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The Pacific way of life is
under threat. This warning came from the late Prime Minister of Fiji,
Ratu Mara.
Until some thirty years ago, the natural habitat, traditions and cultures
of the Pacific islands remained largely untouched, far from the tourist
destinations that are the Pacific Islands today, still enjoying the younger
years of political independence.
This harmonious life suddenly came to an end with numerous coups, political
instability and other symptoms that quickly brought the Pacific region
into the international political scene where reports of political instability,
coups d'etat, and continuous changes of governments became part of the
scene.
During twenty years, the Pacific region has seen conflicts of all types,
from the Bougainvillian crisis over the exploitation of natural resources,
to the military coups in Fiji, to the ethnic conflicts in the Solomon
Islands, to recent legislation by the Tongan government to severely restrict
the freedom of the press.
Added to this list of endless political crises is the growing economic
constraint, that gradually brings the Pacific Island countries to a situation
of dependency on imports in the name of the World Trade Organisation's
(WTO) compliance and compatibility policies.
When one asks government
trade officials about the reasons for joining the WTO bandwagon, the response
is fatalistic-"What can we do? All our so-called partners are demanding
that we comply with the WTO rules and policies. Do we have a choice?"
One simple question that is still not adequately answered is-"What can
countries like Vanuatu, Niue, Tokelau, and to a certain extent, Fiji gain
from the being a member of WTO?
A common response from
the officials is the question-"Well, what can we do without the WTO? Is
there any other option?" It is my belief that we have a choice. We always
have a choice.
It is my belief that our Pacific Islands have always survived the rough
environment, and will and can always survive.
One must admit that the lifestyle of the Pacific Islands is changing-new
demands of the Pacific Islanders increasingly fall in line with the global,
capitalist and western culture.
Our young people are influenced by the western media promoting global
brands with subtle cultural overtones. But this western-driven consumer-oriented
culture is slowly killing the Pacific way of life.
The churches in the Pacific now begin to feel the effects of this change
of lifestyle. The God-fearing Pacific Islander still exists in majority.
One can witness this in churches all around the Pacific and even here
in Australia.
But the era of the missionary telling the people has long gone and now
is replaced by people asking more and more questions about the church
as an institution that supports the establishment. Even the churches are
at a cross-roads. From our missionary heritage, we are now faced with
an ever more demanding society where justice and the prophetic voice of
the church is missing-or hiding behind the establishment.
The Pacific region stands to be the most affected by the consequences
of climate change on the environment. It is predicted that the Pacific
region will probably warm by between 0.6 and 3.5 degrees centigrade in
this century.
For the Pacific Islands, perhaps the most negative of effects is that
many of the low lying island countries currently suffer from a rise of
the seas, a rise in the salinity of the water table, the increasing erosion
of islands and many more dangers. This has reached such a critical point
that island countries such as Tuvalu are seeking agreements with other
Pacific countries to allow their population to migrate to uninhabited
islands because of the loss of land due to erosion of the low lying atolls.
Our island governments have
gone to numerous United Nations conventions calling for the ratification
of the Kyoto Protocol, as an urgent call for the future survival of the
islands. These requests have fallen on deaf ears. The Australian government
has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol citing unequal reduction levels
for industrialised countries. This has left the Pacific Island governments
with a sour aftertaste, especially when Australia claims to be the protector
of the Pacific region.
A recent study by eminent Australian and New Zealand scientists in cooperation
with the environment departments of several Pacific Island governments
on the tides in the Pacific ocean concluded that the effects, as described
by Pacific Islanders living on low lying atolls, are in fact tidal surges
and have nothing to do with climate change.
This study was quickly taken away to occupy a space on the shelf of the
environment departments. But the changes are happening as we speak-tidal
surges, as they term it, only explain a tiny percentage of the effects.
Islands in the Pacific are waist deep under water-come high or low tide.
Please don't tell us that it is the result of tidal surge.
For countries like Australia this issue is a financial and political issue
to be debated and backed up by studies etc… For us in the Pacific region,
it is a question of life or death, a question of survival. It is a matter
of priority for our region!
The recent ratification of the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement
(PICTA) has marked another step by the Pacific region to conform to global
economic policies promoted by the WTO and the Bretton Woods Institutions.
The consequences of this agreement on the lives of the Pacific peoples
needs to be assessed and analysed.
