The strange career of Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s 2006 Fiji coup

Five December 2006 may well go down in the annals of modern Fijian history as the date when the country dramatically changed course — a turning point when the country finally turned. What the future holds for that ill-fated island nation state is not at all clear, nor likely to be for some time, but it is now surely beyond dispute that the 20th century, with its assumptions and understandings about the nature and structure of Fiji’s political culture, effectively ended not in 2000, but in 2006 when Commodore Bainimarama executed his military coup. The break with the past is decisive and irreversible. An improbable coup has largely succeeded. The old order is dead — or at least in terminal illness — and a new one is promised to ‘take the country forward’. That promise for now remains just that: a promise. Everyone accepts that a racebased electoral system is counterproductive for a multi-ethnic democratic society, that gender inequality is indefensible, that all citizens should have equal rights, that citizenship should be race neutral. Change in a society, as in any living organism, is inevitable, constant, though it is more easily asserted than effected. But the larger question is change for what purpose? To what end, at what pace, on whose terms, under what conditions, through what means, at what price? This is the conundrum at the heart of the current political debate in Fiji. I will not attempt to answer these questions here. My purpose is not to speculate about what Fiji’s future might look like under Bainimarama, but to understand the constellation of forces that served to consolidate the Commodore’s coup. This, I hope, may provide us with some pointers for the future. (First paragraph of first page).AusAI

One hand clapping: reflections on the first anniversary of Fiji’s December 2006 coup

AusAI

Political life writing in the Pacific

This book aims to reflect on the experiential side of writing political lives in the Pacific region. The collection touches on aspects of the life writing art that are particularly pertinent to political figures: public perception and ideology; identifying important political successes and policy initiatives; grappling with issues like corruption and age-old political science questions about leadership and ‘dirty hands’. These are general themes but they take on a particular significance in the Pacific context and so the contributions explore these themes in relation to patterns of colonisation and the memory of independence; issues elliptically captured by terms like ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’; the nature of ‘self’ presented in Pacific life writing; and the tendency for many of these texts to be written by ‘outsiders’, or at least the increasingly contested nature of what that term means

Turnings Fiji Factions

Through Dr Lal’s refreshingly clear and powerful prose and sharply observed stories, we enter the inner world of Indo-Fijian feeling and aspiration. One universal that emerges with particular clarity in the Indo-Fijian experience is the ceaseless struggle to find community in a changing world, balancing the beauty of ritual and tradition against the transcendent value of education and modern rationality. The volume poses the question of how people draw upon historical memory and immediate circumstances to create a social world, and how that world can be shared with others in multicultural society. The answer seems to lie somewhere between history and poetry, as in Dr Lal’s ‘factions.’ Andrew Arno University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolul

Islands of Turmoil

Politics and government; Social conditions; Economic conditions; Fij

A Vision for Change: Speeches and Writings of AD Patel, 1929-1969

“This collection of the writings and speeches of one of Fiji’s greatest statesmen, the late Mr AD Patel, points to a different future which, if allowed to come to fruition, would have spared Fiji the fate it later encountered in its postcolonial journey. As a leader, Mr Patel was unmatchable in intellect and oratorical brilliance, glimpses of which we see in this volume. Dr Lal deserves to be congratulated for his patience and perseverance in completing this project. This book will find an honoured place among others on Fiji’s complex and contested modern history.

Levelling Wind

‘What I have sought to do in my work is to give voiceless people a voice, place and purpose, the sense of dignity and inner strength that comes from never giving up no matter how difficult the circumstances. History belongs as much to the vanquished as to the victors.’ — Brij V. Lal. ‘Professor Brij Lal is the finest historian of the Indian indentured experience and the Indian diaspora. His Girmitiyas is a classic.’ — Emeritus Professor Clem Seecharan, London Metropolitan University. ‘Brij Lal is a highly respected, versatile and imaginative scholar who has made a lasting contribution to the historiography of the Pacific.’ — Dr Rod Alley, Victoria University of Wellington. ‘Professor Brij Lal’s life is a remarkable journey of a scholar and an intellectual whose writings are truly transformative; a man of moral clarity and courage who also has deep pain at being cut off from his homeland.’ — Professor Michael Wesley, Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. ‘Brij Lal is a singular scholar, whose work has spanned disciplines – from history, political commentary, encyclopedia, biography and “faction”. Brij is without doubt the most eminent scholar in the humanities and social sciences Fiji has ever produced. He also remains one of the most significant public intellectuals of his country, despite having been banned from entering it in 2009.’ — Emeritus Professor Clive Moore, University of Queensland. ‘Brij Lal is an accomplished and versatile historian and true son of Fiji. Above all, there is affirmation here of the enduring worth of good literature and the value of good education that Lal received and wants others to experience. The world needs more Lals who speak out against ruling opinions and dare to stray into the pastures of independent thought.’ — Professor Doug Munro, historian and biographer, Wellington, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Queenslan

A Vision for Change: AD Patrel and the Politics of Fiji

“Dr Lal’s book is more than an eloquent account of the political struggle of one of Fiji’s outstanding leaders. It is a timely reminder that the process of constitutional change hangs in the balance, as it did at the time of Mr Patel’s death. I hope his example will inspire future generations in Fiji to realise the vision articulated by a brilliant and courageous advocate of democracy, and a loyal son of Fiji.” Late Adi Kuini Bavadr

Leaves of the Banyan tree : origins and background of Fiji's north Indian indentured migrants, 1879-1916

Between 1879 and 1916, some 60,965 Indian indentured men, women and children were introduced into Fiji, of whom 45,439- the subject of this study- left from Calcutta and the rest from Madras when recruitment was started there in 1903. Indian indentured emigration to Fiji was a small but significant part of a larger process of labour emigration from India, which began in 1834. The labourers were introduced into the colonies on a fixed contract to meet the shortage of labour caused either by the abolition of slavery, the inability or unwillingness of the indigenous people to meet the growing needs of the plantations or by the failure of other sources of supply. The story of the experience of the indentured labourers in Fiji, as indeed in other former colonies, is by now well known. Somewhat less is known about their social and economic background and their motivations for emigration. This study represents an attempt to understand these aspects. Various questions are discussed: the reasons for introducing Indian labourers into Fiji, the structure and evolution of the indenture system, the changing regional origins of the emigrants, the nature and patterns of internal migration in the United Provinces from where the majority of the emigrants came, the social and caste background of the labourers, their precarious economic position in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the emigration of women and families. The picture which emerges from a computerised analysis of the data in the Emigration Passes, and from folksongs and other conventional sources, goes against the grain of mythology as well as the current interpretation of indentured emigration. Contrary to the prevailing opinion, it is shown that the emigrants were not invariably of low social origins. It is suggested that the strata from which they originated were increasingly being subjected to unprecedented changes brought about by British penetration of Indian society. Emigration seems to have offered one of the alternatives to cope with the consequent vicissitudes of rural life. The extent to which spatial mobility was prevalent is shown by the fact that a very large proportion of Fiji's migrants had already left their homes before they were registered for emigration. Not only men but women and families also emigrated in large numbers and they, too, were a part of the uprooted mass. The important role of the recruiters in inducing emigration is acknowledged, but it is suggested that the degree of their influence has been exaggerated. In short, this study demonstrates that indentured emigration was a much more complex and differentiated process than has often been realised