facebook ban is being delayed, according to the Samoa Observer, but it is just a matter of time before Facebook and other online social media sites would be banned.

Blogger identities
The identities of some of the anonymous bloggers are known to the Prime Minister and police investigators, according to an article by Samoa Observer.

O Le Palemia is an anonymous blogger that has been singled out for inflammatory accusations levelled against Prime Minister Tuilaepa and other government officials.

The identity of the O Le Palemia has not yet been uncovered, or has not yet been released publicly.

Tuilaepa has warned that if its behaviour continued, he would be forced to release the names of those that he believes are responsible.

O Le Palemia last month published an attack on some Samoan media, accusing them of publishing “government propaganda”.  The blog named Newsline Samoa, Talamua Media and Samoa Planet.

Website Samoa Planet, founded by Lani Wendt Young and Tuiloma Sina Retzlaff, closed down last month.

There was hesitation in revealing the identities of the online bloggers because of fears of physical attacks by those who the accusations and comments are aimed at or by relatives and supporters.

Tuilaepa is sure that once the identities are revealed the bloggers lives would be in danger because of the severity of the online posts that had provoked anger in government officials.

The Prime Minister is adamant that when information about the identities of the anonymous bloggers is released to the public, violence would ensue in the form of reprisal attacks.

O Le Palemia was shut down in February for breaching Facebook’s community standards, reported RNZ Pacific, but apparently resumed publication.

Police investigation
Tuilaepa said in June police had filed charges against the people suspected of being behind the O Le Palemia blog but he did not name them.

In its statement against the threatened ban, SAMPOD said: “We urge the government to use existing mechanisms to address issues arising from the misuse of Facebook, but humbly caution against the banning of this essential medium of information for the people of Samoa.”

Online comments by fellow Samoans refer to government leaders as “Snowflakes” – a slang term referring to individuals that are “hypersensitive to criticism”, according Wikipedia and Merriam-Webster online.

Mike Maatulimanu Mohr is a student journalist on the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies (Journalism) reporting on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University.

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PNG Facebook ban threat casts shadow over Pacific media freedom

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Papua New Guinea threatened to temporarily ban Facebook earlier this year. With the APEC conference looming in November, the question remains whether this was an attack on freedom of speech. Jessica Marshall of Asia-Pacific Journalism reports in a two-part series on the Pacific internet.

In March, it was revealed that the data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested millions of Facebook profiles.

The breach, thought to be one of Facebook’s biggest, reportedly used the data to influence both the United States 2016 presidential election and the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom.

In the aftermath, Facebook announced a commitment “to reducing the spread of false news on Facebook,” by removing false accounts and using independent third-party factcheckers to curb fake news on the site.

The effectiveness of this new policy remains to be seen.

The revelation of the Cambridge Analytica scandal lead to the Papua New Guinean government threat in May that it would ban the social network for a month in the country.

Communications Minister Sam Basil was reported by news media as saying the ban decision was an attempt to enforce the Cyber Crime Act 2016.

A horde of PNG “ban on Facebook” stories on Google, but stories on PNG’s subsequent back off in the proposal are hard to find. Image: PMC

“The Act has already been passed, so what I’m trying to do is to ensure the law is enforced accordingly… We cannot allow the abuse of Facebook to continue in the country.” Basil told the Post-Courier.

-Partners-

Difficult to track
According to The Guardian, Basil had raised concerns about the protection of the privacy of Papua New Guinea’s Facebook users. He had claimed that it was difficult to track those who had posted defamatory comments on Facebook using “ghost profiles”.

Basil later denied in the media that he had said he would ban Facebook, but the Post-Courier stood by its report which had sparked of the flurry of stories and speculation. So far no ban has actually taken place.

Papua New Guinea is not the only country to have banned the social media site. Facebook is already blocked in authoritarian countries like China, Iran and North Korea.

In March, Sri Lanka blocked the site along with Viber and WhatsApp for nine days, believing it to be the cause of hate speech and violence.

Facebook was also condemned for allowing hate speech to become prominent in Myanmar during the Rohingya crisis earlier in the year.

The platform, according to Reuters, was claimed to have played an important role in the spread of hate speech when Rohingya refugees were fleeing their homeland to Bangladesh.

Other countries have made attempts to combat trolling and fake news, New Zealand included.

In 2015, New Zealand made cyberbullying illegal in an attempt to curb teen suicide. The law, passed in tandem with an amendment to the Crimes Act 1961, was designed to ensure that cyberbullies would face up to two years’ imprisonment.

‘Fake news’ conviction
In April this year, the Malaysian courts convicted its first person under a new fake news law. The Danish citizen was charged after he posted a video claiming that police were not quick to act after receiving distress calls regarding the shooting of a Palestinian lecturer.

Questions regarding free speech have circulated since the Basil reportedly made the announcement.

Only 11 percent of the Papua New Guinean population have access to the internet. The site, for those with the ability to use it, has become a news source in a place where media freedom is increasingly threatened.

PNG “news” blogs have proliferated.

While Freedom House’s most recent report on press freedom says that the press in Papua New Guinea is free, the organisation is quick to note that this freedom has become worse over recent years.

Freedom of speech, information and the press are all guaranteed and inalienable rights in Papua New Guinean law due to Section 46 of the country’s constitution.

What has caused problems, however, for the press is political pressure and violence. Over the years, journalists have been “detained without charge, and their video footage was destroyed”.

Three female journalists were sexually assaulted in 2014, the report states.

Reporters Without Borders also reported police violence against journalists in 2016. It said in a media statement that one NBC journalist had been assaulted by three police officers until another officer intervened. Others had been attacked by a plainclothes officer.

Facebook as news source
In the era of fake news, social media plays a huge role in how the people get their news.
According to Pew Research, two-thirds of American adults got their news through social media in 2017.

A report by the ABC said “more Papua New Guineans have access to social media than ever”.

“Facebook is… being cited as an important hub for news, and the audience is larger than other news websites with 53 percent of weekly users reporting the use of online social media compared to the two main newspapers’ websites,” the report said.

Daniel Bastard, Asia-Pacific director of Reporters Without Borders, said that blocking Facebook “would deprive nearly a million internet users” from news and information.

“Instead of resorting to censorship, the Communications Minister should encourage online platforms to be more transparent and responsible about content regulation.”

There is still concern about the upcoming APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in Port Moresby in November and a possible Facebook ban’s impact.

Paul Barker, director of the Institute of National Affairs, told the Post-Courier “It would be a travesty if PNG sought to close down Facebook during the APEC month… as it would be both an attack on embracing technology, undermining the information era and mechanisms for accountability, but also damaging business and welfare.”

Jessica Marshall is an AUT student journalist on the postgraduate Asia Pacific Journalism course.

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ABC’s shortwave cutback ‘weakens thin link’ for Pacific, says PMC

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Australian broadcasting cutbacks “sorry loss to people and cultures” in the Pacific. Image: ABC Pacific Beat

By Leilani Sitagata of Pacific Media Watch

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s cutback in services to the Asia-Pacific region has “weakened the thin link” that many parts of the region have with the “outside world”, says the Pacific Media Centre.

In a public submission to the government review of broadcasting to the region, the PMC said that the situation had impelled Radio New Zealand to “stretch their resources to do more, to ‘make up’ for what has been removed”.

The ABC switched off shortwave services to the region in 2017.

READ MORE: China takes over Radio Australia frequencies

Calling for the ABC to restore services, the PMC said “Australian broadcasting from the South Pacific is a sorry loss to people and cultures – as we know them well from the accumulation of studies and from our own media production exercises at this centre”.

The PMC at Auckland University of Technology publishes the independent Asia Pacific Report, Pacific Media Watch freedom monitoring service, Pacific Journalism Review and other publications.

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AUT’s radio major coordinator in the School of Communication Studies, Dr Matt Mollgaard, stresses the importance of broadcasting services from countries such as Australia and New Zealand to the South Pacific.

“[Broadcasters] help to strengthen local media outlets in the Islands, further enhancing democratic developments in the region,” Dr Mollgaard said in his PJR research paper cited by the PMC submission.

Media freedom
He said broadcasting services like RNZ Pacific and Radio Australia were prime examples of upholding media freedom and encouraging democratic life.

The PMC submission was prepared by director Professor David Robie and centre research associate and PJR editorial board member Dr Lee Duffield.

Restoration of Radio Australia services and other ABC services that may be made accessible in the South Pacific region, would be “highly positive”, said the submission.

“It would be most widely welcomed in the island countries, valued, and made good use of as in the past, with assuredly benefits to the originating media service and to Australian interests.”

The review is looking at the reach of Australia’s media in the Asia-Pacific region and if shortwave radio has become an outdated technology.

The submission period closed last Friday and the review of Australian broadcasting services is currently underway.

Public submissions have been overwhelmingly in favour of restoration of services.

‘Tok Pisin broadcasts’
In one public submission published by Asia Pacific Report, development worker Elizabeth Cox, who has 40 years of experience of living and working in Papua New Guinea, appealed for the return of a “revitalised Radio Australia”.

“Bring back Radio Australia. Ensure it reaches all rural areas,” she said.

“Provide Tok Pisin broadcasts. This is one of the best forms of aid you can give PNG.”

“A revitalised Radio Australia will give the PNG and other international audiences a chance to shape content and direction – it can be linked to social media and inform and lift the quality of much of the local political conversation,” she said.

“The new Radio Australia should be a global friend and ally, not a coloniser or converter. It should encourage debate, conversation and support critical, independent and objective opinion.”

