CASTE or CLASS: The official speech of Nazhat Shameem in Geneva and posted on Fiji's Geneva Mission website on 27 February says CLASS

10/3/2017

Mr President, on the issue of racism, it must be noted that racism was institutionalised in Fiji to such an extent that it instilled in a privileged class, a sense of entitlement based on ethnicity and class, and that racist attitudes were engrained in all communities, which have resulted in mistrust, resentment and suspicion. Racism in Fiji is often disguised by assertions that a community’s own cultural identity is being submerged under the blanket of national unity. These assertions are often made by relying on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. In Fiji, the indigenous people are in the majority. They constitute to over 60% of the population and their rights to land, minerals, fishing and cultural succession are protected under the Fijian Constitution. Thus, when we talk about the rights of the indigenous in Fiji’s context, we are not speaking of a marginalised minority. We are talking about a majority community with a proud and active culture and a history of strong representation in Parliament.

Thinker

10/3/2017 08:34:26 am

SODELPA is makeing mocury of this statement. They think Rambo will get the political millage oUT of it.
The question is why majority itaukeis do not have access to basic needs till to date? Fiji always had itaukei PM but still itaukeis have not done well in life like Indo Fijians.
Why?
Answer is that privileged itaukeis never thought about raising the standards of unpriviledged itaukeis.

Why is SODELPA making a big cry about this statement? Isn't it true?

Learn and improve livessel of those itaukeis who are finding it hard to put a meal on the table.

splashViti

10/3/2017 11:22:39 am

Gosh this is unnecessarily messy as racism is a sword that cuts both ways and does not help Fiji's situation at all.

I think it would've painted a far more realistic picture if Madam Ambassador had simply replaced the word "racism" with "corruption" and "corrupt attitudes", since it is this that uses "racism" as a front, (at least in Fiji's case), to exploit situations for one's own subtle, selfish, material gain. This has been the reoccurring theme in every coup in coup-coup land.

Back in early 2013, when the draft Constitution emerged with its extensive immunity clause, i stated in one of the Fijian social media sites that Rabuka should've immediately and publicly renounced his own immunity and "let the chips fall where they may".

And he would do this if he: 1) puts the country's interest above himself, i.e. to will the good of "the other" as the good book tells us to in these kinds of situation and give the country a real chance at starting over and putting its sordid history of coups in the bin where it belongs; and 2) had he spared a thought for the plight of George Speight languishing in jail for treason, while he and his military cronies got away with impunity.

How do these people live with themselves when this glaring fact is staring at them in the face?

Back to the Madam Ambassador who should've known better than to cast her lot with this latest group of usurpers - what she's doing is an exercise in futility given the manner in which this govt initially came into power (Dec2006) with her presence firmly in the picture. The privileged caste or class that she refers to exists in her own ranks so whether she realised it or not, her other three fingers were pointing back at her.

Therefore IMHO, she cannot be part of the solution when she's part of the problem. 'When one lies with dogs, one will get up with fleas' and will forever be scratching.

Rajend Naidu

10/3/2017 02:19:41 pm

Editor,
Approaching Economics and Governance As If People Matter.
Mahatma Gandhi said " The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed ". It embodied his philosophy of
" sarvodaya " - or " welfare for all ". Instead of following that path to human progress we have been hijacked by " capitalism's inherent Darwinism " which has distorted, perverted " the natural state of mankind " which is cooperation and not dog eat dog competition. Now the greedy are perpetually on the lookout for what they can grab for themselves.
This is today responsible for the gross inequality and obscene elitism and the ravaging of the earth's resources that we are witnessing around the world. Fiji is no exception. In fact Fiji, a country with less than one million people and relatively well endowed in land, sea and human resources, provides a classic illustration of this phenomenon.
( For an elaboration see the article ' The relevance of Gandhi in the capitalism debate ' in The Guardian 28 Jan 2013, in which the Indian intellectual Rajni Bakshi talks to Oliver Balch ).
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Rajend Naidu

10/3/2017 04:38:18 pm

Editor,
A Truely Persecuted Minority
A UN rapporteur on human rights said what the military and police in Myanmar are doing to the Rohingya Muslim minority amounts to crime against humanity. Thousands of Rohingya subjected to torture, wholesale slaughter and burning of villages and rape. Over 70,000 fled to Bangladesh this year ( BBC 11/3 ).
The civilian government of Aung San Sui Kyi must be held accountable for this ( something Western democracies not too keen to do against this Nobel Peace Prize Winner ).
Aung San Sui Kyi refused to comment. She has never been to a Rohingya village to see the predicament of this persecuted people.
A toady Party spokesman said the allegations were " exaggerated ".
But the evidence is overwhelming and undeniable.
Let us spare a thought for this truly marginalised,ostracised, and violently persecuted people.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Keep The Faith link

10/3/2017 08:51:03 pm

Is the learned Madam seriously attempting to patronise viewers of that awful speech with an edited speech?

