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Category: Indigenous

  • ‘Lone Soldiers’ – new Australian IDF recruits due to arrive in Israel in January

    Despite it being illegal in Australia to recruit soldiers for foreign armies, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) recruiters are hard at work enticing young Australians to join Israel’s army. Michael West Media investigates.

    INVESTIGATION: By Yaakov Aharon

    The Israeli war machine is in hyperdrive, and it needs new bodies to throw into the fire. In July, The Department of Home Affairs stated that there were only four Australians who had booked flights to Israel and whom it suspected of intending to join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

    The Australian Border Force intervened with three of the four but clarified that they did not “necessarily prevent them from leaving”.

    MWM understands a batch of Australian recruits is due to arrive in Israel in January, and this is not the first batch of recruits to receive assistance as IDF soldiers through this Australian programme.

    Many countries encourage certain categories of immigrants and discourage others. However, Israel doesn’t just want Palestinians out and Jews in — they want Jews of fighting age, who will be conscripted shortly after arrival.

    The IDF’s “Lone Soldiers” are soldiers who do not have parents living in Israel. Usually, this means 18-year-old immigrants with basic Hebrew who may never have spent longer than a school camp away from home.

    There are a range of Israeli government programmes, charities, and community centres that support the Lone Soldiers’ integration into society prior to basic training.

    The most robust of these programs is Garin Tzabar, where there are only 90 days between hugging mum and dad goodbye at Sydney Airport and the drill sergeant belting orders in a foreign language.

    Garin Tzabar
    The Garin Tzabar website. Image: MWM

    Garin Tzabar
    In 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked Minister for Aliyah [Immigration] and Integration, Tzipi Livni, to significantly increase the number of people in the Garin Tzabar programme.

    The IDF website states that Garin Tzabar “is a unique project, a collaborative venture of the Meitav Unit in the IDF, the Scout movement, the security-social wing of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, which began in 1991”. (Translated from Hebrew via Google Translate.)

    The Meitav Unit is divided into many different branches, most of which are responsible for overseeing new recruits.

    However, the pride of the Meitav Unit is the branch dedicated to recruiting all the unique population groups that are not subject to the draft (eg. Ultra-Orthodox Jews). This branch is then divided into three further Departments.

    In a 2020 interview, the Head of Meitav’s Tzabar Department, Lieutenant Noam Delgo, referred to herself as someone who “recruits olim chadishim (new immigrants).” She stated:

    “Our main job in the army is to help Garin Tzabar members to recruit . . .  The best thing about Garin Tzabar is the mashakyot (commanders). Every time you wake up in the morning you have two amazing soldiers — really intelligent — with pretty high skills, just managing your whole life, teaching you Hebrew, helping you with all the bureaucratic systems in Israel, getting profiles, seeing doctors and getting those documents, and finishing the whole process.”

    The Garin Tzabar programme specifically advertises for Australian recruits.

    The contact point for Australian recruits is Shoval Magal, the executive director of Garin Tzabar Australia. The registered address is a building shared by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Zionist Council of NSW, the community’s peak bodies in the state.

    A post from April 2020 on the IDF website states:

    “Until three months ago, Tali [REDACTED], from Sydney, Australia, and Moises [REDACTED], from Mexico City, were ordinary teenagers. But on December 25, they arrived at their new family here in Israel — the “Garin Tzabar” family, and in a moment, they will become soldiers. In a special project, we accompanied them from the day of admission (to the program) until just before the recruitment.“ (Translated from Hebrew via Google Translate).

    Michael Manhaim was the executive director of Garin Tzabar Australia from 2018 to 2023. He wrote an article, “Becoming a Lone Soldier”,’ for the 2021 annual newsletter of Betar Australia, a Zionist youth group for children. In the article, Manhaim writes:

    “The programme starts with the unique preparation process in Australia.

    . . . It only takes one step; you just need to choose which foot will lead the way. We will be there for the rest.”

    A criminal activity
    MWM is not alleging that any of the parties mentioned in this article have broken the law. It is not a crime if a person chooses to join a foreign army.

    However, S119.7 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 states:

    A person commits an offence if the person recruits, in Australia, another person to serve in any capacity in or with an armed force in a foreign country.

    It is a further offence to facilitate or promote recruitment for a foreign army and to publish recruitment materials. This includes advertising information relating to how a person may serve in a foreign army.

    The maximum penalty for each offence is 10 years.

    Rawan Arraf, executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, said:

    “Unless there has been a specific declaration stating it is not an offence to recruit for the Israel Defence Force, recruitment to a foreign armed force is a criminal offence under Australian law, and the Australian Federal Police should be investigating anyone allegedly involved in recruitment for a foreign armed force.”

    Army needing ‘new flesh’
    If the IDF are to keep the war on Gaza going, they need to fill old suits of body armour with new grunts.

    Reports indicate the death toll within IDF’s ranks is unprecedented — a suicide epidemic is claiming further lives on the home front, and reservists are refusing in droves to return to active duty.

    In October, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Bibi Netanyahu of obscuring the facts of Israel’s casualty rate. Any national security story published in Israel must first be approved by the intelligence unit at the Military Censor.

    “11,000 soldiers were injured and 890 others killed,” Lapid said, without warning and live on air. There are limits to how much we accept the alternative facts”.

    In November 2023, Shoval Magal shared a photo in which she is posing alongside six young Australians, saying, “The participants are eager to have Aliya (immigrate) to Israel, start the programme and join the army”.

    These six recruits are the attendees of just one of several seminars that Magal has organised in Melbourne for the summer 2023 cycle, having also organised separate events across cities in Australia.

    Magal’s June 2024 newsletter said she was “in the advanced stages of the preparation phase in Australia for the August 2024 Garin”. Most recently, in October 2024, she was “getting ready for Garin Tzabar’s 2024 December cycle.”

    Magal’s newsletter for Israeli Scouts in Australia
    Magal’s newsletter for Israeli Scouts in Australia ‘Aliyah Events – November 2024’. Image: MWM

    There are five “Aliyah (Immigration) Events” in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The sponsoring organisations are Garin Tzabar, the Israeli Ministry for Aliyah (Immigration) and Integration, and a who’s who of the Jewish-Australian community.

    The star speaker at each event is Alon Katz, an Australian who joined Garin Tzabar in 2018 and is today a reserve IDF soldier. The second speaker, Colonel Golan Vach, was the subject of two Electronic Intifada investigations alleging that he had invented the 40 burned babies lie on October 7 to create a motive for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.

    If any Australian signed the papers to become an IDF recruit at these events, is someone liable for the offence of recruiting them to a foreign army?

    MWM reached out for comment to Garin Tzabar Australia and the Zionist Federation of Australia to clarify whether the IDF is recruiting in Australia but did not receive a reply.

    Yaakov Aharon is a Jewish-Australian journalist living in Wollongong. He enjoys long walks on Wollongong Beach, unimpeded by Port Kembla smoke fumes and AUKUS submarines. First published by Michael West Media and republished with permission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Civil society groups call on Pacific leaders to ‘take responsibility’ over Papua injustices

    Asia Pacific Report

    Twenty five Pacific civil society organisations and solidarity movements have called on Pacific leaders of their “longstanding responsibility” to West Papua, and to urgently address the “ongoing gross human rights abuses” by Indonesia.

    The organisations — including the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS). Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) and Vanuatu Human Rights Coalition — issued a statement marking 1 December 2024.

    This date commemorates 63 years since the Morning Star flag was first
    raised in West Papua to signify the territory’s sovereignty.

    The organisations condemned the “false narrative Indonesia has peddled of itself as a morally upright, peace-loving, and benevolent friend of the Melanesian people and of the Pacific”.

    Jakarta had “infiltrated our governments and institutional perceptions”.

    The statement also said:

    Yet Indonesia’s annexation of the territory, military occupation, and violent oppression, gross human rights violations on West Papuans continue to be ignored internationally and unfortunately by most Pacific leaders.

    The deepening relations between Pacific states and Jakarta reflect how far the false
    narrative Indonesia has peddled of itself as a morally upright, peace-loving, and benevolent
    friend of the Melanesian people and of the Pacific, has infiltrated our governments and
    institutional perceptions.

    The corresponding dilution of our leaders’ voice, individually and collectively, is indicative of political and economic complicity, staining the Pacific’s anti-colonial legacy, and is an attack
    on the core values of our regional solidarity.

    The Pacific has a legacy of holding colonial powers in our region to account. The Pacific
    Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders communiques in 2015, 2017, and 2019 are reflective of this,
    deploring the violence and human rights violations in West Papua, calling on Indonesia to
    allow independent human rights assessment in the territory, and to address the root causes of conflict through peaceful means.

    In 2023, PIF Leaders appointed Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Ministers, [Sitiveni] Rabuka and [James] Marape respectively to facilitate such constructive engagement with Indonesia.

    As PIF envoys, both Prime Ministers visited Indonesia in 2023 on separate occasions, yet
    they have failed to address these concerns. Is this to be interpreted as regional political
    expediency or economic self-interest?

    Today, torture, discrimination, extrajudicial killings, unlawful arrests, and detention of West
    Papuans continue to be rife. Approximately 70,000 Papuans remain displaced due to military operations.

    Between January and September this year, human rights violations resulted in a total of over 1300 victims across various categories. The most significant violations were arbitrary detention, with 331 victims in 20 cases, and freedom of assembly, which affected at least 388 victims in 21 cases. Other violations included ill-treatment (98 victims), torture (23
    victims), and killings (15 victims), along with freedom of expression violations impacting 31
    victims.

    Additionally, cultural rights violations affected dozens of individuals, while intimidation cases resulted in 15 victims. Disappearances accounted for 2 victims, and right
    to health violations impacted dozens.

    This surge in human rights abuses highlights a concerning trend, with arbitrary detention and freedom of assembly violations standing out as the most widespread and devastating.

    The commemoration of the Morning Star flag-raising this 1st of December is a solemn
    reminder of the region’s unfinished duty of care to the West Papuan people and their
    struggle for human rights, including the right to self-determination.

    Clearly, Pacific leaders, including the Special Envoys, must fulfill their responsibility to a
    region of genuine peace and solidarity, and thereby rectify their unconscionable response
    thus far.

    They must do justice to the 63 years of resilient resistance by the West Papuan
    people under violent, even deadly repression.

    We call on leaders, especially the Prime Ministers of Fiji and PNG, not to succumb to Indonesia’s chequebook diplomacy and other soft-power overtures now evident in education, the arts, culture, food and agriculture, security, and even health sectors.

    We remind our Pacific leaders of their responsibility to 63 years of injustice by Indonesia, and the resilience of the West Papuan people against this oppression to this day.

