1

Political Violence in the South Pacific:
Women after the Coups in Fiji＊

Ronni ALEXANDER

If you ask most women in Fiji what defines them most, they will say inresponse it is our race first then our gender... How can you mobilize as women aroundgender/feminist issues when you are so torn apart by race issues? 1

For many people, to the extent they ever think about the islands of the Pacific, it is
as a destination tourism location, a place for dream vacations and romantic holidays.
In fact, while some of the Pacific Island Countries2 may be peaceful places, they are
not, and have never been, immune to the trends of violence and militarization
happening around the world.

In recent years, the effects of globalization, unevendevelopment and environmental pressures such as sea-level rise have been added to
the legacies of colonization, including the aftermath of nuclear testing and resource
exploitation/depletion.3

These factors have contributed to an increase in armed

violence including, for example, three coups in Fiji（May 1987, September 1987 andMay 2000）, a bloody ten-year conflict in which more than 12,000 people lost their lives
on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea（1989-1998）, and internal armed
conflict in the Solomon Islands（1998, 2000）which has resulted in more than 200
deaths and 15,000-20,000 internally displaced people.4
These conflicts are played out against a background of economic and politicalchange, and of dissatisfaction with western models of governance and development
which have brought increased wealth to some, but have also brought a breakdown insocial systems, marginalization and environmental degradation.

They fall into a

category popularly referred to as ethnic conflicts and they do in fact use ethnic
symbols and slogans.

Yet they are about far more than ethnic differences.

Whileethnicity matters, the major source of crisis in the islands is not ethnic violence but＊Professor, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University.

Journal of International Cooperation Studies, Vol.14, No.1（2006.7）

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the militarization of political and social disputes, arising from the interaction of local
struggles for power and resources-particularly land, paid employment, and servicesand global economic trends that disadvantage small island states. 5

These eventsaffect women in their roles in production, reproduction and in their communities. In
other words, women are affected because they are members of their families andcommunities, and also because they are women.
This paper focuses on Fiji, a country made up of 332 islands, 110 of which are
populated. The ethnically and culturally Polynesian island of Rotuma,6 located about
465 km north of the main islands has been a part of Fiji since 1881. The economy isbased on sugar production and tourism, along with some fisheries, forestry products
and garment production.
Today, Fiji has a population of about 893,354 people（July 2005 estimate）. About
51% of the population is Fijian, 44% Indo-Fijian（descendents of Indian workers
brought to Fiji during colonization）, and the remaining 5% other Pacific Islanders,
overseas Chinese and others.

Religious affiliation is Christian 52%（Methodist 37%,

Roman Catholic 9%）, Hindu 38%, Muslim 8% and others 2%. The Christian population
is predominantly Fijian while the Hindu and Muslim population is Indo-Fijian.

In

terms of land ownership, 83% belongs to mataqali（clans）as joint ownership, leasedor reserve land, 9% is designated Crown land, and 8% is freehold.
Fiji is divided into four administrative districts（Central, Eastern, Northern andWestern）plus the Rotuma dependency. The chief of state is the president, and thehead of government is the prime minister. It has a bicameral parliament, consisting ofa senate（34 seats: 24 appointed by the president at the recommendation of the GreatCouncil of Chiefs, 9 appointed directly by the president, and 1 appointed by the
Rotuman Council）and house of representatives（71 seats: Ethnic Fijian-23, IndoFijian-19, other ethnicities-3, Council of Rotuma constituency-1, free-25）. As we willsee, the ethnic allocation of seats has been a matter of great contention; each version of
the constitution has contained a different apportionment. The underlying issue has
been the degree to which indigenous Fijian paramountcy is to be institutionalized ingovernment.
This paper will focus on political violence in Fiji, suggesting that women are being
particularly adversely affected by the escalating militarization of Fijian society. It will

Political Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fiji3

look first at the ways in which colonization affected the construction of gender andethnic identities and then at ways in which the politics of race has been used sincecolonization in the militarization of the struggle for resources and power. It is believedthat understanding this process helps us to comprehend how the culture of violence
initiated by militarization and armed conflict spreads throughout society, even after
peace has been established.
The first part of the paper will focus on colonization and the latter part will look at
the ways the coups, particularly the third coup in 2000, affected women in Fiji. The
impetus for this paper and much of the content of the second half comes from work
during a short research stay in Fiji in 2003. My focus was on efforts for reconciliation
rather than on the implications of the coups per se but during my stay I spoke withmany different NGOs and individual women.

I was struck by the difference inattitudes from other times I had been in Fiji. People were visibly uneasy and afraid.
While the citations used here come primarily from secondary sources, it was thedesire to unearth the roots of what I believed to be fear that led to the writing of thispaper. In my pursuit of that goal, I discovered the answer to be much more complex
than I had initially anticipated. Not surprisingly, it begins with the ways in which
gender, race and class have been constructed since colonization.
In comparison with much of the armed conflict and genocide which plagues ourworld, the three coups that rocked Fiji can perhaps be seen as being relatively
insignificant. Certainly the value of each life lost or ruined must not be minimized. At
the same time, especially since the processes of democracy now seem to be working,tensions in Fiji seem to be diminishing.

Yet, even with this small conflict, it ispossible to see how violence spreads almost unnoticed through a society and how it isconstructed and reproduced within families and communities.

It is only throughunderstanding such mechanisms that we can hope to change them.

Ⅰ．The Setting: Colonization and Decolonization
The Pacific Ocean is a vast expanse, covering about one-third of the world s surface
and dotted with small islands. If one were to choose one word to describe the region,
it might be diversity, or perhaps smallness.

There is tremendous cultural, 7

linguistic8 and biological9 diversity, yet each occurs in a relatively small area.

The

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tendency to ignore the rich diversity of the region, or subsume it to smallness, isperhaps an indication of the disregard and violence, both direct and structural, which
has colored relations between the Pacific Islands and the West since first contact in
the 18th century.
Colonization of the Pacific Islands by Western powers occurred relatively late, really
only beginning in the late 19th century. Spain, Britain, Germany, France, the US andJapan all possessed Pacific Island colonies. Colonization in the Pacific occurred for avariety of reasons, including a desire on the part of the colonizers to be seen as having
control over many territories and to spread various types of Christianity. Traditional
settler colonies with large white populations were established in Australia, New
Zealand and Hawaii, and people from these colonies played a large role in thecolonization of other islands in the region. For example, many people came to Fijifrom Australia. In many cases, however, the interest of the extra-regional powers in
the islands of the Pacific was focused more on strategic concerns, including thepossibilities presented for access to ocean resources and/or the ocean itself, rather
than on the resources available on the islands.
Regardless of the reason for outside rule, colonization takes power from local
communities and puts it in the hands of a resident colonial administration which inturn answers to decision-makers in distant places.

This process has far-reaching

implications. The extent to which individuals were affected has to do with the ways inwhich their lives coincided or conflicted with the needs and desires of colonialadministrators and the colonial state. Here we will examine some of the implicationsof this process of the re-creation of diverse Pacific societies into modern nationstates, focusing on Fiji.
Until contact with Europeans, what today is known as Fiji was composed ofrelatively autonomous societies which engaged in trade, marriage and warfare with
one another.

The Europeans formed alliances and provided their favorites withweapons, hoping to influence Fijian politics. This continued until Ratu Seru Cakobau, aparamount chief from the island of Bau, signed a Deed of Cession with Britain in 1874.10
Colonial rule in Fiji was a multi-tiered process, building on existing conditions andaffecting the construction of personal identities as well as economic, political and social
relations. In order to build what would eventually come to be known as

Fiji, thePolitical Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fiji5

creation of a single Fijian identity was necessary and, as we will see, thedetermination of what constitutes this indigenous Fijian identity has proven to be acontinuing issue. Determining Fijianness involved gender, race/ethnicity and class.
The construction of gender in colonial Fiji not only affected who took part ingovernment and who did not, but also affected the ways in which the politics of raceand ethnicity were reproduced within different communities. Race/ethnicity was used
as a symbol for forging alliances and promoting colonial and elite interests. Class ofcourse also played an important role. In Fiji, women had a lower social status thanmen, but high ranking women had a more privileged role than those of lower ranks.
In general, however, European policies served more often to strengthen existing
patriarchal control of women in Pacific societies rather than to challenge it.11
The work performed by Fijian women varied according to their rank and also theircultural group. Decisions at the community and village level were generally made bymen, while women were responsible for the well-being of the family. They worked theland and were involved in such activities as healing/massage, medicine-making,subsistence agriculture, cooking, pottery, tapa and coconut oil making, and local
trading. Women were subordinate to their husbands, and the father was the ultimate
decision maker and head of the family.12
The main actors in colonization were colonial administrators, white settlers andmissionaries. Each of these groups brought with them their own diversity and world
views. The white population was not entirely British.

