Sri Lanka and the World Youth Conference 2014: Day 1 Opening Ceremony

Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka.

I have to admit my knowledge about the country was fairly limited before I was accepted to attend this conference.

What I have seen is a very proud and patriotic country. Kind of reminded me of home, but is also very unique in it's own ways. 

There is a big enough Indian community in NZ to know Sri Lanka is quite different. Pictures of their much loved President splashed in just about every free corner you can find. Not once have I come across one sour faced Sri Lankan. They all appear to be genuinely happy and very friendly people and have gone out of their way to make us delegates feel extra special ..... and extra welcome. 

Everywhere we go we are accompanied by a police escort, partially because the traffic here in Colombo is crazy, but it's also an extension of their warm hospitality. They have stopped at nothing to make sure we are safe and happy. I kind of get the feeling that being happy is the national motto for Sri Lanka.

The Opening Ceremony was splendid, filled with so much life, colour and beautiful insights into Sri Lankan culture. The venue for the ceremony, the Magampura Ruhunupura International Convention Centre is approximately 3 hours away from our hotel, but well worth the wait.

The multimillion dollar complex put on the best of the best to welcome the worlds international youth delegates formally to Sri Lanka and with Sri Lanka's much beloved President Mahinda Rajapaksa, officially declared the conference open. I felt like royalty walking up the aisle past 100's of young Sri Lankan's dressed in their nation's best to welcome us (see photos)

Just as admirable as the opening ceremony is Sri Lanka's genuine commitment to advancing the lives of it's young people, ensuring that young people are part and parcel of decision making processes within the country.

With such a wonderful start I am looking forward to the rest of the conference. There are several key themes and foundations being addressed at this conference, more information here. I am participating under the foundation of empowering margenalised youth including most at risk young people, and in the theme of Environmental Protection, Emergency Preparedness and Youth Centered Urbanisation, two things I am particularly passionate about.

Will keep blogging over the next few days to let people know how the discussions go. The objective is by the end of the conference, that we are able to develop our contribution for 'youth in the post-development agenda', for the United Nations and international community to consider.

Now time for some much needed sleep :)

Lei your Local: Pacific people are not (April) fools.

If you work in the Tertiary Sector and are a member of the Tertiary Education Union, you may have heard of the Komiti Pasifika's (the Pasifika branch of the TEU), latest campaign which is Lei your local MP. The idea is to give your local MP a lei (garland of flowers for the non speakers) and to take a photo with the MP and upload it to Facebook...... Not particularly sure where the Komiti Pasifika were going with this one. You'd be forgiven for assuming this campaign was part of April fools - it was actually revealed a few weeks before today.

I am extremely puzzled that in the face of the lowest levels of government funding in tertiary education, growing debt, growing income inequality, ever increasing fees, the ever progressing commercialisation and commodification of education in this country and, the latest move to remove student and staff representation on University councils, and teacher representation on the Teacher's council, that the Komiti Pasifika has responded with the Lei Your Local MP campaign..... 

A complete contrast to the many other progressive campaigns coming out of the TEU. Yes I know we as Pacific peoples operate differently but really? Is this all we have to offer? Has our critical capacity and ability as Pacific people to be able to respond to issues of national significance really been limited to this?

You really have to wonder sometimes. In the weekend I attended a function held by the Samoa Business Network Incorporated where one Peseta Sam Lotu Iiga, National MP for Maugakiekie and Minister for Pacific Island Affairs (outside of Cabinet) was guest speaker. I do have to say that I am the current secretary for the association and must make clear that in no way does this piece represent the views of the Samoa Business Network and that I hereby solemnly declare that these are my own individual words and thoughts lol. Just me Tim Baice. Pulili. Pheeeewww

Any-who, Peseta was invited to speak to members of the SBN to encourage them in their trade and to share elements of his life/ career journey to help inspire members. Or at least this is what I understand the brief to have been. What transpired in reality was nothing short of what you would expect from a politician during election year. 

