[Marxism] The new Pacific wall

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

The New Pacific Wall: The U.S., Australia, and 
New Zealand Isolate and Divide Small Insular Nations
By Andre Vltchek

The big three, the U.S., Australia, and New 
Zealand, have divided the Pacific island 
territories. New Zealand now controls Polynesia, 
Australia is ?in charge of? Melanesia (including 
the plundering of natural resources by its 
multinationals in Papua New Guinea), and the U.S. 
has a firm grip on Micronesia. Andre Vltchek 
considers the consequences for the people of the island nations.

It is late at night and the coastal road between 
Apia (the capital of Samoa) and Faleolo 
International Airport is busy with traffic. 
Tonight is a big night: a Boeing 767 will arrive 
from Los Angeles and make a brief stop in Samoa 
before continuing to the Kingdom of Tonga and 
Auckland. This weekly flight is a lifeline for 
this tiny nation of 180,000 people, separated 
from the rest of the world by thousands of miles of ocean.

The closest supermarket is a four-hour flight 
away in New Zealand. So are the nearest 
bookstores and well-equipped medical facilities. 
Air New Zealand, which flies between Auckland and 
Samoa four times a week and between Samoa and Los 
Angeles once a week, is the lifeline of this 
nation, which is fully dependent on the rest of 
the world for foreign aid, job opportunities, 
education, medical care, and essential know-how. 
It takes Samoan immigrants to New Zealand, 
reunites families, brings gravely ill people to 
the hospital, shuttles government officials to 
foreign destinations, and brings food, medicine and perishable goods.

With foreign aid and remittances amounting to 
more than 50 percent of Samoan GDP, independence 
is a lofty and sweet word, but little more. In 
fact, most Pacific Island countries (Polynesia, 
Melanesia, and Micronesia) opted for full or 
limited independence at some point after World 
War II. Colonialism here, mainly by France, the 
UK, the U.S., Germany, Japan, Australia, and New 
Zealand, had not been as brutal as in most other 
parts of the world, but it left a legacy of dependency and confusion.

Some countries are hopelessly bankrupt (like 
Nauru); others are literally sinking as a result 
of global climate change. There is almost no 
regional unity and no attempt at integration. 
Financial dependency means that three major 
players?the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand?can 
exercise full control over the foreign policy and 
trade of their tiny and vulnerable client-states.

full: http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2240


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