In the decade 1910-20, unable

to recruit rich young Englishmen, the colonial capitial was home instead to many
Australians ... who held all sorts of lowly jobs. 13
population in the mid to late 19th

It seems that the European

century had a reputation for drunkenness andlawlessness, and the British elite found themselves in a difficult situation. At the sametime,

it was in relation to other races that the prestige of the white race wasmeasured, and Fiji s European elite were preoccupied with demarcating thedifferences between themselves and the Fijian natives. 14

One of the ways thisdemarcation was asserted was in the area of sexual relations.

Native marriages

between European men and Fijian women were seen as being improper and in poor
taste.

For women, however,sexual relations between white and black were seen

principally through the prism of molestation. 15 Race and male privilege combined to

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allow European men to civilize Fijian women, while European women becametargets of savage aggression.
The Protestant missionaries who came to Fiji were from lower middle-classbackgrounds in England, yet they brought a role model to Fijian women based on the
behavior of the privileged classes. They also brought new skills such as sewing andother domestic skills.

Gradually, these grew in importance relative to women s

traditional subsistence fishing and farming roles. Moreover, the colonial government
introduced laws which impacted on the rights and behavior of women. These laws
privileged married women, and disadvantaged those who had been deserted or
divorced, as well as unmarried women. Marriage was also regulated by the colonial
government. Polygamy was abolished, and marriage was restricted to those age 16 orover for women and 18 years or more for men. When education was introduced, firstby the missionaries and later by colonial authorities, it was made available to both girls
and boys. In practice, boys were given priority and girls were encouraged to stayhome. As a result, males tended to be better educated and to dominate the primarily
urban work force.16
Colonization impacted the construction of gender roles in politics as well as in theprivate sphere. Traditionally women were rarely directly involved in politics or publicdecision making, and colonial attitudes toward women reinforced these roles. There
have been relatively few opportunities and little encouragement for women to be
active in politics, and when such opportunities exist, strong social pressures contributeto making women unable（or perhaps unwilling）to take advantage of them.

An

example of the restriction of opportunity would be that adult franchise for women（aswell as for indigenous Fijians）was not introduced until the 1960 s.17
We have seen how the colonial administration assumed control of domestic relations,and how women were excluded from participation in the public sphere. The impact of
the British was not, however, limited to gender relations. Britain also had a major andlasting impact on ethnic relations and the construction of identity. This impact has
two components: the attempt to create a unified indigenous Fijian identity from themultiplicity of Fijian cultures and communities and the decision by Governor Arthur
Gordon to use indentured labor from India in sugar production.
According to Robertson and Sutherland,...the single most important feature of

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British colonial rule was its attempt to impose on Fijian cultural diversity ahomogeneity and uniformity that previously did not exist. 18 In other words, it was
not only that Britain brought an entirely different（and culturally diverse）group ofpeople to Fiji, but that in the process of creating the Indian other, the British
imposed on the Fijian population an assumption of Fijian unity. Not surprisingly, theBritish were not completely successful in this endeavor, and thus created the basis forvarying, and often conflicting, versions not only of what comprises Fijian traditionand culture, but also of the meaning of the term indigenous Fijian. From before
independence, Fijian leaders struggled with the question of who among Fiji s many
ethnic groups should bear the title Fijian.

These conflicting versions of Fijianness

continue to haunt Fiji today.
The presence of a growing Indian population had of course significant implications.
Between 1879 and 1916, the British brought 60,595 workers from a range of places inIndia. Indentured workers were offered the opportunity to stay after their initial five
years, and many chose to do so. By the time Fiji achieved independence from Britain
on 10 October 1970, the indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian populations were of nearly
equal size. Like the Fijians themselves, these migrants were of diverse backgrounds,
having different religions, languages and customs.

What eventually brought them

together as Indo-Fijians was their experience of colonialism in Fiji.
The migrants from India worked diligently, primarily as tenant farmers.

Later,

other migrants from India came and opened small shops and businesses.

The

presence of this large Indo-Fijian population eventually came to be described in therhetoric of ethnic politics as the Indian threat to the future of Fijian culture. The
early incorporation of Indians into the cash economy formed the basis for anothermyth: Fijian disadvantage.

The construction of the Indian sub-altern, as opposed toindigenous Fijians and Europeans, polarized the society, but allowed for an allianceof Fijian and European interests. It also allowed for the call for Fijian paramountcy inthe face of this perceived Indian threat.
The decision to use Indian labor shaped not only ethnic relations, but gender
relations as well. From 1879 to 1920, the plantations relied on indentured labor, andregulations required that forty percent of those workers be women. After 1920, cane
was produced on small family farms and only married men were eligible to receive

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cane contracts. The farms were too small to support many workers, so men worked
in other forms of agricultural work such as sugar mills and harvesting gangs. The
everyday work of cane production was supported by the unpaid work of Indian
and/or Indo-Fijian women and children.19 While some Indian and Fijian families lived
and worked side by side, the rhetoric of increasingly ethnic and gendered politics
called for separation. Some women managed to make personal choices regarding theirsexuality which were in opposition to the politics of separation, but they paid a highprice. For most women, Indian, Fijian and European as well, their primary role wasthat of reproduction and segregation was a given in their domestic relations. This was
manifested not only in their personal behavior, but in what constituted proper
behavior for their children. Thus women were both subject to, and instrumental in,
the construction of race and gender in colonial and post-colonial Fiji.
As we have seen, indigenous Fijian women played an important role in the supportof indigenous families. With the possible exception of chiefly women, opportunities for
women to participate in paid work were restricted by both custom and colonial
regulations. At the same time, women s fishing and horticultural activities, as well as
their work in the villages, subsidized the costs, resources and care of the indigenous
Fijian workforce. This trend has continued, with women making up only 14% of thepaid workforce at independence. That figure had increased to 30.5% by 1992, but does
not accurately reflect the reality of women s work, particularly in agriculture.20
The attempt by the colonial government to construct, on the one hand, a unified Fijiand on the other, create a division of ethnic and gender relations laid the foundations
for ethnic and gender tensions today, some of which have been manifested in（andexacerbated by）the coups. Ethnicity was also used by Fijian and Indian leaders topromote their various positions. As the possibility of independence emerged, the main
players were the Fijian Association, an ethnic Fijian organization formed in 1962, andtwo groups representing Indo-Fijians.

The National Federation Party（NFP）

represented the interests of the cane farmers. Those who opposed the NFP formed
the National Congress of Fiji which represented primarily Indian businesses,
professionals, and Muslims.

The face of politics was chiefly and male, but it was

supported by a network of marriages and kinship ties.
In August 1965, a new strategy was put into play. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara called a

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meeting of the Fijian Association and those Indo-Fijians not affiliated with the National
Federation Party（NFP）. While the goal of the meeting was to garner support for
separate communal rolls, thereby keeping politics ethnically divided, the rhetoric wasmultiracialism. The ultimate result of this meeting was the formation of the AllianceParty.
The Alliance Party was primarily portrayed as an inter-racial coalition, but it was
dominated by the Fijian Association. It was led by Ratu Mara, whose influence wasbuilt through a series of eastern island chiefly linkages.

Various organizations

representing European, Chinese and Indo-Fijian interests also participated.

These

smaller bodies were willing to acknowledge indigenous Fijian primacy in return for
undisturbed professional, educational and commercial advantages. 21 In other words,
the concessions to multiracialism enshrined in the central ideology of the AllianceParty asgoodwill, tolerance, understanding and harmony among all the Colony s

communities, 22 were balanced by the alliance of European and Fijian elites.

This

combination of the primacy of Fijian elite interests with multiracialism was animportant tool for securing power for the Alliance Party, but was also contradictoryfrom the start.