Peseta spent a considerable amount of time talking about his vision for Pacific communities in NZ, which although was admirable and are commonly what most of us would like to see (greater achievement in education, greater employment opportunities and enhanced health and life outcomes for our people) it was his lauding of National government policy in education and business as the means to which this has been somewhat already achieved (although he noted there was still a long way to go) that made me feel slightly nauseous.

Clear from Peseta's talk was that National did not have all the answers, nor did they have all the resources at hand, and while he welcomed feedback and discussion and advice from the community, he was clear that National could not guarantee they could do everything. This was strategic in the sense, that he had himself had set the tone by talking about national standards, greater ECE participation followed by the talk about the great vision e.t.c, to which the audience fervently responded to, almost as a technique to subtly quash any major questioning into National's furors into our education system, part of a carefully crafted technique (most likely developed by the party's well paid PR team) designed to almost neutralize and stifle any critical or in-depth commentary and interrogation, whilst at the same time appearing to offer a genuine opportunity for 'robust discussion and community engagement and feedback'. 

I share the Minister's vision for our communities and people but wondered if he'd ever considered there are alternative ways to achieving this, and that the current direction of National Policy on the whole (when you put all the pieces of the policy- puzzle together) has done and is doing more damage then good. 

My next post will be devoted to highlighting concerns from my perspective, which affect members of our vast Pacific community. In the lead up to the election, the only leis we should be giving to our local MP's, and especially those in the current government, are ones that seek to hold them accountable for their actions, or in this case inaction. Change will only ever come about if we change ourselves.

“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.” 

― George Gordon Byron  

The Love Life Fono 5: And the Emancipation of the Third Spirit

In the weekend I was extremely honoured to attend (my very first) Love Life Fono. This was the 5th Bi Annual Love Life Fono and I couldn't have imagined a better way to spend my Labour (long) weekend.

The purpose of the Love Life Fono as officially described on the working committee's facebook page as:

                         Love Life is about acknowledging our cultural heritage and honouring the                                  special people in our communities. Whether you are mahu, vakasalewalewa,                            palopa, fa’afafine, akava’ine, fakaleiti, fakafifine (MVPFAFF), or GLBTI, Love Life                          Fono is for you. 

Click here for more information.

The Love Life Fono was an amazing experience! Or should I say Fa-fa-Faboulous!! It combined the beauty and pageantry of a fa’afafine show, but most importantly provided a space where the MVPFAFF and GLBTI community could come together to share their experiences, knowledges, values and beliefs and provided a platform for many to begin to think how as a community, we are able to collectively address issues that affect all of us on the national level.

The Love Life Fono was a beautiful gathering of ‘Pacific People’, people of and from the Pacific. Unfortunately, it also happened to be a gathering of the most stigmatised and often ignored sector of the vast and diverse Pacific community here in Aotearoa and the Pacific.

Interestingly, Sua William Sio released a press release about his new vision for Pacific peoples in New Zealand. You have to wonder who, and what (arbitrarily) determines who is in this Pacific Community and also what it looks like. The fact that most Pacific Members of Parliament (bar I think Charles Chauvel and Kris Faafoi) voted against Marriage Equality highlights who they believe they supposedly represent. The traditional, conservative church going Pacific people – but this very narrow understanding and surface level view of what constitutes Pacific peoples in Pacific communities further isolates those who do not fit into those particular categories.

We then have the issue of poor youth engagement in this country. Is it any wonder given all the fantastic youth I met over the course of the love life Fono (there were over 100 participants the entire weekend) felt misrepresented, underrepresented, and were particularly disappointed in the leaders whose self -proclaimed task is to supposedly ‘Advance Pasifika’. Who are they advancing? And in what ways?

Despite the shortcomings of our community and political representatives, what all participants of the Fono were very sure of, is that all of us are an important part of the Pacific Community. Despite the alienation and subjugation, we are also from/of the Pacific. And we are most definitely a valid part of the Pacific community! And we are here to stay.

One of the outcomes of the Fono was the establishment of a National Coalition of ethnic specific Pacific representatives, a body which will work towards representing and advocating for Voices of the Third Spirit, on issues that affect our communities, and also other members of the Pacific community.

