Coup In Fiji Research Articles

‘Marriage’ to capital: the fallback positions of Fiji's women garment workers

The May 2000 coup in Fiji prompted a flight of capital from the country's garment industry. As workers lost their jobs, attention turned away from improving wages and conditions to retaining garment factory jobs in the country. What can feminist researchers contribute in a climate of high capital mobility that prohibits organising for a living wage? This paper applies Amartya Sen's idea of women's ‘fallback positions’ in relation to their husbands to an exploration of women's ‘marriage’ to capital. An exploration of the lives of women garment factory workers beyond the workplace reveals the potential to enhance women's negotiating power in relation to their employers—by boosting women's individual and collective assets and their access to support from state and NGOs, to other income‐earning means, and to social support systems upon which to call for assistance.

Imagining Modernity in Rural Fiji

Understanding ethnic identity in Fiji and elsewhere in the Pacific requires looking at the ways that individuals draw on ideologies to make sense of the particular circumstances of their lives. While national identity in Fiji is often defined in opposition to the West through reference to a romanticized premodern tradition, individual Fijians are more concerned with defining their identity vis-a-vis other villagers. When people justify their position within the indigenous Fijian community, they question and redefine both tradition and modernity. Modernity is experienced individually as contradictions between competing ideologies and local experience through idiosyncratic life circumstances. Modern and traditional are not opposites but creatively redefined as having much in common. (Fiji, modernity, postcolonialism, ethnic identity, Pacific) Much literature has examined the ways tradition in the Pacific is invented or imagined to define present identity and achieve contemporary goals (e.g. Keesing 1989; Lawson 1996; Linnekin 1990). This article follows Englund and Leach (2000), Riles (2001), and Robbins (2001) in suggesting that the ways Pacific people imagine modernity is just as crucial as the ways they invent tradition for constructing their sense of self. Modernity, in the form of increased flows of capital, commodities, ideologies, and images, is a state of the world; but, following Ferguson (1999) and Riles (2001), modernity, like the concept of tradition, is also a local construct, imagined in a variety of ways to make sense of particular life circumstances. Ferguson (1999) and Riles (2001) both argue that Third World peoples use constructs of modernity to define identities for themselves within local culture. Ferguson (1999) says that his Zambia informants in the 1980s sounded as if they had read 1950s sociology texts on modernization theory when they stressed the need for strong nuclear families, independent individuals, and the need to work hard and try new things in order to bring about economic development. While social scientists and Third World governments have largely rejected modernization theory, it lives on in the minds of those who grew up under the policies it shaped. Ferguson (1999) suggests that Zambians slip in and out of modernity as a distinctive style in order to position themselves in Zambian society; for instance, espousing nuclear families and avoiding the demands of rural relatives. Riles (2001) similarly argues that urban Fijian workers in NGOs define their identity within the Fijian community through an international aesthetic of modernity that constructs problems and approaches in terms of international concepts like the need for networks and for grids generating goals and plans for action. Both scholars suggest that modernity is constructed in imagination to create local identities (cf. Englund 2002). The life stories of several rural Fijians show that constructs of modernity are just as crucial to imagining identity as constructs of tradition. Examining how people use constructs of modernity to imagine their identities is important for understanding debates about the effects of colonization and globalization on Pacific identities. Some anthropologists (e.g., Barber 1997) argue that Third World postcolonials are trapped in a dynamic of trying to restore local control and pride by embracing romanticized, essentialist, ethnic identities. In Fiji, for instance, prominent government figures have rejected democracy based on common roll elections as inappropriate to a Fijian culture based on ranked vanua (chieftainships tied to particular pieces of land). This was part of an effort to protect Fijian control of land and government when many feared that unchecked economic competition would quickly relegate indigenous Fijians to the bottom of a national and world order (Keesing 1989; Lawson 1996). These ideas were apparently illustrated by a 2000 coup in Fiji that brought with it renewed calls to return to a Fijian tradition of chiefly control and ties to the land. …

Interdisciplinary Approaches in Pacific Studies: Understanding the Fiji Coup of 19 May 2000

