Andre, interesting article about the Cook Islands. My wife and I were there two years ago and witnessed much of what you write about. For such an island paradise, we couldn't fathom that the Cook Islands was actually shrinking in population and tourist development was virtually at a standstill. Your article is not complete, however, since there are other factors stifling the economy in the Cook Islands. We spoke with many people on Rarotonga, Aitutaki and Mangaia about the plight of the Islands and for most the story was the same: adults leave to seek work in New Zealand, leaving the children home to be cared for by grand parents. We heard quite the opposite about the labour shortage you mention, and perhaps this is only the situation on Rarotonga. In Aitutaki and Mangaia, there were no jobs. About a decade ago (if I remember correctly) the Government of New Zealand severely cut the Cook Islands civil service and took away many subsidies that helped support the Cook Island economy. Unemployment soared and wages plummeted, forcing many to seek employment in New Zealand as wage slaves predominantly in the shipping industry, where they're ghettoized and suffer drug and alcohol addiction. Given the choice, the vast majority of Cook Islanders don't want to leave, and some return by extradition, fighting addictions and criminal records.
If Rarotonga is hurting economically, they're nowhere near as badly off as the outlying Islands. Many on Aitutaki claim Rarotongans do their utmost to dissuade tourists from venturing forth. We heard this first-hand from people in Rarotonga when we said we were planning on flying to Aitutaki. We were told it was too commercialized, there's nothing to do, its full of mosquitos and swamps, that it has no "soul." We ventured to Aitutaki anyway and nothing could have been further from the truth. It's a veritable paradise in the South Pacific, with all the scenery of Bora-Bora (according to travel writers) at a fraction of the price. Their soul is evident everywhere, from the children waving as you pass them on a motorcycle, to the local dancers and drum bands that consistently rank highest in Maori and South Pacific dance competitions. The single largest boon to Aitutaki's economy was the filming of Survivor: it provided three months of full time work for a large percentage of Islanders and was bringing thousands of dollars into the stagnant economy; however, its reverberations were being felt hundreds of miles away in Mangaia.
Aitutaki was positively cosmopolitan compared with Mangaia, an Island that has seen it's population drop by half in the previous decade. There are only about 600 souls left on this unspoiled Pacific jem that was once an exporter of pineapples (reportedly the best in all the South Pacific) and coffee. Cheap exports from Asia and Central America eventually squashed these cash crops and now what few people live on the Island exist solely for the meagre tourist dollars. They claim too that Rarotonga does little to market them to the tourists that arrive in the Cook Islands, preferring to keep all the tourists to themselves. While we were on Mangaia, there were rolling blackouts, actually blackouts of 20 hours per day because diesel was in short supply. We found out later that the one tanker used in the Cook Islands was booked to bring Survivor supplies to Aitutaki and thus Mangaians had to go without fuel and fresh supplies for weeks on end, further diminishing their tourist appeal. Mangaians are wonderful people and fiercely loyal to their Island and the land of their forefathers. Tere, our guide on a cave tour in Mangaia, said the Island had been approached numerous times by big resort pitchmen and every time Mangaians turned them away. I asked Tere why, when the population was dwindling so drastically, they could turn down such major investment. He said it would be an insult to their ancestors, that Mangaians were connected to their land and they would never sell even an inch their Island to foreign investors. Mangaia was one of the last Islands in the South Pacific to adopt Christianity as well, the first three or four missionaries were killed and eaten, so perhaps distrust is a cultural trait. I asked what would happen if the population went to zero: he said he hoped it wouldn't, that all they wanted was enough tourism so they could keep their way of life intact, that's all they ask for. Stubborn, yes. Stupid, no. There are probably few places in the world that have the rugged untouched beauty of Mangaia and it's so refreshing to hear they insist on keeping it that way.
Back in Aitutaki, there's another deterrent to big development. Land ownership has been divided and subdivided for centuries into a dizzying web of small plots. Any attempt at purchasing a parcel of land requires hundreds of signatures of sale, by people living on the Cook Islands and those ancestors living abroad. Our lagoon tour guide "Captain Fantastic" said the Survivor crew required acceptance from over 400 land titles in order to use seven islands in Aitutaki's lagoon for two months. Captain Fantastic's oldest son, "Captain Nuisance" told us he hoped Aitutaki wouldn't get any more developed than it already was, that he didn't want Survivor fans flooding into the Island. For them, like Mangaians, it was about achieving a balance between tourist development, the environment and the laid back lifestyle many appreciate. It was what makes the Cook Islands such a beautiful place with such a beautiful spirit.
