A NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON ERADICATING THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY
Accepting that we have an aggression problem it has been said that the culture of “beating up” people, is deeply ingrained in aspects of the Fijian psyche.
Before we can come up with solutions, we need to accept that violence is a huge issue that we need to manage, alleviate and eventually eradicate. The time has come for the nation to discuss this issue openly in public spaces.
Hopefully, there will be more articles and inspiring stories in the print media, including radio educational programmes and TV discussions that eventually lead to pragmatic solutions. Each of us working in our various fields (including Civil Society, Religious and Cultural Groups, NGOs, and UN agencies) can take action in promoting an affirming culture of peace and doing away with violence in all its forms.
We have State Policies and Laws that are meant to deal effectively with all kinds of violence that women, children, LGBTIQ individuals and the disadvantaged are subjected to. However, Govt Policies and Laws can only be effective if all Fijians play their part in spreading a Culture of Peace through their personal behaviour. Where violent acts are done, they should be reported immediately and not be condoned.
Examining the culture of violence
Police brutality, for example, has been normal practice since before Independence.
What I mean is that I have been hearing about it since childhood; so much so that people hardly raise their eyebrows when they hear about it or observe brutality. There is often the matter of ‘double-speak.’ In private iTaukei may remark, “Sa rauti koya vinaka saraga.
Sa sivia na viavialevu!” (Serves him right for getting beaten up. So much arrogance shown to the Police!”)
There is a view that most of these ‘victims’ tend to be maloku (subdued) after the events and sound and act very demurely to the media. I used the word ‘double-speak’ because these very same iTaukei will become very animated in public discussions and express outrage! It will go a long way in eradicating violence if we can merge our private and public psyches!
One assumption on why there is so much aggression is that Fijian males do not have an open communication relationship with their fathers where they can discuss thing freely. They must suppress their personal views and frustrations and take all verbal and physical punishments like real men. They must not ask questions or show curiosity as the Bible stated that ‘the more knowledge, the more grief.’
These suppressed emotions often erupt when they confront institutions of Authority. Most Fijians feel that the Police are already overworked and exhausted and they are often subjected to verbal and physical abuse. In private, they rationalise that Police action in dealing with aggressive people is justified.
Yes, it will help to have anger management courses and counselling both for Police Officers and young Fijians, but that is only a band aid solution that does not solve the deep underlying problems.
Solutions for dealing with violence in Fiji must be holistic and encompass all aspects of our State, nonstate agencies, civil society, religious and cultural groups.
We need to change child rearing methods in homes and schools
We need to change the ways in which iTaukei children are raised in their homes and their interactions in the Church, School and Community. When I was a child in primary school, there was not a week that went by where I was not beaten, punched, belted or sworn at. For example, if there was an arithmetic test, we got punished for the number of incorrect answers we had.
So if I had 10 correct answers out of 20, I was belted 10 times. If someone was effeminate, that someone was made to play rugby where he would be roughed up.
This violence was seen as justified because the Bible taught that to spare the rod was to spoil the child.
The view then was that, if parents and teachers did not beat children, they were guilty of disobeying God and could potentially end up in Hell. (I wish to clarify that later in life I met and mixed socially with these teachers who had ill-treated me. They still felt with spiritual sincerity that the beating had shaped me.
One said, ‘You’re the type who if you’d been in the Garden of Eden would have eaten all the fruits including the leaves!” I did not hate them since I had been taught as a Christian to place my bitterness at the Cross of Calvary.)
Parental support
We need to reactivate the ParentsTeachers Associations and the Community Non-Formal Education programmes for parents to educate them on enlightened child rearing methods.
This ensures that parents will not use abusive and violent methods of disciplining their children. In the past, teachers used to go out to communities and had a very good rapport with parents.
The Fiji Teachers Union and the Fijian Teachers Association need to be actively involved given their proactive networks with teachers and school communities. Provincial administrations need to be proactive as village headmen can play a more active role in ensuring that parental/ community violence against women and children are eradicated.
While Government has prioritised Early Childhood Education, there is a need for businesses to actively sponsor their upkeep and development. There have been some horror stories of kindy teachers beating children. They (and all teachers in primary and high schools) need to be monitored actively and attend regular refresher courses to update their personal and pedagogic competencies.
Education support mechanisms
Our University Teacher Training Institutions lack quality control safeguards. We hardly have teacher-education conferences and there is an absence of applied research.
Trainee-teachers should not just be taught the pedagogic skills but also inculcated with the moral values that will guide them in their profession.
This will ensure that there is an absence of corporal punishment in schools and some students will no longer be harassed to engage in a forbidden relationship with teachers, out of their fear.
University counselling courses are a joke and need to be revamped. I often get the impression that the lecturers themselves need counselling. Effective counselling courses are necessary to empower people to deal with their issues without resorting to violence.
While the bulk of expatriates do great work in Fiji there have been disastrous choices especially in the education sector. I understand that the last appointee resigned because of the Maths marks fiasco.
We have well-dressed people in our Curriculum Development and Exams Unit, but it would be helpful for teachers if officers also have qualifications in Education.
It’s all very well to have familiarity with one’s field of knowledge, but if this cannot be effectively transmitted to students then it affects the teaching-learning process and exacerbates stress and its ensuing violent manifestations. Professor Healey, the Former VC of FNU had highlighted in a Fiji Sun
Report the salient points of national scaling of students’ exam marks. I totally agree with him and hope national scaling is brought back urgently.
The Church
The Church Institution also needs to be looked at. As it is currently organised in its very tight integration with the Vanua it has become an institution of aggression and poisonous masculinity.
It’s teaching of women’s subservience and submissiveness makes the Church environment an unsafe space. Should there be a separation of indigenous Fijian culture from the Christian Institution so that the Church concentrates on spiritual matters that will promote compassion, peace and non-violence when differences emerge in our relationships with one another?
That will make it a safe empowering space for children, women, the weak, the poor and those reviled for their sexuality. If nothing tangible is done, Fijians will find it more practical to talk directly to God without going through aggressive gatekeepers.
Feminists
I now turn to those feminists with their designer dresses and faux accents who hog the media limelight. Can they rise above the blame game and use their affluence, their high education, their giant-sized social media presence, and their high society influence to actually come up with pragmatic solutions?
It is useless just yapping about the problems and blaming the State and or patriarchy for all our flaws. People, especially men, would listen to these feminists if they came up with proactive solutions too.
Conclusion
I do not have ready answers and am fielding all these ideas to start a national conversation.
I tend to be accused of being westernised, but I will say it anyway. Too often in Fiji we get bogged down in long discussions and it becomes one long talk fest. We come out feeling smug but nothing gets done. We should be talking about the roots of the problems and the proactive solutions and we must not be fixated with the yaqona roots that are presented to us.
Let’s have more youths, women, LGBTIQ and rural grassroots people in these conversations.
In this national conversation, we all need to take real actions in our own lives, our workplaces, and communities to do away with the culture of violence in Fiji and replace it with the culture of peace.
I now pass on the baton so we can all hear your solutions and actions.