Fijian paramountcy could not be guaranteed under a multiracial

ideology.
Against this backdrop of ethnic and class politics, Fiji achieved independence in
1970. Independence came without bloodshed, and without the creation of a unified
Fijian nationality.

In Fiji, modernization and decolonization served to combine

traditional chiefly politics and patriarchy with western models of the patriarchal state,
resulting in chiefs being given priority over commoners and men priority over women.
Moreover, the values and processes of democracy are difficult to achieve whencombined with traditional values based on authoritarian forms of male leadership
and/or notions of divine right to political power.23 The contradictions between theequality and democracy promised by the modern state and the ways in whichpeoples lives were organized have had serious implications for Fiji.

Ⅱ．Political Violence in Post-Colonial Fiji
From independence in 1970 until 1987, the Alliance Party had nearly continuous
control of Fiji politics.

The Alliance Party, with its traditionalist and in particular

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chiefly stance, helped to entrench traditional ideologies that confined women to thedomestic arena and excluded them from public decision-making and power.
independence political processes reflected this.

Post-

For example during nearly twenty

years of Alliance rule, only two women were appointed to the Senate and three
women elected to the House of Representatives.

Legal discrimination was

institutionalized in terms of laws restricting women s citizenship rights, family laws
regarding marriage, matrimonial property, divorce, rape and maternity leave, just to
name a few.
The effects of the institutionalized nature of sex discrimination could also be seen indifferences in education, job opportunities and health.

For example, nutritional

deficiencies and related illnesses tended to occur more frequently in women,
particularly Indo-Fijian women, than men. Women were, and continue to be frequentvictims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. In addition, to the extent that women
were incorporated into the urban workforce, they were concentrated in low-wage jobs
in the service sector.24
The contradictions inherent in the Alliance Party politics surfaced in 1976, when,
during a dispute over land issues, the Party found itself unable to support both
multiracialism and the call for Fijian paramountcy.

The result was the loss of anelection in April 1977 to Fijian nationalists. This defeat sent shockwaves through theelite Fijian establishment. Using the Indian threat as a tool, Alliance dominance wasre-established in a snap election the following September. It was after this lapse that
more and more attention began to be focused on the role of the military insafeguarding elite interests. Military budgets were increased, and young Fijians wereencouraged to serve. New alliances began to be formed among elites, military and
Fijian business interests.25
All the while, Mara portrayed the country as a model of multiracial democracy,
virtually free of ethnic tension and conflict. Little or no public acknowledgement wasgiven to inter- and intra-ethnic tensions. The organization of power relations was not
publicly questioned, nor was voice given to the concerns about the so-called Indian
threat or the future of indigenous Fijian identity that had preceded independence.
The illusion of harmony and amicable understanding in the post-independence era
was just that, an illusion, and just as misleading and fraught and dangerous as thePolitical Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fiji

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impression of balance and equilibrium and harmony conveyed by an earlier metaphorof Fiji as a three-legged stool.26 ... The brutal truth, of course, was that Fiji never had agenuinely shared sense among its citizens about what kind of constitutionalarrangement was appropriate for it. 27
In 1985, a new party, the Fijian Labour Party, was formed. It sought to provide analternative to the Alliance Party and NFP, and garnered support among indigenous
Fijian commoners and the Indo-Fijian working class.

Its multi-ethnic platform

appealed to working class and poor people, and contained a strong concern for women.
In particular, it aimed to help the many unorganized women and domestic workers
and to raise the minimum wage for domestic and manufacturing/garment workers. It
also promoted an anti-sex discrimination bill which would provide the legal foundationfor eradicating all forms of discrimination against women. This was to pave the way
for the passage of an Equal Pay Bill. The Party expressed a commitment to including
women in all aspects of public decision-making. This was the first time that women
had been actively included in the political agenda.28
The Labour Party aligned with the NFP to contest the 1987 elections and, perhaps
surprisingly, won. Prime Minister Dr. Timoci Bavadra was elected on a platform ofmoderate social prescription, land reform and the enforcement of Fiji s nuclear-freestatus.29 His victory brought a government led by Indo-Fijians to power, although thePrime Minister was an indigenous Fijian.
For a brief moment, it appeared that change was possible in Fiji, but the illusion of
racial peace and harmony was shattered in May of 1987, when Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka
led a military coup, overthrowing the newly-installed Bavadra government andplunging Fiji into a state of political confusion. Rabuka demanded the suspension of
the 1970 Constitution, and was initially refused. After a brief but intense period of
rioting, however, an interim Council of Ministers was set up to rewrite the 1970
Constitution. This Council had, by September, more or less reached a compromise
which would allow for the gradual return to civilian rule and protect basic rights andliberties. Just at that point, Rabuka staged a second coup, declaring himself head ofstate, suspending the 1970 Constitution, and declaring Fiji a republic. This had theimmediate effect of having Fiji suspended from the Commonwealth.30
The period after the coup was one ofdeterioration of civil order, human rights

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abuses, and the worsening incidence of crime.... Methodist fundamentalism was in fullcry. 31 By December, Rabuka had re-installed civilian rule, naming a new government.
Of its 21 ministers, 10 had served in the interim regime, and 13 in the former Alliancegovernment. Bavadra was powerless, and remained so until his death in 1989.
Tourism and other industries were hard hit by the coups, and in the years that
followed them, economic recovery was slow. Poor families, many of them headed by
women, were the hardest hit. Even when recovery began, the benefits failed to reachthe poor.

Children were victims of the rising post-coup poverty levels as parents

became unable to pay school fees.32 A 10% VAT on goods and services and high levelof inflation made things even worse. Conditions in the factories in Fiji s tax-free zones
were horrendous and organizing was severely frowned upon. For those who could
afford to do so, the solution was to leave. An exodus of Indo-Fijians nearly doubled
the average annual departure rate prior to the coups. In the 1990 s, the proportion ofIndo-Fijians had fallen from 51% to 44%.
Two explanations are offered for the 1987 crisis. One describes it as a racial fightbetween Fijians and Indo-Fijians;33

the other calls it a class struggle between thehaves （chiefly indigenous Fijians and their supporters）and the have-nots（commoner ethnic Fijians and Indo-Fijian working class）. Lal acknowledges theimportance of both of these aspects, but adds a third element.

...the coups were also

an effort to turn the clock back, to fortify old structures and values which sustained
them against the forces of change, to shore up the importance of rural areas as well as
the power of traditional leaders at a time when the new government was determined
to democratize elements of the traditional order. 34
As we have seen, since before independence, ethnicity had been used to constructpolitics in Fiji. Before colonization and the import of labor from India, neither a unified
Fijian nor a unified Indian identity existed; even after the terms were created,
there remained divisions within and between both groups. Yet, in the words of Ratu
Mara, in Fiji, Race is a fact of life.

While politicians made rosy assertions ofmultiracial harmony, in fact race permeated every aspect of life in Fiji, and politiciansused the race card to achieve and/or secure power. More and more, they began touse race/ethnicity as a reason for the perceived economic disadvantage of ethnic
Fijians. According to the Fiji Times of 17 November 1987, By restricting the Fijian

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people to their communal way of lifestyle in the face of a rapidly developing cash
economy, the average Fijian has become more and more backward.

This isparticularly invidious when the leaders themselves have amassed huge personal
wealth by making use of their traditional and political powers.

After the Labour

Party was formed, Dr. Bavadra brought the issue into the open. Although ethnically a
Fijian, Bavadra told voters at his campaign rallies that the democratic right of anindividual to vote meant free choice, and assured them that they were not compelled
to vote along racial lines, and/or vote for a chief.

This language represented an

attempt to separate class and politics and was, particularly coming from a Fijian, very
threatening indeed.
Rabuka, a commoner, was determined to ensure that Fiji remained under politicalcontrol of indigenous Fijians. In 1990, he imposed a new Constitution which gave theCouncil of Chiefs power to appoint the President, allocated 24 out of 34 seats in the
Senate to indigenous Fijians, and guaranteed indigenous Fijians a majority inparliament by reserving 37 out of 70 seats for them in the House of Representatives.35
This allocation of seats privileged rural Fijians over urban ones, as 30 of those 37 seats
were allocated to rural areas and the remaining 7 to urban and semi-urban areas, eventhough almost 40 percent of Fijians were urban dwellers. The new Constitution also
required candidates to be registered in the Register of Native Births in theconstituency in which they were standing.

