Te Karere Ipurangi Fiji Coup Supplement
Sunday, 28 May, 2000. 2.00pm.
Kia ano koutou katoa
Just wanted to say kia ora / thank you to all of you who have sent messages to tautoko / support what I've been doing
this past week. Mostly been too busy to reply to them individually. It's been a long hard full-time mostly one-man-band
effort. Also too busy to reply to those of you who want to debate me in detail. Thanks anyway for your views.
To those of you who don't like getting too many emails, or don't like what some have called "my political crap", kia
ora, and thank you for your patience ((-: Hopefully the crisis will be over soon, and your emailboxes will get a well
deserved rest..
I haven't just been stirring our government, although that's been an enjoyable part of it. I got really hoha in 1987
with our government's over-the-top reaction to those coups. This time I decided to use the power of the Net to do
something about it.
It became obvious to me that Taukei Fijians didn't have a web presence or a media presence worth speaking of. The media
and web in Fiji seem to be dominated by Indo-Fijians, and they were getting as much exposure as they wanted. So I
thought I'd have a go at putting an alternative view out there in the the international media and in cyberspace. In
doing that I have been working with a few taukei and other supporters around the world. Not a lot but a significant few.
This crisis has reinforced for me the absolute necessity for Maori to be out there creating a strong presence in
Cyberspace, for when our turn comes again to be vilified in the media and by politicians, we need to be strongly out
there. Cybersapce is a powerful powerful medium.
This has also been a learning exercise in e-politics, e-diplomacy and e-geopolitics. Individuals coming together from
around the world to create and promote shared agendas. We hear a lot these days about e-commerce and e-government and
even e-citizens. I've even been promoting the concept of e-communities myself. But we need to realise that it is also
possible to use information and communications technology (ICT) to influence the unfolding of events both locally and
globally, by networking over and under and around and above and behind governments and their global organisations.
Citizen diplomacy and ICT, as well as international TV, played a major part in the breakup of the Soviet Union. They can
also play a major part in shaping the future of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific. We don't have much access to TV,
but we do have access to ICT.
It's very important to link the use of email and websites together. A few taukei have email access, but as I said
earlier, no real web presence.
I also have a strong interest in foreign policy and geopolitics, and I'm deeply concerned about the eurocentric,
arrogant and neo-colonial policies and behaviour of New Zealand politicians of all persuasions in that important sphere.
Hopefully we will be able to use ICT as e-citizens, e-politicians and e-diplomats to take a lot of the foreign policy
initiative away from governments, particularly the New Zealand and Australian governments. Subversive stuff huh? I've
got an article on foreign ploicy coming out this coming week.
So where have my emails been going? Everywhere man. And sent on by active supporters to lots of places beyond that, into
other networks. Media (local and international), our government, all our Maori MPs, some cabinet ministers, other
governments, indigenous networks, Maori and Pakeha, te mea. te mea, etc. I've also managed to get some popular websites
to link to my Fiji Coup site, including Yahoo News and Pacific Islands Report. Yahoo has brought in a lot of
international visitors. Thanks to Scoop News NZ for carrying some of my articles on the international wire.
An interesting observation was made to me by someone just returned from a couple of weeks in Europe and the USA - the
Fiji coup hasn't even made it into most of the media over there. Just here in our region, and in Britain of course. But
the Australian and New Zealand governments and media have beat it up into an earth-shattering calamity.
The really exciting thing for me this week has been the alternative proposal for a remedy to the crisis that a few
taukei have been working on, and our ability to get it out into circulation using the Internet via my website, and our
combined email networks. Powerful stuff. And its also been exciting to get your many emails of support.
So once again kia ora to you all. And I hope that those of you who are politically active might have been learning as
much as I have this week.
Heoi ano, na Ross Nepia Himona (ps - I use the Nepia now because my young nephew Ross Himona is now on the Internet as
well. Even confused me for a while!!). =================================================== Te Karere Ipurangi - Maori
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