The Vanuatu Daily Post submission calling for restoration of services said broadcast communications were an essential projection of soft power.

“The lack of access to the eyes and ears—and therefore the hearts and minds—of Pacific islanders works to the detriment of Australian interests,” the newspaper said.

“It also works against the interest of Pacific nations.”

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Norwegian human rights activists call for action over Israeli ‘capture’ of ship

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Norwegian citizen Jan Petter Hammervold, 74, makes a ship-recorded plea before being seized by Israeli forces. He was ship’s cook on board Al Awda (The Return), is a board member of Ship to Gaza Norway and author of the book Fiskerne I Gaza (Gaza Fishers), about the 2018 Freedom Flotilla. New Zealander Mike Treen was also on board and detained. Video: Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Norway has asked Israel to “explain” its unlawful capture of the Norwegian-flagged ship Al Awda that last month tried to breach the Gaza Strip’s 10-year maritime blockade.

The international Freedom Flotilla was in a bid to deliver medical supplies to Palestinians in the coastal enclave.

“We have asked the Israeli authorities to clarify the circumstances around the seizure of the vessel and the legal basis for the intervention,” said a Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman.

READ MORE: Israel’s attack on the Gaza Flotilla – looking back a year later 

“While this is certainly far more than the New Zealand government’s response (which appears to be nothing at all, since Kiwi Mike Treen was bashed and arrested in the same attack), the Freedom Flotilla’s Norwegian campaign is demanding their government takes a stand,” said the NZ humanitarian group Kia Ora Gaza.

The Freedom Flotilla boat Al Awda, hijacked by Israeli forces while carrying humanitarian and medical supplies to the besieged enclave of Gaza Strip. Image: Freedom Flotilla Coalition

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The full statement from the Ship to Gaza Norway human rights group yesterday said:

“When will Norway protest against hijacking and extensive violence against people on board?

“On July 29, the Norwegian former fishing vessel Kårstein [renamed Al Awda] was hijacked in international waters, with extensive violence by Israeli navy soldiers.

“For more than a week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ follow-up of the case has limited itself to asking Israeli authorities to ‘clarify the course of events’ and say why they ‘encroached on the vessel’.

“No indication of protest.

“Now Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide has continued this game. After talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu she said that ‘we asked the Israeli authorities for an explanation of why the ship was captured, the course of events and the use of power’.

“Still no indication of protest.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ gathering of facts in the case limits itself to the embassy personnel’s talks with five Norwegian citizens in Israeli prison the day after the hijacking. After they were deported and able to speak freely, they have not been contacted by the MFA.

“There were people from 16 nations on board. Their version has not been obtained. The ship’s highly recognised doctor, who delivered a shocking report on Saturday, has not been contacted.

No legal basis for hijacking, violence
“However, in the talks with the five Norwegian citizens in prison, there were revealed more than enough [grounds] to justify a strong protest. The MFA knows that our action was non-violence based and that the ship had a load of desperately needed medical equipment.

“Independent of possible differences in view on international law, there is of course no legal basis for hijacking a ship in international waters by knocking out peaceful, non-violent people and using heavy violence against them.

“Nor is there any legal basis for stealing everything of valuables and clothing. From Mikkel Grüner, a member of Bergen City Council, the soldiers stole everything except for the ship’s Norwegian flag, which they had trampled on.

“The Foreign Minister obviously does not know that the soldiers have taken all the belongings of the people on board.

Lies and nonsense
“Israel has always lied about how they use military power. Every time they say that the operation has been done without violence, but we have documented through video footage that it is a lie.

“This time, violence was worse than ever [since the Israeli commando attack that killed 10 civilians on the Mavi Marmara-led flotilla in 2010] and Israel’s ambassador continues with the same nonsense.

“What Israel does in this case is of course just a pale shadow of what they do to the Palestinians, including daily attacks on the fishermen in Gaza. A pleasant chat with those responsible for violence, terror and mass murder will lead to nothing except for the game to continue.

“Since governments do nothing that may stop this, people with conscience and knowledge must do something. That is why we sailed to Gaza.

“The result is international effects that show that it is ordinary people’s action, pressure and protest that can eventually produce results.”

Asia Pacific Report has a content sharing arrangement with Kia Ora Gaza.

The “captive” ship Al Awda in the southern Israeli port of Ashdod. Image: Times of Israel
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PNG facelifts for APEC but neglects gender-based violence

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The Papua New Guinean government has been working tirelessly to clean up its capital city in preparation for APEC, instead of attending to serious issues such as gender-based violence. Pauline Mago-King of Asia-Pacific Journalism reports on the challenge.

With just three months to go until the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit in November, the Papua New Guinean government has been buckling down to preparations.

The capital of Port Moresby is going through a series of facelifts ranging from continual road upgrades to clean up campaigns.

While these infrastructure developments are needed, they cannot conceal the social issues currently plaguing Papua New Guineans.

One serious issue is the alarming rate at which violence, more specifically gender-based violence, continues to intensify in Papua New Guinea.

According to the World Health Organisation, two out of three PNG women have experienced violence from an intimate partner.

Where intimate partners are not the perpetrators of violence, Papua New Guinean women are vulnerable to violence particularly in their mobility within communities.

-Partners-

In October 2017, a woman was almost burned to death by a mob who had accused her of practising sorcery.

Rescued from mob
The woman who was later identified as “Elizabeth” from Eastern Highlands was rescued by police officers and taken to a hospital before the mob could do anything else to her.

Stories like that of Elizabeth reiterate that PNG women are more vulnerable than ever and violence is near impossible to escape.

The shows that violence permeates all levels of Papua New Guinean society and a wakeup call is needed for the government to act quickly.

Critics say the level of attention that is being devoted to the APEC leaders summit should also be applied to combatting gender-based violence.

PNG cannot reach development and prosperity until violence against women is dealt with, argued Australian journalist Jo Chandler in a 2014 analysis.

At present, the response to gender-based violence has centred on implementing a 2016 – 2025 National Gender-Based Violence strategy which was officially launched in 2017.

The strategy is intended to be a guide for the PNG government to facilitate the implementation of the legislation, policies and programmes needed to eliminate gender-based violence.

Family protection law
The government has also passed family protection legislation in 2014 to criminalise domestic violence and give more power to protection orders for survivors.

These achievements are a win for gender-based violence survivors as sectorial committees such as the Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee (FSVAC) will be more equipped to support them and their needs.

FSVAC national coordinator Marcia Kalinoe said the National Gender-Based Violence Strategy “consolidates the current work that is ongoing”.

“Fourteen years ago, there was not much sensitisation and gender mainstreaming and specialised services addressing the issue,” she said.

Kailonoe added that the various legislative changes and multisectoral response would be of great assistance to survivors for accessing support services.

Despite the PNG government’s current milestones and the support of partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and donors, PNG is ranked as 140 out of 146 countries in the Gender Inequality Index.

The journey to raise more awareness on gender-based violence has not been an easy feat due to “socially and culturally constructed norms”, as outlined by the UNDP.

Constant challenges
In Durrie Bouscaren’s interview with a UNDP-trained “human rights defender” Linda Tule in June, these social and cultural constructs of unequal power relations were highlighted.

Tule talked about how she had counselled three women a week in spite of operating out of her home and on a limited budget.

She even hosts these women if a safehouse has reached its full capacity.

This is the current scenario for survivors of gender-based violence in PNG.

People like Enid Barlong Kantha, who has worked in the gender-based violence field for more than 10 years, knows the ebbs and flows first-hand.

She says that “challenges remain a constant part of the battle” despite the country’s achievements.

“Even with political will, there is still a lack of resources; human resource, financial support and infrastructure. Where there are services, a lack of capacity hinders progress and continues to frustrate many.”

She adds that the lack of coordination among stakeholders and lack of statistics deter better cooperation and collaboration in the national response to gender-based violence.

Stepping into the future
Advocates recognise that ending gender-based violence in PNG, or anywhere else in the world, cannot be done overnight.

The journey will be long and change will be incremental.

Yet, there are corrective measures that can be taken particularly by the PNG government.

For one thing, more emphasis can be placed on decentralising services to not only the outer provinces but also areas that are rural, say advocates.

This compulsive need to upgrade Port Moresby for the world’s eyes has to stop as it is failing the majority of Papua New Guineans and exacerbating unequal gender and power relations.

There is only so much advocacy and awareness that can be funnelled into eliminating gender-based violence.

Services coupled with awareness, however, can eliminate some of the social and cultural constructs at play in PNG.

As Papua New Guinean journalist Scott Waide has said, “superstition thrives where service delivery is poor”.

Pauline Mago-King is a Papua New Guinean postgraduate student at Auckland University of Technology where she is pursuing a Masters in Communication Studies. As part of her studies, she is researching gender-based violence. She is on AUT’s Asia-Pacific Journalism Studies course.

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NZ Pacific journalists ‘appalled’ by Nauru ban on ABC at Forum

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The ABC has a reputation for vigorous reporting of Pacific issues, including human rights violations at the Australian-established Nauru detention centre for asylum seekers. Maxine Jacobs files on Nauru’s ABC ban for Asia-Pacific Report.

Nauru’s controversial ban on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from attending the main annual Pacific political summit next month has appalled New Zealand journalists but they have stopped short of wanting to join a threatened boycott.

Host nation Nauru has restricted media access and banned the ABC from attending the 49th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Summit on September 3-6 due to alleged “biased and false reporting”.

Only seven accredited New Zealand journalists will be allowed to attend the summit.