This served to further entrench

provincialism, while at the same time threatening the notion of an over-arching Fijian
culture.

In order to prevent fragmentation and unite disparate groups, the GreatCouncil of Chiefs was asked to sponsor a single Fijian political party.

That party,

called the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei（SVT）, was launched in 1990, but failed
in its mission of creating Fijian unity.36
Needless to say, the 1990 Constitution was met with wide-spread opposition, and aconstitutional commission, the Reeves Commission, was established to undertake acritical review of it. This resulted in the Constitution of 1997.

As conceived by the

Reeves Commission, an essential role of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji Islands was toestablish and consolidate a national consensus on how the country should be governed.
If it succeeded in this aim, it would help to put aside the divisions and the bitterness ofthe 1987 coups and subsequent policies of discrimination. 37 The 1997 Constitution is

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generally regarded as being Fiji s most progressive Constitution to date, but it stillenshrines some of the idea of Fijian paramountcy and the need to protect the interestsof indigenous Fijians.

Paradoxically, it represents both an affirmation of liberalism -especially significant after the repudiation of liberalism in the 1990 Constitution - and amajor qualification on it...（T）he paradox reflects not only the tortured ethnic historyof Fiji but also the more global concern of how to accommodate ethnic and cultural
diversity within liberalism. 38
The 1970 Constitution was based on the separation of races. The silent agenda ofthat constitution was political order and stability under the dominance of one ethnic
group, namely indigenous Fijians. It was defective, however, in that it provided fornational seats which were independent of the communal roles. In contrast, the 1990
Constitution was anything but subtle.

By taking away cross-community voting, it

politically separated the ethnic groups, thereby making politics almost exclusively
ethnic.

The aim was to ensure the undisputed and permanent rule of indigenous

Fijians.39
The 1997 Constitution was different from the previous ones in that it was based onrecognition of the multi-ethnic character of Fiji. It sought to promote national unityand provided a system for multi-ethnic politics.

It did not, however, completely

abandon the idea of privileging one ethnic group above others. For example, it gave
for the first time a constitutionally sanctioned role to the Great Council of Chiefs. It
also stated thatthe paramountcy of Fijian interests as a protective principle

continues to apply, so as to ensure that the interests of the Fijian community are notsubordinated to the interests of other communities, and provided for the applicationof customary laws in dispute resolution and in cases concerning traditional landownership. At the same time, although seat allocations were still based on race, it did
provide for multi-party government and ensure that ethnic Fijians were no longer
guaranteed a parliamentary majority. The 1997 Constitution also established a Human
Rights Commission with a mandate to educate the public about the content of the Billof Rights and to make recommendations to government regarding human rights.
Moreover, the new constitution granted women unprecedented equal rights. Article
38 calls for protection for women against discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender,
marital status and sexual orientation.40

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Interestingly, while Rabuka s administration scrapped the Labour Party s policy for
women, the post-coup government did establish a Ministry for Women s Affairs in1987 as part of a broad-based Ministry of Women, Culture and Social Welfare.
Emberson-Bain explains this as a strategic move by the post-coup regime to peddle a
populist, progressive image as well as to assist its efforts to regain its hold on adiminishing ethnic Fijian constituency. 41 She goes on to describe how the Ministrygave liberally to the Soqosoqo Vakamarama, a tradition-bound, chiefly-dominatedorganization which has village branches throughout Fiji and whose programs
emphasize women s skills with a focus on cooking, craft and other traditional
activities. There were also reports of discrimination against Indo-Fijian groups.42 The
Ministry did nothing to help the rapidly deteriorating situation of poor women after
the coups.
The 1997 Constitution removed the stricture that the Prime Minister be indigenous
Fijian.

The first elections under the new constitution were held on 5-8 May 1999.

Rabuka stood for election and contrary to his expectations, he was defeated. On 19
May, Mahendra Chaudhry became Fiji s first Indo-Fijian prime minister.
One year later, on 19 May 2000, armed indigenous Fijians led by failed businessman
George Speight staged a military coup, taking the Prime Minister and the Cabinet
hostage.

Five of the 31 members of Parliament taken hostage were women.43

According to Robertson and Sutherland, this coup drew heavily for inspiration on the1987 coups, but

had two striking features that set it apart: first, it was poorly plannedand second, it stunned Fiji s main ruling institutions, which responded in confused
ways. 44In the wake of the coup, violence broke out in many parts of the country. Bands ofmen destroyed property, stole possessions, food and livestock and beat, terrorized andraped local residents.

Especially vulnerable were Indo-Fijian families, but this time

Fijians were shedding the blood of other Fijians too. Curfews were imposed from6:00 pm to 6:00 am every day, and there was bloodshed, mayhem and looting.45
Amnesty International, in their Human Rights Report 2001, described conditions inFiji as follows:
A violent attempt in May led to widespread human rights abuses and a

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Scores of civilians, police and army

officers were injured; some were killed. Thousands were forced to leave theirhomes as a result of racist or opportunist attacks and fear of violence.
Decrees issued under martial law allowed for racial discrimination but
preserved other basic human rights. These rights were, however, frequently
violated during operations against suspected rebels.

As many as six

suspected rebels were reportedly beaten to death by soldiers following anattempted mutiny in November.

Investigations into alleged human rights

violations were hampered by fears of retaliation; no findings were madepublic.46

Ten days after the coup, President Ratu Mara was ousted and martial law declared.
Military Commander Voreqe Bainimarama declared himself Head of State, and tried toabrogate the 1997 Constitution, ruling instead by decree.

In July, power wastransferred to an interim administration and on 13 July the last group of hostages,
including Prime Minister Chaudhry, was released under the Muanikau Accord.47 The
new government tried to redraft the 1997 Constitution, but a High Court ruling said
the Constitution Review Committee had no legal standing. On 1 March 2001 the Courtof Appeal ruled that the 1997 Constitution was still in force and that the pre-Speightcoup parliament had to be recalled. This was a major victory for democratic forces inFiji, but it did not result in the return of the Chaundry government. Later that month,the House of Representatives was dissolved, the Prime Minister resigned, and thePresident appointed a caretaker Prime Minister（this turned out to be Laisenia
Qarase, the former Prime Minister of the Interim Civilian Government）. This paved
the way for elections, which were held between 27 August and 1 September. The
elections were monitored and observers, including UN groups, have stated that theelections were free and fair.48
As with the 1987 coups, some observers were quick to classify the 2000 crisis as
another ethnic conflict. The 1997 Constitution was portrayed as selling out on theinterests of indigenous Fijians, and certainly the rhetoric of communal and ethnic
politics was called into play. In fact, Speight was, among other things, interested increating a break with the established chiefly order symbolized by the Mara family andPolitical Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fiji17

its influential marriage connections. He did not have the support of the traditional Fijielite, and his move took them by surprise.

The coup resulted in bringing to thesurface tensions which had long been present in Fiji society. Among other things, it
revitalized long-standing attempts to reorganize the structure of regional alliances
formed under the British.49
An important factor was the problem of land. Most land（83%）in Fiji is underindigenous inalienable status, 8% is freehold, 3.6% state freehold and 5% Crown land.
Most of the sugar cultivation is on leased land, where predominantly Indo-Fijian
farmers hold 30-year tenancy leases. Most of these leases were to come due by 2005.
Many of the land owners wanted to renegotiate the terms and conditions of the leases,
and some wanted to use the land for other purposes. The Chaudhry government, in
consultation with the Great Council of Chiefs, was calling for the establishment of a
Land Use Commission and reforms of the Native Lands Trust Board.

