‘I find your strong attachment to a working democracy to be extremely sexy…’

[marguerite_krux]

So, how about that dictatorship happening in Pakistan Fiji? Now, as a [feckless] student of the law, I’m all about legal order and civil rights and that, but come on, who hasn’t dreamed of power and domination? True, my fantasies are more skewed towards global domination, but one country- even if only an island nation - is still pretty impressive.

It is a little horrifying at the moral level but infinitely fascinating in the way of wish fulfilment to contemplate being the one staging a coup, removing the elected leader and installing yourself in his place. Then, when the courts label your government illegal, simply FIRING ALL THE JUDGES and REVOKING THE CONSTITUTION, which effectively hands back control of the country to- you. What a power trip! Imagine the bragging rights- ‘I revoked the frakking constitution’. DUDE. There is very little that can possibly compete with the inherent awesome of that one line.

 

My family never seems to be around when the drama goes down. We moved to Fiji after the ’87 coup, we migrated to Australia a few months before the 2000 coup and then stopped by for a visit barely a month after the 2006 coup. And you’d never know anything had changed, during all that while, it’s so calm and peaceful.

Now, I find it interesting that Australia is getting all puffed up and self-important about insisting on Bainimarama & co. setting a date for elections and bandying about the notion of restrictions and sanctions if the situation’s not resolved.

Someone wrote to the paper pointing out the hypocrisy in condemning Bainimarama while conducting business with China, whose human rights abuse is legendary. A military dictator ruled over Pakistan for what, near on a decade? And nobody made a fuss about it, because he was co-operating with the US and other allies. So long as they get something out of the deal, it’s okay to turn a blind eye to the situation, but because Fiji can’t offer anything more than cheap holiday fares, our government wants to get indignant and self-righteous about it. *eyeroll*

Probably nobody’s going to care about a history lecture, but I found it interesting enough that I kinda bonded with my father [!] in a discussion of Fiji’s coup culture.

A Fijian, Rabuka, who was third in command of the military, led a coup in ’87, and appointed himself Prime Minister.

- he was in power unofficially til ’94

- he won the election and was the officially in power til ’99.

This dude ended up spending more time as head honcho illegally than legally. [No fuss from overseas nations, btw.]

An Indian, Chaudhry, won the ’99 election but only retained power til the 2000 Speight coup. This guy wasn’t too bright or ambitious, it seems- who goes to the trouble of turfing out the government and then doesn’t take the top spot? It’s baffling!

- Instead, a Fijian, Qarase, is appointed PM and is unofficially in power from 2000-04

- He wins the election and from 2004-06, he is officially in power

Qarase’s power is short and sweet, for in 2006, Bainimarama, the leader of Fiji’s military stages a coup. A puppet PM is put in place for about six months til he is replaced by Bainimarama, who remains in power from 2007 til recently, when the courts ruled his government was illegal. The courts are disbanded, judges sacked and he is reappointed. Endless drama. :P

What I find interesting are the motivations behind each coup.

Rabuka’s coup was staged on the vague premise that the evil Indians were taking over the country and stealing opportunities away from the native Fijians. However, he gradually softens his stance and becomes- well, not exactly pro-Indian but he eliminates some of the inequality between the races. Good for him. It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong and then do something about it.

The truly sucky thing is that once he becomes moderate and governs more fairly, he loses the next election. *facepalm* This is a major simplification, but basically, some of the Fijians voted for another party because they wanted a PM who would favor them instead of being fair to the Indians, and of course all the Indians voted for Chaudhry because- well, the guy’s Indian and it’d be a grand thing to have one of their own in power, right? WRONG. Admire the irony that embracing democracy and giving a man of his background a fair go and being rewarded with this position ended up being the worst thing for the country. They JUST had a coup based on racial disharmony little over a decade ago, it was WAY too soon to have an Indian in power. It’s bloody unfair, I know that, but there was little point in achieving such a historical moment if it fractured the country and resulted in him being ousted from power. I mean, come on, how long did it take for America’s first black president, right? You can’t rush some things. Don’t give up on them, for sure, but you need a solid foundation to build upon otherwise it all collapses like a house of cards.