READ MORE: Nauru’s ban on ABC splits commercial media

The chair of the NZ Parliamentary Press Gallery, Stacey Kirk, says she shares the concern of Australia’s Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery – which has threatened a boycott – and is appalled by Nauru’s efforts to control the media by banning and restricting the number of reporters.

NZ Press Gallery’s Stacey Kirk … “appalled by this attempt to control the media coverage”. Image: SK Twitter

Kirk told Asia Pacific Report “while infrastructure constraints play a role in the limited pooling numbers, we are appalled by this attempt to control the media coverage.

-Partners-

“To ban media based on unfavourable coverage is a clear violation of freedom of expression. This decision already follows restrictive reporting conditions, limiting the number of journalists who can attend this important regional summit.”

Shocked and furious
Claire Trevett, deputy political editor of the New Zealand Herald, says she is shocked and furious that only seven representatives from New Zealand would be allowed to attend and cover the summit.

She says that although there is limited accommodation in the island nation, the Nauruan authorities have the capacity to house more journalists then they intend to.

“Nauru has claimed the reason is limited space/accommodation there, but Niue – which is smaller – managed to host it without such strenuous limits in 2007, and Nauru itself has hosted it in the past without the limits.”

The Republic of Nauru said in this policy statement on its official website:

“No representative from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will be granted a visa to enter Nauru under any circumstances, due to this organisation’s blatant interference on Nauru’s domestic politics… harassment and lack of respect towards our President in Australia, false and defamatory allegations against members of our Government, and continued biased and false reporting about our country.”

The government has also said that limited accommodation has forced restrictions on the number of other reporters from covering the event, adding that “there has been no other restrictions placed on media attendance for any other reason”.

Australia’s Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery president David Crowe issued a response to the ban, saying the decision was appalling and threatened a media boycott from all Australian media from the event.

If the ABC could not go, the media pool should not go.

‘Dangerous precedent’
Crowe says a pool group of journalists who cover federal parliament had been set up to report on the summit which met restrictions previously set out by Nauru, but picking and choosing which journalists could cover the forum was going too far.

“If the ban is not reversed, the media pool will be disbanded. If one cannot go, none will go. It sets a dangerous precedent. What other Australian media might be banned from a similar group by another government in the future?

“We stand for a free press, not a banned one.”

ABC has declared it “does not intend to vacate” its place in Australia’s pool of journalists’ reporting on the summit.

Nauru has defied criticism and stood by its ban on the ABC, reminding journalists it was a privilege to enter Nauru and the country had the right to refuse entry to anyone entering whom they believed may pose a threat to their security.

“It is arrogant, disrespectful and a further example of the sense of entitlement shown by this activist media organisation. The Australian media does not decide who enters Nauru,” the government said.

Nauru said any restrictions placed on journalists other than ABC were due to limited accommodation, that all footage would be provided for media unable to attend and at least one Australian television media outlet would be invited to cover the summit.

Controlling the narrative
Host of RNZ’s Dateline Pacific programme Don Wiseman says it is clear Nauru is trying to control the narrative.

Wiseman says the journalists who get to Nauru are likely be stopped from reporting on any activities outside of the summit due to the severe restrictions.

However, rather than a boycott, any reporting is better than none, he says.

“It’s a good moral decision, but the other part is that it’s better to be there and to report on all the various and nefarious things going on in Nauru if you can.

“Nauru is a small place. It doesn’t have much accommodation, but it has more than it used to have. They’ve just chosen not to because they’re anti-media.”

Wiseman says the Australian government has been unwilling to criticise Nauru’s treatment of journalists, saying it is “compromised” because of its heavily criticised detention camps on Nauru.

“If no one speaks out it will become a battle between the guys running the show and some journalists, and if the Australian government doesn’t speak out, which it hasn’t done, it’s essentially been supportive of what Nauru’s done in the way in which it’s treated journalists.

“The reality is the boycott will go ahead. A number of people have been told they have visas, but if there are restrictions I would imagine it will be a universal say no.”

The Australian Federal press gallery is yet to confirm a boycott, but commentators say it is unlikely the Nauru government will reverse its ban on the ABC.

Maxine Jacobs is a postgraduate student journalist on the Asia Pacific Journalism Studies course at AUT University.

The Nauruan ban on the ABC. Source: Nauru Govt
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Tourists flee Lombok as Indonesian quake death toll hits 98

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Rescuers are still struggling to get to parts of Lombok island to assess the full extent of the damage from the earthquake. Video: Al Jazeera

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Tourists have been fleeing the Indonesian island of Lombok since yesterday after a magnitude-6.9 earthquake killed at least 98 people – a death toll expected to rise, reports Al Jazeera.

More than 200 people were seriously injured in Sunday’s shallow quake as rescue workers scrambled to reach survivors in remote areas.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the damage was “massive” in northern Lombok. In several districts, more than half of homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

READ MORE: What you need to know about the Lombok earthquake

Al Jazeera reports Nugroho saying the death toll will “definitely increase”, adding more than 20,000 people had been displaced.

-Partners-

Thousands of buildings collapsed, especially in the north, near the earthquake’s epicentre, and power and communications were down in some areas on the popular tourist island.

A tsunami alert was issued immediately after the quake struck, sending panicked people running to higher ground, but it was later rescinded, Al Jazeera reports.

“When it happened, we stood with residents in the middle of the street and watched houses collapse around us,” said Yustrianda Sirio, who was visiting the island.

‘Screamed hysterically’
“Many of us screamed hysterically.”

Some airlines have added extra flights to help tourists leave the island, while about 1200 foreign and domestic tourists were evacuated by boat from three Gili islands off Lombok’s northwest coast, said Nugroho.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Tanjung in northern Lombok (see video), said: “The destruction here is unbelievable.

“After there was a tsunami alert yesterday, a lot of [tourists] panicked; they climbed into trees, they ran into the hills, a lot of people got injured there,” she said.

“There’s no arrangement, there’s no transport, there’s no food, there’s no water for them, so a lot of them are completely lost, they’re completely confused, still scared and the only thing they’re telling me is that they want to leave the country as soon as possible.”

The Indonesian military said it was sending a vessel with medical aid and supplies and would provide logistical support.

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PMC Seminar: Okinawa’s media response to US military presence

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Event date and time: 

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 – 16:30 – 18:00

OKINAWA MEDIA AND THE MILITARY
The US military presence in Okinawa has been at the center of Okinawa’s politics, its relations with the central government in Tokyo and the US-Japan relations since 1945. The US bases and facilities occupy 20 percent of the island of Okinawa, accounting for 71 percent of the total US military presence in Japan. This has contributed to a strong local pacific movement supported by Okinawa’s local media which have kept a critical coverage against the Japanese government and the US bases. Amid reoccurring incidents involving US military personnel, accidents and the most recent developments around the relocation of Futenma Base, there are complaints about oppression of freedom of expression, limited public access to information and mainland Japanese media’s bias towards Okinawa. The two local newspapers, Ryukyu Shimpo and The Okinawa Times, have made it their mission to address these issues that are rarely covered in mainstream Japanese media. Dr Evangelia Papoutsaki will talk about the strong anti-base editorial stance of the Okinawan newspapers while providing a wider historical and current context of their reporting.

Who:  Dr Evangelia Papoutsaki
Associate Professor
Communication Studies, Unitec Institute of Technology
Auckland, New Zealand

When: Wednesday, 19 September 2018, 4.30-6pm 

Where: WG703 , Sir Paul Reeves Building, Auckland University of Technology
City Campus 

Contact: Sylvia.Frain@aut.ac.nz

PMC Facebook event

Map

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>

Indonesian officials ruin Australian researcher’s honeymoon over Papua

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Doctoral researcher Belinda Lopez …. interest in community storytelling. Image: FB

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

An Australian doctoral researcher whose honeymoon plans in Indonesia included a cultural festival in the insecure Papua region has been deported after Indonesian officials accused her of being a journalist, a news agency reports.

Belinda Lopez, a fluent Bahasa speaker, is back in Australia with a week left of her holiday but her plans ruined.

Her husband had already been barred from boarding the flight to Bali because his Dutch passport had less than six months validity. She was forced to fly alone.

READ MORE: Amnesty International report on West Papua

Lopez told the Jakarta correspondent of the US-based  Associated Press agency she had been detained on arrival in Bali on Friday and had been told she would be deported on a 10pm flight on Saturday.

She told of her ordeal at the weekend on social media, saying immigration officials wanted to know if she was a journalist and repeatedly asked her if she had “done something bad to Indonesia.”

Saturday’s Asia Pacific Report.

-Partners-

Almost a decade ago she was a subeditor for English-language newspapers in Jakarta and had produced podcasts for Australia’s state broadcaster ABC Radio National This Is About programme.

As a former journalist she was described on a website as having won awards as a producer for Radio Netherlands Worldwide in 2012 and 2013.

‘Emerging creators’
“As an educator and producer, she has worked with several not-for-profit organisations, encouraging emerging creators and local communities to tell their own stories,” the website said.

She is currently a PhD student at Sydney’s Macquarie University, researching the cultural experiences of migrants to Java, Indonesia’s most populous island.

Being deported is “devastating,” Lopez told AP.

“It’s the first place I moved to as an adult, have visited so many times since, to learn the language and to visit people who have become some of my best friends in the world,” she said in a WhatsApp message.

Her holiday plans included the Baliem festival in the Melanesian region of Papua that Indonesia strictly controls, including restricting foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers from visiting.

A pro-independence insurgency has continued in the Melanesian region since it was annexed by Indonesia in the early 1960s.

