People & Power - Bougainville: Reopening old wounds - 17 Mar 09 - Part 2

Bougainville, a large island east of Papua New Guinea, is rich in copper, the extraction of which has caused much tension over the past fifty years.

Historically Bougainville was part of Papua New Guinea. In a town called Panguna on Bougainville island, a huge copper mine, once the largest open-cut mine in the world, was responsible for a large percentage of the entire country's revenue.

At the time, Bougainvilleans felt the wealth was not being properly distributed and resented the pollution that the mine released into their environment.

The dispute sparked a civil war in 1988 that lasted for nearly a decade, after which Bougainville won autonomy with the promise of a referendum on independance after 2015. With the deadline just over five years away, the island is hoping to achieve economic independance before the referendum.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Al Jazeera
• People and Power
• Samah El-Shahat
• Bougainville
• Papua New Guinea.
• peoplepower

[Sensirebel]

Please forget about the political system go back to clan chiefs and leave the minerals in the earth, No mines are needed for wealth bougainville could lead the world in eco tourism, if they go down the capitalist route and let outsiders like Australia Europe and the Chinese in that would be a big mistake. the reason Bougainvilleans have the abundance of Gods dust AKA melanin, is because of the high amount of minerals in the organic natural food that grows there. Lead the way dont follow others

[hamogunjafarmer]

Pres. James,

Watch out for the lust of the outsiders and greed and foolishness of the few insiders. Bougainville has a lot of potential to be wonderful place for its people.

Peace!

[Heke1959]

@catshez yes,I think the same like you!!! Liberty for Bpugainville adn Tahiti with Rapanui too!!!!!!!!!!!!THEY WANT LIVE WITHOUT smelling france,brtitish,chilian government!!!

[catshez]

Independence for Bougainville! They survived for 1000s of years on that island before "white man" came along.. it's capitalist BS that could threaten the health of their island..I can't believe how polluted the rivers still are :( as long as they keep up the good work (fueled by coconuts and hydro-power!) they can live happy and independent lives from PNG.. they could also be more open for tourism, I for one would love to go back.. they need to beware of evil mining companies.BCL is dead,end of.

[mkbnett]

Conspiracy points to Musingku and others covertly assassinating Ona by infecting him with Malaria.

Fucked Up.

[mkbnett]

wikipedia:

"In May 2005, Ona disrupted provincial elections which he opposed to declare himself as "King of Bougainville" or Mekamui. He also sanctioned the establishment of a Central Bank run by Noah Musingku described by Australia's ABC TV Foreign Correspondent as a king of financial scams who established a pyramid scheme called U-Vistract. Both Joseph Kabui and Sam Kauona stated that Ona was being used by Musingku and his outsiders.

Ona died on 24 July 2005 of malaria in his village."

[clint0nify]

I couldn't agree more, what happened to Francis Ona?

[mkbnett]

sucks that the politicians are selling them out.

it seems like with the prez's western suit & leather chair & office that he's already sold out - just a matter of time.

when i first watched coconut revolution i had hopes that folks could maintain indigenous worldviews and protect them with force.

i see now that without the embargo, their culture is eroded and the new god is jobs and money.

my heart is with the no go zone soldiers, :1

[Ruks8]

long live Bouganvillie

[pandanus1]

thanks for the video post.