SUVA, Fiji (3 Aug 2000) -- The Fiji Dive Operators Association has complained that press coverage of violence and lawlessness compounds Fiji's dive tourism problems. To support their argument that the media has overreacted, Curly Carswell, president of the dive association, sites an article on the coup written by a part-time Fiji resident. The incoherent article rambles on and on about American basketball games and Fijian locals peacefully skipping and giggling their way through a coup, which the author describes as a series of kava drinking opportunities. The 1,050 word article is full of references to decent and peaceful rebels chatting up fellow indigenous Fijians over a bowl of kava, but is silent, ABSOLUTELY DEAD SILENT, on what indigenous Fijians have done to Indo-Fijians. Not one word about the racist violence against Indo-Fijians. Not one word about looting Indo-Fijian shops. Not one word about burning down Indo-Fijian homes. Not one word about terrorizing Indo-Fijian villages and taking Indo-Fijian families hostage. In fact, the word 'Indo-Fijian' does not appear in the article. It is this glaring ommission of any reference whatsoever to the tragic victims of Fiji's racial violence that is most revealing, not only of the author's attitude, but of the Fiji Dive Operators Association. The author claims to be an expert on the subject of preventing violence, but his true expertise is in ignoring it. In this respect, at least, he has much in common with the Fiji Dive Operators Association. | | As lawlessness and racist violence spread across Fiji, dive operators chant: "Let's go diving!" Editors note: Although Fiji military officials and the media have described the uninhabited island where rebel leader George Speight has been incarcerated as a "prison" island, Curly wants everyone to know that actually it is a picnic and camping area. He describes it as follows: "Speight was not sent to a prison island. The island he has been sent to is Nukulau Island the well known Suva picnic and water recreational island where locals and expatriates with boats congregate. It has a caretakers house, water storage tanks, toilets and showers, many BBQ campfire set ups with stools and tables for the general public. It is a gazetted camping ground." Curly Carswell Thank you for clarifying that for us Curly. It is certainly reassuring to know that the man who has destroyed Fiji's tourism industry is being held in attractive and comfortable surroundings. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