Speight’s coup against Chaudhry was thus based on the threat that an Indian PM posed to the country. Rabuka’s was all about generalities, here, we have a specific ‘wrong’ to be addressed. Qarase’s time in power was a stark contrast to Rabuka’s- the latter changed his policies and became friendlier to the Indians, but Qarase’s government was corrupt and discriminatory and prejudiced. [Or so the rhetoric for the next coup goes]

Which is where Bainimarama stepped in. Knee-jerk reaction: military dictatorship BAD. But if you have a corrupt government legally in power, don’t his actions seem a teensy bit better, a little more justified? He’s taking steps to eliminate the inherent racism in the system and make things fairer for all Fijians, whether they have Indian backgrounds or not. Can’t the ends justify the means every once in a while? It's a difficult moral dilemma. I don't know the answer. Maybe he'll turn out to be as corrupt as the rest of them, maybe the power will go to his head and he'll abuse his position and make life a living hell for everyone. Or maybe he'll resolve all the nation's problems, but encourage the precedent of taking power by force, which could be abused by other people with less altruistic purposes. But everyone's all over the condemnation of his actions, I just thought it was interesting to take a look at another perspective, rightly or wrongly.

What I get pissed off about are the stupid journalists that comment ever so condescendingly, so arrogantly, that they are ‘surprised by the lack of civil disobedience’. Yeah. In the last coup, we had people’s homes being burned down, shops being vandalized, people getting bashed in the streets- that really helped matters, right? STFU. It’s like they want people to get killed to make the news more interesting. Disgusting.

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Onto a shallower and infinitely prettier subject, Summer Glau, dancing! I was all kinds of gleeful at that brief ballet scene in TSCC, so I'm thrilled to see this!

She is so amazing. *sighs* Guess how jealous I am right now? >:P

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Comments

[odakota-rose.livejournal.com]

Okay, I really love how knowledgeable you are about all this stuff. I honestly didn't have a clue what any of this was about, but I kept reading, and not only did I get it, I found it fascinating. You my dear, have a way with words, I think.

On a slightly less serious note, this?

Imagine the bragging rights- ‘I revoked the frakking constitution’. DUDE. There is very little that can possibly compete with the inherent awesome of that one line.

ILU x infinity.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

It's cool that you actually read through all this, I mean, with my history, I found it compelling but I didn't think anyone else would care. *squishes*

I really love how knowledgeable you are about all this stuff

Aww, well, I had no idea myself until last week. All I knew was that Bainimarama had staged a coup and that made him a bad guy in my eyes. But my father defended him and suddenly we ended up having this pseudo-intellectual debate about the whole thing for about two hours. Now, most of my info is from him so don't go quoting me, especially on the dates, lol, but you get the gist of the situation.

What I find amusing is that Speight is apparently serving a life sentence in prison. On the surface, it's kinda funny. I mean...Rabuka threw his coup, then enjoyed power for a few years before he was democratically elected. And the only repercussions he's faced were accusations that he was involved in the Speight coup in 2000! I mean, they investigated and took him to court over it and I'm like, 'Wait, everyone KNOWS this guy took power in '87 and nobody cares but they want to prosecute him over possible involvement in the 2000 coup, wtf?'

But on a more serious note, the major difference was that with Rabuka and Bainimarama, they were military leaders so it gave some air of authority and pseudo-respectability to their reign. Speight was a civilian malcontent who stormed Parliament and kept Chaudhry and some of his Cabinet members as hostages for about two months, FFS. There's nothing respectable about that. And his rebel supporters went around burning down the properties of Indians, bashing and kidnapping people and raping women. So glad we were in Australia by then, that'd've been a really bad time to be Indo-Fijian.

