In today’s NZ Herald, Colin James advocates NZ should intervene more in the Pacific, and do so more sophisticatedly – see The Pacific way and what it implies for our way. If not, ‘the trouble will turn up here.’ He says that the population is ‘set to explode’ in many Pacific countries over the next 20 years, and that because their economies are so depressed and unemployment so great, we should ‘expect crime and violence in these territories’ and that ‘those activities will be close to us, threatening to spill over our borders.’ He correctly points out that NZ ‘still sees jobs for Pacific men essentially as filling gaps in our workforce.’
A rather similar approach was taken by Chris Trotter last month, in his very interesting column entitled A textbook start of a revolution, dealing with the situation in Tonga – and NZ’s attempt to prop up the corrupt feudal regime. Trotter takes the reader on a fictional journey into what could happen if popular feeling against the Tongan 'establishment' intensified. Like James, Trotter suggests rebellion in the Pacific would be a bad thing for NZ and that the state has failed to protect us from its occurrence: ‘There's a revolution coming. Best not be there when it starts.’ Personally I think such a possibility is something to be encouraged rather than fear. In Trotter’s scenario, political rebellion in Tonga translates and escalates in South Auckland, where Tonga anti-Monarchy protestors are joined by Solomon Islanders, Fijians and other Pacific peoples in a 100,000 person march, which then leads to classroom occupations and factory strikes for social and political change.