The reasons behind Fiji's military coup of 19 May 2000 are complex, and cannot be fully understood on a purely rational or empirical level. An interdisciplinary approach that embraces culture and history, informed by fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as personal experience, offers insights into Fijian-Indian relations. In this paper I explore the nature and usefulness of the interdisciplinary process in helping to make sense of a specific event in Fiji's history; I also seek to better understand the guiding principles that might inform future interdisciplinary research and writing. This does not mean that the approach here is necessarily applicable to understanding other similar events or topics. My primary goal is not to lay down principles set in stone but rather to stimulate discussion and debate on interdisciplinary approaches to Pacific studies.

The Limits of Electoral Engineering: The Alternative Vote and the 2000 Coup in Fiji

In the wake of the May 2000 coups d’etat in Fiji, some have laid part of the blame for the coups on the electoral system. The commander of Fiji’s military forces, Frank Bainimarama, went so far as to file an affidavit during the proceedings against the Interim Government, alleging that the electoral system was to blame for the coups. This is an issue that will no doubt be debated at length after the August 2001 elections.This paper will address the question of whether the electoral system used in the 1999 general elections was a cause of the May 2000 coups. The paper will discuss the findings and recommendations of the Reeves Commission, as well as the actual electoral system that was eventually adopted. It will also review the results of the 1999 election. Finally, it will consider the influence of greater social factors, the impact of which outweighs the impact of the electoral system on the events of May 2000.

The Bure Newsroom

Poolside rumours at the Centra and the media peddling of them had much to answer for in foreign coverage of the Fiji coup. One reporter was an extreme example of the Stockholm Syndrome but others who remained in Parliament day after day also quickly became George Speight's propaganda arm.

Political Legitimacy and the Post-colonial State in the Pacific: Reflections on Some Common Threads in the Fiji and Solomon Islands Coups

The recent hostage crises in Fiji and the Solomon Islands quickly merged into a series of deeper crises to do with the political legitimacy of the government of the day, of the Constitution, of 'democracy', and even of the idea of the post-colonial state itself as a continuing political entity. While the other twelve post-colonial states in the Pacific share many of the common threads in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, these are unlikely to turn into ethno-nationalist crises concerned with the very survival of democratic change, the system of governance and of the state itself.

George Speight's Coup in Fiji and White-Collar Crime in Queensland

The dangerous uncertainties and complications of George Speight's coup in Fiji have been partly formed by his association with white-collar crime in Queensland. Speight's involvement in at least one fraudulent financial scheme in Brisbane helped to shape the events leading up to his seizure of parliament and kidnapping of the elected government of Fiji on 19 May 2000. This parody of a coup, led by Speight (a failed businessman with no military experience) and a small contingent of ascetic SAS-styled soldiers, soon to be joined by a gaggle of rustics and Suva's lumpenproletariat, was a spectacle of the unexpected. Speight's adventurism today imposes immense costs on the people of Fiji. His financial schemes when he was living in Brisbane left a number of victims in Queensland.

Death and the Maiden: The Feminine and the Nation in Recent New Zealand Films

Previous articleNext article No AccessDeath and the Maiden: The Feminine and the Nation in Recent New Zealand FilmsMaureen MolloyMaureen Molloy Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 25, Number 1Autumn, 1999 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/495417 Views: 16Total views on this site Citations: 7Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1999 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Creating Global Subjects, (Jun 2013): 125–151.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118295748.ch6Susanna Trnka Specters of Uncertainty: Violence, Humor, and the Uncanny in Indo-Fijian Communities Following the May 2000 Fiji Coup, Ethos 39, no.33 (Aug 2011): 331–348.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2011.01196.xDeborah Martin Wholly ambivalent demon-girl: horror, the uncanny and the representation of feminine adolescence in Lucrecia Martel's La niña santa, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 17, no.11 (Apr 2011): 59–76.https://doi.org/10.1080/14701847.2011.589213Erin Mercer Missing in Action: Repression, Return, and the Post-War Uncanny, (Jan 2011): 1–35.https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230119093_1Duncan Wheeler The representation of domestic violence in popular English-language cinema, New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 7, no.22 (Oct 2009): 155–175.https://doi.org/10.1386/ncin.7.2.155/1Margaret Jolly LOOKING BACK?, Australian Feminist Studies 24, no.5959 (Mar 2009): 99–121.https://doi.org/10.1080/08164640802680627Maureen Molloy Cutting-edge Nostalgia: New Zealand Fashion Design at the New Millennium, Fashion Theory 8, no.44 (May 2015): 477–490.https://doi.org/10.2752/136270404778051537

