by Dom on January 9, 2012
It has been a long time since I published here. Not through lack of interest or shortage of material, it has been a mixture of laziness, malaise, being “out of practice”, and getting posts half written and then deciding the time has passed me by.
In the past few (read many) months, I have gained interest in new areas, become somewhat passionate about West Papua, tempered my fascination with the phosphate rocks but still been neglected Banaba and been infuriated by Nauru, astounded by Papua New Guinea, surprised by the good Commodore in Fiji, saddened by Tonga, and ashamed at the lack of noise in the mainstream media about Tuvalu.
It was none of these things that actually made me start, finish, and post some copy. It was an event in a place far more intimate to me, and far closer to what I know well. It is below, and I hope it may be an ironic re-ignition of more posts.
by Dom on January 9, 2012
This afternoon, I visited Facebook and found this statement, from one of my closest friends:
“Thinking of you all on the island, a bit lost for words really…. What could possibly go wrong next? When is the place going to get a break from shit going wrong!!”
It made me immediately fear something awful, like or this or this or this.
I continued looking, now wanting a news article, and found one of my brother’s friends had said this:
“what an absolute f@#$ing disaster!!!!!”
Then, from another old friend and my best friends’ father, I saw two headlines that made me stop, much like the articles I liked-to above did while they were current:
“Phosphate ship breaking up at Christmas Island” and the slightly-less-accurate “Christmas Island container ship breaking up”
Of all the things that could happen to Christmas Island, this was not one of the things I imagined I would see. And in comparison to many of the recent events linked to above, this is less tragic. But it is so much more intense for those of who know Christmas Island. And it raises so many questions.
As I write this, the most recent story I can find is this one. It includes the picture below.
Tycoon Spilling oil and phosphate into Flying Fish Cove
I grew up in that water. I missed it when I was off-island, and I have missed it for the last ten years. To me, the water of Flying Fish Cove is one of the major ingredients in the essence of Christmas Island. Phosphate and oil are not good for coral, reef fish or sea birds. Not good for swimming, surfing the reef break or tourism. Not good for unloading at the island’s only wharf. Not good for the affordability of already overpriced goods.
To add some perspective for this site, I can’t begin to understand how Banabans and Nauruans feel about the devastation of their islands. I have no idea about the disenfranchisement and abuses experienced by those in Bougainville and West Papua. Christmas Island was lucky in that it avoided such destruction. But that aside, and knowing that we still have the island, is actually of little solace. And it is humbling perspective.
The recent maritime history of Christmas Island has been tragic. While completely different from previous events, this is in its own way, for many people, just as shocking. It is far more personal for those like me, who have not been there for recent evens, but still call “the rock” home. It raises innumerable questions, and in time, some of the inevitable questions will be answered. If anything, it will again highlight the vulnerable nature of Christmas Island, and bring attention to a range of issues, some of which I have raised before, and some of which I have left languishing in unfinished posts. I will probabl have the drive to revisit them, even if the timing is poor.
I think most people’s reactions will probably be similar to mine outlined above. For now, I’ll watch and see what happens, but the island is going to need one hell of a salvage crew, and even better luck to avoid serious fallout form what is another disaster to hit Christmas Island.
Questions, comments, thoughts, retorts?
Sport and politics…. Apparently they do mix.
It is often said that sport and politics shouldn’t mix. Stiff shit, Princess, they do mix. Sometimes it gets taken a little too far. And it is also true that there are very few things in life that are apolitical. And just because you think something is apolitical, I guarantee I could find someone who found it to be offensive or politicised. But that’s another point for someone else. The fact is, sport is for many of us an opiate we can’t get enough of, and politic is something we can’t see too little of, so when they mix, we get angry. But do we miss the point sometimes?
Recent history abounds with politicisation of sport. And not just because it can be used to highlight a negative overseas. Certainly, the protests around the 1971 and 1981 Springbok tours, boycotts of the Olympics, and Sino-American ping pong were all to highlight or influence an outcome in another part of the world, often for the better. More recently, for political and player-safety reasons, teams have decided not to tour Zimbabwe, and there have been decisions not to play international cricket matches in Pakistan as a result of incidents that have nothing to do with the cricketers. Indeed, purely from a cricket perspective, the conduct of Pakistani players is more concerning than anything else.
In the Pacific we currently have our very own version of these other issues playing out, revolving around Fiji’s place at the rugby world cup, and the make-up of their squad. While there is a travel ban in place relating to Fijians connected with the military regime, there has been no call from the Beehive about banning the Fiji team all together. Indeed, the All Blacks are will play a warm-up game against Fiji at Carisbrook. And the majority of Fiji’s decent players are already in New Zealand, Australia and Europe and Japan. The number who may be blocked at the airport is probably quite small.
My question is this: How much influence does this actually have? Of all the cases of sport and politics mixing , how many actually changed a foreign government’s policy? Or in the case of NZ and Fiji, the system of government? And what message does it send to the rest of the world? New Zealand pursues a free trade agreement with China, a supporter of Fiji, and a country with a few rights issues of its own to look at, but we palm-off those concerns under the veil of sovereignty. I smell a rat.
Maybe I’m just a cynic, but in reality isn’t this a non-issue? As Murray McCully said, “If you’re part of the military, you’re not coming; if you’re part of the government, if you’re a regime appointee, you don’t get to come.” Pretty simple really.
The examples in the second paragraph are serious, they highlight the place for politics in sport. The current attention to the Fiji and world cup issue is really a non-issue. Maybe we should just accept that Frank Bainimarama and his cronies will not be attending games in New Zealand and move on. There are far more important aspects of sport to get political about, especially in the Pacific. Politicise that!
Questions, comments, thoughts, retorts?