Christian Nationalism in the South Pacific - the Fijian nativist movement

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I first became aware of the situation in Fiji in the early 2000s when "Yggdrasil" mentioned it, and it is indeed something that WNs can understand and sympathize with; namely, the native Fijians were largely swamped in the early 20th century by the East Indian indentured workers imported by their British colonial masters. For some time, the Melanesian-Polynesian indigenous people of Fiji became a minority in their own country this way.

But the Fijians refused to just roll over and die, handing over their country to the Indians. They became socially and politically organized, and from that point on, the serious politics in this small South Pacific country mostly revolved around the ethnic conflict between the native Fijians and Indian immigrants. The Fijians took their resistance against the "Great Replacement" so seriously that they even launched a few military coups:

Fiji - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The British granted Fiji independence in 1970. Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987[80] precipitated by a growing perception that the government was dominated by the Indo-Fijian (Indian) community. The second 1987 coup saw both the Fijian monarchy and the Governor General replaced by a non-executive president and the name of the country changed from Dominion of Fiji to Republic of Fiji and then in 1997 to Republic of the Fiji Islands. The two coups and the accompanying civil unrest contributed to heavy Indo-Fijian emigration; the resulting population loss resulted in economic difficulties and ensured that Melanesians became the majority.[81]

Indeed, the Indo-Fijians have now largely gotten the message that the Fijians intend to stay masters in their country, and largely emigrated (unfortunately they headed mostly to White countries like Australia and the US) - thus the native Fijians are now again a clear majority on their own land, making this one of the most successful examples of nativist resistance against mass immigration in recent history:

Demographics of Fiji - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In 1977 The Economist reported that ethnic Fijians were a minority of 255,000, in a total population of 600,000 of which fully half were of Indian descent, with the remainder Chinese, European and of mixed ancestry.[2]

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According to the 2007 Census of Fiji, the number of Fijians increased from 393,575 to 475,739, while the number of Indians decreased from 338,818 to 313,798.[3] According to government statistics, the latest estimated population of Indigenous Fijians is counted at 511,838, while there are 290,129 Indians and 56,071 Others (January 2012).[4]

 

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And Christianity has been definitely been part of this Fijian national awakening; besides all other sources of piety, it has become a tribal marker of the natives against the Hindu and Muslim Indian population:

Religion in Fiji - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Religion, ethnicity, and politics are closely linked in Fiji; government officials have criticized religious groups for their support of opposition parties. In 2017, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces issued a press release stating that Methodist leaders were advocating for the country to become "a Christian nation" and that this could cause societal unrest. Following the press release, Methodist leaders distanced themselves from their previous statements, and other religious leaders also affirmed the nonpolitical nature of their religious movements.[13]

Many Hindus of Fiji emigrated to other countries.[14] Several Hindu temples were burned, believed to be arson attacks, for example, the Kendrit Shiri Sanatan Dharam Shiv Temple.[15][16] While Hindus face less persecution than before, a Hindu temple was vandalized in 2017. Later that year, following an online post by an Indian Muslim cleric visiting the country, a significant amount of anti-Muslim discourse was recorded on Fijian Facebook pages, causing controversy.[12]

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The Military of Fiji has always had a close relationship to Fiji's churches, particularly the Methodist Church, to which some two-thirds of Indigenous Fijians belong.

Military–church relations in Fiji - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And the Fijian military has been quite busy in the last few decades:

Fiji coup - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There is even a separate Wikipedia page for this particular topic - imagine if American churches were promoting amnesty for the January 6 rioters:

Church involvement in Fiji coups - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Fiji's four coups in the past two decades have had church involvement. At the center of each coup lies the tension between the ethnic Fijians and Indian Fijians.[1] Religion plays a significant role, as the majority of ethnic Fijians belong to the Methodist church while the majority of Indian Fijians are Hindu.

In each of the four coups, one of the sides sought to reduce rights for Indian Fijians, whereas the other side sought to grant equality to Indian Fijians.[2] The coup by Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka in 1987 led to a constitution that ensured Indian Fijians could only have less than half of all seats in parliament and banned Indians from the post of prime minister. The coup of 2000, by George Speight, removed the elected Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudry, who is a Hindu of Indian origin.[3]

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In a letter of support from the head of the Methodist Church, Reverend Tomasi Kanilagi, to George Speight, the leader of the May 19, 2000, armed takeover of Parliament, Reverend Kanilagi publicly expressed his intention to use the Methodist Church as a forum under which to unite all ethnic Fijian political parties.[9] The Methodist church also supported forgiveness to those who plotted the coup in form of so-called "Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill".