    In solidarity with the people of West Papua, we demand that our leaders:

    1. Honour the resolutions of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and PIF, which call
      for a peaceful resolution to the West Papua conflict and the recognition of the rights
      of West Papuans;
    2. Take immediate and concrete action to review, and if necessary, sanction Indonesia’s
      status as a dialogue partner in the PIF, associate member of the MSG, and as a party
      to other privileged bilateral and multilateral arrangements in our Pacific region on the
      basis of its human rights record in West Papua;
    3. Stand firm against Indonesia’s colonial intrusion into the Pacific through its
      cheque-book and other diplomatic overtures, ensuring that the sovereignty and rights
      of the people of West Papua are not sacrificed for political or economic gain; and
    4. PIF must take immediate action to establish a Regional Human Rights Commission
      or task force, support independent investigations into human rights violations in West
      Papua, and ensure accountability for all abuses.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Moana 2: The magic is missing in this half-baked Pacific sequel

    REVIEW: By Sam Rillstone, RNZ News

    Disney has returned to Motunui with Moana 2, a sequel to the 2016 hit Moana. But have they been able to recapture the magic?

    This time, the story sees Moana (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho) setting out from her home island once again to try reconnect with the lost people of the ocean.

    With the help of an unlikely crew and demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), she must reckon with an angry god and find a way to free a cursed island.

    The first film was co-directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, two legendary writer directors from such fame as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet and The Princess and the Frog.

    They haven’t returned for the sequel, which is co-directed by David Derrick Jr, Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller.

    Moana 2 actually began as a Disney+ series before being retooled into a film earlier this year. While it moves the story of the world and the characters forward, the film feels like a slapstick and half-baked reworked TV show.

    Moana 2.     RNZ Reviews

    Thankfully, Auli’i Cravalho is still great as Moana; the vibrance and expression of her voice is wonderful. And it really is a movie centred mostly around her, which is a strength.

    Two-dimensional crew
    However, that also means that Moana’s little crew of friends are two-dimensional and not needed other than for a little inspiration here and there. Even Dwayne Johnson’s Maui feels a little less colourful this time around and a bit more of a plot device than actual character.

    There is also a half-baked villain plot, with the character not really present and another who feels undercooked. It’s not until a small mid-credits scene where we get something of a hint, as well as what’s to come in a potential sequel film or series.

    While Cravalho’s singing is lovely, unfortunately the songs of Moana 2 are not as memorable or catchy. And it certainly doesn’t help that Dwayne Johnson cannot sing or rap to save himself.

    It’s wonderful to have a Pacific Island-centric story, and it’s got some great cultural representation, but Moana 2 could have been so much better.

    While I’m obviously not the target audience, I really enjoyed the first one and I believe kids deserve good, smart movies. If there’s going to be another one, I hope they make it worth it.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • West Papua: Once was Papuan Independence Day, now facing ‘ecocide’, transmigration

    On Papuan Independence Day, the focus is on discussing protests against Indonesia’s transmigration programme, environmental destruction, militarisation, and the struggle for self-determination. Te Aniwaniwa Paterson reports.

    By Te Aniwaniwa Paterson of Te Ao Māori News

    On 1 December 1961, West Papua’s national flag, known as the Morning Star, was raised for the first time as a declaration of West Papua’s independence from the Netherlands.

    Sixty-three years later, West Papua is claimed by and occupied by Indonesia, which has banned the flag, which still carries aspirations for self-determination and liberation.

    The flag continues to be raised globally on December 1 each year on what is still called “Papuan Independence Day”.

    Region-wide protests
    Protests have been building in West Papua since the new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced the revival of the Transmigration Programme to West Papua.

    This was declared a day after he came to power on October 21 and confirmed fears from West Papuans about Prabowo’s rise to power.

    This is because Prabowo is a former general known for a trail of allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses in West Papua and East Timor to his name.

    Transmigration’s role
    The transmigration programme began before Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch colonial government, intended to reduce “overcrowding” in Java and to provide a workforce for plantations in Sumatra.

    After independence ended and under Indonesian rule, the programme expanded and in 1969 transmigration to West Papua was started.

    This was also the year of the controversial “Act of Free Choice” where a small group of Papuans were coerced by Indonesia into a unanimous vote against their independence.

    In 2001 the state-backed transmigration programme ended but, by then, over three-quarters of a million Indonesians had been relocated to West Papua. Although the official transmigration stopped, migration of Indonesians continued via agriculture and development projects.

    Indonesia has also said transmigration helps with cultural exchange to unite the West Papuans so they are one nation — “Indonesian”.

    West Papuan human rights activist Rosa Moiwend said in the 1980s that Indonesians used the language of “humanising West Papuans” through erasing their indigenous identity.

    “It’s a racist kind of thing because they think West Papuans were not fully human,” Moiwend said.

    Pathway to environmental destruction
    Papuans believe this was to dilute the Indigenous Melanesian population, and to secure the control of their natural resources, to conduct mining, oil and gas extraction and deforestation.

    This is because in the past the transmigration programme was tied to agricultural settlements where, following the deforestation of conservation forests, Indonesian migrants worked on agricultural projects such as rice fields and palm oil plantations.

    Octo Mote is the vice-president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). Earlier this year Te Ao Māori News interviewed Mote on the “ecocide and genocide” and the history of how Indonesia gained power over West Papua.

    The ecology in West Papua was being damaged by mining, deforestation, and oil and gas extraction, he said. Mote said Indonesia wanted to “wipe them from the land and control their natural resources”.

    He emphasised that defending West Papua meant defending the world, because New Guinea had the third-largest rainforest after the Amazon and Congo and was crucial for climate change mitigation as they sequester and store carbon.

    Concerns grow over militarisation
    Moiwend said the other concern right now was the National Strategic Project which developed projects to focus on Indonesian self-sufficiency in food and energy.

    Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) started in 2011, so isn’t a new project, but it has failed to deliver many times and was described by Global Atlas of Environmental Justice as a “textbook land grab”.

    The mega-project includes the deforestation of a million hectares for rice fields and an additional 600,000 hectares for sugar cane plantations that will be used to make bioethanol.

    The project is managed by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Agriculture, and the private company, Jhonlin Group, owned by Haji Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad. Ironically, given the project has been promoted to address climate issues, Arsyad is a coal magnate, a primary industry responsible for man-made climate change.

    Recently, the Indonesian government announced the deployment of five military battalions to the project site.

    Conservation news website Mongabay reported that the villages in the project site had a population of 3000 people whereas a battalion consisted of usually 1000 soldiers, which meant there would be more soldiers than locals and the villagers said it felt as if their home would be turned into a “war zone”.

    Merauke is where Moiwend’s village is and many of her cousins and family are protesting and, although there haven’t been any incidents yet, with increased militarisation she feared for the lives of her family as the Indonesian military had killed civilians in the past.

    Destruction of spiritual ancestors
    The destruction of the environment was also the killing of their dema (spiritual ancestors), she said.

    The dema represented and protected different components of nature, with a dema for fish, the sago palm, and the coconut tree.

    Traditionally when planting taro, kumara or yam, they chanted and sang for the dema of those plants to ensure an abundant harvest.

    Moiwend said they connected to their identity through calling on the name of the dema that was their totem.

    She said her totem was the coconut and when she needed healing she would find a coconut tree, drink coconut water, and call to the dema for help.

    There were places where the dema lived that humans were not meant to enter but many sacred forests had been deforested.

    She said the Indonesians had destroyed their food sources, their connection to their spirituality as well destroying their humanity.

    “Anim Ha means the great human being,” she said, “to become a great human being you have to have a certain quality of life, and one quality of life is the connection to your dema, your spiritual realm.”

    Te Aniwaniwa Paterson is a digital producer for Te Ao Māori News. Republished with permission.

    Raising the West Papuan Morning Star flag in Tamaki Makaurau in 2023
    Raising the West Papuan Morning Star flag in Tāmaki Makaurau in 2023. Image: Te Ao Māori News

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Protesters condemn Fiji ‘complicity, silence’ over Israel’s Gaza genocide

    Asia Pacific Report

    A Fiji solidarity group for the Palestinians has accused the Rabuka-led coalition government of “complicity” in Israel’s genocide and relentless war in Gaza that has killed more than 44,000 people — mostly women and children — over the past year.

    The Fijians4Palestine have called on the Fiji government to “uphold the principles of peace, justice, and human rights that our nation cherishes”.

    “We urge our leaders to use their diplomatic channels to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, to support international efforts in providing humanitarian aid to the affected regions, and to publicly express solidarity with the Palestinian people, reflecting the sentiments of many Fijians,” the movement said in a statement  marking the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

    The group said it was “ashamed that the Fiji government continues to vote for the genocide and occupation of Palestinians”.

    It said that it expected the Fiji government to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

    The Fijians4Palestine group’s statement said:

    It has been over one year since Israel began its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

    Over the past year, Israeli attacks have killed more than 44,000 Palestinians living in Gaza, equal to 1 out of every 55 people living there.

    At least 16,756 children have been killed, the highest number of children recorded in a single year of conflict over the past two decades. More than 17,000 children have lost one or both parents.

    At least 97,303 people are injured in Gaza — equal to one in 23 people.

    According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, every day 10 children lose one or both legs, with operations and amputations conducted with little or no anaesthesia due to Israel’s ongoing siege.

    In addition to the killed and injured, more than 10,000 people are feared buried under the rubble.

    A Fiji protester with a "Your silence kills" placard
    A Fiji protester with a “Your silence kills” placard rebuking the Fiji government for its stance on Israeli’s war on Gaza. Image: FWCC

    With few tools to remove rubble and rescue those trapped beneath concrete, volunteers and civil defence workers rely on their bare hands.

    We, the #Fijians4Palestine Solidarity Network join the global voices demanding a permanent ceasefire and an end to the violence. We express our unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people.

    The Palestinian struggle is not just a regional issue; it is a testament to the resilience of a people who, despite facing impossible odds, continue to fight for their right to exist, freedom, and dignity. Their struggle resonates with all who believe in justice, equality, and the fundamental rights of every human being.

    Families torn apart
    The images of destruction, the stories of families torn apart, and the cries of children caught in the crossfire are heart-wrenching. These are not mere statistics or distant news stories; these are real people with hopes, dreams, and aspirations, much like us.

    As Fijians, we have always prided ourselves on our commitment to peace, unity, and humanity. Our rich cultural heritage and shared values teach us the importance of standing up for what is right, even when it is not popular or convenient.

