The Elegance of Consistency

Colour-Blind State

New Zealand's policies towards Fiji have been cringe-inducing.  Not a moment of history which makes us proud.  Here we are, engaging in all types of positive international relations with China and  India and Russia--and a host of countries which are run by authoritarian, anti-democractic regimes. But Fiji--it is the pariah state--at least to New Zealand and Australia.

Why the double standard, we may well ask?  Well, Fiji has been a "client state" of  New Zealand.  Its constitution was co-written by a Very Prominent New Zealander, one Sir Paul Reeves.  That Constitution, now suspended by an army strongman, achieved pretty much what Maori want to achieve in New Zealand--greater civil and political rights for the indigenous people.  This meant that the Constitution discriminated in favour of Fijians, and made Indians (which make up a large component of the population) second class citizens.  The New Zealand chattering classes and Commentariat regarded this arrangement as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.