Chaudhry s

handling of this very delicate situation was poor from the start, and his insensitivity to
the media made things worse. The Land Use Commission was classified and played
up by some indigenous Fijian groups as an attempt by the chiefs to usurp commonerland, and was met by a rash of violence, instigated by indigenous Fijians aggrieved
over unsettled compensation claims for tourist development, airport, dam site andplantation acquisitions. 50
Once again, ethnicity was used to gloss over an extremely complicated situation. In
the words of Fiji Women s Rights Movement s Raijeli Nicole, race is being used very
well by politicians and failed businessmen to further their own personal interests.
They play on the fear that Indians will come and take over. In the case of Speight, forexample, his real agenda was to control the pine, mahogany and raw timber export
trade that is reported to be worth US$300 million.... Interestingly, native Fijians andthe ethnic Indians in the Western province live together very well. They speak eachother s language, they know and respect each other s cultural ways. 51

Ⅲ．Implications of the Coups for Women in Fiji
In 2002, an article in the Sunday Post reported that,

There has been a notable

increase in social ills in the country and now is the time for Fiji to come to terms with
its problems and question its direction. Child abuse and incest, drugs, alcohol, suicide,

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domestic violence, family break-ups and a weakening family unit are increasing
ailments more so in Fiji than ever before.52 This increase of violence is attributed to
the 2000 coup. While the 2000 coup did bring the most visible violence, it is importantto keep in mind that the trend toward militarism and seeking violent solutions began
before the first coups. This section will give a brief description of post-coup violenceagainst women in 1987, but will primarily focus on the period from the 2000 coup to
about 2002. It will look at how the violence affected women, but also address ways inwhich women resisted the violence and worked for peace.
The 1987 coups resulted in job losses, lower wages and purchasing power andreduced welfare payments.
violence against women.

These in turn led to increased domestic tensions and

The number of divorce cases based on persistent andhabitual cruelty greatly increased, and the Fiji Women s Crisis Centre（FWCC）
reported a six-fold increase in the total number of new domestic violence cases
between 1988 and 1879, as well as increases in rape and child abuse cases.

The

perpetrators were almost invariably men, usually husbands, but also fathers, brothers,sons and other male family members. There were also increases in the numbers of
sexual assaults and gang rapes, as well as in abductions and other violent crimes. The
response of the courts to these increases was hardly encouraging.

The general

attitude was to blame the victim, and to reduce the severity of sentences.

The

combined effect of the racism and changes in the judiciary after the coups was toremove existing legal protection, legitimize violence and racism and to allow elements
within the security forces and wider community to believe that anti-social actions,especially racist and sexist ones, can be carried out with impunity. 53
The militarization of Fiji society was off to a good start after the first coups, and the2000 coup did nothing to slow the pace.

In August 2001, the Fiji Women s Crisis

Centre（FWCC）published a report on The Impact of the May 19 Coup on Womenin Fiji （hereafter referred to as FWCC Report）.54 This was followed in January 2002
by a report entitled, NGO Report on the Status of Women in the Republic of the Fiji
Islands （hereafter referred to as NGO Report）. The latter report was authored bythree major Fijian human rights organizations, in cooperation with several othergroups.55
UNIFEM.

A third report,
56

Gender Profile of the Conflict in Fiji,

was issued by

The following is based primarily on these reports, as well as news clips

Political Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fijiand other information available on the internet.

19

Much of the information was

confirmed during a short field survey conducted in February 2003.
The coups affected women in various ways. Firstly, both in 1987 and in 2000, many
women, particularly Indo-Fijian women, were the targets of direct violence
perpetrated by indigenous Fijians. Secondly, the coups had a serious impact on the
tourist industry, a large employer of women, and other industries such as the garment
industry, forcing many women to lose their jobs or have their hours reduced. This
resulted in an increase in poverty. Thirdly, the coups allowed for racial inequality, andmany human rights violations occurred. Fourthly, the coups put a stop to legislativechanges benefiting women that had been in the process of being promulgated. Finally,
the coups had the effect of making the entire society more violent, increasing theincidence of domestic violence, suicide and abuse.

１．Direct Violence and Threats of Direct Violence
Human rights activists in Fiji report that for many months after the 2000 coup,
many women, particularly non-indigenous women, lived in fear of violence.

Inparticular, rural Indo-Fijian women were the victims of targeted and orchestrated
violence, including allegations of rape and other forms of sexual violence. Many IndoFijian farming families fled their homes, some going to a refugee center, and others
going to relatives. Some families left their homes at night, sleeping in the bush, only toreturn in the morning to find they had been looted.

Property was stolen and/or

destroyed.

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Sexual violence and/or the threat of sexual violence was frequent.

The FWCC

found that beginning on the day of the coup Indo-Fijian women were the target ofrace motivated rapes（primarily gang rapes）. Women were also subjected to sexual
humiliations and threats of rape, the purpose of which was to force men into
cooperating with demands for money, livestock, food, etc.58

One such case wasreported by the FWCC as follows:An elderly couple, dairy farmers, in their sixties, have been living
peacefully in a rural community with their neighbours - both Indian and
Fijian - for 49 years. One night following May 19th, they were attacked in

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Their house was looted and they wereassaulted from 9 pm to 2 am. They were kicked and beaten and draggedfrom room to room. The woman was gang-raped.... They have lost all theirbelongings, their home and 70 head of cattle.... The case was reported to thepolice, but so far there has been no action taken.59

For Indo-Fijian women, there is a tremendous stigma attached to rape. For thisreason, many women were reluctant to report having been raped because they did notwant their husbands and other family members to know. When the rape was known,
women had to deal with increased tensions in their family relationships.
In addition to rape, the FWCC Report showed that 14% of the women surveyedreported verbal and/or physical abuse to themselves or their families.

This abuse

included, for example, racist and/or sexual comments, as well as threats of violence.
One Indo-Fijian woman...reported how rebels had poured benzene over her, and thenlooted the house, all the while threatening to set her alight. 60
One result of this violence was that people were afraid to go out at night, andgreatly cut down on visits to friends and family, picnics, long-distance travel andentertainment such as movies or parties.

Schools were closed after the coup, butwhen they reopened in August, many people felt it was not safe to send their children
to school.61
Direct violence after the coup was not limited to ethnic violence. The FWCC Reportfound that domestic violence（tension/arguments, verbal abuse, physical abuse）also
became more prevalent, both in indigenous and in Indo-Fijian households, and thatwomen had become more reluctant to report cases of domestic violence when it did
occur.62 Similar to what happened in 1987, particularly in the case of indigenous Fijian
women, there is no law now was given as the reason for increased domestic violence.
Those married to soldiers or police said their husbands felt themselves above thelaw, and therefore able to do as they pleased. Women also reported that the longhours and check-points, etc. increased men s drinking and opportunities for extramarital sex.63
The impact of this direct and/or threatened violence took its toll on the emotional
state of women. According to the FWCC Report, 73% of women felt worried after thePolitical Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fiji

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coup, and many also reported confusion, frustration, panic, depression and shorttemper. Many women reported having difficulty sleeping. In addition, there was anincrease in suicide and attempted suicide.

The FWCC suicide hotlines reported

financial problems and family tensions as the primary reasons for suicide and/or
attempted suicide.64

The decline in the economy resulting in increased financialpressures and poverty since the first coups have no doubt contributed to this rise in
the incidence of suicide.

２．Economic Impact
Like many Pacific Island countries, Fiji is moving from a high reliance on
subsistence agriculture to high reliance on the cash economy. Even before the 2000
coup, poverty levels in Fiji were high. According to the 1997 Fiji Poverty Report, 25%of the Fiji population lived in poverty and an additional 25% lived near the poverty
line.65 This indicates a high level of vulnerability to crises, be they political, natural or
personal disasters. The 2000 coup provided just such a crisis.
Poverty has been exacerbated by the neo-liberal policies of the Fiji government. In
addition to high levels of employment in the public sector, employment in Fiji isconcentrated in several areas: tourism, manufacturing and cane production. Tax Free
Zones and incentives to foreign manufacturers have brought low-wage manufacturing
to Fiji in the form of garment factories and fish processing. Employees are primarily
women, and the wages they receive are not sufficient to support their families. A
VAT（value added tax66）, currency devaluation and increases in the cost of water
have not helped matters.
After the 1987 and the 2000 coups, economic sanctions were imposed on Fiji by theinternational community, tourism dropped significantly and employment was reduced.
Thousands of people lost their jobs or had their hours curtailed. After the 2000 coup,
power production at the Monasavu Dam on Vitu Levu was rationed, and curfews were
put into effect. The curfews lasted until just before Christmas, 2000. These curfews
affected small businesses such as barbecue sellers, who operate primarily at night.
Moreover, after the 2000 coup, job cuts, reduced working hours and pay cuts wereintroduced across the board. Generally women were laid off first, as women s earnings
were not considered to be as essential as men s earnings. Some women lost their jobs

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as a result of being afraid to go to work. The Fiji Sun reported the following: Job
losses rose to over 7500 by September 2000. A survey by the Ministry for Labour of
897 employers showed that the redundancy figure stood at 7536.