    Today, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, not out of political allegiance but out of a shared belief in humanity, justice, and the inalienable human rights of every individual.

    We unequivocally condemn the State of Israel for its actions that amount to war crimes, genocide, and apartheid against the Palestinian people. The deliberate targeting of civilians, the disproportionate use of force, and the destruction of essential infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, are in clear violation of international humanitarian law.

    The intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group is evident. The continuous displacement of Palestinians, the destruction of their homes, and the systematic erasure of their history and culture are indicative of genocidal intent.

    The State of Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, characterised by racial segregation, discrimination, and domination, amount to apartheid as defined under international law.

    Oppressive regime
    The construction of settlements, the separation wall, and the system of checkpoints are manifestations of this oppressive regime. Palestinians are subjected to different laws, regulations, and treatments based on their ethnicity, clearly violating the principle of equality.

    We call upon the Fiji government to uphold the principles of peace, justice, and human rights that our nation cherishes. We urge our leaders to use their diplomatic channels to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, to support international efforts in providing humanitarian aid to the affected regions, and to publicly express solidarity with the Palestinian people, reflecting the sentiments of many Fijians.

    We are ashamed that the Fiji government continues to vote for the genocide and occupation of Palestinians. We expect our government to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

    The silence of the Fiji government is complicity, and history will not forgive their inaction.

    Our solidarity with the Palestinian people is a testament to our shared humanity. We believe in a world where diversity, is treated with dignity and respect. We dream of a future where children in Gaza can play without fear, where families can live without the shadow of war, and where the Palestinian people can finally enjoy the peace and freedom they so rightly deserve.

    There can be no peace without justice, and we stand in unity with all people and territories struggling for self-determination and freedom from occupation.

    The Pacific cannot be an Ocean of Peace without freedom and self determination in Palestine, West Papua, Kanaky and all oppressed territories.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Tjibaou’s party unveils plan for New Caledonia’s future ‘independence’

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    New Caledonia’s largest pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), has unveiled the main outcome of its congress last weekend, including its plans for the French Pacific territory’s political future.

    Speaking at a news conference on Thursday in Nouméa, the party’s newly-elected executive bureau, now headed by Emmanuel Tjibaou, debriefed the media about the main resolutions made during its congress.

    One of the motions was specifically concerning a timeframe for New Caledonia’s road to independence.

    Tjibaou said UC now envisaged that one of the milestones on this road to sovereignty would be the signing of a “Kanaky Agreement”, at the latest on 24 September 2025 — a highly symbolic date as this was the day of France’s annexation of New Caledonia in 1853.

    ‘Kanaky Agreement’ by 24 September 2025?
    This, he said, would mark the beginning of a five-year “transition period” from “2025 to 2030” that would be concluded by New Caledonia becoming fully sovereign under a status yet to be defined.

    Several wordings have recently been advanced by stakeholders from around the political spectrum.

    Depending on the pro-independence and pro-France sympathies, these have varied from “shared sovereignty”, “independence in partnership”, “independence-association” and, more recently, from the also divided pro-France loyalists camp, an “internal federalism” (Le Rassemblement-LR party) or a “territorial federation” (Les Loyalistes).

    Charismatic pro-independence leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Emmanuel’s father who was assassinated in 1989, was known for being an advocate of a relativist approach to the term “independence”, to which he usually preferred to adjunct the pragmatic term “inter-dependence”.

    Jean Marie Tjibaou
    Founding FLNKS leader Jean Marie Tjibaou in Kanaky New Caledonia in 1985 . . . assassinated four years later. Image: David Robie/Café Pacific

    Negotiations between all political parties and the French State are expected to begin in the next few weeks.

    The talks (between pro-independence, anti-independence parties and the French State) are scheduled in such a way that all parties manage to reach a comprehensive and inclusive political agreement no later than March 2025.

    The talks had completely stalled after the pro-indeoendence riots broke out on 13 May 2024.

    Over the past three years, following three referendums (2018, 2020, 2021, the latter being strongly challenged by the pro-independence side) on the question of independence (all yielding a majority in favour of New Caledonia remaining part of France), there had been several attempts to hold inclusive talks in order to discuss New Caledonia’s political future.

    But UC and other parties (including pro-France and pro-independence) did not manage to sit at the same table.

    Speaking to journalists, Emmanuel Tjibaou confirmed that under its new leadership, UC was now willing to return to the negotiating table.

    He said “May 13 has stopped our advances in those exchanges” but “now is the time to build the road to full sovereignty”.

    Back to the negotiating table
    In the footsteps of those expected negotiations, heavy campaigning will follow to prepare for crucial provincial elections to be held no later than November 2025.

    The five years of “transition” (2025-2030), would be used to transfer the remaining “regal” powers from France as well as putting in place “a political, financial and international” framework, accompanied by the French State, Tjibaou elaborated.

    And after the transitional period, UC’s president said a new phase of talks could start to put in place what he terms “interdependence conventions on some of the ‘regal’ — main — powers” (defence, law and order, foreign affairs, currency).

    Tjibaou said this project could resemble a sort of independence in partnership, a “shared sovereignty”, a concept that was strongly suggested early November 2024 by visiting French Senate President Gérard Larcher.

    But Tjibaou said there was a difference in the sense that those discussions on sharing would only take place once all the powers have been transferred from France.

    “You can only share sovereignty if you have obtained it first”, he told local media.

    One of the other resolutions from its congress held last weekend in the small village of Mia (Canala) was to reiterate its call to liberate Christian Téin, appointed president of the FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front) in absentia late August, even though he is currently imprisoned in Mulhouse (north-east of France) pending his trial.

    Allegations over May riots
    He is alleged to have been involved in the organisation of the demonstrations that degenerated into the May 13 riots, arson, looting and a deadly toll of 13 people, several hundred injured and material damage estimated at some 2.2 billion euros (NZ$3.9 billion).

    Tjibaou also said that within a currently divided pro-independence movement, he hoped that a reunification process and “clarification” would be possible with other components of FLNKS, namely the Progressist Union in Melanesia (UPM) and the Kanak Liberation Party (PALIKA).

    Since August 2024, both UPM and PALIKA have de facto withdrawn with FLNKS’s political bureau, saying they no longer recognised themselves in the way the movement had radicalised.

    In 1988, after half a decade of a quasi civil war, Jean-Marie Tjibaou signed the Matignon-Oudinot agreements with New Caledonia’s pro-France and anti-independence leader Jacques Lafleur.

    The third signatory was the French State.

    One year later, in 1989, Tjibaou was shot dead by a hard-line pro-independence militant.

    His son Emmanuel was aged 13 at the time.

    ‘Common destiny’
    In 1998, a new agreement, the Nouméa Accord, was signed, with a focus on increased autonomy, the notions of “common destiny” and a local “citizenship” and a gradual transfer of powers from France.

    After the three referendums held between 2018 and 2021, the Nouméa Accord prescribed that if there had been three referendums rejecting independence, then political stakeholders should “meet to examine the situation thus generated”.

    On Thursday, Union Calédonienne also stressed that the Nouméa Accord remained the founding document of all future political discussions.

    “We are sticking to the Nouméa Accord because it is this document that brings us to the elements of accession to sovereignty”.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • COP29: Pacific takes stock of ‘baby steps’ global climate summit

    By Sera Sefeti in Baku, Azerbaijan

    As the curtain fell at the UN climate summit in Baku last Sunday, frustration and disappointment engulfed Pacific delegations after another meeting under-delivered.

    Two weeks of intensive negotiations at COP29, hosted by Azerbaijan and attended by 55,000 delegates, resulted in a consensus decision among nearly 200 nations.

    Climate finance was tripled to US $300 billion a year in grant and loan funding from developed nations, far short of the more than US $1 trillion sought by Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.

    COP29 BAKU, 11-22 November 2024
    COP29 BAKU, 11-22 November 2024

    “We travelled thousands of kilometres, it is a long way to travel back without good news,” Niue’s Minister of Natural Resources Mona Ainu’u told BenarNews.

    Three-hundred Pacific delegates came to COP29 with the key demands to stay within the 1.5-degree C warming goal, make funds available and accessible for small island states, and cut ambiguous language from agreements.

    Their aim was to make major emitters pay Pacific nations — who are facing the worst effects of climate change despite being the lowest contributors — to help with transition, adaptation and mitigation.

    “If we lose out on the 1.5 degrees C, then it really means nothing for us being here, understanding the fact that we need money in order for us to respond to the climate crisis,” Tuvalu’s Minister for Climate Change Maina Talia told BenarNews at the start of talks.

    PNG withdrew
    Papua New Guinea withdrew from attending just days before COP29, with Prime Minister James Marape warning: “The pledges made by major polluters amount to nothing more than empty talk.”

    20241117 SPC Miss Kiribati.jpg
    Miss Kiribati 2024 Kimberly Tokanang Aromata gives the “1.5 to stay alive” gesture while attending COP29 as a youth delegate earlier this month. Image: SPC/BenarNews

    Fiji’s lead negotiator Dr Sivendra Michael told BenarNews that climate finance cut across many of the committee negotiations running in parallel, with parties all trying to strategically position themselves.

    “We had a really challenging time in the adaptation committee room, where groups of negotiators from the African region had done a complete block on any progress on (climate) tax,” said Dr Michael, adding the Fiji team was called to order on every intervention they made.

    He said it’s the fourth consecutive year adaptation talks were left hanging, despite agreement among the majority of nations, because there was “no consensus among the like-minded developing countries, which includes China, as well as the African group.”

    Pacific delegates told BenarNews at COP they battled misinformation, obstruction and subversion by developed and high-emitting nations, including again negotiating on commitments agreed at COP28 last year.

    Pushback began early on with long sessions on the Global Stock Take, an assessment of what progress nations and stakeholders had made to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C.

    “If we cannot talk about 1.5, then we have a very weak language around mitigation,” Tuvalu’s Talia said. “Progress on finance was nothing more than ‘baby steps’.”

    Pacific faced resistance
    Pacific negotiators faced resistance to their call for U.S.$39 billion for Small Island Developing States and U.S.$220 billion for Least Developed Countries.

    “We expected pushbacks, but the lack of ambition was deeply frustrating,” Talia said.

    20241119 SPREP fiji delegate Lenora Qereqeretabua.jpg
    Fiji’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Lenora Qereqeretabua addresses the COP29 summit in Baku this month. Image: SPREP/BenarNews

    Greenpeace Pacific lead Shiva Gounden accused developed countries of deliberately stalling talks — of which Australia co-chaired the finance discussions — including by padding texts with unnecessary wording.

    “Hours passed without any substance out of it, and then when they got into the substance of the text, there simply was not enough time,” he told BenarNews.