The thing is, people talk about how Bainimarama's suppressing freedom of speech by shutting down the media and all that, but they're not talking about the motivations for what he's done and the wrongs he prevented by staging that coup. The division between 'ethnic' Fijians and the Indian-Fijians isn't quite as bad or widespread as Africa's apartheid but it was working up to it. Qarase refused to let the Indians be represented in Cabinet, even though they were entitled to about half the posts based on the strength of their party and the by-elections they'd won. And he was implementing a bill that'd've passed land rights over the beach and reef to the native Fijians and forced the Indians to pay them in order to operate their businesses there.

Does this make it okay to boot him out of power? Technically, legally, no. But looking at the kind of leader he was, well, I can't say I feel too bad for this guy. Plus, he broke his fair share of the rules, he had it coming.

Isn't this all rather BSG, though? The conflict between civilian/military [without the bonus of a pretty ship, sadly], suppressing civil rights- bet Adama wished he could've shut down the media, lol...

There's a whole hue and cry over censoring the media but the thing is, Bainimarama seems to be trying to do the right thing and letting people go instigating trouble and possibly trying to raise a mutiny isn't the most efficient way to fix the problem, right? Democracy doesn't always work. It needs to be built on a solid base. The country's falling apart right now, you have to fix the root of the problem before worrying about 'petty' things. I can see his reasoning behind these 'draconian' measures. I can also see the potential for it to slide into tyranny, yes, but I sympathize with his aims and so his actions don't seem too bad right now.

/lecture. ^_^ Got a little carried away there...

ILU x infinity.

*glomps* I can't resist looking at this very srs bizness in a light-hearted, facetious way. I understand it's not a trifling matter to be amused by, but I can't help it... :P

[laurandbillever.livejournal.com]

global domination, huh? :P:P good luck with that :D:D:D

and that vid is indeed gorgeous!! wow... why didn't I play ballet as a kid...? I will always regret it- it makes your posture and every move so graceful...

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :D You know I'll find a place for you in my new government. We can totally divide the planet into twelve colonies and rename the countries after Picon and Caprica and so on. :P Set up a Quorum and everything! [Except I won't allow any scheming convicts at the table, kthxbai *stabs Zarek*]

I WISH I had some dancing ability! I'm such a klutz in real life, it's very sad. *sniffles* Summer makes me jealous, she's a great actress AND she can dance professionally? Unfair!

[laurandbillever.livejournal.com]

wow!! I liike your plan!! :P:P And agree on Zarek, of course! Now we must find our President :P:P

Ah, dancing... maybe if you take some lessons? I am kind of a natural dancer and I tried to teach other people but I couldn't... so we all ended up on the floor eating ice-cream... I had a really short teaching career hihih :P:P But why don't you try some latino dabces? they are really cool :)

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Well, until we find our Laura Roslin, I'll take over as Interim President. :P I can't possibly do a worse job than BALTAR, right?!

Lol, the only time I dance is when I'm forced to perform traditional dances for family functions (http://borg-princess.livejournal.com/54163.html). For some reason, my cousins have to dance this week, even though it's the twins' birthday and why the frak do they have to entertain other people at their own party, right? But I got out of going to practice because I have to study. I'm doing such a stellar job of that right now, huh...? >:P

so we all ended up on the floor eating ice-cream...

*cracks up laughing* I'd vote for snacking before dancing any day! :P

Well, if you're a natural dancer, it makes sense that you can't teach that natural skill to other people, right? Lol. You're born with it or not. I'm saddled with the unco, clumsy, ungraceful genes, sadly. *pouts* I'll leave the Latino dances to you, my dear, I don't want to embarrass myself.

[laurandbillever.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh- noone can do worse job than Baltar! Even if Hitler, Stalin and Castro join forces, they will still have half the effect Baltar has hihih :D:D:D

Wow.... I loooved that dance!! But it is really unfair to entertain people on your own party... can't they just hide somewhere and let someone else do the dancing? :P Maybe excuse themselves with "studying" like yours :P:P

The only problem with snacking before dancing is that after that you are so full you move like a bag with potatoes... :P:P Not really good for dancing ^_^

Well, I don't know what I can teach about dances, but I certainly can teach them how to give up learning... after all, the floor is always so inviting :P But Latino dances are something noone will notice if you embarrass yourself- all the moves there are so chaotic that you can just say it is a part of the dance :P:P

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Even if Hitler, Stalin and Castro join forces, they will still have half the effect Baltar has

:D True that. Even Hitler didn't manage to get most of humanity wiped out. GOOD JOB, BALTAR.

