P451-451.docx
single parents, the elderly, refugees, and workers in low-paid service-sector jobs are also diminishing the overall ranking of Australia and New Zealand as places where everyone can make a good living. Monetary measures such as gross domestic product (GDP) and PPP are of limited use where many people are living in econ- omies based on exchanges and barter or on subsistence. The con- cept of subsistence affluence has been used to describe Pacific Island societies. In these societies, monetary incomes may be low, but local resources such as coconut and fish provide a rea- sonable diet, and extended family and reciprocal support pre- vent serious deprivation. Adequate diets and relatively effective health and education systems contribute to comparatively high life expectancies and literacy and low infant mortality through- out the Pacific Islands. Literacy is above 90% for both men and women in much of the region. Notably, Papua New Guinea, Kiri- bati, and Vanuatu have higher infant mortality and lower literacy than other parts of Oceania. Territory and Politics Oceania has seen substantial political changes in recent years, including the shift in alignment from Europe to North America and Asia and the challenges of coping with its relative geo- graphic isolation within a global economy. The stability of some independent democracies and dependencies has been threatened by internal tensions. Political and economic inte- gration has been sought through regional cooperation agree- ments. And inequalities within Australia and New Zealand have highlighted the conditions of indigenous groups, while at the same time, these countries have embraced multicultural identities. Regional Cooperation Regional agreements include the South Pacific Commission founded in 1947, which focuses on social and economic development and includes 21 island nations and territories, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. The Pacific Islands Forum, established in 1971, promotes discussion and cooperation on trade, fisheries, and tourism among all the independent and self-governing states of Oceania. It has sup- ported maritime territorial rights and a nuclear-free Pacific as well as the independence goals of French Polynesia and New Caledonia. In 2000, the Forum legitimized peacekeeping military operations led by New Zealand and Australia in the Solomon Islands and Nauru, and in 2009 Fiji was suspended until it held democratic elections in 2014. The Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreements remove trade barriers within the region. Australia and New Zealand are members of larger economic and political alliances such as the 21 member Asia-Pacific Eco- nomic Cooperation group (APEC), which also includes Papua New Guinea and focuses on improving transportation links and liberalizing regional trade around the Pacific Rim. Both Australia and New Zealand have been able to take advantage of APEC to increase exports to Asia, especially to Japan. Independence and Secessionist Movements Oceania is relatively politically stable compared to many other regions. A number of smaller or resource-poor islands in the region have maintained close associations with, or are still under the control of, the United States or New Zealand. U.S. dependencies receive financial subsidies, called transfer payments, in return for mili- tary base sites and security control. France has also maintained its control over several islands, insisting that they are integral parts of the French state. The most serious recent political conflicts in Oceania have involved encounters between ethnic groups in Fiji and demon- strations by independence or secessionist movements in New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. Although independence movements and ethnic rivalries endanger regional peace, one of the greatest threats to stability may be the lack of jobs for young people on Pacific Islands. • Fiji The conflict in Fiji is a legacy of the British colonial policies that brought Asian Indians as indentured workers to local sugar plantations from 1879 to 1920. By the 1960s, Indo-Fijians almost outnumbered the ethnic Fijian population, dominating commerce and urban life and maintaining a separate existence with little intermarriage and continued cultural and religious segregation. The indigenous Fijians took over the government at the time of its independence in 1970, but subsequent elections have produced contested wins for Indo-Fijian parties, and military takeovers occurred in 1987, 2000, and 2006. Only in 2014 did observers certify a democratic election. • New Caledonia In the nickel-rich islands of New Caledonia, the indigenous Melanesian population, known as Kanaks, has been militantly pressing for independence for years, but has been outvoted by those of French descent (called demis), who prefer to remain part of France. The Nouméa Accord of 1998 promises a referendum on independence by 2018. • New Guinea Residents of Bougainville Island are trying to secede from Papua New Guinea, claiming ethnic affiliation with the other Solomon Islands that are independent, and complaining that they do not receive a fair share of the profits from local mines. There are also conflicts over mining and between different tribal groups in New Guinea. Multiculturalism and Indigenous Social Movements The rights of indigenous peoples and the creation of a multicultural society and national identity are high-profile issues in Australia and New Zealand. The countries share a history of British colonialism and dispossession of indigenous lands and cultures but have distinctly different contemporary approaches to intercultural politics and relations. In New Zealand, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi frames Maori rights (see Figure 11.16). Although the Maori interpreted the treaty as guaranteeing their land and rights, the century that 452 World regions in Global Context followed saw large-scale dispossession of Maori land and disre- spect for Maori culture. Maori landholdings—over most of New