    In the final week of COP29, the intense days negotiating continued late into the nights, sometimes ending the next morning.

    “Nothing is moving as it should, and climate finance is a black hole,” Pacific Climate Action Network senior adviser Sindra Sharma told BenarNews during talks.

    “There are lots of rumours and misinformation floating around, people saying that SIDS are dropping things — this is a complete lie.”

    20241119 SPREP Pacific negotiators meet.jpg
    Pacific delegates and negotiators meet in the final week of intensive talks at COP29 in Baku this month. Image: SPREP/BenarNews

    COP29 presidency influence
    Sharma said the significant influence of the COP presidency — held by Azerbaijan — came to bear as talks on the final outcome dragged past the Friday night deadline.

    The Azeri presidency faced criticism for not pushing strongly enough for incorporation of the “transition away from fossil fuels” — agreed to at COP28 — in draft texts.

    “What we got in the end on Saturday was a text that didn’t have the priorities that smaller island states and least developed countries had reflected,” Sharma said.

    COP29’s outcome was finally announced on Sunday at 5.30am.

    “For me it was heartbreaking, how developed countries just blocked their way to fulfilling their responsibilities, their historical responsibilities, and pretty much offloaded that to developing countries,” Gounden from Greenpeace Pacific said.

    Some retained faith
    Amid the Pacific delegates’ disappointment, some retained their faith in the summits and look forward to COP30 in Brazil next year.

    “We are tired, but we are here to hold the line on hope; we have no choice but to,” 350.org Pacific managing director Joseph Zane Sikulu told BenarNews.

    “We can very easily spend time talking about who is missing, who is not here, and the impact that it will have on negotiation, or we can focus on the ones who came, who won’t give up,” he said at the end of summit.

    Fiji’s lead negotiator Dr Michael said the outcome was “very disappointing” but not a total loss.

    “COP is a very diplomatic process, so when people come to me and say that COP has failed, I am in complete disagreement, because no COP is a failure,” he told BenarNews at the end of talks.

    “If we don’t agree this year, then it goes to next year; the important thing is to ensure that Pacific voices are present,” he said.

    Republished from BenarNews with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indigenous Leader Nemonte Nenquimo on Fight to Defend Ecuador’s Ban on Future Amazon Oil Extraction


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indigenous Leader Nemonte Nenquimo on Fight to Defend Ecuador’s Ban on Future Amazon Oil Extraction

    Button nemonte mitch book split

    In Part 2 of our special broadcast, we look at a recent victory for Indigenous communities in Ecuador, where people overwhelmingly voted to approve a referendum last year banning future oil extraction in a biodiverse section of the Amazon’s Yasuní National Park — a historic referendum result that will protect Indigenous Yasuní land from development. But the newly elected president, Daniel Noboa, has said Ecuador is at war with gang violence and that the country is “not in the same situation as two years ago.” Noboa has said oil from the Yasuní National Park could help fund that war against drug cartels. Environmental activists and Indigenous peoples say they’re concerned about his comments because their victory had been hailed as an example of how to use the democratic process to leave fossil fuels in the ground. “Amazonian women are at the frontlines of defense,” says Nemonte Nenquimo, an award-winning Waorani leader in the Ecuadorian Amazon who co-founded Amazon Frontlines and the Ceibo Alliance. Her recent piece for The Guardian is headlined “Ecuador’s president won’t give up on oil drilling in the Amazon. We plan to stop him — again.” Nemonte has just published her new memoir titled We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People. We also speak with her co-author and partner, Mitch Anderson, who is the founder and executive director of Amazon Frontlines and has long worked with Indigenous nations in the Amazon to defend their rights.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Gallery: Palestinian musicians, poets and solidarity partners in vibrant celebration

    Asia Pacific Report

    Palestinian diaspora poets, singers and musicians gathered today with solidarity partners from Aotearoa New Zealand, African nations — including South Africa — in a vibrant celebration.

    The celebration marked the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and similar events have been happening around New Zealand today, across the world and over the weekend.

    Images by David Robie of Asia Pacific Report.

    UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
    1 of 15
    1 UN Palestinian Solidarity Day at Fickling Cultural Centre. Image: David Robie /APR
    2. UN Solidarity Day . . . Palestinian introductions. Image: David Robie/APR
    3. UN Solidarity Day . . . more introductions. Image: David Robie/APR
    4. UN Solidarity Day . . . support from Africa. Image: David Robie/APR
    5. UN Solidarity Day . . . Angi Taulua from Tonga. Image: David Robie/APR
    6. UN Solidarity Day . . . South Africa and Palestine’s destiny intertwined. Image: David Robie/APR
    7. UN Solidarity Day . . . South Africa and the Bo-Kaap murals for Palestine. Image: David Robie/APR
    8. UN Solidarity Day . . . ethnicities ensemble. Image: David Robie/APR
    9. UN Solidarity Day . . . message from a midwifery researcher. Image: David Robie/APR
    10. UN Solidarity Day . . . an attentive audience. Image: David Robie/APR
    11. UN Solidarity Day . . . beautiful singing. Image: David Robie/APR
    12. UN Solidarity Day . . . Maher Nazzal, Janfrie Wakim and part of the audience. Image: David Robie/APR
    13. UN Solidarity Day . . . Kia Ora Gaza’s Roger Fowler sings “Palestine”.
    14. UN Solidarity Day . . . Bo-Kaap “Murals for Gaza” in Cape Town, South Africa. Image: David Robie/APR
    15. UN Solidarity Day . . . Bo-Kaap – “Peace for Palestine”. Image: David Robie/APR


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Open letter plea by NZ community broadcaster for end to Israel’s ‘sadistic cruelty’ in Gaza

    Pacific Media Watch

    A community broadcaster in Aotearoa New Zealand has appealed for an end to the “sadistic cruelty” and the “out in the open genocide” by Israel in Gaza and the occupied Palestine territories.

    In an open letter, Lois Griffiths, co-presenter of the environmental, social justice and current affairs programme Earthwise on Plains FM, has criticised the “injustices imposed by colonialism” and has cited Bethlehem Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac in saying “Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world”.

    Her letter is published by Asia Pacific Report to mark the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

    The open letter by Griffiths says:

    K Gurunathan’s article “Sparks fly as political tinder of Māori anger builds” (The Press and The Post, November 25) argues that the injustices imposed by colonialism, including the “systematic confiscation of Māori land”, leading to poverty and cultural alienation are factors behind the anger expressed by the recent Hīkoi.

    We need to learn Aotearoa New Zealand history.

    One needs to learn history in order to understand the present.

    But we need to learn world history too.

    Coincidentally, I am in the middle of reading Israeli journalist Gideon Levy’s most recent book The Killing of Gaza: reports on a catastrophe.

    Levy has been there many times, reporting first hand about the sadistic cruelty imposed on its people, a cruelty that began in 1948.

    He explains that Hamas promotes armed resistance as a last resort. Any other approach has been ignored

    The Israeli regime is being accused now of war crimes. But war crimes have been going on for decades.

    But it sickens me to even think of what is happening now. It is genocide, genocide out in the open.

    In the words of Bethlehem Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac: “Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Upsurge of post-riots violence against women in New Caledonia, says advocate

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    Figures for violence against women in New Caledonia have increased due to the post-riots crisis, according to local NGO SOS Violences president Anne-Marie Mestre.

    Mestre has told local news media that the recent upsurge was mainly due to the riots over independence that broke out on May 13, which resulted in a rising number of jobless people due to the destruction by arson and looting of more 600 businesses.

    She stressed that all ethnic communities in New Caledonia were affected by domestic violence and that the trend existed even before the riots-triggered crisis.

    New Caledonia’s domestic violence statistics are 2.5 times higher than in mainland France.

    In 2023, 3012 cases were reported in the French Pacific territory, a staggering increase of some 91 percent compared to 2019, the French Auditor-General’s office reported in its latest survey published in April 2024.

    New Caledonia’s curfew extended to December 2
    Meanwhile, New Caledonia’s curfew introduced after the rioting remains in place until December 2, according to the latest advisory from the French High Commission.

    The restrictions still include the curfew per se from midnight to 5am, and most notably the ban on transportation, possession and sale of firearms and ammunition.

    Public meetings remain banned in the Greater Nouméa Area and will be maintained until December 20, when the ban will be re-assessed with a possible relaxation just before Christmas.

    Although opening hours for the sale of alcohol have now returned to normal, the authorised quantity per person per day remains controlled — up to four litres of beer (under 10 percent alcohol), or two litres of wine (10 to 22 percent), or one litre of spirits (above 22 percent).

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indigenous water protectors warn of Line 5 pipeline’s looming dangers

    According to Indigenous water protectors, it’s not a matter of whether a pipeline will rupture and leak, but when. The federal government’s own data supports this, with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration reporting that there were 1.5 incidents per day in 2023. But in northern Wisconsin on the Bad River Reservation, the incontrovertible claim that the safest way to…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Rebecca Nagle Calls for Confronting the Legacy of Colonization and Its Ongoing Threat to Native Rights

    The Thanksgiving holiday is rooted in colonial myth-making. While many gatherings this week will be divorced from that mythology, this is nonetheless an important time to center Native histories and struggles. Rebecca Nagle’s new book, By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land, offers a vital resource for such reflection. In this meticulously researched effort…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Lakota Historian Nick Estes on Thanksgiving, Settler Colonialism & Continuing Indigenous Resistance


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Lakota Historian Nick Estes on Thanksgiving, Settler Colonialism & Continuing Indigenous Resistance

    Guest nickestes

    Lakota historian Nick Estes talks about the violent origins of Thanksgiving and his book Our History Is the Future. “This history … is a continuing history of genocide, of settler colonialism and, basically, the founding myths of this country,” says Estes, who is a co-founder of the Indigenous resistance group The Red Nation and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Fiji police have ‘patriarchal mindset’, lack training over gender violence, says Ali

    By Nacanieli Tuilevuka in Suva

    Some police officers are unable to effectively investigate cases of gender-based violence, claims Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre coordinator Shamima Ali.

    Ali said many officers lacked the training and knowledge to properly handle such cases, leading to significant challenges for victims seeking justice.

    “There is a lack of training that used to happen in Fiji before 2006, and we are facing this as a huge challenge,” Ali said.

    While speaking on issues of officers refusing to take statements of domestic violence victims, she said some officers refused to acknowledge cases of gender-based violence, despite the laws in place.

    “There are some officers who do not respond to it, and at times, the justice system does not support the interests of women.”

    She said if authorities did their job, men would be a bit more scared.