The pressure on Pacific Island governments to conform to WTO rules is
just overwhelming. Our WTO departments are poorly staffed and if our island
countries like Papua New Guinea and Fiji struggle to keep abreast with
developments in Geneva, imagine smaller countries like Tonga and Vanuatu
or even Niue and Tokelau. In fact, what benefit would Niue get from being
part of the WTO? It has a population of less than 1500 people!
Why is it that Australia (our neighbour) attacks the sugar protocol of
the ACP-EU development cooperation agreement in the WTO when it knows
that this protocol sustains the livelihood of many farmers in Fiji and
is in fact the economic backbone of the country? Why is it that Australia
is not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol when it is in a region that is suffering-or
may even disappear?
When you begin to ask these types of questions, then you begin to see
cracks in this global system that is being promoted as the only way to
economic stability and growth.
This current system provides a value to anything as long as the market
demands it. For some of us there are things that are just not tradable.
Just recently, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji shared a notion,
in a television interview, that that continuous economic growth is not
a feasible option for Fiji because of the limited absorption capacity.
Also the speed of social adaptation and improvement cannot mirror economic
growth. In other words, he challenged a cornerstone of this current neo-liberal
claim that economic growth is possible at all levels, and in all countries,
as long as there is a market and a government to put policies in place
that would enable the market to grow.
Market driven economic growth presents a view of economic life that is
inequitable, unsustainable and irreconcilable with economic justice and
the caring economy.
The churches have not been active in the discussion on the policies regulating
PICTA but are increasingly requested to address increased poverty, the
consequences of unemployment and other social ills that may be the effect
of these policies.
Despite the wave of decolonisation that brought several Pacific Island
countries to independence in the 70s and 80s, many Indigenous peoples
of the Pacific continue to be denied the right to determine their own
future by their colonial masters.
In addition, some countries in the Pacific consistently deny basic human
rights to their populations.
We are humbled by the success of the independence movements in East Timor
and Maohi (French Polynesia). For Maohi Nui, the independence party has
just won the majority in Parliament and now find themselves driving the
country instead of being the lone critical voice.
We, as the churches, commend
them for their efforts. A few more countries in our Pacific region remain
colonised- Kanaky, West Papua, and Wallis and Futuna. It is our role as
the church to call for the self-determination of these countries.
Another aspect of this geo-political issue is the safeguarding of indigenous
knowledge and the struggle against bio-piracy that affects Pacific Island
countries. In this regard, the WCC Office in the Pacific and the churches
in the Pacific continue to bring their resources together to campaign
against the exploitation of this "know-how".
Recent efforts by biogenetic engineering firms to commercialise the blood
samples of Pacific Islanders have led to strong opposition in the region
against such moves. This is a typical example of the clash of the neo-liberal
paradigm that places an economic value on everything. It is an Australian
company that aimed to commercialise the blood samples of Tongans for research
on diabetes.
The member churches of the WCC in the Pacific are considered as the mainstream
churches of those countries. The contributions of the churches to the
creation of the state have led to the assimilation of these churches into
the establishment of the countries. This has subsequently placed the churches
in a defensive position in relation to issues and values that are in contradiction
with the establishment. As such, many of the issues that challenge the
churches are often not addressed and/or quite often ignored by church
leaders.
As a result, there is an increasing perception that the churches are not
"in touch" with the reality of the region. This has numerous consequences
for the churches such as decreasing numbers of adherents, increasing incapacity
of the churches to respond to relevant issues in society, and the increasing
question of the relevance of the church in the Pacific of today.
The reality and the urgency of the situation calls for the churches to
reflect on their role in the Pacific of today. This need has been identified
by numerous consultations and regional ecumenical organisations.
At the last General Assembly of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC),
member churches and national councils of churches repeatedly voiced the
need for the ecumenical movement in the region to be revitalised and to
regain its position as the voice of the churches.
This is an opportunity for more cooperation between the Australian Churches
and the Pacific churches. The challenges faced by our people call for
links with Australian churches to go beyond structural relationships based
on our missionary connections, to a relationship based on a common agenda
on issues.
Missionary ties are not sufficient anymore-we need to forge new ties that
address common challenges.
Churches hesitant to take a stance on justice and life are complicit in
systemic injustice, and cannot be called true churches.
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