No escape – scenes from a war-zone
Staff from the ‘Escape Café’, which is part of the only shopping-complex that was unharmed, told me how all the workers, around 30 of them, formed a line in front of their workplace to protect it. Just next door, a new cinema was burnt down with the remains of the theater perfect for a horror film. The Tungi Arcade, once home to numerous shops, is completely destroyed too. The Friendly Island Human Right and Democracy Movement (*) had their offices in the upstairs floor and lost everything except for one laptop, their petty cash and their chequebook which were with the treasurer on the night of the riots. They lost computers, all their files and documents, a photocopier and furniture. They will have to reorganise their organization and have relocated their office to the suburbs for the time being.

One street along, a digger started demolishing burnt-out houses. The fire damage makes a lot of the house irreparable. The Prime Minister’s windows were smashed too. The markets are still standing but nothing is bought or sold. A few men were sitting around, waiting for the rain to stop. One of them told me that Nuku’alofa looks like Iraq, like a war-zone.

On our way out of the city centre, a group of kids was playing in the empty streets. We talked to a young woman, Frances, about what had happened in town. She said she was upset about the riots and the destruction. However she is fully behind the “demo-people”; she wants change for Tonga. But maybe still with a king. Maybe not. Primarily, she wants “everybody to have the same share in Tonga.”

“Unity and solidarity forever!”
According to a local radio station, 355 people have been charged in relation to the events on 16th November. We saw police walking around outside the central police station with colour photos of people and driving off to arrest them. Some people told us that people were beaten by soldiers and police. The soldiers use their guns to hit people in the head. We were not allowed to film at the front of the police station but when we walked around the back, some prisoners started waving at us through windows and yelled out. “I need your help!” “We’re here to fight for democracy. I fight with my truth.” “Let us free.” “Unity and solidarity forever!” It turned out that people with revolutionary ideas who we wanted to talk to are in prison at the moment. Around 100 people are in the Nuku’alofa prison and others have been sent to Mu’a.

Ofa, Aivi and Futa
On Monday we talked to Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki of the Tonga Women’s Action for Change and Dr. Aivi Puloka, the president of the Public Services Association. We interviewed Professor Futa Helu, founder of the People’s Democratic Party, on Tuesday.

Ofa, who calls herself a feminist, talked about women’s rights in Tonga and how many men in the pro-democracy movement do not think women’s rights are important. She told us that domestic violence is a big problem in Tongan society and that it is still legal for husbands to rape their wives. Ofa wants change but said that Tongans are not ready for democracy yet but that a lot of education has to be done first.

Aivi talked about last year’s strike and how it gave birth to PSA. “Before the strike there was no PSA. There was no Trade Union movement. It was just a spontaneous reaction of dissatisfaction with the government. […] And public servants decided to walk out from work. How was it organised? It was just an announcement and everybody turned up.” After 45 days, the strike was won and pay increases between 60-80% were given to all public servants.

Futa lectures in philosophy and mathematics and has been involved in the movement for years. He talked about the split between him and other people in the pro-democracy movement in recent years and why he chose to set up a party. Futa said that the People’s Democratic Party is a leftist party who wants “real change.”

Find the NZ soldiers
We drove all the way to the airport to the Taliai Military Camp. This is where the NZ soldiers are currently based. A carload of them drove past but no one was prepared to talk to us. After taking photos for a couple of minutes we were told to stop by Tongan soldiers and told to go back to town. At the NZ High Commission, Lieutenant Colonel Darren Beck was meeting with the High Commissioner and had a few minutes for us. Not on camera of course. “There are close links [between Tonga and NZ] from a military perspective. We do a fair bit of training. In fact, there are some people linking in who have done some training in New Zealand.” Interesting stuff. The NZDF trains Tongan soldiers who beat up pro-democracy supporters in Tonga. As soon as we started asking the ‘hard’ question, the ‘WHY’, Beck thought that after all he was not the right person to talk to and he had to leave anyways. So the person in charge of Australian and New Zealand troops in Tonga, Darren Beck, is the wrong person to ask questions about A/NZ supporting a corrupt government? Al Green, the Public Affairs Officers of the Australian Defence Force who promised us an interview with Major Jim Hammett has yet to get in touch with us, too. We are hoping to speak to the NZ High Commissioner to finally get some satisfactory answers.

”If a boat ends up on a reef…
We are staying at a wonderful guesthouse only a short walk from town. Our host gave us the following Tongan saying the other day. To me it seems this sums up what most people are thinking here in Tonga:

”If a boat ends up on a reef you don’t blame the reef;
you don’t blame the boat;
you don’t blame the wind;
you don’t blame the waves;
you blame the captain.”

(*) Just to respond to one of the comments in another post: It is my understanding that the Tongan Human Rights and Democracy Movements changed its name to Friendly Island Human Rights and Democracy Movement in November last year. They still have the same contact details (except for their office obviously and their phone number might change – but email is still the same demo(at)kalianet.to).

photos: slm
text: smush