1976 of these

redundancies were in the tourist industry, and 1694 in the garment industry. 67 The
reduction in earnings led to reduced spending, which in turn affected small businesses,
market vendors and farmers as people spent money only on essential goods. Pay cutsand reduced hours also affected domestic workers such as housekeepers and baby
sitters. The agriculture sector was also affected. Many farmers had suffered property
damage in the coup, and many had been told their leases would not be renewed. This
had a serious impact on farming. Increases in fuel and transport costs meant that it
was more difficult for farmers to get their goods to market. Handicraft sellers andothers who relied on tourism were also seriously affected.

Overall, the effect onhousehold incomes was severe, particularly in lower income families. According to the
FWCC Report, the number of households earning less than $50 per week more thandoubled.68
The reduction in employment, coupled with increasing prices, had serious
implications for families. Women reported they were having difficulty keeping up withhousing and other payments, and some tried to reduce spending by keeping theirchildren home from school and reducing the quality of meals. Children were sent toschool without lunch; many of them did not have breakfast, either.69 Since men had
lost their jobs, divorced women found that their maintenance payments were not paid,
and court orders could not be enforced. Tensions in families having difficulty making
ends meet rose, leading to the violence discussed in the previous section.
According to Brij Lal, Perhaps the most important consequence in the long term
has been the emigration of the country s best and brightest to greener pastures inNorth America and Australasia, draining the small island nation of skills and talent it
can ill-afford to lose. 70 The exodus by primarily Indo-Fijians represents a great loss ofimportant human resources for Fiji.

３．Impact on Legislation and the Status of Women
One of the most serious long term implications of the 2000 coup for women was thefact that legislative and legal reforms which had been in progress before the coupPolitical Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fiji

were ignored and/or obstructed by the post-coup government.

23

Here I will briefly

discuss five examples: the legal definition of discrimination, the Family Law Bill 2000,
the Industrial Relations Bill, the Evidence Bill and the Blueprint 2000.
Fiji ratified CEDAW in 1995, but had made little progress in incorporating theobligations into national legislation by the time of the 2000 coup.

While the 1997

Constitution holds equality to be a supreme value and states that all are equal under
the law, there is no constitutional or legal definition of discrimination against women.
This omission means that there is much discretion left to the courts as to what in fact
constitutes sex discrimination. In addition, under the 1997 Constitution, a Bill of Rights
included sexual orientation under the list of grounds for discrimination.

After thecoup, the government indicated its desire to change this. In fact, sodomy is illegal
under the current criminal code and in spite of the anti-discrimination stipulation in
the Bill of Rights, gay people continue to be arrested and harassed.
Legal practices and attitudes of the courts and judicial officials, as well as family andcommon law itself, are deeply entrenched in the sexist and patriarchal nature of Fijiansociety.

The Family Law Bill 2000 was drafted to remove endemic discrimination

against women and children. It sought to change nine pieces of outdated legislation
which had been passed between 1892 and 1973. After the coup, this Bill was removed
from the legislative agenda.71
With regard to sexual offences, legislation had been drafted, a Commissioner
appointed and public forums convened on legislation regarding sexual offences andgender-based violence. After the coup, work on reforms of evidence rules in rape andprotections against gender-based violence virtually came to a standstill. For example,
some Courts continued to use past sexual history as evidence in rape cases, and many
Courts required corroboration.

The Violence against Women Task Force became

more or less defunct, with no budgeting allocations.

There is no constitutional

prohibition of violence against women, domestic violence or child abuse.
The Industrial Relations Bill was released in 1998, and reflected the concerns of theFiji Women s Rights Movement and other women s groups with regard to working
conditions and the needs of working women. Since the coups, work on this legislation
was subject to delay tactics from both employers and unions, and attempts to bring itto the Labour Advisory Board, a necessary step before it is brought to Cabinet and to

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Parliament, were thwarted.
Perhaps of most concern over the long-term are the Blueprint of Fijian andRotuman Rights and Interests and the Advancement for their Development and theSocial Justice Bill. The Blueprint is a policy document of affirmative action measures
which attempts to guarantee political control by, and provide economic opportunities
for, indigenous Fijians.

It harks back to the long-standing perception of Fijians as

economically disadvantaged, and seeks to rectify that situation. It does not directly
address gender considerations and/or women s issues.

Robertson and Sutherland

characterize this Blueprint as a repacking of old recipes,（which benefited only elites）
and make two points about it. Firstly they point out that for the majority of ordinary
Fijians, this Blueprint is unlikely to be any more successful than previous attempts atredressing economic disadvantage. Secondly, they suggest that the Blueprint relies
heavily on government grants.

The bulk of this government money comes from

taxpayers, much of which is paid by non-Fijians. As the Blueprint does not containany mechanism for accountability and transparency, it will be difficult to assess thedegree to which it is successful.72
Women s rights organizations in Fiji do not dispute the meaning of ensuring therights of oppressed groups. They do, however, object to legislation which clearly gives
priority to one group at the expense of the other.

Critics say that the Blueprint

excludes not only the largest and poorest groups in Fiji - women of all races - but
especially the group that is most in need of the assistance it proposes to offer - poor
indigenous Fijian women.

According to the NGO Report, poor indigenous Fijian

women ...do not have the knowledge, know how, or skills to tap into the available
resources offered by the Blueprint. As it is drafted, and without strict safeguards, theBlueprint will only benefit indigenous women of the already advantaged, upper
economic classes and indigenous women of Chiefly rank and power. 73 Moreover, it
was feared that the funding required to implement the Blueprint would take away
resources which might otherwise have been made available for implementing
programs for women.

４．Women s Resistance and Work for Peace
Women were quick to oppose the overthrow of the Bavadra government in 1987.

Political Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fiji25

On 16 May, in what may have been the first protest after the coup, hundreds of people
gathered in front of the official prime minister s residence where Bavadra and his
cabinet were being held. They sat in the street and began a vigil, refusing demands
by soldiers and others to leave. The crowd, led by three Fijian women leaders, linked
arms and sang and prayed in the face of raised guns and armored trucks. Arrests
were made, but the peaceful protest continued the next day, ending in a march to thecity center. Women continued to be involved in the Back to Early May movementin the weeks after the first coup. These women came from a broad range of ethnic
backgrounds and political positions. They gathered signatures, prepared leaflets andused political graffiti and other creative methods to call for a return to parliamentarydemocracy, constitutional government and rule of law.74
The political consciousness of women continued to develop after the 1987 coups. In
the mid-1990 s, 1,200 nurses staged a week-long strike, defying threats of dismissal, aministerial order declaring the strike illegal and threats of prosecution.

In thegarment industry, the registration of the Fiji Association of Garment Workers in July
1989 led to organizing and a growing awareness among women in that industry as totheir rights.75 Throughout the 1990 s, both indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian women
began to find, and raise, their voices.
In 2000, progress made in the nineties faced yet another setback. After the 2000
coup, civil society organizations were forbidden to assemble and free speech wasseverely curtailed. The television channel was prevented from discussing rights issues
during a planned live broadcast.

In December 2001, NGOs were prevented fromholding peace or anti-war marches, and the Citizen s Constitutional Forum, an
extremely vocal and influential human rights NGO, was de-registered. Women s NGOs
feared similar treatment. In the words of one organizer, As NGOS are the driving
force behind improvements to the status of women, such restrictions, combined withthe absence of a legal framework under which NGOs may register, have severely
obstructed further work towards equality. 76
In spite of these fears, women and women s groups were involved from the
beginning in efforts to find peaceful solutions to the crises and have worked to defend
the 1997 Constitution. An important example of women s action after the coup was avigil held daily by the National Council of Women. This was a multiracial peace and

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prayer vigil. The first peace and prayer vigil began two days after the coup. It grew
into the Fiji Blue Ribbon Campaign, and then into the Fiji Blue Democracy Campaign.
Women s NGOs were also very active in the Coalition on Human Rights and
Democracy, a coalition which fought the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution.
While some women and women s groups were involved in working for peace and forthe restoration of the 1997 Constitution after the 2000 coup, it is important toemphasize that these efforts did not have the support of all women in Fiji. As wasnoted earlier, the establishment of the Ministry for Women served to promoteconservative women s groups having links to traditional as well as political power.
While these groups may promote the interests of women to some degree, they are notfeminist.