The contempt case of the 'Tongan three'

Media commentators see the jailings of two Taimi 'o Tongajournalists and an MP whistleblower in Tonga as the most serious threat to media freedom in the South Pacific since the Fiji coups in 1987. But Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka sees the harsh move as a lesson for journalists. Other critics regard the issue as one of a need for greater professionalism.

REVIEW: Vibrant, stimulating view of region's nationalism, media

Review of: Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific, by David Robie. London, Zed Books, 1989; Sydney: Pluto Press, 1990; Manila: Malaya Books, 1991.
 Events in recent years in the South Pacific have dispelled hitherto widely held perceptions of the region as a peacefully modernising backwater of traditional societies. In particular, the 1987 coups in Fiji galvanised the attention of politicians and academics. But in truth, this was just one of a series of crises besetting South Pacific island states. David Robie's Blood on their Banner goes beyond the many accounts focusing on the Fiji coups to link together a range of events under the rubric of responses to colonialism and the emergence of Pacific nationalism. His credentials for doing this are excellent.

Wendy Bacon: A bullet and an orchid

Wendy Bacon, a winner of the Walkley Award, exposed corrupt activities by some New South Wales police officers and also foreigners implicated in the Fiji coups. Now an academic, Associate Professor Bacon assisted University of PNG's new investigative journalism course.

Conceptual Issues in the Comparative Study of Regime Change and Democratization

There is no richer field of enquiry in contemporary comparative politics than the study of regime change and especially democratization. Throughout the last two decades, and especially in the 1980s, many authoritarian regimes around the world, while perhaps not succumbing altogether, have certainly withered. The most extensive changes have come about in eastern Europe. In southern Europe and parts of Latin America, too, democratization has gained in strength, while in Asia the Philippines and South Korea have experienced similar movement. But in Asia the repression of some democratization movements has also been severe, China and Burma providing notable examples. Another exception to the democratization trend was the coup in Fiji, the first in the Pacific. But in some neighboring countries such as Tonga and Western Samoa, resistance to traditional rule (although it is relatively benign) is growing, and more democratic institutions may emerge. South Africa is still undergoing a significant transformation. Elsewhere in Africa authoritarian regimes continue to predominate and are likely to do so for some time. There is, nonetheless, a growing dissatisfaction with single-party rule which has generated a wave of demands for more pluralistic political institutions.'

Fiji Politics of Illusion: The Military Coups in Fiji.

Fiji Politics of Illusion: The Military Coups in Fiji.

Evidence, ideology and miscalculation : public opinion and the 1987 military coups in Fiji

Scarr Deryck. Evidence, ideology and miscalculation : public opinion and the 1987 military coups in Fiji. In: Journal de la Societe des oceanistes, 92-93, 1991-1-2. pp. 69-88.

Review article: The contemporary history of Fiji

Power and Prejudice, The Making of the Fiji Crisis. By Brij V. Lai. New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Wellington, 1988, viii, 204 pp, notes, appendices. Fiji. The Politics of Illusion. The Military Coups in Fiji. By Deryck Scarr. New South Wales University Press, Kensington, NSW, 1988. xx, 161 pp, illus., references, index. Fiji. Shattered Coups. By Robert T. Robertson and Akosita Tamanisau, with an afterword by Bruce Knapman. Pluto Press Australia, Leichhardt, NSW, 1988. xvii, 198 pp, map, notes, index. Rabuka. No Other Way. By Eddie Dean and Stan Ritova. Doubleday, Sydney, 1988. 174 pp, illus., index. Coup and Crisis: Fiji — A Year Later. Edited by Satendra Prasad. Revised and enlarged edition. Arena Publications, North Carlton, Vic., 1989. Fiji. Opportunity from Adversity? By Wolfgang Kasper, Jeff Bennett and Richard Blandy. CIS Papers 1. The Centre for Independent Studies, St Leonards, NSW, 1988. xvii, 168 pp, tables, appendix, bibliog.

