”Hit in the face with the back of a gun”
We met two young men, scars and bruises covered their faces. Sione and Semisi were arrested a few days ago by the army. “A soldier hit me in the face and in the eye with the back of his gun. We were drinking and the soldiers came and hit all the guys. We were put in a van like an animal and taken to prison. I was in prison for 3 days. There was little food and water in prison. The toilet was very bad. The smell in the prison is not good. We were not charged. We were taken outside but they did not give us a ticket or a charge. We were told to stay home and not do something. I was not in town during the riots. I was at work.” So the soldiers beat you and arrested you for no reason? “Yes.” What are you going to do now? “We want to lay charges and we want to change the government.” Did you know the soldiers who were beating you? “I only know their faces, not their names.”

A taxi driver told us about his neighbor who spent a night in prison. Uiaka, a Tongan living in Auckland, was arrested on Friday night. “We tried to go to a club and that soldier stopped us; giving us a hiding; take us to jail and they sent me back the following day.” Uaika was in a taxi with his cousin. He pointed at a soldier at the side of the road with his hands and jokingly said “Bang Bang”. The soldier beat them both. Two police were standing there doing nothing. Uika was hit in the mouth, one tooth will probably have to come out, and his cousin got a black eye. “They did that for nothing. We just came to Tonga for a good time and this is what’s happening!” Can you tell us what it was like in prison? “It’s like hell! We only got a piece of bread and drink some cold water – that’s it. The conditions of the prison – I dunno – I have never seen anything like that before.” Uiaka was not charged with anything either. “The prison was full. Heaps of people.” He said the cell would normally take around eight people but there were 28 in his cell.

On our way out of town we talk to some Tongan soldiers at a checkpoint. Some people have said that people who arrested were beaten with guns. Is it true? “Who said that?” Some people. Clive Edwards said that. “Beaten by who?” By soldiers. […] Did you help the police arrest people? “Yeah.” Did you beat people? “Sometimes.” How do you beat them? “In their faces.” With your gun? “Yeah.” Are they bleeding? (Nods) Do you take them to hospital? “No, just to prison.”

Clive Edwards: “I objected to the NZ troops coming here right from the start”
We interviewed Clive Edwards, a Representative of the People in parliament. “In a situation which was ignited by suppression of people over a period of time and denial of their normal rights of freedom, to be able to have self-determination rather, and been subjected to dictatorial rule, which is what is going on in this country in the form of government that is constitutional, which constitutes and commands it, but it’s protecting a system where you have very limited rights of self-determination and get those in authority to be accountable to the people. And that’s the problem here.” “The riots are a result of frustration and of denial of what the people have wanted for a long time. People have been petitioning, marching, protesting over a period of 18 months.” “We have reached the point of no return.” “I objected to the NZ troops coming here right from the start. […] The New Zealand troops are coming here to curtail those who are starving for democratic government. […] The military are now being brutal and beating people up. And New Zealand and Australia are going to be associated with that type of conduct by this government, a despotic government? That’s non-sense! And I think New Zealand and Australia should go back.”

IMC activist almost gets arrested for filming outside the prison!
I was filming outside the Nuku’alofa police station which is also the prison. We had just finished interviewing the Prime Minister’s political advisor Lopeti Senitulu and I went around the corner and was around 30 meters away from the police station entrance and filming. They were brining in young people who had been arrested. A soldier came running towards me and grabbed me. A van-load of NZ cops drove past and I yelled “Help! This soldier is arresting the media!” but they just kept on driving (no surprises there). He pulled me across the road towards the prison. More soldiers were standing around there. He asked me what I was doing, how I got into the city centre and I said “I’m media! Here is my pass! We just interviewed Lopeti.” He said he didn’t care and used his communication device to ask his boss what to do with me. He yelled at me saying I was not allowed to film in town and I said that I was media and that I was allowed to film in town. Then he said I was not allowed to film outside the prison and I said I did not know that. He then decided that I had to delete the footage I took from outside the prison. “I’m a technician, I will do it.” I said that I would do it myself and he kept on holding on to me as I was recording over the 30 seconds of film I got from outside the prison. So why do you want me to delete it? “You know the way. You have to get permission.” But I have permission! “To take photo, everything?” Yes. “No.” Why not? “I called them and they said no.”

The neighborhood protects Chinese stores
A woman told me how she experienced the riots about 1km from the city centre. She was at home with her family when people came into her street and tried to loot and burn down four shops, some of which were operated by Chinese people. She said a lot of people stood in front of the shops to protect them. They managed to persuade people not to burn the shops because it would have destroyed people’s houses too. Only one shop was looted and none were burnt.