Ha, I'm glad you didn't fall over laughing at us. *snorts* It was pretty nerve-wracking because for some reason, complete strangers were at the lunch; neighbors, people from church...*shudders* It's bad enough when it's JUST family without having random people there as well. >:[

But yeah, the thing is, the girls' father is coming up from Samoa for a visit, so I guess it's kind of a respect/courtesy thing? I'm not up with cultural traditions, but dancing is a big part of the Samoan culture and kind of a way to 'honor' people.

So glad I got excused because they're learning a new dance- it took me months to master the last one, I feel so bad for them having just a week to prepare!

all the moves there are so chaotic that you can just say it is a part of the dance :P:P

HA, nice loophole. But I watch So You Think You Can Dance and there is NO WAY I can ever do even a fraction of what those dancers do. *spazzes* It's scary seeing the women being tossed around in the air, I just feel so terrified that they'll be dropped and break their necks...ack!

[laurandbillever.livejournal.com]

yeah, exactly- Baltar did a very nice job....

Noo- no laughing- I don't see dances like these often so it was interesting :) and dancing in front of random people *shivers* that must have been a nightmare...

Ah, an honour thing, I see... cool tradition- dancing... but ONLY A WEEK? ohh... poor them...

Wow!! Noo- tossing in the air is not an option even for me.... I am firmly on the ground... I agree with you on that one :D I haven't watched that show but I better don't do it anytime soon :P:P

[dragonladyk.livejournal.com]

What I get pissed off about are the stupid journalists that comment ever so condescendingly, so arrogantly, that they are ‘surprised by the lack of civil disobedience’.

It is the Fijian people's right and responsibility to overthrow or choose to allow Bainimara's dictatorship and theirs alone. Just because the way Bainimara is doing things offends our Democratic sensibilites does not mean that he is the worst course of action for the Fijians. I mean, Napoleon offended American and English sensibilities -- and the sensibilites of the French aristocracy -- but the common people loved Napoleon and would have kept him forever if they could. He was better to the common man than any of the aristocrats even with the drafts. Secondly, governmental problems are something that each country has to figure out for themselves. Running in and imposing another form of government on people doesn't work -- look at Iraq. The only way Iraq could have successfuly transitioned to Democracy is if the various factions had united and overthown Saddam themselves. Forcing unity and democracy on them won't and can't work because they aren't ready yet to bury the hatchet. I also think it's the height of American arrogance to go into another country and tell them what's best for them and how they should behave. Puritanical bullshit.

DragonLady

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Hey, interesting point about Napoleon. I didn't realize that before- probably the fact that the only time I've read about him is in a fantasy series with dragons. *facepalm*

Just because the way Bainimara is doing things offends our Democratic sensibilites does not mean that he is the worst course of action for the Fijians.

THIS. Okay, what with the media blackout, nobody can tell for sure what's going on there, but the thing is, he seems to be doing this for the right reasons. Qarase was all about victimizing the Indians, taking away their land, enforcing racist policies, allowing corruption to flourish...if that kind of thing is so widespread and pervasive and supported at the top echelons of government, simply asking in a quiet firm voice to please stop isn't going to achieve anything.

governmental problems are something that each country has to figure out for themselves. Running in and imposing another form of government on people doesn't work

ITA. Firstly, I think it's bloody hypocritical that they want to dictate how Fiji should be run when there's gross injustice and lack of democracy happening in other countries that they turn a blind eye to- and also, democracy is a great thing when it works the right way, but it's democracy that put this corrupt guy in power in the first place, and trying to reinstate that system without fixing all the flaws is just going to make the situation Fiji even worse, for Indians in particular, and eventually the whole population.