At the time of the coup, groups defining themselves as feminist andmultiracial included only the Fiji Women s Crisis Centre, Fiji Women s Rights
Movement（FWRM）, Femlink Pacific and, to a lesser extent, the Fiji YWCA.77 These
groups worked individually and together, and some members were also involved inother groups active in work for democracy after the coups.
For groups such as the FWRM, both in 1987 and again in 2000, the post-coup agenda
was relatively clear-cut. Work had to focus on restoring democracy and constitutional
rule. At the same time, the coups threatened the very existence of the organization as
the membership separated along racial lines.

FWRM refused to work with illegal

regimes, and insisted that its agenda must include both women s rights anddemocracy. The result has been a more politically sophisticated organization, but thestruggle to find commonalities among difference has not been easy.

Conclusion
The impetus for this paper was to find reasons for what seemed to be continuing
fear after the 2000 coup, even after the return to normalcy. In order to address thisquestion, the paper looked first at the construction of gender, and ethnicity/race fromthe time of colonization.

In thinking about what constitutes indigenous Fijian, it

became clear that not only was there not a single Fijian identity, but that thedifferences in class based on the division between chiefs and commoners and exploitedby colonization and the introduction of capitalism, was also an important factor in how
events were played out. The institutionalization of sexism and racism in Fiji set thePolitical Violence in the South Pacific: Women after the Coups in Fijistage for the expansion of political violence.

27

Militarization of Fiji society after thecoups spread and escalated, leading to a general increase in violence across the board.
After the coups, women s choices were limited by their lack of economic independence
and access to resources. They were brutalized by men whose masculine behavior
was affected by that of the army and police. They lost their jobs and their children
were unable to attend school. Many were forced to migrate, while others could notafford to do so.
In spite of the fact that relative to many other conflicts around the globe, the level of
direct violence in Fiji was comparatively low, political violence led to increases in not
only direct violence but cultural and structural violence as well. The political violence
that erupted in Fiji in 1987 and again in 2000 had its roots in the ways gender, classand ethnicity/race were constructed during colonization.

Attempts by the colonial

government to create a unified Fijian identity led to the polarization of Fijian society
along ethnic lines. Perceptions of threat and/or disadvantage were manipulated tofurther deepen these ethnic divisions, while at the same time glossing over significant
differences among the indigenous Fijians themselves.
The Blueprint is an example of the structural violence created as a result of these
constructions of ethnicity and entitlement. The curtailment of activities of NGOs andcivil society organizations is another manifestation of this violence. With regard to thelong-term implications for women, a particularly important lesson from Fiji is thesetback to legislation for women brought by the coups.

Ethnic and nationalist

concerns were given precedence over women s issues, leaving the genderedstructure of Fijian politics in tact. While there is much talk of peace and reconciliation,
it can only come when women and minorities are able to be full participants indecision making. It is encouraging that some of the necessary changes are beginningto take place in Fiji.
Another lesson from Fiji is that the political violence provided an excuse for existing
protections for women to be ignored.

Rather than protecting women, the police

themselves were not only involved in abusing them, but claimed legitimacy in doing
so. This calls into question the roles of police and militaries in society, and underlines
the necessity for changing these organizations, particularly the ways in which they
construct masculinity. Since these organizations are instrumental in the construction

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of masculinity in society as a whole, these changes are of particular importance, but
for the same reason are particularly difficult. One sign of progress is that the Fiji
Women s Crisis Centre now conducts gender training for some Fiji police and military
units, particularly those involved in peace-keeping activities.
The entanglement of gender, race/ethnicity and class continues as an extremely
difficult reality for people working for women s rights in Fiji today. The quotation at
the beginning of this paper reflects that reality. Women s and human rights groups
such as those mentioned here have been successful to some degree in bridging the
racial divide, but they are still a minority. In a political culture so dependent on therhetoric of race, and increasingly one which expresses that rhetoric in the language ofviolence, efforts to find other ways are subject to both direct and indirect violence.
Resistance continues, but it is an uphill struggle.
In light of the ways Fiji society has become militarized and violence has increased, it
is hardly surprising that during my research stay I sensed fear. The fundamental
questions of ethnicity/race, class and gender have yet to be resolved. Hopefully, as
marginalized women and men continue to find, and raise, their voices, they will be able
to build a new Fiji based not on racism, militarism and authoritarianism but
democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Notes
１ Jalal, P. Imrana. Gender Issues in post coup d etat Fiji: snapshots from the Fiji Islands（a short story oflife in the feminist trenches）. Keynote Address, Townsville International Women s Conference, 3-7 July
2002, James Cook University, Australia（unpublished paper）.
２ The term Pacific Island Countries（PIC）refers to the 14 member island countries of the Pacific Island
Forum（Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands,
Nauru, Niue, Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu）, as
well as the non-independent countries: New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis & Futuna, American
Samoa, Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands, Guam, Tokelau.
３ The story of the demise of Easter Island is proof enough that environmental destruction happens
without colonization. The relation to colonization here is through incorporation into the world-economy.
For an interesting account of Easter Island, see Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to
Succeed or Fail. Penguin Books 2005.
４ Maclellan, Nic. Regional Introduction: Creating Peace in the Pacific-Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation,
and Restorative Justice, in Heijmans, et al. eds., Searching for Peace in the Aisa-Pacific: An Overview ofConflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Activities. Lynne Reinner, 2004, p. 536（n.2, 3.）
５ ibid. p.257（n.9）
６ Rotuma was annexed by the British and remains part of Fiji. As an indigenous minority, Rotumans
have a special place in Fijian society. In the context of this paper, they are not included in the term
indigenous Fijian.
７ The Pacific is generally divided into three broad geographical/cultural regions: Micronesia, Melanesia
and Polynesia, but each contains many distinct cultures and peoples.

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８ For example, Papua New Guinea has more than 700 different languages and the Solomon Islands havemore than 150, a function of both geography（mountains are hard to cross）and colonization（borders
were drawn according to the needs of the colonizers, not the colonized）.
９ Biological diversity refers to both the diversity in the ocean environment and to that in the uniqueisland environments. Typically, there are many biologically diverse groups, but the total number ofmembers in each group is limited.
10 Robertson, Robbie and William Sutherland. Government by the Gun, Australia: Pluto Press, 2001, pp.5051.
11 Cockerton, Camilla. Women in Rapaport, Moshe, ed. The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society.
The Bess Press, 1999, p.306
12 Tongamoa, Taiamoni, ed. Pacific Women: Roles and Status of Women in Pacific Societies. USP, Instituteof Pacific Studies, 1988, pp.4-5
13 Heartfield, James. You are not a White Woman! Apolosi Nawai, the Fiji Produce Agency and the
Trial of Stella Spencer in Fiji, 1915. The Journal of Pacific History, Vol.38, No.1, 2003, p.74.
14 ibid. p.74
15 ibid. p.76. This article discusses the fate of Stella Spencer, a white woman who was said to have beensexually involved with a Fijian man.
16 op. cit. Tongamoa, p.5-7
17 White, Geoffrey M. and Lamont Lindstrom. Chiefs Today: Traditional Pacific Leadership and theColonial State. Stanford University Press, 1997, p.115
18 op. cit. Robertson, p.51
19 Leckie, Jacqueline. Women in post-coup Fiji: negotiation work through old and new realities, inAkram-Lodhi, A Haroon, ed. Confronting Fiji Futures. Asia Pacific Press, 2000, p. 179
20 ibid. pp.178-180
21 Alley, Roderic. Fiji s Coups of 1987 and 2000: A Comparison, p.3.
http://www.womenwarpeace.org/fiji/docs/13̲Alley.pdf（3/3/2006）
22 op. cit. Robertson, pp.72-74
23 Thomas, Pamela. Introduction: Political participation in the Pacific: issues of gender, race and religion.
Development Bulletin 53, October 2002, p.7
24 More recently, women have been concentrated in the garment manufacturing sector. Their working
conditions and pay are poor and they are prevented from organizing. Emberson-Bain, Atu. Women,
Poverty and Post-Coup Pressure in Robie, David, ed. Tu Galala: Social Change in the Pacific, Pluto Press
Australia, 1992, pp.146-7
25 Halapua, Winston. Militarism and Moral Decay in Fiji, Fijian Studies, Vo.1, No.1, pp.106-107
26 Three-legged stool is a famous metaphor used first by Ratu Sukuna, a Fijian statesman in the first halfof the 20th century, to refer to Fiji s three major ethnic groups - Fijians, Indians and Europeans.
27 Lal, Brij V. Heartbreak Islands: Reflections on Fiji in Transition, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol.44, No.3,
December 2003, p.336
28 op. cit. Emberson-Bain, pp.147-8
29 op. cit. Alley, p.3
30 ibid. p.4
31 ibid. p.4
32 op. cit. Emberson-Bain, pp.149-150. The Fiji Women s Crisis Centre tried to ease this problem byproviding school fees for 50 children and launching a Back to School drive to collects books, uniforms,
shoes and other essential items.
33 Scarr, 1988 cited in op. cit. Lal, p.337
34 ibid. Lal, p. 337 and op. cit. Lal, 1988
35 27 seats were allocated for Indo-Fijians and 6 for other races
36 op. cit. Lal, pp.337-8
37 Ghai, Yash, The implementation of the Fiji Islands Constitution, in op. cit. Akram-Lodhi, p.25
38 ibid. p.22
39 ibid. pp.29-30
40 op. cit. Jalal. While feminists see the 1997 constitution as a step forward, many criticize it for notcontaining a definition of sex/gender discrimination.
41 op. cit. Emberson-Bain, p.154
42 ibid., p.156. The government also claimed to be considering becoming a party to the Convention on the
Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women（CEDAW）, but did not actually do so until 1995.