Indonesia’s police and military are frequently accused of human rights abuses in Papua, reports AP.

Unlawful killings
A recent Amnesty International report documented 95 unlawful killings by security forces in Papua since 2008.

Lopez told AP she had been refused a visa renewal two years ago in Papua because officials suspected she was a journalist. At that time they said she could not re-enter Indonesia for six months, according to Lopez.

The head of the Immigration Office at Ngurah Rai airport in Bali, Amran Aris, said Indonesia’s military had added Lopez to a government blacklist as a “covert journalist”.

He said he couldn’t give other details because it was a state secret.

“We only carry out the duties as her name is listed on the government’s blacklist, so we have to refuse her entry,” said Aris.

The Pacific Media Centre’s director Professor David Robie described the treatment given Lopez as “shameful”.

He said it was high time Indonesian authorities dropped its “paranoid” and “secretive” policy and allowed an open door with journalists and researchers freely visiting the two provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Dr Robie is convenor of the Pacific Media Watch freedom project.

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Dr Swee Ang: We can’t accept this – speak up against Israeli brutality

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Dr Swee Ang’s “SOS” call broadcast from the Al Awda as the boat was being hijacked in international waters last week. (Poor quality audio – click on the “subtitles” icon). Video: Freedom Flotilla Coalition

Dr Swee Ang, doctor on board Al Awda, reports on the events from July 29 when Israeli navy commandos stormed the Freedom Flotilla boat Al Awda, hijacked and diverted it from its intended course to break the Gaza blockade, and forced her to go to Israel.

The last leg of the journey of Al Awda (The Return) was scheduled to reach Gaza on 29 July 2018. We were on target to reach Gaza that evening.

There were 22 people on board, including crew, with US$15,000 of antibiotics and bandages for Gaza.

At 12.31 pm we received a missed call from a number beginning with +81… Mikkel was steering the boat at that time. The phone rang again with the message that we were “trespassing into Israeli waters”.

Mikkel replied that we were in international waters and had right of innocent passage according to maritime laws. The accusation of trespassing was repeated again and again with Mikkel repeating the message that we were sailing in international waters.

This carried on for about half an hour, while Al Awda was 42 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza.

-Partners-

Prior to the beginning of this last leg, we had spent 2 days learning non-violent actions and had prepared ourselves in anticipation of Israeli invasion of our boat. Vulnerable individuals especially those with medical conditions were to sit at the rear of the top deck with their hands on the deck table.

The leader of this group was Gerd, a 75-year-old elite Norwegian athlete and she had the help of Lucia a Spanish nurse in her group.

Non-violent barrier
The people who were to provide non-violent barrier to the Israelis coming on deck and taking over the boat formed 3 rows – two rows of threes and the third row of 2 persons blocking the wheelhouse door to protect the wheelhouse for as long as possible.

There were runners between the wheelhouse and the rear of the deck. The leader of the boat, Zohar and I, were at the two ends of the toilets corridor where we looked out at the horizon and inform all of any sightings of armed boats. I laughed at Zohar and said we are the “Toilet Brigade”, but I think Zohar did not find it very funny.

It was probably bad taste under the circumstances. I also would be able to help as a runner and will have accessibility to all parts of the deck in view of being the doctor on board.

Soon we saw at least three large Israeli warships on the horizon with 5 or more speed boats (Zodiacs) zooming towards us. As the Zodiacs approached I saw that they carried soldiers with machine guns and there was on board the boats large machine guns mounted on a stand pointing at our boat.

From my lookout point the first Israeli soldier climbed on board to the cabin level and climbed up the boat ladder to the top deck. His face was masked with a white cloth and following him were many others, all masked. They were all armed with machine guns and small cameras on their chests.

They immediately made to the wheelhouse overcoming the first row by twisting the arms of the participants, lifting Sarah up and throwing her away. Joergen the chef was large to be manhandled so he was tasered before being lifted up.

They attacked the second row by picking on Emelia the Spanish nurse and removed her thus breaking the line. They then approach the door of the wheel house and tasered Charlie, the first mate, and [New Zealand’s Unite union leader] Mike Treen who were obstructing their entry to the wheel house.

Unite union leader Mike Treen speaking to media at Auckland International Airport last week after being deported by Israel. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

Mike bleeding
Charlie was beaten up as well. Mike did not give way with being tasered in his lower limbs so he was tasered in his neck and face. Later on I saw bleeding on the left side of Mike’s face. He was semi-conscious when I examined him.

They broke into the wheelhouse by cutting the lock, forced the engine to be switched off and took down the Palestine flag before taking down the Norwegian flag and trampling on it.

They then cleared all people from the front half of the boat around the wheel house and moved them by force and coercion, throwing them to the rear of the deck. All were forced to sit on the floor at the back, except Gerd, Lucy and the vulnerable people who were seated around the table on wooden benches around her.

Israeli soldiers then formed a line sealing off people from the back and preventing them from coming to the front of the boat again.

As we entered the back of the deck we were all body searched and ordered to surrender our mobile phones or else they would take it by force. This part of search and confiscation was under the command of a woman soldier.

Apart from mobile phones – medicines and wallets were also removed. No one as of today (4 August 2018) got our mobile phones back.

I went to examine Mike and Charlie. Charlie had recovered consciousness and his wrists were tied together with plastic cable ties. Mike was bleeding from the side of his face, still not fully conscious. His hands were very tightly tied together with cable ties and the circulation to his fingers was cut off and his fingers and palm were beginning to swell.

At this stage the entire people seated on the floor shouted demanding that the cable ties be cut. It was about half an hour later before the ties were finally cut off from both of them.

Trampled flag
Around this time Charlie, the first mate, received the Norwegian flag. He was visibly upset telling all of us that the Norwegian flag had been trampled on. Charlie reacted more to the trampling of the Norwegian flag than to his own being beaten and tasered.

The soldiers then started asking for the captain of the boat. The boys then started to reply that they were all the captain. Eventually the Israelis figured out that Herman was the captain and demanded to take him to the wheelhouse. Herman asked for someone to come with him, and I offered to do so.

But as we approached the wheelhouse, I was pushed away and Herman forced into the wheelhouse on his own. Divina, the well known Swedish singer, had meanwhile broken free from the back and went to the front to look through the window of the wheel house.

She started to shout and cry, “Stop – stop they are beating Herman, they are hurting him.”

We could not see what Divina saw, but knew that it was something very disturbing. Later on, when Divina and I were sharing a prison cell, she told me they were throwing Herman against the wall of the wheel house and punching his chest. Divina was forcibly removed and her neck was twisted by the soldiers who took her back to the rear of the deck.

I was pushed back to the rear of the boat again. After a while the boat engine started. I was told later by Gerd who was able to hear Herman tell the story to the Norwegian Consul in prison that the Israelis wanted Herman to start the engine, and threatened to kill him if he would not do so.

But what they did not understand was that with this boat, once the engine stopped it can only be restarted manually in the engine room in the cabin level below.

Arne, the engineer, refused to restart the engine, so the Israelis brought Herman down and hit him in front of Arne making it clear that they will continue to hit Herman if Arne would not start the engine.

Engineer aged 70
Arne is 70 years old, and when he saw Herman’s face went ash colour, he gave in and started the engine manually. Gerd broke into tears when she was narrating this part of the story.

The Israelis then took charge of the boat and drove it to Ashdod.

Once the boat was on course, the Israeli soldiers brought Herman to the medical desk. I looked at Herman and saw that he was in great pain, silent but conscious, breathing spontaneously but shallow breathing.

The Israeli Army doctor was trying to persuade Herman to take some medicine for pain. Herman was refusing the medicine.

The Israeli doctor explained to me that what he was offering Herman was not army medicine but his personal medicine. He gave me the medicine from his hand so that I could check it. It was a small brown glass bottle and I figured that it was some kind of liquid morphine preparation probably the equivalent of oromorph or fentanyl.

I asked Herman to take it and the doctor asked him to take 12 drops after which Herman was carried off and slumped on a mattress at the back of the deck. He was watched over by people around him and fell asleep. From my station I saw he was breathing better.

With Herman settled I concentrated on Larry Commodore, the Native American leader and an environmental activist. He had been voted chief of his tribe twice. Larry has labile asthma and with the stress all around my fear was that he might get a nasty attack, and needed adrenaline injection.

Deep breathing
I was taking Larry through deep breathing exercises. However Larry was not heading for an asthmatic attack, but was engaging an Israeli who covered his face with a black cloth in conversation.

This man was obviously in charge.

I asked for the Israeli man with black mask his name and he called himself Field Marshal Ro…..Larry misheard him and jumped to conclusion that he called himself Field Marshal Rommel and shouted how can he an Israeli take a Nazi name.

“Field Marshal” objected and introduced himself as Field Marshal? Ronan. As I spelt out Ronan he quickly corrected me that his name is Ronen, and he, Field Marshal Ronen, was in charge.

The Israeli soldiers all wore body cameras and were filming us all the time. A box of sandwiches and pears were brought on deck for us. None of us took any of their food as we had decided we do not accept Israeli hypocrisy and charity.

Our chef Joergen had already prepared high calorie high protein delicious brownie with nuts and chocolate, wrapped up in tin foil to be consumed when captured, as we knew it was going to be a long day and night.

Joergen called it food for the journey. Unfortunately when I needed it most, the Israelis took away my food and threw it away. They just told me ”It is forbidden”. I had nothing to eat for 24 hours, refusing Israeli Army food and had no food of my own.