Zealand—were reduced to just 3% of the total area of New Zea- land. A series of protests, court cases, and reawakening to Maori tradition led to the establishment of the Waitangi tribunal in 1975, which eventually reinterpreted the Treaty of Waitangi as more favorable to the Maori and investigated a series of Maori land and fishery claims. The Maori were established as tangata whenua (the “people of the land”), and Maori was recognized as an official language of New Zealand with the country also known by its Maori name of Aotearoa. Some land claims were settled or compensated through money or grants of government land. Others are too large or threatening to private interests to be easily recognized. A bicultural Maori and Pakeha (a Maori term for whites) society has been adopted rather than a multicultural policy that would encompass other immigrant groups, such as Pacific Islanders and Asians, or recognize the differences within Maori cultures. New Zealand’s recognition of Maori rights, language, and culture as part of a national identity has not solved some of the deeper problems of racism toward the Maori or of their pov- erty and alienation. Maori unemployment is twice that of white residents; average incomes, home ownership, and educational levels are less than half; and welfare dependence is much higher. Australian Aborigines, in contrast, have had no recourse to a treaty to assert their rights. The European colonists saw the indigenous peoples as primitive and their land as terra nullius, owned by no one, and therefore freely available to settlers. Only in the 1930s were reserves set aside for Aboriginal populations, mostly in very marginal environments with little autonomy or access to services. In many ways, the Aboriginal population had been made “invisible”; they were not counted in the census or allowed to vote until the 1960s. It was also stereotyped as a primitive and homogeneous nomadic culture, when in fact the Aboriginal population encompassed many different cultures. One of the most misguided programs set out to assimilate the Aboriginal population from the 1800s to 1964 by forcibly removing children from their families and communities and placing them in white foster homes and institutions. These stolen generations of as many as 100,000 Aboriginal children was given voice and officially acknowledged by the Australian government in a national inquiry in the 1990s (see “Faces of the Region: The Stolen Generations” on p. 450). The Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976 gave Aborigines title to almost 20% of the Northern Territory and opened government land to claims through regional land councils. The states of South Australia and Western Australia have also handed over land to Aboriginal ownership or leases. In 1992, the Australian High Court effectively overruled the doctrine of terra nullius, encour- aging Aboriginal claims for land and compensation. Aboriginal control now extends over about 15% of Australia, and claims have been made to at least another 20%. The more contentious claims involve land with valuable mineral resources, especially uranium (see “Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Uranium” on pp. 456–457), or where development threatens sites that are considered sacred or spiritual by the Aborigines. Despite the apologies and recognition of land claims, indigenous Australians remain disadvantaged on almost all economic and social indicators. Their unemployment rate is at four times the national average and they have much lower average incomes, housing quality, and educational levels, and higher levels of suicide, substance abuse, disease, and violence. Australian Aborigines still have much less power and recogni- tion than the Maori of New Zealand; this is reflected in Austra- lia’s adoption of a multicultural rather than bicultural policy of national integration. Multiculturalism emerged in the 1970s and in an official effort to embrace the distinctive cultures of many different ethnic and immigrant groups. The National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia set out to promote tolerance and cul- tural rights and to reduce discrimination, while still maintaining English as the official language and avoiding special treatment for any one group such that Aborigines are just one of many groups in a multicultural society. There has been considerable right wing opposition to immi- gration, Aboriginal rights, and multiculturalism in the last decade, much of this exacerbated by recent global economic con- ditions. It is clear that land rights and reconciliation for Aborigi- nal peoples will remain contested as the Australian government strives to balance competing interests and needs. Apply Your Knowledge 11.13 Consult the website of the Pacific Islands Forum (http://www.forumsec.org/) and read one of the recent Forum Communiques. Summarize the key concerns expressed. 11.14 Summarize the different ways that Australia and New Zealand have treated their indig- enous populations. Can you see differences or similarities to the way indigenous peoples have been treated in other countries such as the United States, Canada, and China? Culture and Populations The culture and politics of this region are intimately intercon- nected to the wider global processes of migration, colonialism, conflict, globalization, and environmental change. The linguistic and religious practices of many people in this region, for exam- ple, are partially related to the region’s colonial experience. And the culture of migration in the region is tied to both the long-term experience of movement and recent environmental and economic changes that are creating push and pull factors for migrants. Language Many of the estimated 260 interrelated languages spoken by Australian Aborigines that were unique to the continent have become extinct or have only a few surviving speakers. Many Aborigines no longer speak anything but English; of the indigenous languages, only Mabuiag (the language of the Western
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