199 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
The information in this file was recently published in FREEDOM -
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the fortnightly anarchist journal published by FREEDOM PRESS:
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FREEDOM PRESS (IN ANGEL ALLEY) 84B WHITECHAPEL HIGH STREET,
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LONDON E1 7QX GREAT BRITAIN
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Do write for a sample copy or for a copy of our booklist of
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publications. We will be putting more of this information out so
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watch this spot...
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Focus on... BOUGAINVILLE
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The following is an abridged version of an article by Max Watts
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in the Anarchist Age Monthly Review (August 94) published in
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Melbourne Australia.
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In 1899 old Queen Vicky and Kaiser Bill did some horse trading:
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Bougainville, most definitely ethnically, geographically and
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culturally one of the Soloman Islands was handed over from this
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(British!) to Imperial Germany and attached to (German!) New
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Guinea. The Bougainvillians were not consulted. In 1914 Australia
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took New Guinea off the Germans, attached it to (Australian!)
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Papua. Thus it remained apart from a brief Japanese interlude
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until 1975. The Bougainvillians were not consulted and began to
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object.
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These objections became particularly vocal around 1969 when the
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people of central Bougainville learned that they did not own the
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land more than 3ft. below their gardens. This belonged to 'the
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crown'. It had been granted to Bougainville Copper Ltd., (BCL)
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part of the Australian face of Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) of London,
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who were planning on digging it up including of course the
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gardens trees and rivers. The Bougainvillians became stroppy.
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The objectors, particularly the land-owning women, were hit on
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the head with batons, tear-gassed and where necessary jailed by
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the Australian-led police. The multinationals got the land, dug a
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six km. long deep, deep hole at Panguna and shipped out much
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copper and gold. The rest, pretty poisonous tailing's, was thrown
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into the Jaba river system, which died.
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The 'benefits' were considerable: 2,341.7 million Kina (over 3
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billion Australian dollars) with the local Bougainvillians the
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'Landowners' getting rather less totalling some 28 million.
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Demands for independence went unsatisfied and a more militant
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leadership of the Panguna land owners emerged calling for more
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money, ecological safeguards and - shock horror - part ownership
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of the copper. The multinationals laughed. The Pangunans 'stole'
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explosives blew up pylons and closed the mine. The PNG riot
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police did their duty. People were killed. In March 89 the PNG
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army came in. More people were killed including soldiers.
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Villages were burned. The people formed the Bougainville
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Revolutionary Army (BRA). Australia sent Iroquois helicopters.
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All in vain. The mines stayed closed and by March 1990 with the
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situation out of control the PNG army mutinous and defeated was
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withdrawn. In May1990 an Interim Government declared
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independence. The Australian Labor government decided on
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invasion.
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The fundamental element of this plan which is being pursued to
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this day has been the total blockade of independent Bougainville.
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The blockade, completely dependant on Australian support has a
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dual function: to stop supplies getting in and information
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getting out.
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The Australian government assumed that the public in Australia
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would become increasingly unhappy at supporting a war of Neo-
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colonial reconquest, a small, but specifically Australian...
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Vietnam. If it were impossible to maintain complete silence the
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war was to be presented as an internal matter, concerning only
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PNG, or, even better, as a civil war between 'loyal'
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Bougainvillians and villain 'criminal' secessionists.
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The plan spelled out that while Port Moresby pretended to
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negotiate with the Interim Government, the PNG army should
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reconquer the outer sections of the island building on local
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conflicts and recruiting local militias.
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The hardships caused by the blockade, above all the lack of
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medical supplies, have been quite cold-bloodedly integrated into
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this strategy. Aid, food, medicines, must be channelled
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exclusively to sections reconquered by the PNG army. This is
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clear Labor government policy. The so-called 'care centres' even
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where run by the Red Cross, have always been part of the
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reconquest plan. Inside them, Bougainville women and children are
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to be kept away from their menfolk, fighting for their country;
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outside they are legitimate targets in a country wide free fire
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zone.
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Initially the planners assumed that the government would
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collapse quickly. Although thousands of Bougainvillians, mostly
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children and the elderly have died, four years down the track the
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war continues. The interior, the mine and access roads are still
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in rebel hands. The planned, anti BRA militia has become
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effective only in the SW, in parts of the Siwai region and even
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there little territory has been taken.
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As the wars drags on information leaks have begun to appear. An
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Australian radio expert, Sam Voron, ran the blockade and set up
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Radio Free Bougainville (RFB). Despite enormous difficulties it
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is still broadcasting and although ignored by the Australian
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media they are used by Radio New Zealand International, less
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dishonest in its Bougainville reportage. Others like Rosmarie
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Gillespie have run the blockade to take medicine in and news out.
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The Australian government go to great lengths to discredit these
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people's reports and she has had her passport confiscated.
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One particular aspect of Australia's war against Bougainville
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which the mainstream media ignore is the growing resistance to
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the war internationally and internally. Criticism by the UN, AI,
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Medecins sans Fronti res and others may briefly and distortedly
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appear in the 'quality' press but almost nothing is reported
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nationally about the growing opposition within the Australian
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union movement. The Bougainville Freedom Movement, apart from
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organising medical shipments tries to redress the balance,
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'carrying a glass of clean water up-hill against a torrent of
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shit coming down' Some efforts have been successful but much
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remains unknown to the broad public.
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In January 1994 the NSW South Coast Labour Council joined the
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protest calling on a black ban on all shipments to PNG. A
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Gibraltan registered ship wanting to load 15,000 tons of wheat
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has fallen under the ban. This led to a meeting with Foreign
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Minister Gareth Evans where he repeated the standard line: it is
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a PNG internal matter. Australia will continue supplying arms and
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finance. The BRA are criminals and in any case 'we' have won and
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'they' have lost. There are only a few hundred BRAs left.
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Even in Port Moresby this was treated as a joke.
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To placate unionists a parliamentary delegation was sent.
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It went for three days in April and turned out to be an exercise
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in fig-leaf hanging, obfuscation and deception. The
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Bougainvillians had always welcomed outsiders, often risking
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their lives to bring outsiders in. On the other hand such visits
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had been restricted or banned by the PNG government. Initially at
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least the 'left' delegates seemed to believe they would visit all
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Bougainville and talk to all Bougainvillians including those the
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Australians had been machine-gunning and suffering under the
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blockade.
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However, a few days before the visit Canbera announced it would
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be restricted to PNG army bases and PNG occupied parts of the
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island. No contact with independent Bougainville. Canbera claimed
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that the BRA would endanger the delegation. The fact that it was
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these Bougainvillians who have constantly asked for
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international, even Australian visitors, was - as usual -
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suppressed. The delegation went and returned. Apart from one
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right winger they've said little so far.
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The right-winger, Mr Loosely has said that Australia, 'may have
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either inadvertently or through sheer neglect contributed to some
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of the problems' which have hit the Bougainvillians. A rather
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curious way of defining 5 years of war, waged against a small
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people, by the Australian establishment! 5,000 perhaps 10,000
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deaths directly attributable to a blockade which wouldn't have
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lasted a week without Australian military assistance.
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Loosely, and his delegation, may surprise us yet, when their
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'report' comes out, but in the meantime I much fear that they
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have only, once again, loosely hung a fig-leaf over Australia's
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war, against Bougainville.
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BFM POB 134, Erskineville 2043, Australia Fax (02) 267 4746
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