Making sense of Fijian Christian State aspirations (2): secessionism
Fiji's Christians make up around 60% of the population and are mostly politically compliant, but such is the current frustration and fear held by some of them about the nation's secular constitution, and what it may lead to under the present government, that they have taken matters into their own hands. They have formed up two separate "Christian states" - the so-called Ra Sovereign Christian State, and Nadroga-Navosa Sovereign Christian State - and unilaterally seceeded from the rest of the republic. They believe they have a right to do so under UN provisions, and by the obligations of their faith and heritage. (Pictured are some of Fiji's current secessionists):
Secession, and threats of it, are not new to Fiji's political history. Indeed, the original formation of a Fijian state under British colonisation from the late 19th century saw a number of problematic rifts and schisms in the idea and reality of Fiji as an organic whole. The British elevation of Bau over the rest of Fiji's chiefdoms was at the core of some dissent and remains skeletal to the current crisis. The resistance of the Lovoni to Fijian colonisation is also there on the record. The subsequent uprisings in Ra and specifically among the Wainibuka people led by the prophet, Navosavakadua, and later Ratu Apolosi Nawai are well-known. More recently, the late 1970s saw threats of secession - again from Fiji's western Viti Levu - surfacing, without realisation.
What should be the proper Christian response to these phenomena? Sadly, Fijian Christians of varying denominations have inspired, or participated in, or sought to excuse and legitimate not only secessions, but coups and other forms of political rebellion. The common underlying rationale for all of them has been that the status-quo has been unacceptable to such a degree that their particular uprising, or coup, is justified. For Rabuka in 1987, it was the unacceptability of Indo-Fijian power over the indigenous Fijian population - then a numerical minority. For Speight and his backers in 2000, it was the unacceptability of Indo-Fijian power in the hands of Labour. For Bainimarama over the past decade, it is the unacceptability of indigenous domination itself (ethno-nationalism is his term) which has been challenged - despite his government being indigenously led and dominated (i.e. through the military). Now, that status-quo - based as it is on an expressly secular new constitution - is being upset by recidivist Christian-Staters.
The way through the present thicket is potentially loaded with contradiction and short-term memory for all involved. Bainimarama's regime claims to be the first truly democratic system established in Fiji and as such it should not be destabilised by local secessionists or their overseas-based free-speech exercisers. But how he responds to the present Christian-Staters will test the validity of that claim as much as the secessionists have themselves. Putting solders in the provinces and filling Fiji's jails is one response, but the historical record shows it is an ineffective one - Christian State ideology is almost genetic to the indigenous heart and heartland, and has been since the colonial missionary era, and survives despite prior attempts to root it out. Conscientious civil disobedience, on the other hand, is a human right - as Gandhi and Reverend Martin Luther King exemplified in other contextst and times. Fiji's Christian-Staters have made their bed and now have to lie in it - Bainimarama has shown no mood for accommodation of any kind whatsoever.
Some of the flavour of this Fijian dilemma may be found in FDP contributor Dr Bruce Wearne's response to Fiji Sun editor, Nemani Delaibatiki (himself a former editor of the Fiji Daily Post) as found in the Fiji Sun newspaper at this link:
http://fijisun.com.fj/2015/08/31/opinion-no-barrier/#comment-82469
Further background to the discussion may be found at this Australian media link:
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/08/31/fiji-pm-distracts-overseas-plotter-threat
Other background pieces on Fijian Christian State ideology may be found elsewhere in this site www.fijidailyposter.wix.com/news
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