Shadow Of The Tower Of Babel

From a Vila correspondent In what the official British publication New Hebrides News called “Vila’s biggest ‘ demo’ so far”, an estimated 3 000 people marched through the city’s streets on June 25 in support of the condominium’s bilingual education system.

Occasion for their action was the decision by the sixth congress of the Vanuaaku Party (formerly National Party of the New Hebrides) earlier in the month to make English the main teaching language in the education system of the future independent New Hebrides. The congress decided that the French schools should continue as private schools.

The Vanuaaku Party leaders refused to accept a petition presented by the demonstrators. The petition, and a shortened version of the Vanuaaku Party’s reply to it, were later braodcast in Bislama on Radio Vila.

Demonstrations on the same issue also took place on Santo, Malekula and Tanna.

Reflecting, no doubt, the age-old

difficulty of estimating crowd num bers, the British residency paper said 3 000 demonstrated in Vila, but the French/Bislama language Nabanga said the number was 3 500.

There were even bigger differ ences in the estimates for the other islands. Nabanga said 1 500 de monstrated on Santo (New Hebrides News, 800). Nabanga had 2 000 out demonstrating on Malekula, while NHN estimated that there were about 750 involved in two separate actions. Nabanga said there were 2 000 in the streets on Tanna, while NHN estimated the crowd at be tween 1 000 and 1 500.

The figures give respective totals of 9 000 (Nabanga) and less than

6 000 (Nhn).

But if the exact numbers involved are obscure, there can be no mistak

ing the passions aroused by the Vanuaaku Party’s decision.

An article in Nabanga of June 18 signed “J.M.” described the Vanuaaku Party’s decision on the language issue as expressing the “mindless francophobia” of the par ty’s leaders.

The article characterised the VP as follows: “The history of the VP is clear, beyond all doubt; this politi cal formation was founded by sor cerers’ apprentices, most of them Europeans, clergymen in some cases, all of them English-speak ing.”

It said; “The clear, irrefutable truth is there. For wretched reasons of language, the VP is not the de fender of the interests of New Hebrideans as a whole. It is merely the emanation within the New

Hebrides of the most mindless fran

cophobia. ...

‘ r As the VP sees things, power should be in the hands of the party and not in those of a de

mocratically-elected assembly.

There should be no opposition, because it’s easier to govern that way. This is what is called fascism.

“And the sooner this is all brought about the better, in the VP view, because it is of paramount im portance that they should act before the French schools have time to pro duce elites of sufficient weight to feel that they have their word to say ”

Reviewing the sixth congress of the VP, the article said that at the congress the VP had “dropped the mask’’ and that those who had hitherto remained unconvinced of the YP’s “bad faith” would now on know what to expect.

Admitting that in the past, and until as recently as the London con ference of November, 1974, the two administering powers had treated the New Hebrides as “a nation that had not yet come of age”, the article said that they had since come round to the viewpoint of the VP and had unmistakably demonstrated their desire to involve Melanesians in their negotiations.

The article went on: “But now the Vanuaaku Party, after paralysing the work of the Representative As sembly, strangling at birth the work ing model of democratic institutions which could have made an exempl ary country of the New Hebrides, has decided to put on its tough face once again and to boycott the Paris conference. Certainly, the boycott is not complete; ‘We will go to Paris, but on certain conditions,’ says the VP. But it is careful not to say what these conditions are.”

“J. M.” wrote scathingly of VP leaders as acting out a “comedy” in which they pretend to be “a band of poor mystical creeps”, “sitting in committee barefooted and in threadbare shorts, trying to give the impression they are noble tramps”.

In fact, the writers said, they rep resent “a political party with im mense financial backing”.

“J. M.” claimed that it would be impossible to stage such “comedies” in Paris or London, where, moreover, it would also be im possible for the VP to pressure the negotiators bv means of de monstrations.