My fear is that panic over global warming will be the ultimate death knell to Island economies as people decide flying is bad for climate change and choose to take their vacations closer to home. You cannot get to the Cook Islands with flying or braving the open ocean and I'm sure most people choose the former. Cook Islanders need our tourist dollars to a) keep the big developers away and b) to ensure their proud culture can subsist on their Islands. What you get out of the deal is a few weeks in paradise. It's an even trade I would think.
Sincerely,
Paul Panchyshyn
Winnipeg, MB
Znet reader
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Pacific Island Nations: Will The Last Person Out Turn Off The Light? From Rarotonga, Cook Islands
A subject I know a lot about. Here's Zltchek's article and my response. I'm awaiting a follow up, or even just an acknowledgment.
Pacific Island Nations: Will The Last Person Out Turn Off The Light? From Rarotonga, Cook Islands
May, 06 2008By Andre Vltchek
Andre Vltchek's ZSpace Page
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The sea is blue, beaches consist of golden sand, and palm trees are bent almost to the water surface. Underneath hardly detectable waves, marine life is fascinating and diverse. On hotel terraces, the coolness of coconut juice burns the refined throats of jet setters. Traditional huts rub shoulders with some of the most expensive resorts in the world. 500 US dollars would hardly sustain a couple for more than a day here and it is not meant to - this may be one of the most expensive parts of the world.
Welcome to Rarotonga - the main island of the "Cooks", a country covering a huge expanse of the Pacific Ocean. "Raro" may be the main island of the country, but the length of its coastal road is only a bit over 31km.
The Cook Islands, a former New Zealand colony, are the subdued English speaking answer to their Francophone neighbor and one of the most lavishly posh places on earth - French Polynesia.
With all that beauty, one would expect an enormous influx of foreigners, uncontrollable population growth, a local demographic explosion. But the opposite is true: the Cook Islands are losing people at an alarming rate. And despite the arrival of desperate migrant workers from Fiji, the Philippines and elsewhere (almost 300 were given permanent residency status this year), the total number of people living here is declining rapidly.
Between 2005 and 2007, according to statistics of the Ministry of Education of the Cook Islands), student enrollment in elementary schools decreased by 6%; by 20% since 1996; all as a result of migration.
There are now 60 thousand Cook Islanders living in New Zealand alone. The total population of the Cook Islands is only around 18,700, of which between 10 and 12 thousand live in Rarotonga.
"I can definitely understand why people are leaving", explained a painter Ani Exham-Dun who owns the small gallery Art@Air Raro - a Cook Islander who was born in New Zealand. "There is nothing they can do here. Another day a girl was caught painting graffiti on the wall in the capital. As a punishment, she was told to scrub graffiti off the wall. That's what the government did, instead of thinking how to make the life of local young people at least a little bit more exciting."
Boredom is, of course, only one problem the Cook Islands have to struggle against. With luxury tourism becoming the main money earner, prices have skyrocketed. A small bag of cassava chips at the gas station now costs almost 4 NZ dollars (3.50 US dollars) while a milkshake sells for 7 or even 10. Food, like in the rest of the Pacific, is mostly imported from New Zealand or Australia and is exorbitantly expensive. But the local minimum wages are stagnating at 5 NZ dollars an hour.
"The Cook Islands are one of the best performing countries in the Pacific", explains Elisabeth Wright-Koteka, Director of Central Policy and Planning Office of the Prime Minister. "Our people want the same standards as New Zealand. But we do not have enough resources to satisfy them. Independence was both a blessing and curse. Blessing: because we have our own country and we have freedom of movement, which is guaranteed by the fact that all of us are in possession of New Zealand passports. If we wouldn't have it, we would be just another Tarawa (in Kiribati) - overpopulated, stuffed and desperate. Curse: because now we don't have enough people and we have to import workers from the Philippines and Fiji and even that is not enough to fill the gap."
The Cook Islands are not the only country that is exporting people to the richer nations in the area.
There are more Samoans and Tongans living abroad than at home. These two countries are sending young people to New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere, so they can support families at home. More than half the GDP of Tonga is covered by remittances and foreign aid, Samoa not being far behind. According to "Statistics New Zealand", in 2006, Samoans were the largest Pacific ethnic group in New Zealand, making up 131,100 or 49 percent of New Zealand Pacific population (265,974)." The entire population of (independent) Samoa is around 180,000. Over 50,000 Tongans live in New Zealand, further tens of thousands in Australia and the United States. 112,000 live in Tonga itself.
Needy people from some of the poorest nations in the Pacific - like PNG (Papua New Guinea) and Solomon Islands - find it difficult to obtain visas. Only the relatively well off and educated citizens can secure their trips to Australia, New Zealand or the United States, leading to brain drain.