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They were held for 56 days. One woman was released early to attend a relative s funeral. The
remaining four women were the first to be released, after rejecting an offer of freedom out of concern forleaving the remaining male captives. UNIFEM, Gender Profile of the Conflict in Fiji,
http://womenwarpeace.org/fiji/fiji.htm（2006/02/11）
44 op. cit. Robertson and Sutherland, p.1
45 op. cit. Jalal, p.4 and Robertson, p.xv.
46 Amnesty International in FWRM report, p.6
47 The Muanikau Accord provided for amnesty for Speight and his followers and a commitment to redraft
the Constitution in exchange for the release of the hostages. In fact, due to failure to fulfill certain
provisions, Speight and his group were arrested and charged with treason on 26 July 2000.
48 NGO Report on the Status of Women in the Republic of the Fiji Islands, 12 January 2002, p.5
49 op. cit. Alley, p.10. At the time of colonization, there were three large confederacies. The British
incorporated the western and central parts of Viti Levu into existing structures rather than creating a
new one where no prior confederacy had existed. The creation of a fourth confederacy has been apolitical question ever since.
50 ibid. pp.10-11
51 Cabrera-Balleza, Mavic. Fiji: Trouble in Paradise. One on One with Raijeli Nicole of the Fiji Women s
Rights Movement, p.2. http://www.isiswomen.org/wia/wia100/soc00013.html, accessed 11/11/2004.
52 The Sunday Post, 19 May 2002, p. 2
53 op. cit Emberson-Bain, pp.153-4
54 This was a survey of 414 women throughout Fiji conducted by the Fiji Women s Crisis Centre（FWCC）
in September 2000. In August 2001, the FWCC published the results in a report entitled The Impact of
the May 19 Coup on Women in Fiji.
55 The three groups include the Fiji Women s Rights Movement（FWRM）, Fiji Women s Crisis Centre（FWCC）and Ecumenical Centre for Research Education and Advocacy（ECREA）. NGO Report on the
Status of Women in the Republic of the Fiji Islands, 12 January 2002. http://www.iwrawap.org/using̲cedaw/fig.doc
56 UNIFFEM, Gender Profile of the Conflict in Fiji http://www.womenwarpeace.org/fiji/fiji.htm（2006/02/11）
57 op. cit. FWCC Report, pp.10-11
58 ibid. p.11
59 ibid. p.12
60 ibid. p.12
61 ibid. p.13. Thirty-six percent of the women surveyed said they were afraid to send their children toschool. In addition to fear, financial reasons were cited for the reduction in entertainment and for children
not returning to school.
62 The survey also reported that some families become closer and their relationships improved as a resultof spending more time at home together, since they were afraid to go out after the coup.（ibid. p.18）
63 ibid. pp.17-18
64 ibid. pp.15-16
65 Cited in op. cit. NGO Report, p.8.（The Report says that this 1997 report was based on figures from1990-91）.
66 The VAT on basic food items which had been lifted was re-imposed by the Interim Administration.
They also increased bus and taxi fares. op. cit. FWCC Report, p.6
67 Fiji Sun, 2 September 2000 cited in op. cit. FWCC Report, p.4.
68 ibid. p.7
69 ibid. pp.6-7
70 Fiji Islands: From Immigration to Emigration（3/3/2006）
http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/print.cfm?ID=110
71 op. cit. NGO Report, p.10, 25-26. The Family Law Bill was finally passed on 14 October 2003.
72 op. cit. Roberson and Sutherland, pp.103-104
73 op. cit. NGO Report, p.14
74 op. cit. Emberson-Bain, p.157-8.
75 ibid., pp.160-162
76 op. cit. NGO Report, p. 28
77 Jalal, P. Gender and race in post coup d etat Fiji: snapshots from the Fiji Islands. Development
Bulletin 59, p,29

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Selected References
Afshar, Haleh. Women and Wars: Some Trajectories towards a Feminist Peace. Development in Practice,Vol.13, Nos.2 & 3, May 2003
Akram-Lodhi, A Haroon, ed. Confronting Fiji Futures, Asia-Pacific Press, 2000.
Alley, Roderic. Fiji s Coups of 1987 and 2000: A Comparison, （2006/03/03）http://www.womenwarpeace.org/fiji/docs/13̲Alley.pdf
Cabrera-Balleza, Mavic. Fiji: Trouble in Paradise. One on One with Raijeli Nicole of the Fiji Women s
Rights Movement（unpublished paper）. http://www.isiswomen.org/wia/wia100/soc00013.html,（11/11/2004）
Douglas, Bronwen. Conflict, gender, peacemaking, and alternative nationalisms in the Western Pacific,
Development Bulletin 53, November 2000......... Why Religion, Race and Gender Matter in Pacific Politics, Development Bulletin 59, October 2002
Fiji Women s Crisis Centre（FWCC）. The Impact of the May 19 Coup on Women in Fiji, August 2001
Halapua, Winston. Militarism and Moral Decay in Fiji, Fijian Studies, Vo.1, No.1
Heartfield, James. You are not a White Woman! Apolosi Nawai, the Fiji Produce Agency and the Trial of
Stella Spencer in Fiji, 1915. The Journal of Pacific History, Vol.38, No.1, 2003
Heimans, et al. eds., Searching for Peace in the Asia-Pacific: An Overview of Conflict Prevention andPeacebuilding Activities. Lynne Reinner, 2004
Jalal, P. Imrana, Gender Issues in post coup d etat Fiji: snapshots from the Fiji Islands（a short story of lifein the feminist trenches）. Keynote Address, Townsville International Women s Conference, 3-7 July
2002, James Cook University, Australia
Lal, Brij V. Heartbreak Islands: Reflections on Fiji in Transition, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol.44, No.3,
December 2003......... Fiji Islands: From Immigration to Emigration （3/3/2006）http://www.migrationinformation.org/
Profiles/print.cfm?ID=110
NGO Report on the Status of Women in the Republic of the Fiji Islands, 12 January 2002.
http://www.iwraw-ap.org/using̲cedaw/fig.do
Norton, Robert. Race and Politics in Fiji. St. Martin s Press, 1977.
Prasad, Satendra, ed. Coup and Crisis: Fiji-A Year Later. Arena Publication, 1989.
Rapaport, Moshe, ed. The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society. The Bess Press, 1999
Robertson, Robbie and William Sutherland. Government by the Gun: The Unfinished Business of Fiji s 2000
Coup. Pluto Press, 2001
UNIFFEM, Gender Profile of the Conflict in Fiji. http://www.womenwarpeace.org/fiji/fiji.htm（2006/02/11）