This would be too funny if it weren't so tragically pitiful (and desperate).

It's very simple

11/3/2017 10:09:14 am

Why majority itaukeis do not have access to basic needs to date is simple. For those who gave their spare land to nation building to British run Government as gifted land for economic improvement of the nation, those Fijians have ripped the benefits of getting basic needs catered for. They were given back proceeds from leasing out those land by Govt called ALTA land.

While other clans who refused to take governments offer (like Bua), they were not entitled to same budget benefits across the nation. They were happy with their existing lifestyle. But same lot did come and take top positions in govt and in parliament demanding more benefits to its constituents but not providing anything back.

So what indigenous rights we are talking about?

Gulong

11/3/2017 09:13:54 pm

Those comments coming from one of the wealthiest, ostentatious and most politically connected couples in Fiji ring hollow and smacks of hipocracy and double standards. The comments are not only ahistorical but also sociologically inaccurate. The fact is the British colonial policy of indirect rule supported a particular ruling elite as a means for rule over the masses in all countries where the British established themselves such as India, Egypt, Africa and the Caribbean. Fiji was no different. When settled agriculture started in the late 1850s at first cotton plantations slave labor was brought in through raids on indigenous settlements in various parts of Fiji by white blackbirders with the help of Tongan mercenaries like Maaufu and his henchmen working under the influence of gunrunning merchants like Hennings. Then Melanesians were stolen from their islands and brought as slaves to Fiji. The process continued after the collapse of cotton and the switch to coconut oil and then sugar. From 1869 through the influence of the British East India Company cheap labour was brought in from India. A dual system was created where natives and the new influx of labour were administered desperately and differently. When you read accounts of the period from the writings of Dr Ahmed Ali the indentured labourers looked down on the indigenous population as "jaangli" or savages and similar negative views were held by the natives towards the new migrants. The British as they did everywhere used race as an ideology to divide and rule. The manipulation of deep seated prejudice and fears was seen by the British as the cheapest means for a handful of white elites with their foppish ways to rule over a swathing mass of dark skinned illiterates, To be expected at enforced independence the ideology of race extended into electoral politics when deep seated insecurities of the main ethnic groups were used by both sides of the political divide to garner support among the illiterate masses. There was a time in the -1950s when chiefs from Bau, Taveuni, Rewa and Lau -/ eastern Fiji -- could be described as a privileged class relative to the ordinary people. What determined their material difference was their occupation. But this structure began to change from the 1960s on when education started to determine who progressed up the social ladder. This is why few of the descendants of those you might call the privileged Class then are to be found in prominent positions from even prior to Bainimarama and Khaiyum's coup up until today. The lady ambassador far from being concerned about the accuracy of her statement was merely concerned with mouthing a particular point of view to legitimise the government that put her there in the first place. The speech actually sounds like it was written by Khaiyum himself. He obviously failed his History and Sociology classes at USP if he took them st all as st USP he was but a drama student interested in Shakespear and theatrics

Chiku

12/3/2017 11:38:41 pm

Without the insights of history ( an understanding of the historical context and experience ) and a sociological perspective one can at best provide only a superficial and at worse a misguided reading and analysis of the contemporary Fiji politics and society. That is the predicament of Madam Nazhat Shameem's speech as Gulong has correctly pointed out.
Madam Shameem might have a brilliant legal mind but that does not make her an authority on Fiji politics and society and the nature of social stratification in it.
That requires a different kind of learning which the Madam is lacking.

Sociologist

13/3/2017 09:15:58 am

@Chiku, does that means one has to be a PHD in Sociology to talk abt Social issues?

Don't underestimate common man, they too have mind of their own

Chiku

22/3/2017 04:00:45 pm

When sociology professor Nii KPlange ( look up his research and publications ) and trained sociologist with expertise in military sociology as well Mensah Adinkrah ( Crime, Deviance & Delinguency in Fiji, 1995 ) talk about social issues they speak with expert authority and illuminate the issue they speak on. Their views are respected and held in high regard .
The same can't be said about people who don't have the requisite training and pretend to be knowledgeable about societal issues.

Bahuki

22/3/2017 10:20:03 am

I don't think she even realizes that the caste system came with the first indentured laborers since the class system was already there.

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CASTE or CLASS: The official speech of Nazhat Shameem in Geneva and posted on Fiji's Geneva Mission website on 27 February says CLASS

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