Total darkness
As we sailed towards Israel we could see the coast of Gaza in total darkness. There were 3 oil /gas rigs in the northern sea of Gaza. The brightly burning oil flames contrasted with the total darkness the owners of the fuel were forced to live in.

Just off the shore of Gaza are the largest deposit of natural gas ever discovered and the natural gas belonging to the Palestinians is already being siphoned off by Israel.

As we approached Israel, Zohar our boat leader suggested that we should start saying goodbye to each other. We were probably 2-3 hours from Ashdod. We thanked our boat leader, our captain, the crew, our dear chef, and encouraged each other that we will continue to do all we can to free Gaza and also bring justice to Palestine.

Herman, our captain, who managed to sit up now, gave a most moving talk and some of us were in tears.

We knew that in Ashdod there would be the Israeli media and film crews. We would not enter Ashdod as a people who had lost hope as we were taken captive. So we came off the boat chanting “Free Free Palestine” all the way as we came off.

Mike Treen, the union man, had by then recovered from his heavy tasering and led the chanting with his mega-voice and we filled the night sky of Israel with “Free Free Palestine” as we approached. We did this the whole way down the boat into Ashdod.

We came directly into a closed military zone in Ashdod. It was a sealed off area with many stations. It was specially prepared for the 22 of us. It began with a security x-ray area.

Money belt stolen
I did not realise they retained my money belt as I came out of the x-ray station. The next station was strip search, and it was when I was gathering up my belongings after being stripped when I realised my money belt was no longer with me.

I knew I had about a couple hundred euros and they were trying to steal it. I demanded its return and refused to leave the station until it was produced. I was shouting for the first time.

I was glad I did that as some other people were parted from their cash. The journalist from Al Jazeera, Abdul, had all his credit cards and US1800 taken from him, as well as his watch, satellite phone, his personal mobile, his ID. He thought his possessions were kept with his passport but when he was released for deportation he learnt bitterly that he only got his passport back.

All cash and valuables were never found. They simply vanished.

We were passed from station to station in this closed military zone, stripped searched several times, possessions taken away until in the end all we had was the clothes we were wearing with nothing else except a wrist band with a number on it. All shoe laces were removed as well.

Some of us were given receipts for items taken away, but I had no receipts for anything. We were photographed several times and saw two doctors. At this point I learnt that Larry was pushed down the gangway and injured his foot and sent off to Israeli hospital for check-up. His blood was on the floor.

I was cold and hungry, wearing only one teeshirt and pants by the time they were through with me. My food was taken away; water was taken away, all belongings including reading glasses taken away.

Toilet not allowed
My bladder was about to explode but I am not allowed to go to the toilet. In this state I was brought out to two vehicles – Black Maria painted gray. On the ground next to it were a great heap of ruqsacks and suit cases.

I found mine and was horrified that they had broken into my baggage and took almost everything from it – all clothes clean and dirty, my camera, my second mobile, my books, my Bible, all the medicines I brought for the participants and myself, my toiletries. The suitcase was partially broken.

My ruqsack was completely empty too. I got back two empty cases except for two dirty large man size teeshirts which obviously belonged to someone else. They also left my Freedom Flotilla teeshirt.

I figured out that they did not steal the Flotilla teeshirt as they thought no Israeli would want to wear that teeshirt in Israel. They had not met Zohar and Yonatan who were proudly wearing theirs.

That was a shock as I was not expecting the Israeli Army to be petty thieves as well. So what had become of the glorious Israeli Army of the Six Day War which the world so admired?

I was still not allowed to go to the toilet, but was pushed into the Maria van, joined by Lucia, the Spanish nurse, and after some wait taken to Givon Prison. I could feel myself shivering uncontrollably on the journey.

The first thing our guards did in Givon Prison was to order me to go to the toilet to relieve myself. It was interesting to see that they knew I needed to go desperately but had prevented me for hours to! By the time we were re-x-rayed and searched again it must have been about 5 – 6 am.

Rusty and dusty
Lucia and I were then put in a cell where Gerd, Divina, Sarah and Emelia were already asleep. There were three double decker bunk beds – all rusty and dusty.

Divina did not get the proper dose of her medicines; Lucia was refused her own medicine and given an Israeli substitute which she refused to take. Divina and Emelia went straight on to hunger strike.

The jailors were very hostile using simple things like refusal of toilet paper and constant slamming of the prison iron door, keeping the light of the cell permanently on, and forcing us to drink rusty water from the tap, screaming and shouting at us constantly to vent their anger at us.

The guards addressed me as “China” and treated me with utter contempt. On the morning of 30 July 2018, the British Vice-Consul visited me. Some kind person had called them about my whereabouts. That was a blessing as after that I was called “England” and there was a massive improvement in the way England was treated compared to the way China was treated.

It crossed my mind that “Palestine” would be trampled over, and probably killed.

At 6.30am, 31 July 2018, we heard Larry yelling from the men’s cell across the corridor that he needed a doctor. He was obviously in great pain and crying. We women responded by asking the wardens to allow me to go across to see Larry as I might be able to help.

We shouted “We have a doctor” and used our metal spoons to hit the iron cell gate get their attention. They lied and said their doctor would be over in an hour. We did not believe them and started again. The doctor actually turned up at 4 pm, about 10 hours later and Larry was sent straight to hospital.

Women punished
Meanwhile to punish the women for supporting Larry’s demand, they brought hand cuffs for Sarah and took Divina and me to another cell to separate us from the rest. We were told we were not going to be allowed out for our 30 minutes fresh air break and a drink of clean water in the yard. I heard Gerd saying “Big deal”.

Suddenly Divina was taken out with me to the courtyard and Divina given 4 cigarettes at which point she broke down and cried. Divina had worked long hours at the wheelhouse steering the boat. She had seen what happened to Herman.

The prison had refused to give her one of her medicines and given her only half the dose of the other. She was still on hunger strike to protest our kidnapping in international waters. It was heartbreaking to see Divina cry. One of the wardens, who called himself Michael, started talking to us about how he will have to protect his family against those who want to drive the Israelis out.

And how the Palestinians did not want to live in peace…and it was not Israel’s fault. But things suddenly changed with the arrival of an Israeli judge and we were all treated with some decency even though he only saw a few of us personally. His job was to tell us that a Tribunal will be convened the following day and each prisoner had been allocated a time to appear, and we must have our lawyer with us when we appear.

Divina by the end of the day became very giddy and very unwell so I persuaded her to come out of hunger strike, and also she agreed to sign a deportation order. Shortly after that possibly at 6 pm since we had no watches and mobile phones, we were told Lucia, Joergen, Herman, Arne, Abdul from Al Jazeera and I would be deported within 24 hours and we would be taken to be imprisoned in the deportation prison in Ramle near Ben Gurion airport immediately to wait there.

It was going to be the same Ramle Prison from which I was deported in 2014. I saw the same five strong old palm trees still standing up proud and tall. They are the only survivors of the Palestinian village destroyed in 1948.

When we arrived at Ramle prison Abdul found to his horror that he his money, his credit cards, his watch, his satellite phone, his own mobile phone, his ID card were all missing – he was entirely destitute.

We had a whip round and raised around 100 euros as a contribution towards his taxi fare from the airport to home. How can the Israeli Army be so corrupt and heartless to rob someone of everything?

Shocking behaviour
We, the six women on board al-Awda had learnt that they tried to completely humiliate and dehumanise us in every way possible. We were also shocked at the behaviour of the Israeli Army, especially petty theft and their treatment of international women prisoners. Men jailors regularly entered the women’s cell without giving us decent notice to put our clothes on.

They also tried to remind us of our vulnerability at every stage. We know they would have preferred to kill us but of course the publicity incurred in so doing might be unfavourable to the international image of Israel.

If we were Palestinians it would be much worse with physical assaults and probably loss of lives. The situation is therefore dire for the Palestinians.

As to international waters, it looks as though there is no such thing for the Israeli Navy. They can hijack and abduct boats and persons in international water and get away with it. They acted as though they own the Mediterranean Sea.

They can abduct any boat and kidnap any passengers, put them in prison and criminalise them.

We cannot accept this. We have to speak up, stand up against this lawlessness, oppression and brutality. We were completely unarmed.

Our only crime according to them is we are friends of the Palestinians and wanted to bring medical aid to them. We wanted to brave the military blockade to do this.

This is not a crime.

Palestinian toll
In the week we were sailing to Gaza, they had shot dead 7 Palestinians and wounded more than 90 with life bullets in Gaza. They had further shut down fuel and food to Gaza.

Two million Palestinians in Gaza live without clean water, with only 2-4 hours of electricity, in homes destroyed by Israeli bombs, in a prison blockaded by land, air and sea for 12 years.

The hospitals of Gaza since the 30 March had treated more than 9071 wounded persons, 4348 shot by machine guns from 100 Israeli snipers while they were mounting peaceful demonstrations inside the borders of Gaza on their own land.

Most of the gunshot wounds were to the lower limbs and with depleted treatment facilities the limbs will suffer amputation.

In this period more than 165 Palestinians had been shot dead by the same snipers, including medics and journalists, children and women.

The chronic military blockade of Gaza has depleted the hospitals of all surgical and medical supplies.

This massive attack on an unarmed Freedom Flotilla bringing friends and some medical relief is an attempt to crush all hope for Gaza. As I write, I learnt that our sister Flotilla boat, Freedom, has also been kidnapped by the Israeli Navy while in international waters.

But we will not stop, we must continue to be strong to bring hope and justice to the Palestinians and be prepared to pay the price, and to be worthy of the Palestinians. As long as I survive I will exist to resist. To do less will be a crime.