 

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And the struggle continues: the grand old man of Fijian nationalism, who led the 1987 military coup, recently founded a new populist party that right away shot to the number one spot in the country, taking support from centrist and center-right parties:

People's Alliance (Fiji) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sitiveni Rabuka - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Rabuka was seen as a hero by the Indigenous members when he overthrew Fiji's first Indian government to install an indigenous Fijian ruling class.[10] During the time of the coup, Rabuka was sometimes referred to in the press as "Colonel Steve Rambo."

Rabuka, Biman Weak Leaders For Not Condemning Liliana Warid’s Opinion Piece: A-G

The People’s Alliance Party and Mrs Warid have chosen not to comment on the issue when approached by the media. In a press conference yesterday, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum called out the leaders of NFP and PA for not condemning the ‘hypocritical statement’ made by Ms Warid....

fijisun.com.fj

Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum yesterday called out the leader of The People’s Alliance (PA) Sitiveni Rabuka and National Federation Party (NFP) Biman Prasad.

The A-G lashed out at them for not condemning the opinion piece that described Fijians of Indian descent as ‘visitors’.

The opinion piece that was written by PA provisional candidate Liliana Warid titled “IT’S OK TO BE I-TAUKEI”, told readers to hypothetically imagine visitors who have travelled some distance and welcomed to people’s homes.

That name refers to this concept:

Fijians - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In August 2008, shortly before the proposed People's Charter for Change, Peace and Progress was due to be released to the public, it was announced that it recommended a change in the name of Fiji's citizens. If the proposal were adopted, all citizens of Fiji, whatever their ethnicity, would be called "Fijians". At present, the word "Fijian" does not denote a nationality, and refers exclusively to indigenous Fijians. Citizens of Fiji are referred to as "Fiji Islanders". The proposal would change the English name of indigenous Fijians from "Fijians" to itaukei. The indigenous word for Fijian is "Kaiviti"[16] Deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase reacted by stating that the name "Fijian" belonged exclusively to indigenous Fijians, and that he would oppose any change in legislation enabling non-indigenous Fijians to use it.

 

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These kind of ideas have been heard on the hardcore fringes of Fijian nativism - and the guys who made these suggestions were members of the "Social Democratic Liberal Party." Which shows that labels may not mean much by themselves...

But in any case, truly consistent anti-Liberalism would indeed require the repudiation of Lockean secularism, or the system of religious egalitarianism:

Fiji to stay secular state: Bainimarama

www.fbcnews.com.fj

Fiji to stay secular state: Bainimarama

Akosita Talei

OCTOBER 20, 2018 12:58 AM

FijiFirst leader Voreqe Bainimarama has called out politicians who are campaigning to return Fiji to a Christian state from our present secular state position.

Bainimarama says he received a video this week showing some members of SODELPA campaigning to get rid of our secular state that is enshrined in our constitution.

Speaking to hundreds of Sakoca residents in Nasinu at a FijiFirst campaign rally, Bainimarama said the reason his government decided to declare Fiji a secular state in the 2013 constitution was simply to ensure that faith of all Fijians are protected and respected.

“You know what the secular state does for us? It gives you the freedom to follow any religion you want. Me as a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, you do whatever you want. The Christian state will be tied to the Christian but we don’t know which Christian denomination will take over whether it’s going to be the Methodist, whether it’s going to be the catholic, you’ve heard what the catholic bishop is saying he’s all wrong so you might end up listening to somebody giving you wrong statistics all the time.”

Even NFP Leader Biman Prasad and FLP parliamentary leader Aman Ravindra Singh – both campaigning strongly against the continuation of a FijiFirst government – agree with Bainimarama’s stance on the issue of religious freedom for all Fijians.

Biman Prasad: We agree with that. Fiji should remain a secular state at all times because we respect all the different ethnic groups, their culture, their tradition and religion as Fiji is a multiracial and multi-cultural country and its right to have the constitution provide for that fundamental freedom.

Aman Ravindra-Singh: We are a multiracial country, we have many people from different ethnicities and also from different religions and different backgrounds and the biggest thing that we all need to do is to respect one another to live peacefully and coexist peacefully.

Bainimarama says SODELPA’s ongoing push for a Christian state shows Rabuka’s party wants to take Fiji to the old days when religious freedom was not guaranteed.

”And if you hear the debate we have in parliament you will know that these are the people that started the 87 and 2000 coup, the people that took you apart especially the IndoFijian people and I feel for you and that’s why I did what I did in 2006 to help protect you people and call you all Fijians.”

Several attempts to get comments from SODELPA were unsuccessful.

The 2013 Constitution highlights religious liberty as recognized in the Bill of Rights and is a founding principle of our State.