The opportunities for networking, building social/professional relationships were one of the highlights. I have left the Fono feeling empowered, feeling refreshed and renewed about my social obligations to my community. As a newly appointed representative to the National Coalition I look forward to devoting what skills and talent I have to further advancing and advocating for voices of the third spirit.

I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the organisers of the Love Life Fono 5 Committee; Elton Raharaha,  Cindy Of Samoa, Frances Anderson, Jaroncye Lole, Tanu Gago, Phlyesha Brown- Acton and all those who supported,  for not only their hard work in organising and executing this Fono, but their continued service and dedication to advancing and advocating for the voices of the ‘Third Spirit’. I look forward to all the work ahead.

*Please note that these are my own individual/ random thoughts about my experience of the Love Life Fono, and are not an official representation from the organising committee.

It started off with an article on climate change.....

Works been so busy lately that I haven't had time to post any articles, or do my rants about the government  (yes I can hear the sighs of relief lol)

And I haven't written in my blog lately, so I thought i'd vent here instead of writing essays on my FB status. So here it is my first entry for 2013. And on such a positive note lol....

But as I'm reading this article I am critically questioning NZ and it's role as a supposed leader in the Pacific, and wonder if most people know that this government, has pulled NZ out of the second stage of the Kyoto Protocol. (Probably wouldn't have because of the holidays). Purely based on the fact that "well Australia and the USA haven't signed up so why should we". National Government logic has done wonders for our public service. Just look at how perfect Education and Welfare are doing.....

I wonder how this makes people feel, especially our Pacific people. Especially given that a lot of us have witnessed first hand the terribly significant devastation natural events have caused to our homelands in the Pacific, which have no doubt been further intensified by processes of global warming and climate change. And yet we have a situation here where developed nations (including NZ) are refusing to commit to do their part to reduce their carbon footprint/levels of emissions basically because it isn't economically viable to do so. When it comes down to it, it's always about money and power!

But we're not talking just money here, we're talking about the state of our planet, we're talking about the kind of world we want our future generations to inherit, but we're also talking about current peoples lives. We don't have to look far to see how this is impacting on our people. We only need to look at what is happening with Tuvalu sinking, increasingly consistent and severe droughts in Samoa, Kiribati having to buy land in Fiji to relocate it's entire population in anticipation of the inevitable. Then there is the story of one women, Ursula Rakova, and her mission to save the people of the Carteret Islands (which up until this point I knew never existed) from rising sea levels. You'll notice that all of my links are not mainstream media links, why would they even bother. 

But you start to see a general pattern emerging. And the sad thing is, the stories are becoming more frequent. The government needs to be held accountable. And we as the people need to be asking the hard questions! The government does after all represent us (however I want to make it clear I did not vote for any of these fools), and therefore what our government does, we  bare some of the responsibility for the actions of our country.

 I saw and heard a whole lot of my own people, yapping away after Cyclone Evan, complaining that they were not going to donate because of all the corruption, misuse of funds that occurred during the Tsunami Relief effort in 2009.

I even heard one person say they wanted receipts for everything Samoa purchased through financial aid. At first I thought SHUTUP! I still do. But then I thought about it again, and was amazed at how quick the Samoa NZ community jumped to immediately condemn, and then demand transparency from the Government and people of Samoa. 

Interestingly though, we're not as quick to demand accountability and transparency from this government on most matters. And especially on such a critical issue of global warming/ climate change, given what we know about it's devastating impacts on our islands. 

I don't have the answers. It continues to baffle me today.

But I'm hoping that by writing this, that it will get people to start taking this issue seriously. Or even just to get some people thinking about it. That would be a start.

