Prejudices a Stumbling Block To Our Progress As a Nation
We need to learn from the American experience and ensure that we do not allow it to happen here.
Prejudices are the root causes of many of our problems. They can be ethnic, cultural, religious, economic, gender-based and sexual in nature.
Whatever they are, they manifest themselves in many anti-social behaviours that lead to ill-feelings and hate crimes. When this happens the rule of law may not be respected, and human dignity and decency go out through the door. What follows is human suffering of unimaginable proportions.
Institutionalised racism
It’s a trend we have seen time and time again. We should learn from the controversial death of black American George Floyd at the hands of Police and the protests that followed. Race relations has always been a sensitive and emotive issue in the United States.
It dates back to the days of slavery and racial segregation. Depending on who you talk to and which state you are in, you will hear divergent views on the touchy subject of institutionalised racism.
Legal and criminal response
The death of Mr Floyd re-ignited that debate – the treatment of black and coloured Americans. Let’s not forget that many Americans, black or white, condemn racism of any kind. That’s why they took to the streets to protest in large numbers. There was nothing wrong with that. They were exercising their democratic rights and freedom of expression.
But when the protest turned to violence, looting and death on the streets it was wrong. It took the focus away from the very purpose of the protest which should have been peaceful.
The death and injuries of innocent people including Police (a black Policeman included) and owners of businesses caught in the crossfire is one of the saddest results of the protest. There was no protest over their death. Were their lives not as important as Mr Floyd’s?
No one condones Police brutality for whatever reason. But when the Police and innocent people become targets and victims, it’s preposterous and does not make sense. It takes the sting away from the reason of the protest.
It has been claimed in media reports that the perpetrators, who belong to a minority, had a political agenda to destabilise America. That is a real danger in this kind of mass rally.
Fiji’s experience
From Fiji’s perspective, we need to learn from the American experience and ensure that we do not allow it to happen here. The peaceful protest is democracy in action. The violence is not. It’s thuggery, criminal and abhorrent.
We saw it happen here in the 2000 coup, particularly in central Suva, when shops were burned and looted. In subsequent events during the political upheaval, innocent lives were lost too including members of the Police and the military trying to defend the country from the insurrection.
We rewind the clock back to 1987. The first coups, staged by the military led by Sitiveni Rabuka, to give the iTaukei political supremacy and economic empowerment, were the culmination of years of the harbouring of prejudices.
The anti-Indo Fijian sentiments expressed in street demonstrations did not just come about overnight.
They were simmering as far back as the colonial days.
When political agitation began in the cane fields principally by IndoFijian cane farmers, traditional iTaukei leaders and their subjects were ready to volunteer to help the colonial government quell any disturbance or uprising.
Constitutional compromise
When independence arrived, the Constitution that was signed in London, allowed for voting on racial lines to appease the iTaukei. The Indo-Fijian leaders wanted a one-person-one vote electoral system that eliminated voting on racial lines. The final document was based on a compromise.
Political extremism
But it could not stop extremists like Sakeasi Butadroka, the firebrand leader of the Fijian Nationalist Party, who accused iTaukei leaders of selling iTaukei interests in London. Among calls for national leadership to be reserved for iTaukei, he advocated for the repatriation of IndoFijians back to India.
His brand of politics attracted a section of the iTaukei community and in 1977 his party collected enough votes to split the iTaukei support of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara’s Alliance Government and allowed the National Federation Party a historic election victory.
Religious prejudice
But that victory was short-lived. The NFP could not form a Government because of internal differences based on religious prejudices. Siddiq Koya, a Muslim, father of Faiyaz Koya, Minister for Commerce, Trade and Tourism, could have been the first Indo-Fijian prime minister. But prejudices got the better of the majority Hindu NFP members and the NFP split into two factions, the Dove led by Mr Koya and Flower led by Jai Ram Reddy, Irene J Narayan and K C Ramrakha.
The late Ratu Sir Kamisese led a caretaker government and won the fresh election later the same year. He went on to win the 1982 election. But when the NFP reconciled and came together leading up to the 1987 election, it became a potent political force. It coalesced with the Dr Timoci Bavadra’s Fiji Labour Party and they defeated the ruling Alliance Party in April 1987.
Reality
We would be lying to ourselves if we say there are no prejudices among us.
The social media is full of them and we have a responsibility to speak out against their insidious influence in our communities.
Legal solution
The 2013 Constitution has given us a heads-up by eliminating the racial elements, calling us all Fijians and promoting equality on race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.
Prejudices give rise to hate, discrimination, intolerance, bigotry and even violence. They are divisive and destructive.
They are evil no matter how we massage them to try to justify our actions.