Maori Says Land Needs To Be Nationalised

Issue No: 848 13 June 2001

Fiji needs to nationalise its land, says a Maori writer.

In an article published today in the Fiji Sun, Te Karere Ipurangi states that Fiji needs a revolutionary party to nationalise land and other means of production. The author stated that the Fiji Labour Party was not revolutionary enough and that Fiji's solution lies in a class based struggle comprising ethnic Fijian workers and commoners and ethnic Indian workers and farmers.

Ipurangi states:

"A revolutionary labour party willing to draw clear class lines, and oppose crypto-feudal as well as capitalist privilege, would be able to achieve a great deal more. Such a party would advocate the nationalisation of land, as well as all other means of production."

"It would seek to implant its cadres in every union and fight to break down ethnic hostilities by actively championing the struggles of working people and the oppressed from each community."

"It would build on the decent instincts of ordinary people who have always protected their neighbours from rampaging mobs, by creating integrated workers' defence guards, to enforce picket lines and put an end to racial attacks."

"It would seek to address the needs of the entire oppressed, not only employees, but also working farmers, the village poor and the urban unemployed."

"The obstacles to working class struggle in Fiji - communal conflict and indigenism -are posed with extreme sharpness, but they are hardly unique."

"And precisely because they are posed so sharply and the existing social order is so brittle, the connection between ethnic conflict and social oppression may prove to be more transparent and thus more directly addressed in Fiji than elsewhere."

"A revolutionary workers' party with an anticommunalist perspective could profoundly impact the class struggle internationally by providing a model for other societies in which similar questions are posed. Fiji cannot return to pre-European village communalism, and the imperialist world order offers neither a secure future, nor a viable way of living for either indigenous of Indo-Fijian working people."

The author is a native of New Zealand and is involved with the indigenous rights movement in New Zealand.

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Ethnic Indians donot control economy Issue No: 847 13 June 2001

The country's ethnic Indian population do not control the economy, says the Daily Post's Publisher and columnist Ranjit Singh.

In his column this week, Singh wrote:

"At first glance, Indo-Fijians may also appear to own and control most small commercial enterprises, but these are not the real " movers or shakers" of the Fijian economy. By virtue of that ownership they have become very "visible" but the fact remains that they control only the petty cash."

"The majority of major enterprises in key industries are either foreign-owned or controlled by indigenous Fijian interests as joint-venture partners, viz; banks, insurance companies, telecommunications, energy, mining, construction, transportation, fishing, timber, airlines, shipping, major newspapers, major legal and financial firms, freight and broking firms, virtually all hotels and tourism ventures, breweries and liquor companies, and all major trading houses, with the exception of a few. These organizations are owned and controlled by Australian, NZ, British, American, Japanese, Asian and European interests."

"It may come as a surprise to most that the trade between India and Fiji is less than the latter has with Singapore! Australian and NZ exports to Fiji represent a staggering 65% of their total imports. Despite some 40% of its Indo-Fijian population the trade with Indian is limited. The myth of Indian domination has served them well over the years."

"The shadowy foreign businessmen can get anything done through the Chiefs, and indirectly, control the real wealth of that nation but, like the British, continue to poison the Fijian mind about the Indo-Fijians. Some corrupt, unscrupulous Indo-Fijian businessmen have also sought to capitalise on the misfortune of their own people. Thankfully, they have also been recently exposed for their greed and impropriety."

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Jail for burning friend's kiosk Issue No: 846 13 June 2001

A 57-year old ethnic Fijian man was jailed yesterday for torching his close ethnic Indian friend's kiosk on 19 May 2000.

Police informed the court that the man was spurred by the riots which took place when the terrorists took over the Parliament Complex, and then turned on to his friend's kiosk at the Suva market. He broke the kiosk with a hammer, threw out the items, poured kerosene and set it alight.

Numerous other incidents of close friends turning on each other after the terrorist activities, have been reported throughout Fiji. In most cases, the victims have been ethnic Indians.

The Qarase regime has established a reconciliation ministry but so far the ministry has failed to bring the victims and the perpetrators of violence together to reconcile. Qarase began using the ministry to bring together the ethnic Fijian provinces together politically. Last month he formed his own political party aiming to unit ethnic Fijians.

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Terrorists want trial by provincial court Issue No: 845 13 June 2001

The leader of the terrorist George Speight wants to be tried by provincial and tikina courts.

Today's Fiji Sun reports Speight as saying that the Speight brothers are indigenous Fijians and ought to be tried under tikina and district courts rather than courts established un English law.

There is no provincial or tikina court in Fiji. There are 14 provinces and over 214 tikina in Fiji. The provinces and tikina regulate traditional aspects of living for ethnic Fijians in rural areas.

The Speight brothers are registered in the roll of ethnic Fijians. But their paternal ancestory is European.

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Rabuka and Cakobau's under probe Issue No: 844 13 June 2001

Former Prime Minister and alleged mastermind behind the two attempted coups last year Sitiveni Rabuka is under investigation for his role in the 2 November failed mutiny.

The media reports that investigators have been informed of Rabuka's involvement by the Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) Unit soldiers who carried out the mutiny. Others who have been implicated are Bauan chiefs Adi Litia Cakobau and Ratu Epenisa Cakobau. Both the Cakobau's were also involved with the Speight terrorist group.

The media also reported that Qarase's cabinet member and Leader of Opposition Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has also been investigated with the 19 May terrorism and that his file is with the prosecution office.

Meanwhile the elected Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry has stated that the businessmen who financed the terrorists should also be charged as soon as possible. He stated that the police and other investigators had the necessary evidence to charge them, and the nation was waiting for the charges to be laid. Numerous businessmen, mostly ethnic Indians and supporting the National Federation Party, were named by the terrorists as providing them funds for the uprising.

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