HEALTH HAZARD: How the system makes us sick - NI 331 - Chronicle 2000

Health hazard / CHRONICLE

.WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE MAJORITY WORLD

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‘I am not a violent man,’ said rebel leader George Speight after taking over Fiji’s Parliament on 19 May. ‘I am a businessman.’

He was indeed something of an entrepreneur – taking goods from intimidated shop owners for free with the aplomb with which he reportedly milked his former job overseeing the Government’s timber industry.

His militias kept the Labour-led People’s Coalition Government hostage for 60 days. The rebels claimed to have been angered by the ‘pro-Indian’ stance of the Government and talked frequently about ‘defending indigenous interests’.

Indigenous Fijians own 85 per cent of the land but most farming is done by ethnic-Indian tenants, many of them descended from those who arrived in the 1880s. Thousands were displaced this year as many of the leases were up. Prime Minister Chaudhry’s attempts to handle the situation stirred fears that the Government was supporting Indian over Fijian interests.

But the real trigger for the insurrection was timber. The world’s largest mahogany timber plantation had matured and was ready for harvesting. Speight was sacked and charged with extortion for his role in attempting to win the contract for US firm Timber Resource Management (TRM). Prime Minister Chaudhry said that the US Embassy was also being ‘pushy’ to try and get him to give TRM the concession. When the contract was granted to a British firm, Speight – supported by some chiefs who had stood to gain from the deal – initiated the coup.

It ignited lawlessness throughout Fiji. On the island of Vanua Levu, where Indo-Fijians were targeted by the rebels, one farmer despaired of official inability or reluctance to bring the chaos under control: ‘My castrated bullock has more balls than the police, the army, the President and the Government combined.’

The granting of amnesty to Speight for the coup further complicated attempts to get the country under control. Initially he was charged with ‘dangerous driving’ in order to get an arrest warrant against him although the amnesty was later lifted and the security forces succeeded in capturing Speight and more than 380 of his supporters. As trials continued the police reported they were broadening the scope of their investigation to include whether the coup was linked to the sale of mahogany harvesting rights.

ETHIOPIA One million people have fled incursions by Ethiopian troops into the southwest region of Eritrea and another 50,000 refugees have crossed into Sudan. Ethiopia bombards towns along the Eritrean coast. The UN Security Council imposes a one-year arms embargo on both countries.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE The West Bank and Gaza explode into the worst violence for nearly four years (see box page 41). Meanwhile fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbollah fighters worsens, with Israel accidentally dropping a bomb on a house in South Lebanon, killing 14 people.

FIJI An armed gang storms Fiji’s Parliament and detains Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his Govern-ment (see box on this page).

PUERTO RICO A protest by 216 demonstrators against the US military presence on the island of Vieques ends peacefully. The killing of a local man by a US bomber ignited the campaign late in 1999. The Navy halts bombing exercises but continues to use the base as a live-fire training site.

IRAN A conservative backlash gathers against the supporters of reformist President Khatami. The judiciary closes 16 progressive national newspapers and journals. At the Cannes Film Festival, prizewinning Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf says: ‘I accept this prize to honour the heroic efforts of the young generation who struggle for democracy.’

HAITI Turnout is high and many people queue for four hours to cast their votes in national elections. Haiti has been without a parliament for more than a year as a result of President René Preval’s unwillingness to organize new elections. Victory is claimed by the ruling party amidst disputes about how votes are counted.

BRAZIL Haciendas and estates in 22 of the country’s 26 states are invaded by members of the Landless Movement (MST) in one of the largest mobilizations in the group’s history. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso reacts by creating a special police force charged with dispersing illegal settlers.