The Epidemic of Truthiness

It really upsets me sometimes how judgmental some people can be. And it's not always explicit. It's implicit in some of the things we say and so sometimes people can be cruel or patronising without even knowing the impact their words can have on others. Over the course of the last few days, there has been much discussion about how the vast Samoan Community here in NZ is going to respond to the devastation of our home land by Cyclone Evan. A whole heap of discussions on the radio. Comments on my news feed and discussions in general, and it would appear that most of us have become blinded by "truthiness" - or common/ popular understandings around particular situations, to which we know nothing about personally. But heard from so and so that this is what it is, and then, without critical thought, adopt it as truth and knowledge. Tapu Misa tells us that "Truthiness", according to the American comedian Stephen Colbert, who coined the word in a pilot episode of his hit TV show back in 2005, is "the truth that you feel in your gut regardless of what the facts support".

In 2009 the NZ response (particularly that around the "financial aid", "donations" from the community) to the Tsunami that devastated much of the East Cost of Upolu, was dogged by much controversy and anger over the "apparent" lack of transparency in terms of where money went, fueled by the somewhat (petty) semi-reliable investigations of John Campbell. It would appear that people still have not got over that (nor  have they bothered to do any of their own research) and have accepted this is absoloute truth, or truthiness. 

Whilst the general desire of people here in NZ is to "help" and to "give", it isn't always that easy to understand it as such, especially when discourses around it are structured in a way that establishes an uneven, unfair and detrimental power relationship between 1. those who help and give and 2. those  who need help and receive. This is a deficit lens approach which typically assumes our people are stupid. Have no idea what they are doing. We have no faith in Samoa's government. They will take advantage of those most vulnerable - the poor. The uneducated. Ultimately then, following this line of criticism, we have no faith in the ability and capacity of the people of Samoa to function.

Not that most people outrightly say these things, but it is implicit in the way we continue to criticise and lament at the ability of our people to get the job done. Who is helping who here? I know friends in Samoa hold back from lashing out. One they're too busy getting on with it. Two, taking time to acknowledge stupidity, only fuels it even more.

Now one cannot have a conversation about "aid" or "assistance" without the accompanying calls for transparency. "We need receipts" some say. And fair enough. Transparency is a critical part of any organisation, government working with/ or for people. It's what gives people confidence that these institutions are working in the best interests of all involved. 

But this new found championing of transparency in this "community" is inconsistent! Where was the call for transparency when NZ decided it would not be party to the second stage of the Kyoto Protocol? When we know, our Pacific islands are suffering because of the results of poor environmental management by developed countries. Where is the call for transparency from the so called developed Nations who have pledged time and time again, millions more money in development and aid, climate financing, and have not fronted up with it? Where are the calls for transparency, when every time this government changes something that impacts negatively on Pacific people in NZ?

And yet, when it comes to our own people we are we so quick to criticize, and chastise them, at a time when they need us most.

Marriage Equality; an attempt at a balanced view of both sides of the coin.

Actually, it's not really an attempt to produce a balanced a view between those in support, and the naysayers. I can clearly distinguish for myself the difference between  the spiritual dimension of marriage from the temporal dimension - which are the legal rights that are granted to couples once married. I see much of the debate being surface level, as it currently stands, and of a philosophical nature, with the potential to go on and on and on, because of the way in which it has been framed.

The discussion and debate around Louisa Wall's Marriage Equality Bill has caused quite a stir in the 'Pacific Community'. For those of you who haven't seen the discussion pop up (the Olympics distraction and what not) here is a very short summary of the basics; thanks to friend and lawyer Reece Autagavaia who tells us:

" The legal implications of the bill will mean same-sex couples can have civil marriages, or religious marriages if the celebrant accepts to conduct the ceremony. No celebrants will be forced to conduct marriages against their belief. One of the moral implications, as many Christians will argue, is the fundamental changing of the definition of marriage, which is meant for a man and a woman."

Like most people I assumed that this issue had been sorted by the Civil Union Act 200. But, as it appears, it falls short of giving those who choose to have a Civil Union the same rights as those who choose to be 'legally' married, particularly around the area of adoption. The obvious issue that initially strikes me is the desire for equal rights. We live in a day and age where human rights protect the freedom and diversities of the many people, families and communities that make up this world, from what ever creed, race/ethnicity, color, religion and so on, to live their lives freely and happily sans discrimination. 