Politics of illusion: the military coups in Fiji

Politics of illusion: the military coups in Fiji

The Coups in Fiji: Colonial Contradictions and the Post-Colonial Crisis

The Coups in Fiji: Colonial Contradictions and the Post-Colonial Crisis

Soviet Perceptions of the South Pacific in the 1980s

The South Pacific, a huge region with a strong Christian tradition, a powerful American and European presence, and increasing Soviet interest, is being thrust into the forefront of international affairs. Anti-American and anti-French feeling is growing. Nuclear testing in Micronesia and French Polynesia has aroused furious reaction, which is partly responsible for the recent Raratonga Treaty that seeks to make the South a nuclear-free zone. In New Zealand, David Lange's Labor Party has banned U.S. ships carrying nuclear weapons from visiting New Zealand ports. The Fijian Labor Party came to power with the same policy before it was deposed in a coup. Many in the South would like to avoid a potential superpower conflict, and take their region down a non-confrontational Pacific way. At the same time, the coups in Fiji and unrest in New Caledonia highlight the complex ethnic issues within the region itself. It is a very diverse area, peopled with both native and immigrant populations, where industrialized countries exist alongside tiny island states. In this context, USSR fishing agreements with Kiribati and Vanuatu have focused what appears to be a growing Soviet interest and even presence in the area. Soviet perceptions of the South are a key to understanding Soviet foreign policy and an indication of ideological thinking; they provide insight into how the Soviets adapt their thinking and policy to a complex area.

Race, politics, and the coup in Fiji

The military coup that took place in Fiji on 14 May 1987 is generally seen as having been prompted largely by racial tensions in terms of a deepening conflict between “Indian” political ambitions and indigenous Fijian rule. The impression given is that the National Federation party/Labour coalition government, elected less than six weeks earlier, was a government dominated by the Fiji Indians and that the Fijian population was therefore faced with a considerable threat to traditional rights in their own country, particularly with respect to land ownership. Certainly, the coup has been justified by its perpetrators as a necessary measure aimed at restoring and preserving indigenous rights. The recent upsurge of Fijian nationalism via the Taukei movement, both immediately prior to and following the May coup, the return to prominence of the leading chiefs of Fiji, and the general moves to entrench indigenous Fijian political control under a revised constitution lend much force to such a perception. The racial explanation, then, may not only seem obvious to the casual observer, but also fits in neatly with plural society theory. The issues involved, however, are much more complex, and a simplistic racial interpretation of the recent events in Fiji is not only inadequate, but quite misleading.

Two military coups in Fiji

The first Fiji coup of 14 May 1987 sought to reinstall a feudal aristocracy which had been severely threatened by a narrow defeat in the elections of the previous month. The coup reaffirmed the aristocracy's control over both polity and economy at a time when the newly elected government had been attempting to divide the two realms by creating a stronger, nonethnic state and an economy which was based upon principles which were rational, rather than ethnic and feudal. The aristocrats or chiefs tried to mobilize indigenous Fijian fears of Indian domination to justify the coup. However, conflicts within the indigenous Fijian community were at least as important in the events leading to the coup. Specifically, the new government elevated well-educated commoners over aristocrats, and these commoners (including Prime Minister Bavadra) were disproportionately from western Fiji, an area which has been subjected to the internal colonialism of eastern aristocrats for over one hundred years. This paper sees the origins of the first coup in class conflict and associated internal colonialism. It concludes with some speculations about the future, suggesting that Fiji is entering a new stage of ethnic relations roughly comparable to that of Malaysia, a society to which it is frequently compared, and that this process has been accelerated by the second coup of 25 September 1987.