    “There’s a reluctance to address domestic violence because of the patriarchal mindset, and this attitude often comes from within the force itself.”

    In response, Police Commissioner Juki Fong Chew said the actions of a few were not representative of the way the organisation perceived cases of gender-based violence.

    “We have disciplinary measures in place to deal with officers as claimed by Ms Ali, and we encourage the sharing of information so that the officers can be dealt with,” he said.

    Fong Chew said these issues could be addressed promptly.

    Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • New Caledonia’s Great Chief Boarat found dead in Koumac – arrest made

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific Desk

    New Caledonia’s Great Chief William Boarat has been found dead and police have arrested a 24-year-old man as investigations continue.

    Great Chief Boarat was found dead in the early hours of yesterday in circumstances described as involuntary homicide.

    Public prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a statement that initial findings on the crime scene in the village of Ouaco pointed to an initial assault from a 24-year-old man on a woman he was in a de facto relationship with.

    Chief Boarat, 66, who was present at the scene, reportedly tried to stop the man from hitting his partner in their village residence.

    The young man, believed to be under the influence of alcohol, is then reported to have grabbed a wooden post and hit the chief on the head.

    A medical team later found the old chief unconscious, with severe head wounds.

    Attempts to revive him proved unsuccessful.

    The suspect has been taken into custody, and investigations are ongoing.

    He faces charges of murder and assault against his de facto partner.

    Witnesses are also being questioned as part of the inquiry.

    A post-mortem has been ordered to further establish the exact cause of death.

    The Boarat clan is the main chiefly entity of the Koumac area, which itself belongs to the chiefly area of Hoot ma Waap (one of the eight chiefly areas represented in New Caledonia’s Customary Senate).

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Cynical politics reported on world stage damage NZ’s reputation

    COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis

    “Flashpoint” in a foreign news story usually brings to mind the Middle East or the border between North and South Korea. It is not a term usually associated with New Zealand but last week it was there in headline type.

    News outlets around the world carried reports of the Hīkoi and protests against Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, with the overwhelming majority characterising the events as a serious deterioration in this country’s race relations.

    The Associated Press report carried the headline “New Zealand’s founding treaty is at a flashpoint: Why are thousands protesting for Māori rights?”. That headline was replicated by press and broadcasting outlets across America, by Yahoo, by MSN, by X, by Voice of America, and by news organisations in Asia and Europe.

    Reuters’ story on the hikoi carried the headline: “Tens of thousands rally at New Zealand parliament against bill to alter indigenous rights”. That report also went around the world.

    So, too, did the BBC, which reaches 300 million households worldwide: “Thousands flock to NZ capital in huge Māori protest”.

    The Daily Mail’s website is given to headlines as long as one of Tolstoy’s novels and told the story in large type: “Tens of thousands of Māori protesters march in one of New Zealand’s biggest ever demonstrations over proposed bill that will strip them of ‘special rights’”. The Economist put it more succinctly: “Racial tensions boil over in New Zealand”.

    In the majority of cases, the story itself made clear the Bill would not proceed into law but how many will recall more than the headline?

    An even bleaker view
    Readers of The New York Times were given an even bleaker view of this country by their Seoul-based reporter Yan Zhuang. He characterised New Zealand as a country that “veers sharply right”, electing a government that has undone the “compassionate, progressive politics” of Jacinda Ardern, who had been “a global symbol of anti-Trump liberalism”.

    Critiquing the current government, The Times story stated: “In a country that has been celebrated for elevating the status of Māori, its indigenous people, it has challenged their rights and prominence of their culture and language in public life, driving a wedge into New Zealand society and setting off waves of protests.”

    Christopher Luxon may have judged “limited” support for David Seymour’s highly divisive proposed legislation as a worthwhile price to pay for the numbers to give him a grip on power. For his part, Seymour may have seen the Bill as a way to play to his supporters and hopefully add to their number.

    Did either man, however, consider the effect that one of the most cynical political ploys of recent times — giving oxygen to a proposal that has not a hope in hell of passing into law — would have on this country’s international reputation?

    Last week’s international coverage did not do the damage. Those outlets were simply reporting what they observed happening here. If some of the language — “flashpoint” and “boiling over” — look emotive, how else should 42,000 people converging on the seat of government be interpreted?

    The damage was done by the architect of the Bill and by the Prime Minister giving him far more freedom than he or his proposal deserve.

    Nor will the reputational damage melt away, dispersing in as orderly manner like the superbly organised Hīkoi did last Tuesday. It will endure even beyond the six months pointlessly given to select committee hearings on the Bill.

    Australia’s ABC last week signalled ongoing protest and its story on the Treaty Principles Bill would have left Australians bewildered
    Australia’s ABC last week signalled ongoing protest and its story on the Treaty Principles Bill would have left Australians bewildered that a bill “with no path forward” could be allowed to cause so much discord. Image: AJ screenshot APR

    Alerted to the story
    International media have been alerted to the story and they will continue to follow it. Many have staff correspondents and stringers in this country or across the Tasman who will be closely monitoring events.

    Australia’s ABC last week signalled ongoing protest and its story on the Treaty Principles Bill would have left Australians bewildered that a bill “with no path forward” could be allowed to cause so much discord.

    “The Treaty Principles Bill may be doomed,” said the ABC’s Emily Clark, “but the path forward for race relations in New Zealand is now much less clear.”

    So, too, is New Zealand’s international reputation as a country where the rights of its tangata whenua were indelibly recognised by those that followed them. Even though imperfectly applied, the relationship is far more constructive than that which many colonised countries have with their indigenous peoples.

    We are held by many to be an example to others and that is part of the reason New Zealand has a position in the world that is out of proportion to its size and location.

    Damage to that standing is a very high price to pay for giving a minor party a strong voice . . . one that will be heard a very long way away.

    Gavin Ellis holds a PhD in political studies. He is a media consultant and researcher. A former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald, he has a background in journalism and communications – covering both editorial and management roles – that spans more than half a century.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Peters urges France to keep ‘open mind’ on new path for New Caledonia

    By Russell Palmer, RNZ News political reporter

    New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters has used a speech in Paris to urge France to keep an open mind about a new path forward for New Caledonia.

    He also wants to deepen New Zealand’s relationship with France, and wants a stronger focus from the European country on the Pacific.

    Titled “The Path Less Travelled” in a nod to American poet Robert Frost, the half-hour speech was delivered to the French Institute of International Relations to an audience that included dignitaries from the government and the diplomatic corps.

    Peters highlighted geopolitical trends: a shift in countries’ focus from rules to power, from economics to security and defence, and from economic efficiencies to resilience and sustainability.

    “These shifts present challenges for a small trade-dependent country like New Zealand. Some of these challenges are familiar, but others, those mostly driven by technology, are new,” Peters said.

    After speaking about the value of free trade agreements — highlighted by New Zealand’s recent FTA with the European Union — he raised the spectre of security flashpoints, including the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

    “We are also deeply concerned by North Korea’s evolving nuclear capability and ambition. Those concerns are heightened by its supply of troops to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, another flagrant breach of international law and UN resolutions.”

    ‘Relentless securitisation of the Pacific’
    “The relentless securitisation of the Pacific and a breakdown in long-standing cooperation norms in Antarctica mean New Zealand cannot stay out of the way of geopolitics.”

    He pointed to New Zealand’s foreign policy agenda, including a focus on South East Asia and India, neighbours in the Pacific, tackling multi-country problems through multilateral discussion, setting up new multilateral groupings to navigate “impasses or blockages”, and promoting the coalition’s goal of boosting export values through diplomacy.

    “To achieve this ambitious agenda, we knew we needed to give more energy, more urgency, and a sharper focus to three inter-connected lines of effort: Investing in our relationships, growing our prosperity, and strengthening our security.

    He urged France to deepen the relationship with New Zealand, helping advance Pacific priorities and protecting the international rules-based order, drawing on France’s interest and involvement in the region, as well as its diplomatic, development, military and humanitarian supports.

    “As a country, we’ve got the tools to make a big impact . . . Pacific regionalism sits at the core of New Zealand’s Pacific approach … but New Zealand cannot meet these needs alone,” he said.

    “We will increasingly look to cooperate with our traditional partners like France and other close partners who share our values and interests. We want to deepen our cooperation with France to advance Pacific priorities, to strengthen existing regional architecture, to protect the international rules-based order, and to ensure the prosperity of future Pacific generations.”

    If the French needed encouragement, Peters pointed to the shared values that underpin the partnership, saying the two countries “share the same democratic pulse”, saying the fraternité — brotherhood — of France’s motto evoked a sense of moral obligation for governments “to protect all of their their citizens and provide them with the conditions to prosper”.

    New Caledonia at ‘turning point’
    Peters soon turned to the deadly riots in New Caledonia, saying New Zealand welcomed the efforts to restore security and help get foreigners including New Zealanders out.

    The agreements between Paris and Nouméa in the 1980s and 1990s, he said, represented the road less travelled, “one where France and New Caledonia walked together”.

    “But now, in 2024, that road has become overgrown and blocked by choices already made and actions already taken.”

    The archipelago remains in something of a standoff after the riots that broke out in May over calls for independence.

    France retains control of the military, but Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka — after a long-delayed visit alongside his Cook Islands and Tonga and the Solomon Islands Foreign Minister — this month offered to deploy a peacekeeping force under the Pacific Policing Initiative.

    Peters urged France to think carefully about its next steps, and keep an open mind about the path forward.

    “That in Nouméa and Paris, the key to restore the spirit of earlier understandings is for all parties to have open minds about their next crucial choice, about a new path forward, because France and the people of New Caledonia stand at a new turning point,” he said.

    “Rather than dwell on old questions, we think there is an opening for everyone who cares about New Caledonia to use our imaginations to think of a new question.

    “There are all sorts of constitutional models out there, including across the Pacific. For instance, New Zealand has learned from its experience of having different types of constitutional relationships with realm countries — the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau.

    “Our realm relationships are stable and mutually beneficial, so enduring, and the constitutional mechanisms provide for maximum self-determination while ensuring that New Zealand’s security and defence interests remain protected.”

    Peters said New Zealand deeply respected France’s role in the region, “and we are in no doubt that the economic might of France is essential to reestablishing a vibrant New Caledonian economy”.

    “We stand ready to help in any way we can, and we trust France appreciates . . .  ‘there is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend’, because that is the animating spirit behind our words today.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Mixed reactions to Tjibaou’s election to key Kanak pro-independence party

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    The election of Emmanuel Tjibaou as the new president of New Caledonia’s main pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), has triggered a whole range of political reactions — mostly favourable, some more cautious.

