The Things We do for Love....

Ni Sa Bula...

Corny..I know..I know!!!

But hey..think about this for a moment.

Bainimarama,Chaudary, Shaista, Bernie, the whole lot of them, what do they love? Apart from themselves of course!!! They love power!!!They love the fact that now they can tell people to do what they want, when they want and how they want? You want to argue? Driti the enforcer will see that their will becomes your way.

Serevi loves this nation. He has given more than half his life to the services of our country, and has brought glory, fame and honour to our shores in a way that none of us could emulate...and he does this for free.

Some people love their grog. You know the type..the ones that are go wandering off at 2am, looking for another house that is still drinking grog to go and vakatinitini. The kind whose skin is a dead giveaway. The kind whose congregating call is the sound of that "obo", the clanging of the tabili.

Then there's people like me. People who blog. People who are willing to debate this farce that we are now stuck in, and are willing to do so in public. People who speak out. This includes those who write in the Letters to the Editor, those who express their sentiments on air. People like Graham Leung, Shameema Ali. People who, in their own way love this country and are willing to do something to protect her. People who can say what is true and right and must be said, even if there is a risk to one's personal safety.

Now this one is the humdinger...the big kahuna..the million-dollar question.

What do you love?

Do you love Fiji enough to stand up with the rest of us to stand up with us and say "Enough!!!"

Are you willing to speak up and tell this regime that we will tolerate this no longer, that this has gone on long enough, and that we must right the wrongs that are now tearing our nation apart?

Can you?

Will you?

Why don't you?

What do you love? The potential that Fiji has? Or the present that you endure? It's a choice that we must make as individuals, but live out collectively.

Remember...alone you are a drop...but together we are the ocean.

God Bless Fiji,
Mawdsomething

Once Again Into the Breech....

Dear friends....ni sa bula.

I apologise for being away from this forum for so long. I am no longer in Fiji, and I'm glad that my anonymity worked, or I might be another person stopped at our international airport like Graham , Laisa or Shamima. However, my family still resides there, I still carry the sky blue passport, and I am still proud to be a Fijian.

Now that I am not in Fiji anymore, one can see things more clearly. It's definitely a case of stepping back to look at the big picture...and it is not a pretty one. From outside, Fiji is now a definite member of the Melanesian "Arc of Instability" , the grouping of Melanesian nations that are in various stages of unrest. Mind you, our Polynesian next-door neighbour seems to have caught this virus..with a further extension to their current State of Emergency, the 8th since last year's crisis in Nuku'alofa.

But back to our backyard.

One could go on lamenting the problems that now besiege us. We could spend years around the tanoa talking about this problem, and how it is affecting our country. That is what we have been doing and what we are doing.

The reason we, the people of this nation are suffering is because we, the people allow it. Maybe we hate confrontation. Maybe, we like what this government is doing. Maybe, we fear the repurcussions if we stand up. Maybe, we want to do something, but we don't know how to do it.

We need solutions to our problem. We all know that there is a problem, and we need to solve it, and fast. If we don't, we will be stuck in this conumdrum for a lot longer than we need to be. So put your thinking hats on..and put in your ideas in the comments section. As we keep on harping about democracy, we might as well be democraticatic about the selection of the next course of action. So that means, people, that the most popular idea for resisting this regime wins.

So pound those keys....and let's make them remember.

God Bless Fiji
Mawdsomething AKA Fijianblack

Empowering Fiji’s future “crap detectors”

courtesy of EnufDictatorship..... a suggestion for a long term solution.

____________________________________________________________________

“The solution of adult problems tomorrow depends in large measure upon the way our children grow up today. There is no greater insight into the future than recognizing that, when we save children, we save ourselves.”
Margaret Mead

In the past weeks and month, either in Fiji or around the world citizens have in some ways acknowledged and celebrated our children and our youth. In Fiji, celebrations have included clean-up campaigns (the garbage kind), games, mini lectures on community policing, training on developing an understanding of union rights, etc.

We all believe and support the idea that our youths of today are the leaders of tomorrow. Therefore, if we have to consider our current problems as a country, we also have to consider how we are preparing those we believe to be the future leaders of our country. We have to ask ourselves are we providing the best skills, knowledge, characteristics and attitudes that will develop these children and youth into wise, successful and responsible leaders. In short, are we really empowering our children, in order, for them to be able to lead our country to a prosperous future?

No one disputes that education starts from home. On the other hand, we also believe that “it takes a village to educate a child.” To this end, we believe and support the idea that schooling contributes to this education. Therefore, we have built schools where we hope that our children and youth will further develop the necessary lifelong skills, knowledge, characteristics and attitudes they need to prepare themselves for their future whether it be gracing the corridors of parliament, government offices, educational institutions, hospitals, financial institutions or toiling the land and sea. Most importantly to consider as well is that the decisions these youths will make in their future will affect those of us who are currently middle-aged or approaching old age.
Is our school system empowering children and youth?
Ernest Hemingway in one of his early interviews was asked to identify the characteristics required for a person to become a “great writer.” After Hemingway disparaged a few possibilities provided by the frustrated interviewer, the interviewer finally asked, “Isn’t there one essential ingredient that you can identify?” Hemingway replied, “Yes, there is. In order to be a great writer a person must have a built-in, shockproof crap detector.”

As I reflect on the current situation at home, I can honestly say that Fiji has suffered enough “crap” for so long. The “crap” I am referring to here includes all the wrong, inconvenient, intolerable financial, cultural and political mistakes, which have allowed our country to “run down”, to reduce to chaos and uselessness. These include amongst other things nepotism, corruption and coups. Norbert Wiener calls this “entropy.”

I then wonder is the schooling system, which is seen as the second most important institution assisting in the children/youth’s education dynamic, interesting and “new” enough to contribute in the promotion of empowering them to become experts at “crap detecting.” By “crap detecting”, it means “people who have been educated to recognize change, to be sensitive to problems by change, and who have the motivation and courage to sound alarms when entropy accelerates to a dangerous degree.”

How can we empower children then?
When children are empowered, not only are they aware of their freedom but also they develop a will to exercise it, and the intellectual power and perspective to do so effectively. Therefore, our children have to be encouraged to question, question, and question. That is, empower them to be active inquirers and problem solvers.

These questioning skills are developed through inquiry teaching and learning. A review of the methods of teaching currently used in schools and the content should be undertaken. The traditional didactic, textbook only, chalk and board, teacher-knows-all approach should be changed to transformative inquiry, all different sources, teachers-and-students-are-all-learners approach. The content of what to be taught should be relevant, significant and up-to-date.

Children bring into the classroom a wealth of knowledge from their own experiences. These have to be taken into account when teaching them. They are not empty vessels waiting to be filled-up. In addition, beginning from early childhood education (kindergartens), children have to be encouraged to take action. Modest things that are already in place in schools like picking up rubbish, cleaning classrooms, etc have to be extended to school/class/group/individual projects, whereby children research issues that affect them like poverty, illiteracy, truancy, children’s rights, animal rights, health, etc. Then they should make plans to take action in their community either to raise awareness of these issues or to combat them.

Moreover, the development of attitudes like respect, tolerance, empathy, etc and personal characteristics like caring, open-mindedness, etc have to be specifically targeted when teaching academic and non-academic lessons either inside or outside of the classroom boundaries.

Finally yet importantly, parent education have to be encouraged and promoted because after all parents are partners in education.

To conclude, I leave you youths of Fiji with a quote from the late US President Ronald Reagan,
“We (Fiji) need you; we (Fiji) need your youth, your strength and your idealism, to help us make right what is wrong.”

God bless our youths! God bless Fiji!

Keeping Our Eye On The Ball.

Ni Sa Bula,

I know... I know...I didn't post over the weekend. I apologise. I spent the weekend unwinding, and taking a step back to look at everything from another perspective. While doing this, something jumped out at me, something that I think needs to be brought to the nation's attention.

Lately, the news has been filled with items about the attempts to block the blogs, of blogs being hacked, of blogs being moved and of blogs being, well....blogs. The FHRC has also jumped on the IG anti-blog bandwagon, claiming that blog posts are in violation of the Constitution. Guess what Shameem...... your entire Government is in violation of the Constitution. Also what do you make of this sort of comment from one Mahendra Chaudry?

"We did not have a culture of rigged elections in Fiji before Qarase,"

Doesn't this "damage the reputation, dignity, privacy, or rights and freedoms of other individuals" and shouldn't you also prosecute Mahen for making this sort of allegation in the media? If you prosecute him, and hold him in a cell for saying the things he has said about the electoral process, then in our view, you would be qualified to make statements about the things we are saying. At the moment, you are nothing more that the IG's lapdog, barking from behind it's skirts. Please focus on your efforts to prosecute the murderers of Rabaka and Verebasaga, so that their families can find closure and peace.

Of course, I haven't said anything about the elephant in the room....your idol, the Interim Government, who is by far, the largest damager of human rights, reputation, dignity and freedom of the citizens of this nation. They have killed, tortured, detained, hurt, slandered and maimed innocent people, and they try to sell this to us in the name of a "clean-up"!!!! What lies!!! What an insult to our intelligence!!!! What a total load of crap!!!!

Please tell your masters, Shaista...to shut their mouths. We are tired of their lies.

Another favourite lie of the IG is the claim that the economy was going down under the leadership of the deposed Government.

Can anyone tell me, if the economy was really on the slide, why would there be high-rise buildings sprouting all over Suva? How ironic that the FHRC is housed in one of these? Would there be multi-million hotel developments in the west, and the north? The backlog of $2.6 billion worth of tourism-related projects is another indicator of the fact that investors had confidence in Fiji's economy, that they saw it as a worthwhile place to invest their money. We also saw sporting events for the region like the SPG 2003 being hosted in Fiji. Even sports like sailing, power-lifting and netball had selected Fiji as the venue of their respective world meets. All that came to a sudden and definite stop with the greedy, inconsiderate power grab of a small group of narrow-minded, unforgiving men and women, who in one fell swoop, took us back to a place we had turned our backs on 3 times in the past.

Bainimarama and his cultish followers still harp on about the events of 2000. I guess for all their fasting and praying, the FMF has not learnt the simple Christian truth, that unless you forgive, God will not forgive you. They are also trying their utmost to distort the truth. Thank God that we have blogs, where each of us can, with a little time and dedication, broadcast our views to the world. The worst part of it is that within their ranks are the children of the late Rt. Mara. The fact that his son and daughters are involved with the FMF makes me wonder if they are that guillible, that they cannot see that Bainimarama was the one who removed their Ratu from the Presidency. He could have backed the old man on the hill, and stood by him when the chips were down in 2000. That the children of one of Fiji's greatest statesman (I do not wish to dive into the allegations relating his ancestry, his modus operandi...I will stick to the verified facts of his life) are in arms with the architect of his demise, speaks volumes of their gullibility, and their greed. I prefer to think that they are just guilible, because the alternative is too horrifying to consider. To imagine that they are guilty of patricide is a path I do not wish to take because that is what they are guilty of, if they know exactly what Bainimarama did on the naval ship in the Suva harbour during the 2000 crisis. If my own father was in that position, I would move heaven and earth to get to his aid. If I commanded the largest regiment in the FMF, trust me, there would be blood spilt before I let anyone do those things to my Ratu, especially if he represented law and order. But that is just my opinion....

Now this one just got me all tied up on knots, I couldn't stop laughing at the irony of it. Read the following line, that has been replicated in countless media outlets all over the world.

"the anonymous blogger known as Fijian Black"

I am FijianBlack. I am not anonymous. I have a name, an online presence, and the world at large can read and see my views whenever they so desire. That is not anonymity. The fact that my online persona cannot be linked with my physical being is a result of the situation we face in Fiji. We are threatened with acts that anyone who retains his/her sanity would not want to be subjected to. They killed Sakiusa Rabaka on the suspicion of his involvement in marijuana smoking. Imagine what they will do to me, and my family!!!! While I have considered this, and now believe that it is more costly to me to stay silent, that I must speak out, believe me, I put myself, and my family on the line every time I post. I believe, however, that Fiji is worth the sacrifice, that the hope that we can rise out of this quagmire, and become great again, and take our place in the echelon of civilized nations will one day come true.

So I blog. We blog. We are doing what we are supposed to be doing. We are doing what the FHRC, the Judiciary, the Government should be doing. We are looking out for the rights, the dignity, the freedom, of the people of Fiji. We bring to the world's attention, the failures, the flaws, the mistakes of this regime that is illegally ruling over this nation, oppressing it's people, and riding roughshod over their will.

And that must be our focus. We must focus on the weaknesses, the shortcomings, the failures of this regime. The single, largest shortcoming of this regime is that it is illegal. Why do they need the guns, if they are certain of their legitimacy? Why have they taken over all arms of the Forces, of the various branches and agencies of Government, if they were sure that what they are doing is right? Why are they scared of having elections? WHY??????

We must ask these questions. We must probe, and dig, for unless we see things as they truly are, and not as this IG says it is, we will never heal our nation. And our children will be doomed to repeat our mistakes, because we were too lazy to learn from them.

God Bless Fiji,
mawdsomething.

On the run....

Ni Sa Bula.....

This is just a quick post, I want to focus on an issue that has vaunted to the fore of the country's current obsession with all things IT.

Security.

I recommend using this browser for surfing, especially when you don't what you-know-who peaking into your stuff. It's currently the best out there, in terms of security...it's what I use to stay ahead of the junta's hunters... while the access speed might be slower than you are used to, it's far more preferable than having to achieve high land speeds at the "high vielt" at Delainabua LOL.

Oh and welcome back Ms Vakaivosavosa....good to see that you've rejoined this fight.

I leave you now with this gem...to whet your appetites for the next post later today.....

Luke 3:14 (New International Version)

Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"
He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay."

God Bless Fiji,
mawdsomething

Journalists, Bloggers, Supporters and Hackers.

Ni sa Bula,

It's another day in paradise fallen. This started with the radio announcements that the military had information on 20 bloggers and that they were going to be rounded up. I have to admit that this news put dampers on posting yesterday today, as from monitoring the blogs, I noted that the posting activity was muted, when compared to other days. Of course, I made sure I didn't wear my qaraqara underwear, just in case the idiots actually grew half a brain, and yours truly was required to do the "swimsuit" at QEB...red herring:wouldn't gowing half a brain be a multiplying effect in total brain capacity?

In hindsight, I was wrong again. The army got it wrong, so wrong that one can end up with a false sense of security, so fellow bloggers...beware. As the army now considers an email as evidence, and have accused Mr. Taoi of being one of us...I feel the need to explain these matters to you, Leweni.

Emails:

Emails are the internet eqiuvalent of letters. You write, you send, the other person receives.

An email is not a blog.
An email is not a blog.
An email is not a blog.
An email is not a blog.

Blogs:

Blogs are the contraction of the term weblog, a term that is used to describe the plethora (that means excess, many ...tum jahno Leweni?) of personal sites that carry things like recipes, rants, opinions etc. Blogs are opinion Leweni. That means that in my opinion, I think you and the rest of your lot now posing as officers, and the IG to boot are idiots...in my opinion.

In my opinion, what you are doing is wrong. The IG is really damaging Fiji, and people like Chaudry, Khaiyum, and the rest of you are just greedy little-minded opportunists who are reallyin this for yourselves. In my opinion.


I also find it hilarious that you think that the blogs, and the internet in general needs to be governed. Doesn't it just rub you all the wrong way, to think that there is a channel whereby people in Fiji, ordinary civilians can have their say, and be heard by the masses, and you have absolutely no control over it. NONE WHATSOEVER!!!!! Guess you just met your match, and now because you can't handle the pressure, you want to pull the plug on us...it's getting boring Neumi (yawn) it's just like how you ended your interview with the ABC's Bruce Hill. (to anyone whose vocabulary that excludes "aahh"..listen to the interview, especially when Leweni "loses" it and slams the phone on Bruce for a really belly-aching, frame-shaking laugh)

You also claim, along with that lady Ms. Foster that we are not accountable. We are more accountable, because while we can write whatever we please (hey so can you Ms. Forster, and don't shovel that "holier than thou" crap this way)...you know that you can write whatever you want, which is what we are saying. The bottom line is that if you write crap, nobody would read it, but if your writing is relevant, it conveys a message, it says what people want to hear, then people will read it. Come to think about it, that's probably why none of you ever tried to start your own blog...if you did, the only visitor to the site would be the poster..LOL. Like in the mainstream media (which considering the effect the blogs are not having on Fiji, might just be the blogs), it's all about the message. In this world of nibbles, bits and bytes, the only thing that matters is the message. Your name, your reputation, your backing, all means jack...the only thing that carries any weight is what you have to say. As Fiji wants to hear what we have to say, guess that's why you are all up in a tiff, trying to find me....

Now we have the lady herself, Ro Teimumu saying that we are merely expressing our right to have our when we write. Personally, I'm really stoked that someone of her calibre reads and notices what we write....along with Mr. Taoi. Doesn't that sort of audience mean that we are doing something right?