I did not want do get into the entire debate. I understand this is an important issue, but I honestly feel that in the context of things, there are just as many more important issues (potentially even more so) that currently hinder this society from progression, that require just as much discussion, impetus and input from all peoples of this country. The Economy, Education, Health, Welfare, Housing, poverty, these are all very pressing issues which require the urgent attention of everyone in this country if we are going to create the kind of society we all want for future generations.

I am only now just speaking out about this, because I'm worried that a lot of people take for granted the fluidity and diversity of our communities, and make a whole series of judgments on a few assumptions, or on the view of the few. I'm all for freedom of speech/thought, but I am also for the freedom of ensuring that what you speak and think is well researched, critically considered, and throughly thought out first.

People talk about the Pacific community like we're one big homogenous group. Most times, its a deficit lens approach. We beat our children up. We fail in school. We commit crime. And other times it's positive (borderline patronizing), we're all really talented, we can all sing and dance, we all play rugby, and we're all Evangelical Christians who share the same views. Having said that, there are many things that unite us. Our cultural values, we share mutual goals, have similar aspirations, but have very different ways/understandings/views and beliefs in terms of how we should go about achieving this. One only needs to look at the constant struggle of SOME (key word some) parents accepting the idea, that their child is not pursuing the life that they had ever so carefully planned out. It happens a lot in our community. It could be a child's choice of education, occupation, or, as in this case, love interest.

Our Pacific community is diverse in itself, made up of men, women, elders, church goers, non religious people, boys, girls, fa'afafine/fakaleiti, youth, lawyers, doctors, teachers, artists, single mothers, solo parents, the sick, the disabled, the unemployed and the list can go on and on.

Labour MP Sua William Sio last night, wrote a status on his Face Book page that he would not be voting on the Bill because he represents the conservative view of the Mangere Electorate, and that this could potentially hurt the community and cost him and the Labour  party the next election (see here). He was rather straight forward with his position, and wanted to make it clear, rationale and all, so people understood where he was coming from. I found his position a tiny bit odd, mostly about the reference to representing the views of the entire Mangere Electorate. I say a bit odd considering there were no surveys in my mailbox asking me what I or others thought about the issue. His stance does make sense though. I think about the large amount of community work he has to do, the Church Leaders and Elders he keeps in contact with, and serves. In fact he referenced it was the concerns of this particular section (the conservatives) of the Mangere Electorate which has lead him to not support the Bill. They are entitled to their views and I respect that. Having grown up as a Samoan around the Church, such views are embedded and entrenched within you. Interestingly, his opening statements however, indicate that personally he has nothing against it. 

I do however feel that the critical voice of our youth has been somewhat left out in Sua's equation. In fact, when I think about a lot of the reforms this government has made this appears to be a major issue,  and I make the point in referencing the last election; the lowest voter turn out rate since the Second World War, and an ever declining rate of youth participation, and in particular the highest non voting rate of Maori and Pacific Youth. This I feel is a real issue. 

Back to my point about the fluidity of our communities.I don't believe that EVERYONE in Mangere thinks the same. I also do not believe that every Pacific person is as conservative as they are assumed to be (and if they are, good on them.)  However, the problematic thing about this particular issue is in how it has been promoted and discussed. It's all in the way it has been framed. As an outspoken young Pacific person, I cannot claim to represent the view of all youth. However, many of the young people I talk to agree with the need for equal rights, in terms of the entitlements and rights people are accorded when married. Most of the time anyways, and only, and especially when the discussion is framed around the discourses of equal rights.

You put 'Gay' and 'Marriage' together and all of a sudden you have everybody (well most Church going conservative people in my community anyway) quoting every Bible passage they can think of, in a bid to protect [the spiritual dimension] of marriage. And rightly so. It is as much their right to protest this from their understandings and beliefs as it is the right of anyone else to reference every Human Right Act they can think of in support of 'Marriage' Equality.