All crew and passengers on the Al Awda, including Kiwi human rights defender Mike Treen, have since been deported to their countries. Treen spoke last night at a packed public meeting in the Freemans Bay Community Centre. Those on board the second flotilla boat to be captured, the Freedom, are currently undergoing a similar process of being deported from an Israeli prison. Asia Pacific Report has shared information with the New Zealand humanitarian group Kia Ora Gaza.

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Death toll in Indonesia’s Lombok quake rises to 37

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Staff treat victims of a powerful magnitude 7 quake in the yard of Mataram City Hospital. Image: Ahmad Subaidi/Antara

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The death toll in a powerful magnitude-7 earthquake which rocked Lombok and Sumbawa Islands in Indonesia’s West Nusa Tenggara province last night has risen to 37, Antara news agency reported early today.

The dead victims consisted of 28 in North Lombok district, three in West Lombok district, one in Central Lombok district, one in East Lombok district and four in Mataram city, said the Chief of the Emergency and Logistics Section at the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency Agung Pramudja in a written statement.

Antara said the quake, which rattled the two islands at 06.46 p.m. local time yesterday was centered 8.3 degrees southern latitude and 116.48 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 15 kilometers.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) issued a tsunami early warning shortly after the quake and lifted it at 09.25 p.m. local time last night.

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Papuans protest over ‘Act of Free Choice’ in 13 cities in Indonesia

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By Kustin Ayuwuragil and Ramadhan Rizki in Jakarta

Papuans have launched protest actions in 13 cities across Indonesia to demonstrate against the so-called “Act of Free Choice” that enabled Jakarta to take control of the Melanesian region.

The Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and the Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) organised the rallies in cities, including Jakarta, Bandung and Ambon.

AMP spokesperson Surya Anta said that they were taking to the streets based on two principal issues related to West Papuan independence.

“[Papuans had] already declared their independence in 1961, deciding not to be part of the 1945 [declaration of Indonesian] independence [from the Dutch],” Surya told CNN Indonesia in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta last Thursday marking the August 2 date.

Surya said that at the time, the people of West Papua already had a state symbol, flag and currency, although no administration had yet been established.

The second reason was that the people of West Papua wanted to separate from Indonesia because for years and years they had suffered “slow-motion genocide”.

-Partners-

This was in no way in accordance with the values enshrined in the state ideology of Pancasila in realising independence for all nations.

‘Oppression, slow-motion genocide’
“They suffer oppression, abuse, slow-motion genocide, rape, abductions, no freedom of expression and access to information, and many other things,” he said.

The problems facing the West Papuans also included the massive exploitation of natural resources, which according to Surya, is because of the PT Freeport Indonesian gold-and-copper mine problem.

Social inequality was also high compared with other parts of Indonesia.

Surya added that the West Papuan people wanted to separate from Indonesia because they did not feel Indonesian because of the numerous problems cited.

“Yes (they want to separate from Indonesia) because from the very beginning they did not feel Indonesian. Go ahead and check the [1948] Youth Pledge. Was West Papua mentioned there?,” he said.

Surya said that the infrastructure development which was being touted by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in Papua had not been enough to make the people feel Indonesian.

“Yeah, like the Dutch [colonial] period, we got schools, but did this then make us become Dutch citizens? No. We still felt convinced that our identity was different,” he said.

Widodo has become known as the Indonesian president which has most often visited Papua. His agenda has been varied but in his Nawa Cita [nine point priority programme], Widodo has prioritised the resolution of past human rights violations and the development of infrastructure in Papua.

‘Same old song’
Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Menko Polhukam Wiranto referred to protests by Papuan pro-independence activists such as these as being a “separatist” action seeking to attract international attention.

“It’s a small separatist movement but by methods such as this [they] want to get world attention,” said Wiranto at his office in Jakarta.

The former commander of ABRI (Indonesian Armed Forces, now TNI) said that threats by Papuan pro-independence groups which had been widespread lately were just the “same old song” which had been played repeatedly for a long time.

As has been reported, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) were holding actions in Jakarta and London to support a new referendum for the Papuan people.

At Thursday’s action in front of the State Palace the AMP and the FRI-WP expressed their support for West Papuan liberation from the NKRI or Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

Responding to this, Wiranto suggested that people do not need to become upset or anxious about the frequent actions by such groups.

“This old song is the same as the one played in the past. We don’t need to get upset, we don’t need to get anxious, we will just fight it,” he said.

Wiranto also said that the government would not be influenced by the “separatist” threat from such groups.

He asserted that in principle the government still considered Papua would remain part of the NKRI forever and did not need to be disturbed by challenges by any party at all.

“It is clear that we have a principled and standing position which cannot be disrupted by challenges from movements such as this,” he said.

Soft diplomacy
Wiranto also insisted that the government had repeatedly made efforts to develop diplomatic relations with neighbouring countries in order to suppress “biased issues” related to development in Papua.

Wiranto claimed that heads of state in the Asia-Pacific region such as Micronesia, Nauru, and Australia were often invited to help in “suppressing” such groups.

“Soft diplomacy activities which we are carrying out in the South Pacific continue apace. They [the Papuan separatist groups] perhaps then feel angry about the soft diplomacy activities that we are conducting,” said Wiranto.

Wiranto claimed to have invited officials from these countries to see for themselves the current conditions and social developments in remote parts of Papua.

This is aimed at preventing countries in the Asia-Pacific region from “misunderstanding” the current social developments and situation in Papua.

“So we invite them to see the facts [on the ground]. As if we do not provide good education to our friends in Papua. This issue is being continually pushed, continually made an issue of, in Europe, the South Pacific, but you know yourself right, the reality is not like that,” he said.

Wiranto said that there were still potential threats from irresponsible parties which resulted in the emergence of separatist groups in Papua.

He was reluctant however to cite which parties he meant. Wiranto said only that these parties did not want Indonesia to be united and only wanted to take the profits from mining in Papua.

“Because there are still parties that do not want our country to be united, there are still parties which take the profits from mining activities”, he said.

Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the article was “Aksi Referendum Papua: Infrastruktur Jokowi Bukan Jawaban”.

Background:
In 1969, Pepera — Known as the “Act of Free Choice”, a referendum, was held to decide whether West Papua, a former Dutch colony annexed by Indonesia in 1963, would be become independent or join Indonesia. The UN sanction plebiscite, in which 1025 hand-picked tribal leaders allegedly expressed their desire for integration, has been widely dismissed as a sham.

Critics claim that that the selected voters were coerced, threatened and closely scrutinised by the military to unanimously vote for integration.

Although it is widely held that West Papua declared independence from Indonesia on December 1, 1961, this actually marks the date when the Morning Star (Bintang Kejora) flag was first raised alongside the Dutch flag in an officially sanctioned ceremony in Jayapura, then called Hollandia.

The first declaration of independence actually took place on July 1, 1971 at the Victoria Headquarters in Waris Village, Jayapura, when Oom Nicolas Jouwe and two Free Papua Organisation (OPM) commanders, Seth Jafeth Roemkorem and Jacob Hendrik Prai, raised the Morning Star flag and unilaterally proclaimed Papua Barat or West Papua as an independent democratic republic, complete with a National Liberation Army (TPN), a provisional constitution, government, senate and parliament.

One of the rallies in West Papua. Source: Voice West Papua
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‘Blacklisted’ Australian researcher detained in Indonesian airport

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Researcher Belinda Lopez … detained by Indonesian authorities in Bali’s Denpasar airport. Image: Belinda Lopez/FB

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

An Australian-based doctoral media researcher says she has been “blacklisted” by Indonesian authorities and refused entry to the country while embarking on a holiday in Bali.

Belinda Lopez, based at Sydney’s Macquarie University and who has researched human rights and other issues in Indonesia, says she is being detained in a room at Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai International Airport and she will have been held for 24 hours before being deported on a flight at 10pm tonight.

A former journalist, she is doing a doctorate in Indonesian studies.

She was travelling to Bali, Jakarta and the Baliem cultural festival in Papua.

Lopez made a plea today for help from friends and colleagues which has been circulated by members of the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA).

READ MORE: Australian student barred from Indonesia

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Two years ago when visiting West Papua she was refused renewal of her visa and told she was “suspected of being a journalist”, Lopez says.

Indonesia claims to have softened its policy on media entry to West Papua since President Joko Widodo took office in 2014.

However, media freedom and civil society advocates say there has been little change in practice.

On her Facebook page, Lopez says:

‘Blacklisted by Indonesia’
“This is not a joke: I’m blacklisted by the Indonesian government.
Saya termasuk dalam daftar tangkal Indonesia (terjemahan dibawah). Share!

“I’ve been refused entry to Bali and have been held in a room at Denpasar airport on a couch since midnight. I am told I can only board a flight at 10pm tonight, so that means I’ll be detained for nearly 24 hours before I’m deported.

“I explained I was on a holiday and that I was planning to visit friends in Bali and Java and go to the Baliem tourism festival in Papua.

“Immigration asked me if I was a journalist. Two staff members kept asking me if I had ‘done something wrong to Indonesia’.

“Nine years ago I worked for English language newspapers Jakarta Globe and The Jakarta Post as a subeditor. I have made podcasts for the ABC. And I am a PhD student of Indonesia.

“This was meant to be a holiday from university, officially on leave. My honeymoon. But the immigration staff member kept asking if I was a journalist and if I’d ‘done something bad to Indonesia’.

