Michael Field

Unaisi Nabobo-Baba

Tupeni Baba

"In May 2000 a gang of soldiers and failed politicians, with George Speight at their head, burst into Fiji's Parliament and captured the nation's government led by its first Indo-Fijian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry. As the politicians were seized, hundreds of rebels ransacked Fiji's capital Suva." "This was supposed to be a coup by indigenous Fijians angry at their loss of power. But as the drama unfolded and Speight's rebels continued to hold the politicians hostage, the spectacle turned into a power struggle pitting Fijians against each other. This climaxed in a violent military mutiny." "Speight of Violence offers an insiders' view of what happened. Extracts from a secret diary kept by Deputy Prime Minister Tupeni Baba during his 56 days in captivity tell of Speight's behaviour, the conditions inside Parliament, and the beating of Chaudhry; and Red Cross letters between Tupeni and his partner Unaisi Nabobo-Baba reveal the distress and deprivations suffered by the hostages' families. Veteran Pacific reporter Michael Field, who covered the coup and the treason trials which followed, reports the barricade, court and media dramas and offers a powerful analysis of what it all meant."--BOOK JACKET.

Inside Fiji's 2000 Coup

Speight of Violence

This book provides an 'insiders' view of how an indigenous society perceives itself and the world around it, and is set to raise the level of debate on the development of Fiji as a post colonial nation. The author has employed a decolonized 'vanua research' method to explore how her people, those of Vugalei in southeastern Vitilevu, acquire and transmit knowledge. By documenting the various dimensions of knowledge and their value and applications in Vugalei society, the author enables the indigenous voice to be heard.

Unaisi Nabobo-Baba

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