The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, July 30th, 2003.
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Canberra's "Stupid White Men" are the problem not the solution
Troops and police from Australian and New Zealand and a sprinkling from
several Pacific Island states have landed on Guadacanal, the principle
island in the Solomons Islands. They are set to re-establish "law and
order" Australian style.
by Peter Symon
The economic, political and social problems that the people of the
Solomon Islands and many other nations of the Pacific Ocean face will
not be solved by the policies that the Australian Government intends to
impose.
These policies are not the solution, they are the problem. They are the
failed policies that have created what are derogatively referred to as
"failed states" by Western leaders and the media.
Geoffrey Barker writing in the Australian Financial Review (23/7/03)
summed it up: "For years Australia has used its regional dominance to
push Pacific nations towards the nirvana of free-market economic
reforms: tariff cuts, private sector promotion, reduced government
spending, more rigorous public accountability and investment transparency".
Dismal results
Barker recognises the disastrous results. He writes: "The results have
been dismal in big countries like Papua New Guinea and Fiji; they have
been non-existent in smaller, poorer places like Kiribati, the Marshall
Islands and Nauru."
Instead of accepting and recognising this truth, the Howard Government
intends to continue to foist these policies on the Pacific Island states
by military might.
This is the real agenda behind Howard's latest proposal to push for
"pooled regional governance" of the Pacific Island nations.
Howard has questioned whether these "countries should have been given
independence". Having raised this question it is inevitable that
arguments will appear in the media that they should never have been
granted independence by the former colonial powers and should not
continue to exist as independent sovereign states.
Howard made it clear that acceptance of the Australian Government's
plans will be a factor in determining future military intervention in
other countries and allocation of overseas "aid".
He is reported as saying ominously that "Every case is different and you
can't normally act unless you're asked, particularly as the countries
aren't posing any particular immediate threat".
The phrase "not normally act" implies that he would be prepared to act
pre-emptively even without any invitation from the target country.
The arc of instability
Writing in the Financial Review, (23/7/03) Laura Tingle says, "The arc
of instability is seen to extend from Indonesia to New Zealand, taking
in problem spots such as East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, the
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji".
In the eyes of the Australian Government, all of these countries are
ripe for intervention and occupation by Australian military forces and
administrators.
Private sector priorities
There are innumerable statements by Howard, Downer and other government
representatives which prove that their principle objective is to
recolonises and enforce economic rationalist priorities on all the
Island states.
In August 2002, Howard said that the Island states must have law and
order and security for people if they are "going to attract foreign
investment and if they don't attract foreign investment in a globalised
economy their living standards so far from rising run the risk of
sinking further".
In August 1999, Alexander Downer told an audience at the Murdoch
University that "good governance" meant, among other things, "support
for sensible market-oriented economic policies."
In May 1998, the parliamentary secretary to Alexander Downer, Kathy
Sullivan MP, told an audience of businessmen in Cairns that the role of
the private sector ". involves divesting governments of activities which
can be better conducted by the private sector". She said, "Many of the
activities which Australia funds in the infrastructure and education
sectors [in its aid programs], also contribute to private sector
development."
Kathy Sullivan said that, "Reducing poverty and encouraging sustainable
development are at the heart of all our overseas aid efforts".
The exact opposite is the result of the policies being imposed.
What did the people of Papua New Guinea gain from the BHP gold mine at
Ok Tedi? Did their standard of living rise from the devastation of their
timber resources by foreign logging companies?
Did the people of Bougainville prosper from the Panguna Copper Mine
owned by CRA (Rio Tinto)?
Have the people of West Papua benefited from the huge mines operated by
American investment at Westernport?
In all cases the answer is a resounding "NO". Quite the opposite. It
meant death and destruction, theft of lands, war, poisoning of rivers
and the environment, and the exploitation of people and resources.
Aid with strings
For some time the Australian Government used aid programs to enforce its
economic policies. While continuing to use "aid" as a weapon, it now
intends to use military force and the physical takeover of government
operations in the Island states as well.
Military and police forces are already being trained for this purpose.
At a press conference (22/7/03) Howard gave as an example of "aid" the
"proposal that we trained police in Fiji for use in different parts of
the region". This is nothing more than the preparation of a police force
as mercenaries to be used to do Australia's dirty work "in different
parts of the region".
In addition to the military and police forces sent to the Solomons there
are also "45 law and justice bureaucrats and 20 other bureaucrats to set
up budget and economic systems". (The Age 23/7/03)
The military, the police and the "justice" system of the Solomon Islands
are to be controlled by Australian commanders and bureaucrats. The
finances of the country's government are to be taken over by Australian
managers.
Recolonisation
What is this if not colonialism? Their mission is to make the Solomons
"secure" for foreign investors.
We are told that these "failed states" might provide a haven for
drug-runners, criminals and terrorists, that their governments are
corrupt and they comprise an "arc of instability" to the north of Australia.
The arguments used to justify intervention in the Solomons will be
recycled when the time comes to occupy Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu,
Nauru or any other states.
The chairman of directors of Oil Search Ltd, Trevor Kennedy, writing in
The Australian (22/7/03), complained that he had not received support
for an oil pipeline project running from Papua New Guinea to Queensland.
"Maybe this adventure in the Solomons will change things. Let's hope so
because political and economic conditions in the Pacific continue to
deteriorate.", Mr Kennedy wrote.
In an attempt to frighten Australians into supporting his project he
threatens: "What do you do if half a million of them turn up in their
canoes on Cape York peninsula? A bit more preventive medicine is worth
thinking about." (Emphasis added)
Obviously Mr Kennedy hopes that Australian troops will soon arrive in
Papua New Guinea and make things "secure" for Oil Search Ltd.
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