Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Simply wrong

Apparently Chris Trotter has a sense of embarrassment. That's the only conclusion that can be drawn from his attempt to flush his recent column praising Fiji's military dictatorship down the memory hole. The problem for Trotter is that the internet - or rather, Google - never forgets. Once it's up, its up forever - which makes owning your words and admitting your mistakes not just good blogger ethics, but pretty much mandated by the technology.

As for the substance, there are a lot of things I could say in response, but I'll settle for one: simply wrong. Take this bit, for example:

Especially when the government overthrown by Commodore Frank Bainimarama was itself the product of a coup d'etat staged by para-military forces bought-and-paid-for by external commercial interests, and facilitated by a reactionary gaggle of self-serving hereditary chiefs and right-wing Methodist fundamentalists.
I think Lefthandpalm says it best: "Qarase [is a] corrupt, homophobic, fundamentalist jerk, but he was, none the less, duly elected. Twice." And that's what matters: not whether you meet Trotter's test of being sufficiently "progressive" (but only in the right way; being against child beating or pro Civil Unions apparently doesn't count) - but whether you are the choice of the people, as expressed in free, fair, and regular democratic elections. Qarase was, Bainimarama wasn't, end of story.

(And that's without even getting into Trotter's rather peculiar characterisation of Bainimarama and his clique as "progressive", because fundamentally I don't care. No matter what I think of either of them, the fact that one was elected and the other wasn't settles it. Qarase was Fiji's mistake to make...)

But Trotter's grasp of Fijian history isn't the only thing that's wrong here. Fundamentally, the problem is his entire political philosophy. Society doesn't "progress" by revolutionary cabals seizing power and ramming their "progressive" ideas down everybody's throat at gunpoint - it progresses by the slow and uncertain process of winning hearts and minds. Real change comes from below, not above. Good political leadership can help - leaders can change minds, and legislation can show that the world won't end if we e.g. treat gays like human beings. But force solves nothing. The failure of various military dictatorships to suppress the left in now solidly left-wing South America shows that. Like his South American predecessors, Bainimarama hasn't changed minds - at the best, he's got sullen acceptance and a desire he'll go away soon. Which means all his efforts are likely to be in vain...

Update: I somehow managed to leave off the planned hat-tip to Tumeke. So, consider it tipped.