    Within the pro-independence camp, the two main moderate parties UPM (Progressist Union in Melanesia) and PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party), have reacted favourably, although they have recently distanced themselves from UC.

    UPM leader Victor Tutugoro hailed Tjibaou’s election while pointing out that it was “not easy” . . . “given the difficult circumstances”.

    “It’s courageous of him to take this responsibility,” he told public broadcaster NC la 1ère.

    “He is a man of dialogue, a pragmatic man.”

    PALIKA leader Jean-Pierre Djaïwé reacted similarly, saying Tjibaou “is well aware that the present situation is very difficult”.

    Both PALIKA and UPM hoped the new UC leadership could have the potential to pave the way for a reconciliation between all members of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), which has been experiencing profound differences for the past few years.

    ‘Real generational change’
    On the pro-France (and therefore anti-independence) side, which is also divided, the moderate Calédonie Ensemble’s Philippe Michel saw in this new leadership a “real generational change” and noted that Tjibaou’s “appeasing” style could build new bridges between opposing sides of New Caledonia’s political spectrum.

    “We’ll have to leave him some time to put his mark on UC’s operating mode,” Michel said.

    “We all have to find our way back towards an agreement.”

    Over the past two years, attempts from France to have all parties reach an agreement that could potentially produce a document to succeed the 1998 Nouméa autonomy Accord have failed, partly because of UC’s refusal to attend discussions involving all parties around the same table.

    Pro-France Rassemblement-LR President Alcide Ponga said it was a big responsibility Tjibaou had on his shoulders in the coming months.

    “Because we have these negotiations coming on how to exit the Nouméa Accord.

    “I think it’s good that everyone comes back to the table — this is something New Caledonians are expecting.”

    ‘Wait and see’
    Gil Brial, vice-president of a more radical pro-France Les Loyalistes, had a “wait and see” approach.

    “We’re waiting now to see what motions UC has endorsed,” he said.

    “Because if it’s returning to negotiations with only one goal, of accessing independence, despite three referendums which rejected independence, it won’t make things any simpler.”

    Brial said he was well aware that UC’s newly-elected political bureau now included about half of “moderate” members, and the rest remained more radical.

    “We want to see which of these trends will take the lead, who will act as negotiators and for what goal.”

    UC has yet to publish the exact content of the motions adopted by its militants following its weekend congress.

    Les Loyalistes leader and Southern province President Sonia Backès also reacted to Tjibaou’s election, saying this was “expected”.

    Writing on social media, she expressed the hope that under its new leadership, UC would now “constructively return to the negotiating table”.

    She said her party’s approach was “wait and see, without any naivety”.

    Tjibaou’s first post-election comments
    Tjibaou told journalists: “Now we have to pull up our sleeves and also shed some light on what has transpired since the 13 May (insurrection riots).”

    He also placed a high priority on the upcoming political talks on New Caledonia’s institutional and political future.

    “We still need to map out a framework and scope — what negotiations, what framework, what contents for this new agreement everyone is calling for.

    “What we’ll be looking for is an agreement towards full emancipation and sovereignty. Based on this, we’ll have to build.”

    He elaborated on Monday by defining UC’s pro-independence intentions as “a basket of negotiations”.

    He, like his predecessor Daniel Goa, also placed a strong emphasis on the need for UC to take stock of past shortcomings (especially in relation to the younger generations) in order to “transform and move forward”.

    CCAT ‘an important tool’
    Asked about his perception of the role a UC-created “field action coordinating cell” (CCAT) has played in the May riots, Tjibaou said this remained “an important tool, especially to mobilise our militants on the ground”.

    “But [CCAT] objectives have to be well-defined at all times.

    “There is no political motion from UC that condones violence as a means to reach our goals.

    “If abuses have been committed, justice will take its course.”

    Emmanuel Tjibaou being interviewed by public broadcaster NC la 1ère in August 2024 – PHOTO screen shot NC la 1ère
    Emmanuel Tjibaou being interviewed by public broadcaster NC la 1ère in August 2024. Image: NC la 1ère screenshot/RNZ

    At its latest congress in August 2024 (which both UPM and PALIKA decided not to attend), the FLNKS appointed CCAT leader Christian Téin as its new president.

    Téin is in jail in Mulhouse in the north-east of France, following his arrest in June and pending his trial.

    In the newly-elected UC political bureau, the UC’s congress, which was held in the small village of Mia (near Canala, East Coast of the main island of Grande Terre) has maintained Téin as the party’s “commissar-general”.

    Tjibaou only candidate
    Tjibaou was the only candidate for the president’s position.

    His election on Sunday comes as UC’s former leader, Daniel Goa, 71, announced last week that he did not intend to seek another mandate, partly for health reasons, after leading the party for the past 12 years.

    Goa told militants this was a “heavy burden” his successor would now have to carry.

    He also said there was a need to work on political awareness and training for the younger generations.

    He said the heavy involvement of the youth in the recent riots, not necessarily within the UC’s political framework, was partly caused by “all these years during which we did not train (UC) political commissioners” on the ground.

    He told local media at the weekend this has been “completely neglected”, saying this was his mea culpa.

    After the riots started, there was a perception that calls for calm coming from UC and other political parties were no longer heeded and that, somehow, the whole insurrection had got out of control.

    The 48-year-old Tjibaou was also elected earlier this year as one of New Caledonia’s two representatives to the French National Assembly (Lower House in the French Parkiament).

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • 2 out 3 of Fiji women experience domestic violence, says Reverend Bhagwan

    By Mosese Raqio in Suva

    Two out of three women in every church in Fiji experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime — and there are “uncomfortable truths” that need to be heard and talked about, says a Pacific church leader.

    This was highlighted by Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) general secretary Reverend James Bhagwan while delivering his sermon during the “Break the Silence” Sunday at Suva’s Butt Street Wesley Church.

    Reverend Bhagwan said in this sacred and safe space, “we have to hear about the brokenness of our world and our people which includes both the victims and the perpetrators”.

    He said that if parishioners had a hard time talking about sexual violence perpetrated against mere human beings, then understandably it might be hard thinking about the sexualised connotations of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

    Reverend Bhagwan said if people could break the silence about what was happening in their communities, and if they could break the silence about what had happened to Jesus, then they could start to talk about these issues in their faith communitie

    Reverend Bhagwan said he hoped that people not only talked about Jesus Christ in their prayer breakfast but also “talk about these issues”.

    He talked about how men and women were crucified back in Jesus Christ’s time.

    Humiliation of execution
    He added that they were made to carry their cross to their place of execution as a further humiliation, and then they were hung naked on the cross in public.

    Reverend Bhagwan said that enforced public nakedness was a sexual assault and it still was today.

    He said the humiliation of Jesus Christ was on clear display and he was able to walk without shame among people, even though he knew they had seen his naked shame.

    Reverend Bhagwan said it is in God’s promise that people were urged to break the silence, remove the gags of shame that were placed on victims of violence, and instead “echo their call for justice”.

    He added that hope and healing could only be offered if  people were willing to hear and bear the burden of wounds of trauma and abuse.

    Today marks the beginning of what is known as 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign used by activists around the world as an organising strategy to call for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence.

    ‘Break the Silence’
    While Christian communities have supported the “16 Days of Activism” in various ways, it was not until 2013 that churches began to observe Break the Silence Sunday in Fiji and around the Pacific.

    This was an initiative of the Christian Network Talanoa.

    It is a Fiji-based ecumenical network of organised women and Christian women’s units seeking to remove the culture of silence and shame around violence against women, especially in faith-based settings.

    In 2016, the Fiji Council of Churches committed to observing Break the Silence Sunday.

    The Pacific Conference of Churches is rolling out this campaign to all its 35 member churches and 11 National Councils of churches.

    Republished from Fiji Village with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • COP29: Pacific climate advocates decry outcome as ‘a catastrophic failure’

    RNZ Pacific

    The United Nations climate change summit COP29 has “once again ignored” the Pacific Islands, a group of regional climate advocacy organisations say.

    The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) said today that “the richest nations turned their backs on their legal and moral obligations” as the UN meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, fell short of expectations.

    “This COP was framed as the ‘finance COP’, a critical moment to address the glaring gaps in climate finance and advance other key agenda items,” the group said.

    COP29 BAKU, 11-22 November 2024
    COP29 BAKU, 11-22 November 2024

    “However, not only did COP29 fail to deliver adequate finance, but progress also stalled on crucial issues like fossil fuel phase-out, Loss and Damage, and the Just Transition Work Plan.

    “The outcomes represent a catastrophic failure to meet the scale of the crisis, leaving vulnerable nations to face escalating risks with little support.”

    The UN meeting concluded with a new climate finance goal, with rich nations pledging a US$300 billion annual target by 2035 to the global fight against climate change.

    The figure was well short of what developing nations were asking for — more than US$1 trillion in assistance.

    ‘Failure of leadership’
    Campaigners and non-governmental organisations called it a “betrayal” and “a shameful failure of leadership”, forcing climate vulnerable nations, such as the Pacific Islands, “to accept a token financial pledge to prevent the collapse of negotiations”.

    PICAN said the pledged finance relied “heavily on loans rather than grants, pushing developing nations further into debt”.

    “Worse, this figure represents little more than the long-promised $100 billion target adjusted for inflation. It does not address the growing costs of adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage faced by vulnerable nations.

    “In fact, it explicitly ignores any substantive decision to include loss and damage just acknowledging it.”

    Vanuatu Climate Action Network coordinator Trevor Williams said developed nations systematically dismantled the principles of equity enshrined in the Paris Agreement at COP29.

    “Their unwillingness to contribute sufficient finance, phase out fossil fuels, or strengthen their NDCs demonstrates a deliberate attempt to evade responsibility. COP29 has taught us that if optionality exists, developed countries will exploit it to stall progress.”

    Kiribati Climate Action Network’s Robert Karoro said the Baku COP was a failure on every front.

    ‘No meaningful phase out of fossil fuels’
    “Finance fell far short, Loss and Damage was weakened, and there was no meaningful commitment to phasing out fossil fuels,” he said.

    “Our communities cannot wait for empty promises to materialise-we need action that addresses the root causes of the crisis and supports our survival.”

    Tuvalu Climate Action Network’s executive director Richard Gokrun said the “outcome is personal”.

    “Every fraction of a degree in warming translates into lost lives, cultures and homelands. Yet, the calls of the Pacific and other vulnerable nations were silenced in Baku,” he said.

    “From the weakened Loss and Damage fund to the rollback on Just Transition principles, this COP has failed to deliver justice on any front.”

    PICAN’s regional director Rufino Varea described the outcome of the meeting as “a death sentence for millions”.

