Bougainville
By Brandon Astor Jones
Yellow Cake, Yellow Cake
Where have you been?
I've been asleep in the ground
Not part of the scene.
But now I'm awake,
I can sing, I can shout,
Innuendo, Crescendo,
As to what it's all about
I can kill, I can maim
I can burn, I can blind,
I will treat man the same,
And the whole of mankind
I can shatter the earth,
I can leap to the sun,
And cut off your birth,
Before — it's begun.
— Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)
From the grave, the sister from Stradbroke, directs the reader's attention to the sad and disturbing truth that gold and copper can and do kill and maim.
It seems that her poetic musings are falling on ears as deaf as did those pleas for mercy Captain Louis de Bougainville must have heard and rejected back in 1768, when he and his followers savagely stole what we've come to know as Bougainville from the women who then held title to it.
The French captain, being the first European official to sight the island paradise, has not been alone when it comes to the ongoing rape, murder and brutalisation the island and its people continue to endure.
The blocking of the islanders' struggle for independence must be laid squarely at the collective feet of German, British, Japanese, American, New Zealand and Australian patriarchal domination.
Having said all that, we ought not to be surprised that it was only 15 years ago when a group representing the murderous and greedy mining interests (specifically Bougainville Copper Limited) bashed and clubbed to death those women who, by birthright, owned the land.
When Germany was defeated in war, Bougainville, along with Papua New Guinea, was given to Australia to manage as a kind of gift. Ever after, whenever the Bougainvilleans tried to gain their independence, Australia played a key role in crushing their aspirations.
Australia uses, as its henchmen, the PNG Defence Force to make war on the women, men and children of Bougainville. Hence, PNG is convinced that Bougainville is subject to PNG rule.
"I can kill, I can maim ..."
More than 2000 children have died as a direct result of the blockage PNG has in place around Bougainville. The blockade keeps organisations such as Amnesty International and the Red Cross from getting desperately needed medical supplies, such as vaccines and antibiotics, to the Bougainvilleans. The PNG gunboats, patrol boats and the ammunition used to maintain the blockade are supplied by Australia.
"I can leap to the sun ..."
Imagine what a fearsome sight menacing Iroquois helicopters must be from the ground, if you happen to be a Bougainvillean under fire watching them leap high into the noon sky, as if trying to erase evidence of the sun's presence, after your home has been shot up by the merciless pilots who fly them.
Imagine scenes like that with the surface-stripping effect of copper mining that has reduced a once fertile, tranquil forest and valley to an ugly barren moonscape: that is what much of Bougainville has become. In one region you will find a single crater that is 6 km in length, 4 km wide and 0.5 km deep. The once magnificent Panguna Valley is now a polluted eyesore with water that kills fish and poisoned air. That part of Bougainville is now referred to as the "Valley of Tears". One need not be an environmentalist or a "save the rainforest" activist to be moved to tears when viewing even a photograph of that devastated valley!
Women, men and children are — to those who support Bougainville's mining interests — of little or no significance when dollars are in the equation. The CRA mine paid the PNG government 1085.6 million kina from its total dividend of 2341.7 kina. Clearly 2,341.7 kina buys a lot of dead women, men and children.
"And cut off your birth, Before — it's begun."
I wonder how many of the women who have been massacred on Bougainville were with child.
I also wonder why the women's movement — not just in Australia, but all over the world — has not shown more interest and involvement in Bougainville, since the island initially belonged to, and has been repeatedly taken away from, women.
Nevertheless, it really does not matter whether one is male or female — that is, if one is willing to give more than lip service to the struggle for independence in Bougainville.
I urge each of you to vociferously support the continuing struggle for independence of Bougainville's people who are dying to be free.
"We now understand and have seen with our own eyes the destructive effects of the Bougainville copper mine operations on our land, our environment, our society and culture. The mine will remain closed for the rest of our lives." — Declaration of the Panguna, Bougainville, landowners.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]