What the Member and Parliament should have done was a thorough analysis of  alternative options and models available; thought critically and genuinely about the way in which this should have been framed, and then canvassed the public to see what their thoughts are on the issue which I believe would have depoliticized the issue, or at least minimized the amount of blind and uninformed hate which is currently all over my news feed. The Civil Union Bill was able to achieve this because it was promoted as ensuring basic rights to all people who chose not to get married, and passed with a minor flurry of protest.

I understand the process for Members Bills are different, but I think if this was such a priority issue for the Member and certain sections of the party, more work should have gone into how this was framed and an impact analysis should have been conducted. Mr Autagavaia tells me that,

"One solution, used in parts of Europe, is for the State to not regulate marriage, and make it purely a civil contract. After registering their civil contract with the State, couples, whether same-sex or heterosexual, can then go and perform whatever ceremony they want. That way the State doesn't need to define marriage, and couples are free to celebrate their union however they want."

I also think that the argument that this will be the 'straw that breaks the camel's back', in relation to the relationship between the Labour Party and the 'Pacific Community', or will cost the Labour Party the next election is somewhat narrow minded. Many more of us are actually more concerned about how the party seeks to urgently address key issues around the Economy, Education, Health, Poverty, Welfare and Housing, when and if, it will go on to form the next government.

Hold the Pisupo! Let's not celebrate just yet

Yesterday New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key announced a $5 million dollar package in Education Aid to pay for the school fees of more than 16,000 high school students in Samoa. While most of my friends on Facebook were celebrating what on the surface level appeared to be a very generous and kind hearted gesture to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between the said countries, I held back from peeling open that can of pisupo (I ran out of wine, shush) in celebration of the said gesture.



I've posted a few articles I have found which confirm my suspicions, and not that you need a PHD in Puliliness to understand it; you either have to be interested/ passionate in/about these sorts of issues or have done some random paper at University which briefly covered the topic (Pac 204, anyone?).

My initial reaction was that this was a well timed PR gimmick,  typical National Party show and tell, but it reminded me of some of the more poorly informed, backward reforms this government has made in relation to Aid, or Overseas Development Assistance. 


Not only was this act a facade, highlighting so many things wrong this particular administration, it does show that they are good at one thing: blinding the public with a whole lot of gimmicks - and people lap it up - naturally given preference for feel good stories with only a sound bite of background information- no one wants to get into the nitty gritty of at all.  


However, in situations like this, it is important that we do. For several reasons. The main one (for now) being that we don't jump up and down screaming 'Hercules, Hercules', when there is much more to the story than meets the eye.


The $5 million dollars was part of an already existing Aid Budget, which NZ provides to Samoa and other countries in the Pacific through it's Overseas Development Assistance (ODA).

Short story, real Aid from NZ, whilst it has confusingly increased in this terms Budget, has decreased in real terms, and has a very bleak future.


In 2002 NZ, with most of the international community were party to the Monterrey Concensus (and several other international agreements) in which developped countries would commit 0.7 of it's GNI (Gross National Income) to Development assistance, as part of the international bid to eliminate poverty by 2015. I'm sure we've all heard of the Millenium Development Goals. 


In typical National fashion, their friends in the Business community of New Zealand have dictated their policy, where they would rather the government reduce it's ODA budget, and help them by  “removing barriers and smoothing the way” to offshore investment. Neo-colonial rape anyone? 


In response National has slashed $133 million over three years of the Aid Budget, putting us even further behind other countries in the OECD. By 2014 New Zealand will only be committing 0.24 of GNI, the lowest amount it has committed in the history of NZ overseas development assistance. Great friendship huh? This comes at a time in which we've seen remittances from NZ drop, a weak demand in Samoan exports and the excruciatingly high prices for imported food.


These are very real things we need to be concerned about. So tell me again why are we celebrating?


On the other side, the Treaty provides grounds for dialogue on ways in which the friendship can be improved. But it will take all of the might of our people, in both Samoa and NZ, to push these issues, and to not jump up and down everytime the (former) master throws us a biscuit.


Tim Baice
Pulili News.