Down at the waterfront, we briefly talked to a Tongan woman and a Chinese man at a Chinese restaurant. The windows of that restaurant were smashed during the riots but they have already been replaced. The man thought that some Tongans don’t like Chinese. The Tongan woman agreed and said that a small minority of Tongans don’t like them.

My views on Thursday’s event (very briefly)
After seeing downtown Nuku’alofa and talking to various people, I think the riot’s roots lie in the people’s deep frustration and anger with the government, the nobles, the King and the feudal system as a whole. The riots were targeting government buildings, companies owned by the PM, King and his family and outside the city centre some Chinese and Indian shops as well as shops and companies owned by the King were targeted. In the city centre, most shops were looted and destroyed and many burnt down (ie. every shop was targeted). I do think that there are some anti-Chinese exponents amongst democracy supporters, particularly in the ‘business community’. They say they are angry at the King’s ‘undemocratic approval’ of 400 Chinese immigrants over night. The suggestion of an ‘ethnic conflict’, as presented by some of the mainstream/capitalist media, (a) downplays the widely held disgust with the current system (and therefore plays in the hand of the ruling class), and (b) is far from the truth because most Tongan people are friendly, or at least not unfriendly, towards Chinese immigrants. (I will have to do a lot more thinking and transcribe all the tapes to come up with a deeper and more extensive analysis of the situation in Tonga.)

More interviews
We interviewed Michael McBryde (the NZ High Commissioner), Kaufo’ou Amato (the treasurer of the Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement), Lopeti Senituli (political advisor of the Prime Minister and member of the FIHRDM) and Latu Kolomatangi (involved in the Catholic Church and the pro-democracy movement). We haven’t had time to go through all the interviews; just a couple of soundbites.

McBryde said: “This [the riots] was a total breakdown of law and order in the central city area and what you call ‘harsh measures’ with checkpoints and the exclusion zone seemed to us to be a reasonable response to a situation of near anarchy in the central city area. The Tongan Defence Service did a great job in restoring order to the central city.” He blamed pro-democracy leaders for the destruction of Nuku’alofa. He also thought it was “simplistic view” to say that NZ troops were in Tonga to enforce the laws and orders of a feudal and un-democratic system which oppresses its own people. I agree; it is pretty simple.

Latu on the other hand said that: “[On Thursday] I was thinking ‘How many years did the business people get from the poor?’ I think on that day it was the day of the poor people to get their share from the business people. Seeing people enjoying taking goods out of the shops and burning them made me think of the poor and how they get their share from the business people. For years they collect from the poor. Thursday is a day for the poor to take their share from them.”

NZ soldiers located outside Westpac
I finally found some NZ soldiers in Tonga. One of their wagons was parked outside the Westpac Bank inside the ‘restricted’ area of Nuku’alofa. Three soldiers were sitting in the back and one was outside talking to a bank staff member. Here is our brief conversation: (to a soldier sitting in the wagon) How has it been for you? Had a good time? “Yup.” What did you get up to? (The ‘boss’ intervenes’.) “Go talk to the boss for a second.” (The boss) “Is this on?” Yep. “Just don’t film anything inside the wagon.” Why is that? “Just coz, security reasons.” (I keep on filming.) Do you want to tell me what kind of things you have been up to? “Nah.” Why not? “Coz, the story is finished really.” When are you guys leaving? “Dunno.” Are you guys not so into the media? “Ah no, we are. Just, uhm, organised media. Media that has been arranged.” (Writes down my name on my Media pass and they drive off.)

Thank you!
A big THANK YOU to the people from the Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement! Thanks so much to everybody we were able to talk to here in Tonga! Thank you to the people at our guesthouse – we had an amazing time at your place. Thanks to people in Aotearoa who helped with contacts (people from Oxfam, CID, NDU, the anarchist community in Wellington, Indymedia and Dev-Zone), thanks for the equipment (Kotahi Te Ao, Wellington anarchists and IMC Wellington) and thanks to the wider IMC community for the help with feature writing and support.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

photos: slm
text: smush









And on a not so political note: We scored a ration-pack!
Being a vegetarian in Tonga is somewhat tricky. We have been living on local fruit and 2-minute noodles which we brought over from Aotearoa. slm is not a big fan of Tongan water and smush eats around a ton of bananas a day. The Australian Defence Force turned into an unexpected food supply. After some small-talk with four Australian soldiers (“You guys lost the footy on Saturday!” Huh, did ‘we’?) at a checkpoint in central Nuku’alofa, we were offered an army ration-pack! Our eyes lit up – ah, the ADF is not only out to oppress the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, the Solomons, Timor, Bougainville and Tonga; they are keen supporters of indymedia activists! Tea-bags, more 2-minute noodles, weird lollies, M+Ms, mixed berry fruit grains and a can of pears, and something red, processed and claiming to be sausages and vegetables.