A new Fiji magazine published by a New Zealand-based media collective made its debut this weekend to mark Fiji’s 50th Independence Day anniversary.

The first monthly edition of Fiji Dynamics was launched yesterday, 10th October 2020 – Fiji Day.

The editorial team is made up of senior Fiji journalists and media personalities who now live and work in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Fiji Dynamics aims to help inspire and further enhance the rich diversity of New Zealand’s multicultural communities.

One of the organisers, Rachael Mario, from the Whānau Community Centre, is delighted at having a place for community groups to share their stories.

“By promoting our views, identity and culture, ths magazine will unite our communities, and help inspire our youth,” she said.

“The new magazine reflects and defines the Fiji community. With this being Fiji’s 50th anniversary of independence, and also Fijian Language week, it makes this even more special.”

One of the articles published in this inaugural edition, was this reflection below by Professor Steven Ratuva, director of the Macmillan Brown Pacific Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury:

REFLECTIONS FOR THE PAST 50 YEARS: FIJI’S CHALLENGES AND HOPES

By Professor Steven Ratuva

I vividly remember that memorable day, 10 October 2970, as a young village boy attending Yale Dustrict School in Kadavu, when the British flag was lowered for the last time and the new sky blue Fijian flag with its colourful design was hoisted amid the cheers and tears.

It was a moment of youthful hope and optimism, and now 50 years later, I am reminiscing and reflecting on a journey so full of intrigue and challenges as well as resilience and hope.

Governments and constitutions have come and gone, either through democratic elections or illegal use of force, but Fiji as a collective of ordinary people living their ordinary lives, remain the cornerstone of hope in a country scarred by ethno-political tension, economic inequality, contestation of power by competing groups and abuse of authority by leaders.

Since independence, Fiji underwent a multicultural experiment under Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, which saw two main contending forces, communal nationalism (ethnic and cultural groups demanding attention) and civic nationalism (unity and common identity) competing for supremacy in syncretic and complex ways.

There were moments of contractions and accommodation taking place simultaneously and by and large there was a sense of equilibrium until the first coup in 1987 when communal nationalism expressed itself in a seriously violent way with the help of the military.

This was repeated in 2000. While the 2006 coup was meant to reverse the trend using the fallacious “clean-up” narrative, it merely entrenched an ethno-business and political patronage under the tutelage of an all-powerful despotic clique.

The neoliberal reforms which followed have led to the dysfunction of the civil service, accumulation of crippling debt, nepotism and the formation of an ethnic clique system operating under the guise of “merit” and “de-ethnicisation”, which undermines the spirit of multiculturalism, equity and diversity.

Despite these setbacks, the sense of shared resilience and collective benevolence of the people is a reason why we have not had an ethnic civil war as we have seen in Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Bosnia and Sudan.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

At precisely 10am 50 years ago today, Fiji gained its independence from Britain when HRH, the Prince of Wales, handed our founding Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the formal instruments of independence and the Fijian flag.

Our noble banner blue – was hoisted for the first time over Suva’s Albert Park.

It’s hard to convey the sense of excitement that gripped the entire nation at the time. Fiji was united as never before as the jockeying for influence that had marked the pre-independence negotiations was set aside and the nation set its eyes on the future.

Yet there is plenty of evidence of that excitement in the films that were taken at the time (it was before the video age ) and they are well worth watching.

The first begins with the government’s official Independence Day film Independence for Fiji 1970 that was made by the Australian Government Film Unit.

Independence for Fiji 1970 – Part one

As someone who was caught up in the excitement myself, I remember seeing it when it was first released and it is a strange feeling to view it again half a century later.

It’s treatment of Fiji and the event itself has an element of the cliche and in retrospect, aspects of it are decidedly quaint.

Captures the elation
But it nonetheless faithfully captures the sense of elation and anticipation that gripped the nation on that brilliant sunny morning 50 years ago today.

The film begins with the lowering of the Union Flag for the last time on the previous evening after 96 years of British rule.

It’s been striking to read in the Fijian media this week the recollections of some of those who were there that they felt a deep sense of loss when the “Union Jack” came down.

Colonial rule in many other places was unhappy but to a far lesser extent in Fiji. Most people, in fact, had a great affection for Britain, the Queen and the Union Flag.

The formal end to almost a century of British rule triggered deep emotions among many people, coupled with pride that we were now an independent nation making our own way in the world.

It has been one hell of a journey with a great deal of happiness as well as success, and Fiji as a nation is demonstrably still a work in progress. But this is how it all began.

Grubsheet Feejee is the blogsite of Graham Davis, an award-winning journalist turned communications consultant who was the Fiji government’s principal communications adviser for six years from 2012 to 2018 and continued to work on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign up until the end of the decade. Other articles here.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz