Dear group members, One of our members of this group, Veresa, Fraser Tee Ceguadrau, will be speaking in Parliament today. I am sure we all agree that this young man has done his vanua, family, friends and our FB group proud because of this milestone in our struggle for basic human dignity and values for our indegenous people of Fiji. We must continue to forge ahead and never give up the struggle for a better and secure future for our people. The protection of our environment, our resources and heritage goes hand in hand with the protection of our culture and history! Let us continue on the good fight, Me Bula Ko Viti Kei Na Kena I Taukei! I provide the link below to the live stream from Parliament, and an except from Veresas speech! For Fiji Ever Fiji! parliamentlive.gov.fj/ VN. Lessons from Bua’s History. By Veresa Ceguadrau. Madam speaker, secondary school history books don’t go into details about this but I can proudly say that while most of Fiji was caught up in tribal warfare and the negotiations around the cession in the 1870s, Bua was trading with the world. Yes that’s right. Bua was trading sandalwood directly with the world – with no help from any government or private company or investor. It was us to the world from 1870s to the 1880s. We owned the resources, we drove the development – even if we were considered primitive – we proved then that a development approach driven by the community was possible. So yes, if ever there was any doubt that an alternative development model is possible – let me clear it today. It is possible, and we can begin the rethinking process today by ensuring that the current development models and approaches allow communities to drive their own development, that we who live in communities and experience the everyday struggles of etching out a living decide what kind of development we want and take ownership of the process and the consequences of our decisions. Unfortunately, Bua has also seen dark days in its quest for development. 1976 stands out most clearly as government introduced Pine to Bua and our elders agreed to lease at 5cents per acre on a six monthly basis. Many of us agree this was the first Bua scam. The second scam, members of the house, begun in 2011 when Nawailevu elders signed over their land to begin the bauxite mining in Bua. And it continues to this day with government’s concerted effort to exploit Bua’s natural resources with little to no regard for future generations and the environment.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:33:56 +0000
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