Or does one need a green uniform, a crew-cut and a moustache to qualify for that perk? You can claim that this should be governed by the media code, that we should be held responsible, that we are not answerable for what we say...the bottom line is, and I'm going to make this so simple that even you can understand...is that we are saying what everyone is thinking. Except you of course...go on hug, that gun...I know the smooth gun-metal finish really makes you feel secure.

New blogs are now sprouting all over the web... check these new recruits out!!!

http://exfmf.blogspot.com/
http://aulomaniviti.blogspot.com/


And for those of you intending to start your own please read this post...on how to blog anonymously and safely.

ttp://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page6042.cfm

Now for those of you who are chaffing at RFC's disappearance, word is that the IG hired hackers in Bangalore to lodge a complaint with Blogger, about the comments in the posts. According to the policy Blogger has, some comments have fallen foul of the law and have been removed. People...please keep you comments decent because if you don't, then the blogsite you comment on will be neutered like RFC has been. Go to their blog and try to comment...to see what I'm getting at. While most of you are silent supporters, this is how you can help us, and the cause.
(Note to self...must really keep my eyes on the comments now.)

Also to fellow blogs...mirror your sites. Tell everyone of your mirror...i.e. a site that reflects the original site's content. I will post the link to my mirror once I get everything reflected.

Good manners people..that is what we were known for...good manners. So don't stoop to the level of the goons, stay ahead of them, don't concede the moral high ground to them. Be polite, because a caustic wit wounds more that swearing sludging that manifests itself on "certain" blogs.

So stay safe, blog smart, and fight the good fight. Be good now...

God Bless Fiji,
mawdsomething

Tamani Kila Leca...Ooops....

Ni Sa Bula,

It's seems that I am, once again, popular with the eager-beavers at Nabua. So much so, that now innocent people are being interogated, tortured and detained, in their zeal to get me.

To Mr. Taoi and family, I apologise from the bottom of my heart. I hope you will accept this apology in the spirit that it is given, and that you will forgive me. I did not intend for anyone to get hurt, and I hope that you are the last. I admire your courage to come out in public, and hope that you will be the first and the last to go through this.

To the military, all I can say is that, you should get your facts right. Do any of you even read the posts I write, or do you work yourselves into a saliva-dribbling, mouth-frothing frenzy by gossiping about what you think you know about what I post? Do you even understand what I write? I'd really, really hate to think that my posts need to be toned down, so that you can comprehend (read understand) what I am saying about you, and your way of doing things.

I do not agree with how you do things. I think you have no respect for the sanctity of a human being, and that your minds are dulled and twisted and absolutely corrupted by the power you think you wield. If you would only, stop, and think and remember, the values I'm sure your own parents espoused, you would realise that the actions you have been taking ( some of you anyway) are wrong.

You accuse me of trying to make you look bad, of trying to "discredit" you. I do nothing of the sort!!!! Trust me, you are doing that all on your own, and you are doing it far, far better than any of us could. Flies congregate on whatever comes out of your mouth, and you should not be surprised that nobody in Fiji believes the lies that you spew daily. Even your most ardent supporters cannot defend your actions anymore, because what you have done, what you are doing, and what you are proposing to do, is not right, it is not fair, and it is only a matter of time before the nation itself rises up against you and deposes you. It will be "do unto others" for you, and God help you when that day dawns.

The power afforded to you via the Constitution, and the people of Fij has corrupted you. You are now the country's worst enemies, when you should be it's staunchest defenders.You act like you are the lords of this nation, when you are really the servants of the people. You take the lives of the nation's civilians, when you should be giving your own for the very lives you are prematurely terminating. You take people in, detain them and interogate them, because you cannot handle the criticism. If you can't take the complaints, you really should have left the governing of the nation to people chosen by the masses to govern us.

The blogs, the dissent, the complaints, the travel bans, the sanctions....these are all symptoms of the real problem. The reason these things are happening is because you think you know what is best for Fiji, and we don't. You are no respecter for the law, for due process, for the right and proper way of doing things. Because you have the guns, you think whatever you say is right.

If you return Fiji to it's people, and go back to what you were really called to do, and you stop meddling in places where you are not supposed to be, then maybe, just maybe, we can all move forward. Not the moving forward that you are fond of proclaiming, but a real moving forward, one where we all move forward hand in hand, for the betterment of this nation.

So think about it. Sleep on it. Pray about it. Because the ball is in your court, and has always been, and it is your decision, ultimately, what happens to Fiji in the future.

God Bless Fiji,
FijianBlack