“Two years ago when I was in Papua, the immigration office wouldn’t renew my visa, wouldn’t explain why and then finally told me I was suspected of being a journalist so I had to leave. I was told it was an administrative matter (not a criminal one) and meant I couldn’t return to the territory for six months. I didn’t make a big deal about it because I wanted an ongoing relationship with Indonesia and I thought keeping respectfully quiet was the way to do that. It’s the first place I moved to as an adult, have visited so many times since, to learn the language and to visit people who have become some of my best friends in the world.

“So why am I now on the Indonesian government blacklist? For how long? For what reason? For going to Papua? This is devastating for me.”

Pacific Media Watch condemned the arbitrary Indonesian action against the researcher and appealed for a more humane treatment of visitors.

The room where Belinda Lopez is being detained at Bali’s Denpasar airport. Image: Belinda Lopez/FB
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Short-wave radio saves lives and foreign aid dollars, says McGarry

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A recent photo of the current rumbling of Mt Lombenden volcano on Ambae Island, Vanuatu. Image: lechaudrondevulcain.com

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Vanuatu has appealed to Australia to restore short-wave radio services to the Pacific region, after they were switched off by the ABC in 2017, reports Radio Australia.

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said other forms of communication usually failed during natural disasters.

He added his voice on the final day yesterday for submissions to an Australian government review of broadcasting to the region, Linda Mottram reported on a segment of the PM programme.

LISTEN: Linda Mottram’s current affairs report on ABC PM

As if to make the point, his statement came as a major operation is underway to evacuate more than 8000 residents from the island of Ambae, which has been made uninhabitable by an erupting volcano.

Featured:
Nikita Taiwia, Vanuatu coordinator, Red Cross
Dan McGarry, media director, Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper

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Indonesian influence in the Pacific grows, brushing aside West Papua

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Evening Report
Indonesian influence in the Pacific grows, brushing aside West Papua
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By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific in Wellington

Indonesia’s influence in the Pacific Islands is growing, but is shadowed by disquiet over its region of Papua, known widely as West Papua.

The West Papuan independence movement has significant traction in the region, where it continues to push for its self-determination aspirations to be addressed by the international community.

Considering Papua’s political status as non-negotiable, Indonesia has been busy strengthening ties with a number of countries in the three Pacific Islands regions of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia.

READ MORE: Indonesia strengthens ties with Pacific ‘good friends’

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent months, Indonesian cabinet minister Wiranto attended independence anniversary celebrations on Nauru, and the president of the Federated States of Micronesia was given red carpet treatment in Jakarta.

Jakarta says this is about working together with Pacific island countries on mutual interests. Others say it’s principally about quelling support for West Papuan independence aims.

-Partners-

Some regional observers even suspect the hand of Jakarta was at play behind the change in the Solomon Islands government’s policy on West Papua since Rick Hou replaced Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister last December.

April’s visit by a Solomon Islands delegation to Indonesia’s Papua and West Papua provinces caused an upset among some elements of civil society in Honiara, but showed how extensive Jakarta’s diplomatic outreach has become.

Serious threat
The secretary of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Rex Rumakiek, said Australia’s angst about the rising influence of China in the Pacific missed a more serious regional threat.

“The Melanesian countries are not very much concerned about Chinese influence. They are concerned mostly about the Indonesians’ influence in Melanesia, because they’re very destructive, they go right down to village level.

“They bribe people and buy political parties to change the government and so on. It’s already happening. It’s much more serious than the Chinese influence,” Rumakiek said.

LISTEN: RNZ’s Dateline Pacific

A spokesperson from Indonesia’s Embassy in Canberra, Sade Bimantara, said Rumakiek’s accusation was unsubstantiated and false.

He said Indonesia had consistently engaged and worked with Pacific Island nations for many years while respecting each other’s domestic affairs and sovereignty.

“On the contrary, a handful of people claiming Papuan heritage and living overseas are the ones interfering in the domestic politics of Papua and West Papua provinces,” Bimantara said.

“They are not citizens and were never democratically elected into public offices in those provinces by the 2.7 million voters of Papua and West Papua. And yet, they claim to be the rightful heir to the provinces.”

Franz Albert Joku … “Demographically, geographically, [Indonesia is] part of the Pacific. One third of the total area of the country, to the east, is inhabited by Melanesians and Polynesians.” Image: Koroi Hawkins/RNZ PacificIndonesia ‘part of Pacific’
According to Franzalbert Joku, who is a consultant for Jakarta on Papua issues, President Joko Widodo and his administration recognise that Indonesia is a part of the Pacific.

“Demographically, geographically, we are part of the Pacific. One third of the total area of the country, to the east, is inhabited by Melanesians and Polynesians,” he said.

Joku, a West Papuan who frequently represents Indonesia at meetings of the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum, said the country wanted to help small island countries with their development needs.

He cited Indonesian assistance in plans to build a convention centre in Tuvalu and a sports stadium in Kiribati as examples.

Indonesia is also offering help to Pacific Island countries with efforts to protect their all-important marine environment, although it is not the only larger country doing so.

Foreign governments sometimes take up the issue of human rights abuses in West Papua in their representations to Indonesia’s government.

But few human rights defenders would have been satisfed with wan assurances by Dutch Foreign Affairs minister Stef Blok that he discussed a recent damning Amnesty International report on the issue when in Jakarta last month.

Regional efforts obstructed
Some Pacific governments, notably Vanuatu, are concerned that Indonesia has obstructed efforts in regional forums to address West Papuan grievances.

A former Vanuatu prime minister and leader of the Vanua’aku Pati, Joe Natuman, said the move by some members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group to accept Indonesia into the regional organisation was problematic.

“Whoever had that wise idea is causing us problems,” he explained.

“You know, they said Indonesia comes into join [the MSG] to discuss issues of West Papua; Indonesia comes in and it doesn’t want to discuss West Papua. So I think we have to review the Indonesian membership of MSG.”

But Franz Albert Joku said it was not the responsibility of the MSG or Pacific Islands Forum to speak for Papuans. He said Papuans should be allowed to speak for themselves “by dealing with our own leaders in Jakarta and our own government.

“It’s not for offshore organisations like the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum to decide what should happen in Papua. Our position and especially our future is firmly within our grip.”

However, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), which has observer status at the MSG, argues that West Papuans are not free to express themselves and their political aspirations in their homeland.

Thousands arrested
Indonesian police arrested thousands of Papuans in 2016 when they demonstrated in Papuan cities in support of the Liberation Movement.

Jakarta also remains sensitive to regional calls for West Papua’s political status, and the controversial process by which the former Dutch New Guinea, was incorporated into Indonesia in the 1960s, to be reviewed.

Last month while in Fiji, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill was reported to have encouraged regional countries to take the issue of West Papua to the United Nations Decolonisation Committee.

Following this, PNG’s Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato made a visit to Jakarta for talks with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi, reaffirming his country’s support for the status quo in the Papuan provinces.

“They are an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said.

“There has been some misreporting on this issue. Papua New Guinea’s position has not changed and there is no intention to ever change it.”

Natuman said he understood the sensitivity of the matter for PNG as West Papua’s neighbour.

“But I think they should be honest with themselves and discuss openly with the MSG and with Indonesia, and of course eventually we have to involve the United Nations,” he said.

United Nations mess
“This is a mess created by the United Nations, and the the United Nations have to come clean on this.”

The regional calls for international action on West Papua persist from the likes of New Zealand government MP Louisa Wall, who is among a small but vocal group of local MPs pushing for the issue of West Papuan self-determination to be heard at the UN.

“I believe in self-determination, I believe in indigenous rights. This is a right of the West Papuan indigenous peoples to re-litigate something that has been highlighted, actually was done in an unjust and unfair way,” Wall said.

Wall’s voice is still only part of a minority in New Zealand’s government whose formal position remains in support of Indonesian control of Papua.

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with President Joko Widodo … reaffirmed backing for Indonesia. Image: Marty Melville/Pool

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, reiterated this support to Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo during his state visit to Wellington earlier this year.

The issue of human rights abuses in Papua is a standing item on the agenda of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), whose leaders meet in Nauru next month.

Yesterday, the outgoing Forum chairman, Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, suggested some Pacific leaders sensationalised the alleged abuses by Indonesian military in Papua.

Speaking on national Radio 2AP, Tuilaepa, who has forged closer ties with Indonesia in the past year, conceded that various West Papuans wanted independence and sought to stop infringements of their human rights.

Tuilaepa said that where it concerned human rights issues, they should take up the matter through the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing partnership with RNZ Pacific.

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Rapa Nui activist calls for rigorous curb on ‘flouting’ of migration rules

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Ahu Akivi maois (statues) on the island of Rapa Nui. Image: RNZ Pacific/AFP

By RNZ Pacific

An indigenous activist on Chile’s Rapa Nui says new rules restricting internal migration to the island need to be rigorously enforced.

Non-Rapa Nui Chileans now need to have Rapa Nui spouses or children to migrate to the island without a work contract.

The activist, Santi Hitorangi, said the rule requiring a contract has previously been flouted.

READ MORE: Rapa Nui limiting visitor time to stop overcrowding

“The authorities are saying that once in action there’s going to be rigorous enforcement. So far we haven’t experienced that.

“What we have experienced is the ability of the Chilean authority in collusion with business people on the island, be it Rapa Nui or Chileans, they are keen to find creative ways to jump over those so called provisions.”

-Partners-

Santi Hitorangi said Chileans moving from the mainland had overwhelmed Rapa Nui’s infrastructure and warped its culture.

“The Chileans who come from the marginalised neighbourhoods of Chile and have brought crime, degenerating the culture. They are doing taxi tours and the problem with that is the information they give to those tourists. They are a warped perspective of who we are,” Hitorangi said.

