LL:ART: OPPOSITION GROWS TO FIJIAN COUP

[Communist Party of Australia]

Opposition grows to Fijian coup

Fiji's crisis is in its third week and the effects are being felt
right across the region. On Monday, June 5 reports from the
Solomon Islands indicated a coup attempt by the Malaita Eagle
Force. Key government buildings were under siege with mobs
roaming the streets.

In Fiji not only has the democratically elected government been
overthrown but the fabric of civil society is disintegrating into
mob rule as the crisis drags on. In a classic example of
appeasement the Australian Government has so far, delayed
implementation of the measures which were announced more than a
week ago.

Meanwhile acts of orchestrated violence against innocent
communities and families in rural areas have taken place.

A press release from Fiji's People's Coalition, Fiji Labour Party
dated June 3 reports on the pattern of violence saying that "They
involve groups of 8 to 10 masked men, armed with iron bars, semi-
automatic rifles, knives and rocks. Some of whom remain on guard
outside, while the others smash their way into a house, loot,
destroy and physically assault the terrified family members. In
many cases, the young daughters of a family are threatened with
rape if they do not get what they want. Temples and holy shrines
have also been deliberately targeted".

The press release states that the "raids are methodical and
planned to target Indo-Fijian families living in isolated
settlements. In some instances, the houses are burned down
altogether".

The first incidents took place right after Prime Minister
Chaudhry and his government were taken hostage and have continued
since then. The perpetrators are young men from villages with
close kinship ties with George Speight.

Military, police complicity

The military government claimed to be acting to restore law and
order but clearly sympathises with Speight and his gang. There
are also reports of police complicity with police officers
actively involved in transporting slaughtered cattle and
livestock, root crops and other stolen food directly to the
parliamentary complex to feed Speight's men.

Courts are also virtually condoning the lawlessness and
criminality by imposing $20 dollar fines for stealing and
looting.

Trade unions

Fijian trade unions are angry at the continuing hijacking of the
democratically elected government.

The Fiji Trades Union Congress declared: "Like all other
democratic bodies in the country, [we] cannot give any
recognition to the unlawful and illegal interim military
government". The TU Congress will "exert all the pressure it can
to restore the 1997 Constitution and the democratically elected
government. Its resolve to achieve both these goals is absolute".

The Fijian trade unions are vowing to bring Fiji to a halt to put
pressure on the authorities and the military to rethink their
actions.

Mr Anthony, the Congress's national secretary, condemned the
Australia Fiji Business Council as "selfish" after it called on
Australian trade unions to lift bans imposed on postal, airline
and shipping services to Fiji.

The Council's president, Mr Ross Porter claimed that the bans
would only hurt innocent Fijians. In reply, Mr Anthony pointed
out that "they are looking at their business and how they [could]
continue to make their own money. We have bigger things at stake
here like democracy, the rule of law and the restoration of a
democratically elected government."

International union solidarity

The Commonwealth Trade Union Council plans to circulate a Fiji
crisis submission to members of the Commonwealth Ministerial
Action Group. John Monks, the British TUC General Secretary,
wrote to the British Foreign Minister, Robyn Cook urging the
Commonwealth to ensure that the Commonwealth continues to
recognise the Labour-led People's Coalition Government of Fiji
and that the 1997 Constitution is upheld.

"In the event of failure by the current military regime to
restore democracy and the rule of law, we would call upon the
Commonwealth to take immediate actions to expel Fiji and sever
all diplomatic, trade, sports and military links with any
illegitimate government in Fiji", said the letter.

The Executive Committee of the 20-million-strong International
Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions
(ICEM) have condemned the violence and illegality of the attempt
to overthrow the democratically elected government of Fiji. The
ICEM pledged to "mobilise a campaign of international actions" to
support the call for the release of the hostages and a return to
democracy.

The ILO Workers Group has also declared its support for the
request from the Fiji Trade Union Congress for solidarity support
and action by unions in the region and internationally. The group
"welcomed the boycott action already being undertaken by
Australian workers and other trade union organisations in the
region."

Despite the growing international trade union support for
restoration of democracy in Fiji, the main burden of the struggle
is resting with the people of Fiji themselves.

Canefarmers boycott crop

The two largest Fijian cane farmers' unions have come together to
jointly protest the hostage situation. More than 2,500
canefarmers are refusing to take in the harvest until the
Chaudhry government is restored. Mr Peni an indigenous Fijian
canefarmer said he was prepared to join a boycott of the sugar
cane harvest, depriving the country of important export income.
"Chaudhry is a very capable person. He used to talk on behalf of
us. He represented the Fijians as workers. He was very concerned
about poor people," said Mr Peni.

Split?

A serious development is a move to split Fiji into eastern and
western states. One of the chiefs of the western region with its
main city of Nadi, has put forward such a proposal following
talks with the US Ambassador to Fiji. A spokesman for the region
said that the US ambassador "expected" that the US would provide
"financial, technical and military advice."

A weekend meeting in the west which attracted about 600 people
called for the separation of the west, the richest part of the
country.

However, the Fijian  Times appealed to the Great Council of
Chiefs to take decisive action to resolve the impasse as splits
among the Fijian community opened wider. "And still the chiefs
[do not] move to arrest the situation," said the newspaper. "The
country cannot afford to become a Pacific version of Kosovo or
Rwanda."

Both the military coup of 1987 led by Sitiveni Rabuka and the
present coup of George Speight have been directed against Labour
governments which were implementing progressive policies. In one
instance the Prime Minister, Dr Bavandra, was an indigenous
Fijian while Mahendra Chaudhry is of Indian descent. It is clear
from this that the two coups have class interests behind them and
that nationality issues are merely an excuse by which the coup
leaders are attempting to win popular support.



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