There's been little coverage here (at least from what I've seen) in regards to the political turmoil/mess going on in Fiji.
The Australian media, however, has been covering it quite closely. (Fiji is a major tourist destination.)
The ABC and BBC have rather good coverage and summaries online, but to briefly summarise:
Fiji's president scrapped its Constitution and said that the Military strongman who had overthrown the previous government can stay in power for another 5 years. This led to a collective "oh hell no" from the international community. The Fijian government subsquently has begun kicking all the foreign journalists out as a response, and imposed censorship on local media.
It all looks a bit like something we've seen happen before in Africa/Caribbean/the Americas (Patriot Act & Freedom Fries, anyone?) /Eurasia (think this year's Eurovision hosts) .
Personally, I like what the Commodore stands for in regards to multiculturalism, but he just doesn't seem to trust anyone but himself to uphold it.
Unless he is the Fijian version of Kim Il-Sung.
1 comment:
in addition to being a major tourist destination for australians, fiji is also a potentially large source of refugees -- something that the australian government desperately wants to avoid having to deal with.
Post a Comment