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, had become overcrowded during 130 years of colonial rule and its environment was suffering with the water no longer being safe to drink, the activist said.

“Many of the underground wells are polluted because as long as we have had Chile on the island the waste has been dug in pits, plastics, chemicals what have you all covered over with dirt,” he said.

The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing partnership with RNZ Pacific.

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Tasered, beaten, handcuffed but Mike Treen says ‘I would do it all again’

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Unite Union leader Mike Treen (second from right), Kia Ora Gaza spokesperson Roger Fowler and Palestinian human rights supporters Billy Hania and Heidi Jia at Auckland International Airport today. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC

By Rahul Bhattarai in Auckland

Unite Union national director Mike Treen arrived in Auckland today and told of his brutal experience at the hands of the Israeli military while trying to break Israel’s 11-year-long illegal Gaza blockade.

But he vowed he would do the whole voyage again “if it was useful” to the humanitarian cause – even after being badly mistreated by the the Israeli security forces.

The Israeli Navy “hijacked” Treen’s boat Al Awda (The Return) and seized all 22 people on board, just 40 miles nautical miles from Gaza.

READ MORE: Deported Freedom Flotilla activist on his way

“Israeli navy hijacked the ship by force, and multiple uses of tasers on me and other crew, for trying to peacefully resist,” he said.

His boat was hijacked by armed and masked Israeli soldiers in international waters.

-Partners-

“We weren’t forcefully trying to resist them,” Treen said. “We wanted to make clear that they had no right to take our boat. This was an unlawful act – we were in an international waters, we had the right to free passage.”

Threatened the captain
But the Israelis not only forced their way onto the boat, tasering and beating people, they also threatened to kill the captain, “simply threatened to execute him if he did not pilot the ship towards Israel,” Treen said.

Treen himself was tasered four times on his face and head area, was stomped on his foot, and left with bruises all over his body.

After the brutal treatment, he was taken to an Israeli prison and detained for five days.

During his detention, Treen was interrogated by Israeli officers and also by a New Zealand honorary consular official based in Israel, Gad Propper.

“The New Zealand consulate based in Israel in every minute acted as an agent of the Israeli state not of the New Zealand government,” Treen said.

He was not interviewed alone. The consul “interviewed me with police and security officials in the room and when he asked me about the taser mark on my face, he [Gad Propper] then immediately implied that it was somehow my fault”.

When Treen told the interviewers that his belongings, including his wallet had been stolen, Gad Propper had said “it was an exaggeration and they [Israeli soldiers] surely wouldn’t do that”.

Treen was deported back to Auckland emptyhanded with an empty wallet and with most of his money having been stolen.

Free Palestine and Free Gaza supporters gathered at Auckland International Airport to welcome home union leader Mike Treen, deported by Israel for trying to breach the illegal Gaza blockade. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC
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Deported Freedom Flotilla activist Mike Treen on way back to NZ

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Detained and deported unionist Mike Treen (right) with Kia Ora Gaza’s Roger Fowler in a file photo. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Unite union leader Mike Treen, seized and detained by Israeli security forces last weekend along with other human rights campaigners bound for Gaza on board the fishing boat Al Awda, is on his way to Auckland.

Although his laptop computer and cellphone had been confiscated by the authorities, Treen managed to text friends in Auckland from Hongkong airport after being deported by Israel.

Due back at Auckland Airport about midday today, he said in his brief message last night:

“Hi all – I have only a few minutes access right now. I have just arrived at Hong Kong Airport after deportation.

“They stole almost everything I had except my wallet – less most of the money. Now [I] have no phone, computer etc. I am using another deportee’s laptop.

“He was a journalist and treated a bit better. I arrive home on Cathay Pacific at 11.50am tomorrow.

-Partners-

“Roughed up a bit, tasred (sic) a few times, had my foot stomped on, but we gave them a bit of a message as well.

“See you soon. A few stories to tell.”

‘Brave challenge’
Kia Ora Gaza spokesman Roger Fowler said in a statement on the humanitarian organisation’s website that Treen was a highly respected human rights defender and the national director of the Unite union.

“Facilitated by Kia Ora Gaza and supported by his union, the CTU, and many hundreds of generous New Zealanders, Mike joined dozens of other prominent human rights activists from around the world on the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla, to bravely challenge Israel’s illegal and inhumane 11-year blockade of the two million Palestinians confined in the tiny Gaza Strip,” he said.

The leading boat, the Al Awda, had been “unlawfully hijacked” and boarded in international waters by armed and masked Israeli soldiers last Sunday.

“Mike and others were bashed, tasered, tightly handcuffed and roughly manhandled off the boat during this blatantly illegal act of piracy on the high seas,” Fowler said.

“All communications were cut, and the boat was forced off it’s course to a port in Israel, where the crew and passengers have been unlawfully detained and interrogated for several days, before being deported.”

Aid confiscated
The boat and cargo of essential medical supplies worth $15,000 destined for Gaza had been illegally seized.

All equipment and belongings have been confiscated.

“Most of Mike’s belongings have been stolen by his captors, including a sum of money,” Fowler said.

Fowler criticised Foreign Minister Winston Peters for failing to take a stand or make a public comment on this “outrageous attack on peaceful citizens” on a humanitarian mission in international waters.

Peters said in a letter to Kia Ora Gaza: “Decisions taken by this government on New Zealand support for particular initiatives and resolutions relating to Israel/Palestinian issues are considered carefully, with all necessary consultation having been carried out.

“In all cases, the government remains committed to supporting a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

He said New Zealanders were “advised against all travel to Gaza”.

The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing arrangement with Kia Ora Gaza.

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RSF condemns Nine-Fairfax merger as threat to media pluralism in Australia

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There is concern about the editorial independence of The Age newspaper, one of the jewels of the Fairfax Media empire, now that it is to be run by Nine Entertainment. Image: William West /RSF/AFP

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is extremely concerned about pluralism and respect for editorial independence in the new Australian media conglomerate created from last week’s merger between the Fairfax Media newspaper chain and Nine Entertainment, a national television network.

“Commercial synergy has endangered journalistic independence and media pluralism in what is, to say the least, an incongruous marriage,” the Paris-based RSF global media freedom watchdog said in a statement today.

“On the one hand, Fairfax has provided quality investigative journalism via a network of representative regional print publications throughout the country since 1831.

READ MORE: Nine-Fairfax merger warning for investigative journalism – and democracy

“Nine, which will have control of the new entity, has already announced A$50 million (32 million euros) in budget cuts, to the alarm of news staff at Fairfax’s publications.” Image: RSF

“On the other, Nine is primarily a sports and entertainment broadcaster and its management is regarded as much more concerned about profits and cost-cutting than journalistic ethics.”

Nine, which will have control of the new entity, has already announced A$50 million (32 million euros) in budget cuts, to the alarm of news staff at Fairfax’s publications.

-Partners-

They include The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald flagship newspapers, whose editorial freedom from political or economic interference was summed up in the slogan printed under each newspaper’s name: “Independent. Always.”

Takeover
The Fairfax brand will disappear in the new media group, in what is a clear sign that this “marriage of reason” is an outright takeover.

Aside from a loss of editorial independence, Fairfax’s journalists fear that newsrooms will be merged and many of the group’s rural and suburban publications will be closed. Although not very profitable, they have until now played a vital role in providing Australians with local news of a diverse nature.

Kept a close secret until announced on July 26  and valued at A$4 billion (2.5 billion euros), the merger still has to be approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

“The freedom and independence of Fairfax’s journalists is clearly in danger,” said Daniel Bastard, head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

“We therefore urge the ACCC to block this merger until the new entity managed by Nine has adopted the Fairfax Charter of Editorial Independence in writing, in its statutes.

“Fairfax’s takeover is the end of a journalistic institution in Australia. Quality journalism must not be reduced to a variable dependent on commercial and advertising imperatives.

“This takeover is all the more worrying for journalistic pluralism and democracy because the level of media ownership concentration in Australia is already one of the highest in the world.”

Media monsters
Like Australia’s other media and advertisement giant, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, the future entity controlled by Nine will include national and regional newspapers radio, stations, traditional TV channels and online ones, and a string of news websites.

This is now permitted in Australia after the decision by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government a few months ago to repeal 30-year-old legislation restricting simultaneous ownership of both print and broadcast media.

Observers fear that the Fairfax takeover will open the way to even more ownership concentration.

Australia is ranked 19th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index. The chronic lack of journalistic pluralism is one of the reasons why it is not ranked any higher.

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

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

[caption id="attachment_13635" align="alignright" width="150"] 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?

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Current National Party leader, Simon Bridges.

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

[caption id="attachment_13635" align="alignright" width="150"] 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

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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.

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.

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Noumea visitors help Vanuatu celebrate 38 years of freedom

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

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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

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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.

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Israeli forces blockade the Gaza ‘blockade busters’

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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.

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

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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

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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.

READ MORE: ‘Why we’re protesting over Gaza’

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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

READ MORE: Israel threatens ‘all necessary measures’ against flotilla

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.

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No injuries in Vanuatu ‘runway excursion’ emergency landing

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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.

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

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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.

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Decolonisation in New Caledonia – who decides the future?

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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.

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Lifetime of devotion to Māori and Pacific student success

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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.”

-Partners-

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
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New Caledonia celebrates Bastille Day and thinks about independence

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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.

READ MORE: Part 1 of a series of three articles on Kanaky/New Caledonia

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.

-Partners-

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.

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