    He said the Pacific Islands have been clear that climate finance must be grants-based and responsive to the needs of frontline communities.

    “Instead, developed countries are handing us debt while dismantling the principles of equity and justice that the Paris Agreement was built on. This is a betrayal, plain and simple.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • COP29: Carbon credit trading scheme criticised as ‘get out of jail free card’

    By Kate Green , RNZ News reporter

    A new carbon credit trading deal reached in the final hours of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, has been criticised as a free pass for countries to slack off on efforts to reduce emissions at home.

    The deal, sealed at the annual UN climate talks nearly a decade after it was first put forward, will allow countries to buy carbon credits from others to bring down their own balance sheet.

    New Zealand had set its targets under the Paris Agreement on the assumption that it would be able to meet some of it through international cooperation — “so getting this up and running is really important”, Compass Climate head Christina Hood said.

    COP29 BAKU, 11-22 November 2024
    COP29 BAKU, 11-22 November 2024

    “It’s a tool, it’s neither good nor bad, but there’s going to have to be a lot of scrutiny on whether the government is taking a high-ambition, high-integrity path, or just trying to do the minimum possible.”

    The plan had taken nine years to go through because countries determined to do it right had been holding out for a process with the right checks and balances in place, she said.

    As it stood, countries would have to report yearly to the UN on their trading activities, but it was up to society and other countries to scrutinise behaviour.

    Cindy Baxter, a COP veteran who has been at all but seven of the conferences, said it was in-line with the way Aotearoa New Zealand wanted to go about reducing its emissions.

    ‘We’re not alone, but . . .’
    “We’re not alone, Switzerland is similar and Japan as well, but certainly New Zealand is aiming to meet by far the largest proportion of our climate target, [out of] anywhere in the OECD, through carbon trading.”

    The new scheme fell under Article six of the Paris Agreement, and a statement from COP29 said it was expected to reduce the cost of implementing countries’ national climate plans by up to US$250 billion (NZ$428.5b) per year.

    COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev said “climate change is a transnational challenge and Article six will enable transnational solutions. Because the atmosphere does not care where emissions savings are made.”

    But Baxter said there was not enough transparency in the scheme, and plenty of loopholes. One of the issues was ensuring projects resulting in carbon credits continued to reduce emissions after the credits were traded.

    “For example, if you’re trying to save some mangroves in Fiji, you give Fiji a whole bunch of money and say this is going to offset this amount of carbon, but what if those mangroves are destroyed by a drought, or a great big cyclone?”

    Countries should be cutting emissions at home, she said.

    “And that is something New Zealand is not very good at doing, has a really bad reputation for doing. We’ve either planted trees, or now we’re trying to throw money at offset.”

    Greenpeace spokesperson Amanda Larsson said she, too, was concerned it would take the onus off big polluters to make reductions at home, calling it a “get out of jail free card”.

    ‘Lot of junk credits’
    “Ultimately, we really need to see significant cuts in climate pollution,” she said. “And there’s no such thing as high-integrity voluntary carbon markets, and a history of a lot of junk credits being sold.”

    Countries with the means to make meaningful change at home should not be relying on other countries stepping up, she said

    The Green Party foreign affairs spokesperson Teanau Tuiono said there was strong potential in the proposal, but it was “imperative to ensure the framework is robust, and protects the rights of indigenous peoples at the same time as incentivising carbon sequestration”.

    It should be a wake-up call to change New Zealand’s over-reliance on risky pine plantations and instead support permanent native afforestation, he said.

    “This proposal emphasises how solving the climate crisis requires global collaboration on the most difficult issues. That requires building trust and confidence, by meeting commitments countries make to each other.

    “Backing out of these by, for instance, restarting oil and gas exploration directly against the wishes of our Pacific relatives, is not the way do to that.”

    Conference overall ‘disappointing and frustrating’
    Baxter said it had been “very difficult being forced to have another COP in a petro-state”, where the host state did not have much to gain by making big progress.

    “What that means is that there is not that impetus to bang heads together and get really strong agreement,” she said.

    But the blame could not be placed entirely on the leadership.

    “The COP process is set up to work if governments bring their A-games, and they don’t,” she said.

    “People should be bringing their really strong new climate targets [and] very few are doing that.”

    Another deal was clinched in overtime of the two-week conference, promising US$300 billion (NZ$514 billion) each year by 2035 for developing nations to tackle climate emissions.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Protest photographer John Miller records Hīkoi mō te Tiriti with his historic lens 

    RNZ News

    For almost six decades photographer John Miller (Ngāpuhi) has been a protest photographer in Aotearoa New Zealand.

    From his first photographs of an anti-Vietnam War protest on Auckland’s Albert Street as a high school student in 1967, to Hīkoi mō te Tiriti last week, Miller has focused much of his work on the faces of dissent.

    He spoke of his experiences over the years in an interview broadcast today on RNZ’s Culture 101 programme with presenter Susana Lei’ataua.

    John Miller at RNZ with his camera
    John Miller at the RNZ studio with his Hīkoi camera. Image: Susana Lei’ataua/RNZ

    Miller joined Hīkoi mō te Tiriti at Waitangi Park in Pōneke Wellington last Tuesday, November 19, ahead of its final walk to Parliament’s grounds.

    “It was quite an incredible occasion, so many people,”  74-year-old Miller says.

    “Many more than 1975 and 2004. Also social media has a much more influential part to play in these sorts of events these days, and also drone technology . . .

    “I had to avoid one on the corner of Manners and Willis Streets flying around us as the Hīkoi was passing by.

    “We ended up running up Wakefield Street which is parallel to Courtenay Place to get ahead of the march and we joined the march at the Taranaki Street Manners Street intersection and we managed to get in front of it.”

    Comparing Hīkoi mō te Tiriti with his experience of the 1975 Māori Land March led by Dame Whina Cooper, Miller noted there were a lot more people involved.

    “During the 1975 Hīkoi the only flag that was in that march was the actual white land march flag — the Pou Whenua — no other flags at all. And there were no placards, no, nothing like that.”

    1975 Land march in Pōneke Wellington
    The 1975 Māori Land March in Pōneke Wellington. Image: © John M Miller
    Black and white image of Maori land rights activist Eva Rickard
    Māori land rights activist Tuaiwa Hautai “Eva” Rickard leads the occupation of Raglan Golf Course in February 1978. Image: © John M Miller
    1975 Land march
    The 1975 Māori Land March Image: © John M Miller

    There were more flags and placards in the Foreshore and Seabed March in 2004.

    “Of course, this time it was a veritable absolute forest of Tino Rangatira flags and the 1835 flag and many other flags,” Miller says.

    “Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe flags were there, even Palestinian flags of course, so it was a much more colourful occasion.”

    Tame Iti on the 1975 Land March
    Activist Tame Iti on the 1975 Māori Land March. Image: © John M Miller

    Miller tried to replicate photos he took in 1975 and 2004: “However this particular time I actually was under a technical disadvantage because one of my lenses stopped working and I had to shoot this whole event in Wellington using just a wide angle lens so that forced me to change my approach.”

    Miller and his daughter, Rere, were with the Hīkoi in front of the Beehive.

    “I had no idea that there were so many people sort of outside who couldn’t get in and I only realised afterwards when we saw the drone footage.”

    The Polynesian Panthers at a protest rally in the 1970s.
    The Polynesian Panthers at a protest rally in the 1970s. Image: © John M Miller

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Six Israeli soldiers die by suicide – thousands get mental health treatment, says report

    Asia Pacific Report

    At least six Israeli soldiers have taken their own lives in recent months, the major Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth has revealed, citing severe psychological distress caused by prolonged wars in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon as the primary cause, Anadolu Agency reports.

    The investigation suggests that the actual number of suicides may be higher, as the Israeli military has yet to release official figures, despite a promise to disclose them by the end of the year.

    The report highlights a broader mental health crisis within the Israeli army.

    Regional tension has escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 44,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

    Thousands of soldiers have sought help from military mental health clinics or field psychologists, with approximately a third of those affected showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

    According to the investigation, the number of soldiers suffering psychological trauma may exceed those with physical injuries from the war.

    The daily cites experts as saying the full extent of this mental health crisis will become clear once military operations are completed and troops return to normal life.

    About 1700 soldiers treated
    In March, Lucian Tatsa-Laur, head of the Israeli military’s Mental Health Department, told another Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, that approximately 1700 soldiers had received psychological treatment.

    Since October 7 last year, reports Anadolu, Israeli military is alleged to have wiped out families in Gaza, pulverised neighbourhoods, dug up mass graves, destroyed cemeteries, bombed shops and businesses, flattened hospitals and morgues, ran tanks and bulldozers on dead bodies, tortured jailed Palestinians with dogs and electricity, subjected detainees to mock executions, and even raped many Palestinians.

    Exhibiting sadistic behaviour during the genocide, Israeli soldiers have taunted Palestinian prisoners by claiming they were playing football with their children’s heads in Gaza.

    Israeli troops have live streamed hundreds of videos of soldiers looting Palestinian homes, destroying children’s beds, setting homes on fire and laughing, wearing undergarments of displaced Palestinians and stealing children’s toys.

    In their mission to “erase” Palestine, Israeli troops have killed a record number of babies, medics, athletes, and journalists — unprecedented in any war in this century.

    But, said the news agency, now it’s coming with a cost.

    Australia bars former minister
    Meanwhile, former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has been banned from entering Australia over fears of “incitement”.

    Shaked, a former MP for the far-right Yamina party, was scheduled to appear at a conference hosted by the pro-Israel Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

    However, the Australian Department of Home Affairs told the former minister on Thursday that she had been denied a visa to travel to the country under the Migration Act.

    The act allows the government to deny entry to individuals likely to “vilify Australians” or “incite discord” within the local community.

    Speaking to Israeli media, Shaked claimed that her ban was due to her vocal opposition to a Palestinian state, reports Middle East Eye.

    She has also previously called for the removal of “all two million” Palestinians from Gaza.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders ‘wake up call’ for NZ, says Minto

    Asia Pacific Report

    A national New Zealand solidarity movement for Palestine has welcomed the International Criminal Court’s move to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, saying it is a “wake up call” for the coalition government.

    “The warrants mean for the first time Israeli leaders face accountability for war crimes which have been live-streamed on social media for the past 13 months” said national chair John Minto of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA).

    “We are waiting for our government to announce it will arrest Netanyahu and Gallant immediately if they set foot in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

    Many countries among the 124 members of the ICC have been quick to declare that they would honour the arrest obligations, among them Canada, France and Italy. Also the European Union’s foreign policy chief said all EU countries should abide by the ruling.

