Many good lessons to be learnt from history

Editorial

As we approach the turn of the century, there are many issues which Pacific Islanders have to deal with. Amongst these, those begging for the spotlight include the effect of changing temperatures in our waters, rising seas, and the amount of care that we place on our environment.

After all, the Pacific Islands are not like the United States where there are hundreds of acres upon acres of rolling fields on which people may live.

Indeed, for the islanders, there is no other place to go if their land is abused and unable to sustain life. Such was the case for the people of Nauru and the Banabans.

But while other people such as the Spanish and the British explorers were in control of their own destiny, these Pacific Islanders were not.

They were not the ones responsible for the massive stripping of the earth under them for minerals.

Minerals which were used not to grow food for themselves, but for people hundreds of miles away who, in most cases, had no idea where the sacrifice was

coming from.

It was the supposed protectors of the Nauruans and the Banabans who stripped their land of its life.

And once Australia and Britain had finished plundering the wealth that lay in the grounds of these people’s homes, they were deserted.

For the Nauruans, a slice of the cake was given to them but without the proper knowledge and foresight to handle such funds. These people were left to their own devices and, almost inevitably, fell prey to

ruthless conmen and quick-money makers.

But the Nauruans, at least, still had their island home which is still inhabitable. The Banabans, however, were not that lucky.

Once all their ground wealth had been plundered by colonialists, and could not sustain them any more, they were moved by the British - to an island in the Fiji Group. They were a Polynesian people plonked amidst Melanesians.

Luckily, though, no serious

consequences of such ill-considered action have taken place and the Banabans

live peacefully amongst the Fijians today.

But while they may call the island they live on today - Rabi - their home, for many of them, home is still somewhere else - lost in the folds of a brutal history. ■