The Pacific Islands and the Globalization Agenda

Firth, Stewart

doi:10.1353/cp.2000.0009

Cited by 55 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In Fiji and the South Pacific, neo-liberalism was sold as a positive development. The private sector was lionised as the engine of growth and the saviour of sluggish, centralised Pacific Island economies, some riddled with corruption (see Firth, 2000). These sceptics often use Herman and Chomsky's theories to illustrate Marxist positions.…”

Section: Political Economy Of the Media And Conflict Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Rethinking journalism for supporting social cohesion and democracy: case study of media performance in Fiji

Singh¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Political Economy Of the Media And Conflict Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But economically it adopted free market reforms as part of the globalisation agenda (Firth, 2000). This had encouraged further opening up of the economy, including the media sector, in the 1980s and 1990s.…”

Section: The 1987 Coup First Brush With Censorship and The Heady 1990smentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking journalism for supporting social cohesion and democracy: case study of media performance in Fiji

Singh¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A powerful array of neoliberal economic ideologies continue to be promulgated throughout the Pacific in the name of development (Firth 2000(Firth , 2007. As Claire Slatter emphasized, "The aggressive marketing of neo-liberalism and its core values of individual advancement, private wealth accumulation and open access to resources, strikes at the heart of things that have long been enshrined in law, cultural value systems and social practice in the Pacific Islands" (2006,107).…”

Section: Fa'a Sāmoa and Cultural Changementioning

confidence: 99%

The I and the We: Individuality, Collectivity, and Samoan Artistic Responses to Cultural Change

Henderson¹

2016

The Contemporary Pacific

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This is a signifier of neo-colonialism in our current times, accentuating the intensified gap between rich developed nations who own the world's wealth and means of economic production, and the world's poorhouse of which small island developing states are classed together on the periphery (Firth, 2000).…”

Section: So Even When They Fail Because They've Been So Successful Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geopolitical storymaking about Tonga and Fiji: How media fooled people to believe Ma'afu wanted Lau

Pulu¹

2014

tekaharoa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Just when Tongan Democratic Party leader ‘Akilisi Pohiva stumped the public by saying he admired Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama because “he has been able to make things happen and take development to the people,” the Government of Tonga’s Minister for Lands, Lord Ma’afu, came right out of the blue and trumped him (Tonga Daily News, 2014a, 2014b). Ma’afu topped Pohiva at causing public bamboozlement. By this, Pohiva was the progenitor of Tonga’s thirty year old pro-democracy movement. Why would he over romanticise about the former military commodore Frank Bainimarama, the hard-line originator of Fiji’s third coup to take place in a period of twenty eight years? Pohiva’s swinging politics from democracy in Tonga to an overthrow of democracy in Fiji baffled readers (Naidu, 2014; Graue, 2014). But Ma’afu took centre stage as the show stopper. Momentarily, people were gobsmacked and did not know what to make of him. Was Tonga’s Minister for Lands and Survey who was a senior noble in the Tu’ivakano cabinet courting mischief or dead serious? Fiji’s permanent secretary for foreign affairs Amena Yauvoli was certain, we “would just have to wait for the Tongan government’s proposal” (Tonga Daily News, 2014a). But as Tongan journalist Kalafi Moala put it, “they will be waiting for a very long time” on that geopolitical front (Moala, 2014). This essay explores the geopolitical storymaking about Tonga and Fiji instigated by Tonga Daily News publishing online that Lord Ma’afu had said, “In good faith I will propose to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Fiji that they can have Minerva Reef and we get Lau in return” (Tonga Daily News, 2014a). The very thought of drawing up a new map instantly ignited outrage from Fijian readers. How then, might Tonga and Fiji’s argument over ownership of the Minerva Reefs play out this time around? Could the region’s geopolitical atlas ever be imagined differently when its cartography was permanently cemented to the era of Western European colonial empire? When the media fooled people to believe Lord Ma’afu wanted the Lau Islands for the Minerva Reefs, what did this signal about how news sites can manoeuver shock advertising and manipulate what politicians say to up their ratings?

show abstract

The Pacific Islands and the Globalization Agenda

Cited by 55 publications

References 2 publications

Rethinking journalism for supporting social cohesion and democracy: case study of media performance in Fiji

Rethinking journalism for supporting social cohesion and democracy: case study of media performance in Fiji

The I and the We: Individuality, Collectivity, and Samoan Artistic Responses to Cultural Change

Geopolitical storymaking about Tonga and Fiji: How media fooled people to believe Ma'afu wanted Lau

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About