    “These decisions are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU member states,” said Joseph Borrell.

    Both Israel and its key backer, United States, refuse to recognise the ICC jurisdiction.

    PSNA’s Minto said in a statement today: “It’s a breath of fresh air from the stultifying refusal of New Zealand and other Western governments to act against the perpetrators of industrial-scale slaughter of Palestinian civilians.

    “This ICC decision is a wake-up call for our government which can no longer stay silent.

    “New Zealand has been a staunch ally of the US/Israel throughout the past 13 months when it should have been a staunch defender of international law.

    “Unbelievably, our government still refuses to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire and while it has condemned every act of Palestinian resistance, it has refused to condemn any of the egregious Israeli war crimes which are the subject of the arrest warrants.”

    In response to the ICC decision, New Zealand should immediately end support for Israel to continue its war crimes such as:

    • Suspend all satellite launches by Rocket lab for BlackSky Technology, Capella Space, and HawkEye 360. These companies provide imaging data used by Israeli for its targeting of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and Lebanon.
    • Suspend and independently investigate the export of crystal oscillators from Rakon Industries which end up in bombs used for war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon, and
    • Impose sanctions against Israel — they are also essential and the ICC decision can be the trigger.

    “New Zealand needs to act as we did when the ICC issued arrest warrants against Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine” said Minto.

    “New Zealand imposed immediate and wide-ranging sanctions against Russia and must follow through with Israel.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Sanders praises arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and warns against ‘further barbarism’ over Gaza

    Asia Pacific Report

    Independent US Senator Bernie Sanders says he supports the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, saying “all launched indiscriminate attacks against civilians and caused unimaginable human suffering”.

    “If the world does not uphold international law, we will descend into further barbarism,” he said in a post on X, alongside a longer statement.

    “I agree with the ICC,” Sanders added.

    His statement mirrored global reaction in favour of the ICC indictments in contrast to most US and Israeli politicians who condemned the global legal move to see accountability for the repeated and continuous Israeli atrocities in the besieged enclave Gaza.

    On Wednesday, Sanders sought to block US supplies of offensive weapons to Israel but his draft law was heavily defeated.

    The defendants are now internationally wanted suspects and ICC member states are under legal obligation to arrest them. Neither the US nor Israel recognise ICC jurisdiction.

    The court said it had issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October until at least 20 May, 2024” and which related to the use of starvation and the deliberate targeting of medical facilities.

    ‘Important precedent’
    Dr Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois, called the ICC’s latest move a “very important precedent”.

    “In my opinion, if the ICC had prosecuted Israeli leaders after Operation Cast Lead . . .  maybe all of this could have been avoided, if prosecutions were initiated 15 years ago,” Boyle told Al Jazeera.

    Boyle said the Biden administration is guilty of “aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and outright genocide against the Palestinians”.

    He said this was a “far more serious genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza than was inflicted on the Bosnians,” referring to the timeframes of each genocide in comparison with the number of people killed.

    Israel is now “extending this to Lebanon, and it does appear the [occupied] West Bank is next in its sights,” Boyle said.

    “It’s a very serious situation.

    Israel ‘never respected rule of law’

    An international human rights lawyer, Michael Mansfield, described Israel is an “unjust state that has never respected the rule of law”.

    Israel was trying to “deflect responsibility” and its objective had been to destroy Gaza and make it “uninhabitable”, he said.

    Netanyahu would not end the war in Gaza, he said, until this objective was met.

    “If he ends the war, he is in trouble. He’s in trouble if he leaves the country … and if he stays in Israel . . . he’s awaiting prosecution there,” Mansfield said.

    The issuing of the ICC warrants “makes a difference to world opinion, because I don’t think that the regime in Israel have recognised the extent in which they are being isolated — morally isolated”, he said.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘Wanted’ for war crimes over Gaza: Israel’s Netanyahu, Gallant face ICC arrest warrants

    Democracy Now!

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: In The Hague, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Israel’s assault on Gaza.

    In a statement, the ICC said the Israeli leaders had, “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”

    The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, although Israel’s military claims it killed Deif in a July airstrike.

    The ICC arrest warrants come a week after a UN special committee found Israel’s actions in Gaza since October 2023 are, “consistent with genocide,” including using starvation as a weapon of war and recklessly inflicting civilian casualties.

    AMY GOODMAN: In related news, on Wednesday, the United States vetoed a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council for the fourth time, and the US Senate rejected a resolution brought by Senator Bernie Sanders that sought to block the sale of US tank rounds, bomb kits and other lethal weapons to Israel. Nineteen senators supported blocking the arms.

    For more on all of this, we’re joined by Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for HuffPost. His latest piece is “Exclusive: White House Says Democrats Who Oppose Weapons to Israel Are Aiding Hamas.”

    Ahmed, thank you so much for being with us. As you write your book on the Biden administration in Gaza called Crossing the Red Line, clearly the ICC has ruled that today by issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

    Can you talk about the significance of this move?

    AKBAR SHAHID AHMED: Yeah, Amy. This is just an absolutely huge development, and it’s significant for a number of reasons. It’s significant because the ICC has come out and amplified and affirmed the allegations of crimes against humanity, of war crimes. This is one more international body.

    These are . . . international charges with a great deal of respect. This is a court that most of the world is a member of. And they’re coming out and saying, “Look, we think there are reasonable grounds to believe that these major international red lines have been crossed by the Israelis.”

    What’s really important to remember is that this isn’t just a decision about Israel. By extension, it fundamentally is a decision about the United States, which has been the ultimate enabler of Israel’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon, which are under consideration by the ICC.

    And even in this ICC statement today, they point out that in the situations where Israel has addressed concerns over what it describes as starvation as a method of warfare — right? — depriving civilians, Palestinians, of food, water and medical equipment, Israel has really only done so in an extremely arbitrary and, what the ICC judges call, conditional way in response to the US. So, fundamentally, Amy, what we’re seeing is the ICC is saying yet again that Israel and the US, as its major enabler and backer, are in the dark and will continue to be in the dark for years to come.

    This kind of adds to a broader picture in which there are now ICC warrants for the sitting Israeli prime minister and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who remains a significant politician in Israel. Simultaneously, there’s the genocide case at the ICJ, the International Court of Justice, which is ongoing and will be ongoing for years to come.

    And there’s the Geneva Conventions conference underway next year regarding kind of similar issues — right? — violations of international law, laws of war and the Israeli grave abuses that are alleged. So, the US and Israel will be kind of on trial on the international stage for years to come.


    ‘Wanted for war crimes in Gaza.’        Video: Democracy Now!

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Akbar, would you say that this move is mostly a symbolic one? Because, as you pointed out, of course, most countries are members of the International Criminal Court, but in this instance, perhaps most importantly, neither Israel nor the US are.

    AKBAR SHAHID AHMED: Right, Nermeen. And that’s something that the ICC judges did get into today — right? — because Israel said, “Look, the International Criminal Court doesn’t have jurisdiction over us.” That said, the state of Palestine is a member of the court, and that’s why this becomes a relevant and interesting thing, because you’ve seen European nations recognise Palestine as a state. You’ve seen Palestine join the United Nations General Assembly over just last year.

    So, yes, while the US and Israel continue to reject international scrutiny by the ICC, by the ICJ, of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, there’s a growing international push to kind of challenge that, right?

    And I think you will see the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration assertively push back against the ICC. The Trump administration did actually target the ICC directly when President Trump was last in office, threatening to put sanctions on ICC officials. And we also know from reporting that the Israelis have spied on and threatened the ICC themselves, according to reporting by The Guardian. So, yes, there will be increased pressure.

    But I think we’re really in a place that no one thought we would be even a few months ago, right? I think even the prospect of the ICC prosecutor successfully getting these warrants issued, it was initially thought that would be quite quick. It’s taken a long time. The fact that judges were able to issue those warrants suggests that even though it’s an uphill battle to get this international scrutiny, there’s a real determination and clear will.

    And we’ve seen a lot of states turn around and say over 13 months, right? Since the October 7 attack by Hamas within Israel that did spark this current round of fighting, there have been calls to say, “We don’t want this to escalate,” right?

    The US’s allies, Western countries have said, “We want to resolve this. We don’t want you on trial. Can the US and Israel please change course?” And what you’ve seen is a defiance from Tel Aviv and from Washington to say, “Actually, no, we’re continuing these wars.”

    So, that does take it to a different forum to kind of change the policy.

    NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Akbar, could you also — while we’re looking at the way in which international organisations, multilateral ones, are responding to this, what about the latest vote at the Security Council and the fact that the US blocked it for the fourth time, a ceasefire vote?

    AKBAR SHAHID AHMED: It’s really striking at this point — right? — to see the Biden administration totally alone. And you see how this develops over the course of the war. Initially, the US was able to get Britain, even France, kind of abstaining, standing with them.

    And now, 13 months in, where conduct hasn’t changed, and you still have daily strikes that are killing dozens, sometimes over a hundred civilians, you have a mounting death toll of mostly women and children, the US is totally alone, where it’s shielding Israel on the world stage diplomatically.

    And this is really important to see in the context of the Biden administration as an outlier even among American presidents and administrations. When President Barack Obama was in office, after he was in the lame-duck period that Biden is in now, he actually did abstain at the UN Security Council and said, “You know what? Go ahead and pass a resolution that Israel doesn’t like,” because tacitly the US acknowledged there was a basis, there were credible grounds for that resolution, which in that instance was about Israeli settlement activity.

    Here, what you’re seeing from the Biden administration, even in their dying days — right? — two months to go, there’s an obstinacy, a defiance, and a real commitment to shielding Israel, even if they are totally alone against now their closest allies — Britain, France and everyone else on the Security Council.

    So, I think the context of that veto kind of presages whatever may come in the next two months in terms of the Biden administration allowing any UN scrutiny of the wars.

    AMY GOODMAN: Akbar, I want to play Palestine’s envoy to the United Nations, Majed Bamya, speaking yesterday.

    MAJED BAMYA: There is no right to mass killing of civilians. There is no right to starve an entire civilian population. There is no right to forcibly displace a people. And there is no right to annexation. This is what Israel is doing in Gaza. …

    Maybe for some, we have the wrong nationality, the wrong faith, the wrong skin color. But we are humans! And we should be treated as such. Is there a UN Charter for Israel that is different from the charter we all have? Tell us. Is there an international law for them, an international law for us? Do they have the right to kill, and the only right we have is to die?

    Republished under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States Licence.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Iniquilipi Chiari Lombardo an Indigenous Activist from Panama, talks to HRW about climate migration


    This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.