The New Millennium, the European Monetary Union and the Pope Cargo cults, a kind of religious millenarian movement, have been present in Papua New Guinea since first contact with Europeans. There is now a substantial published literature on the subject.
Cargo cults flourish in times of crisis.
They include elements of protest, of adaptation to, and of self- assertion in, a rapidly changing world. They form an underlying ideological stratum shared by rural societies in Papua New Guinea, while the niche previously occupied by colonial rulers is now occupied by native and urban expatriate elites. There are indications from many parts of Papua New Guinea, that the cargo and millenarian ideas are being refuelled by the approaching millennium. This event is considered special, not only by the Catholic Church which has declared the year 2000 to be a Jubilee year, but also by non-clerical expatriates and members of the urban elites. Moreover, the presence of logging and mining operations in many parts of the coun-try provides the rural population with ample justification for feelings of crisis, resentment and change.