Three Micronesian countries - Palau, RMI (Republic of Marshall Islands) and FSM (Federated States of Micronesia) - have a "Compact" agreement with the United States: a deal that brings foreign aid to government coffers, while allowing American military bases to be built on the territory of these nations. Citizens of Palau, FSM and RMI can travel to the US and settle there. They can also send their children to study. Many educated ones never come back. Some of the families from Kwajalein Atoll (where Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS) is located) that receive rent money from the US government never spend it in the Marshall Islands.
The 2006 ADB Study on Remittances in the Pacific states, "Migration is very significant in Pacific island states, especially in Polynesia, primarily as a response to uneven economic and social development. In many Pacific island countries, the remittances that flow from internal and international migrants to family members at home have been of growing importance, again especially in Polynesia where they often represent the single most prominent component of national income. They reach levels rarely found elsewhere in the world."
But in the Cook Islands, claims Elisabeth Wright-Koteka, migration is not necessarily about remittances. "It is different here than in many other island nations. It is not about escape from the culture like in Samoa or Tonga. It is not necessarily about money. We have a culture of migration. We are sailors. Our whole history is about movement. We used to be a colony of New Zealand and we used to send migrant seasonal workers. Migration became part of our culture, of growing up. Young people always like to go away and experience how it is to live in big cities, in "big smoke". Some come back. The biggest cohort of returnees is that of the people in their 40's who managed to save money abroad and want to start their new life back in Cook Islands".
The Secretary of Education of the Cook Islands, John Herrmann would probably agree, but due to migration he is facing urgent problems: "I am struggling to find secondary school teachers", he explained at the meeting with UNESCO representatives. "Many of our teachers have left the country and we are increasingly relying on overseas teachers, particularly on those from New Zealand."
In fact, almost the entire country is now relying on foreign workers and professionals.
A skilled masseuse in one of the luxury resorts on Muri Beach turns out to be a university-educated economist from Suva, capital of Fiji. Although she doesn't want to be identified, she is ready to assess the situation on conditions of anonymity: "There are more than 600 Fijians working in the Cook Islands. About one half are employed legally, the other half overstays. After the last military coup in Fiji, the situation is extremely bad. Families are breaking apart because they have no means to survive on meager salaries. We are forced to leave. But unlike the Cook Islanders, we have only our own (Fijian) passports and now we need visas to go almost anywhere. The Cook Islands are one of the best countries for us to work. There is almost no racism here, unlike elsewhere in Polynesia. People are very welcoming and compassionate. Wages are low for them, but excellent for us. Many Cook Islanders are leaving for Australia or New Zealand and there is always a demand for foreign workers. We are simply filling the gap."
It is obvious that the problem is becoming increasingly severe. The Pacific is losing people. Environmental refugees are pouring out of Tuvalu, which may be the first country to become uninhabitable due to global warming and the rising sea level. Kiribati is facing the same problem, plus overpopulation and social malaise. And the same can be said about the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) with some of the worst ecological and demographic problems anywhere in the world (mainly as a result of the US nuclear experiments and present day missile range on Kwajalein Atoll).
Social destitution and racial intolerance in the larger Melanesian countries (PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji) are sending tens of thousands of people to distant shores, in search of better living or simply survival.
And Polynesia, that eternal paradise once immortalized on the canvases of Gauguin, is not doing much better than the rest of the Pacific. Riots in Tonga, child abuse and feudal oppression in Samoa.
"I left the Cook Islands and went to New Zealand", recalls Elisabeth Wright-Koteka. "But I decided to return. I simply like to be here. I like my job, my house. I would like my kids to grow up here. To be a Cook Islander... What is it, really? Maybe a sense of belonging, something we carry inside. It is abstract. We are like Parrotfish from a long reef - a fish that travels the world but always finds its way home. But coming back doesn't mean that we stay in one place forever. Maybe our lot is exactly that: a movement between the wide world and the reef."
As she speaks, a light breeze begins to penetrate the tropical heat. It is suddenly easier to breath. But the water of the Pacific is slowly rising while there are more and more people boarding planes with a one-way ticket that will take them far away from the palm trees, transparent water and quiet nights of unspeakable Polynesian beauty.
ANDRE VLTCHEK - novelist, journalist, filmmaker and playwright. Co-founder of Mainstay Press publishing house for political fiction and LibLit. His latest novel - Point of No Return - tells the story of war correspondent covering New World Order conflicts. He lives in Asia and South Pacific and can be reached at andre-wcn@usa.net
From: Z Space - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
URL: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3482
Pacific Island Nations: Will The Last Person Out Turn Off The Light? From Rarotonga, Cook Islands
May, 06 2008By Andre Vltchek
Andre Vltchek's ZSpace Page
Join ZSpace
The sea is blue, beaches consist of golden sand, and palm trees are bent almost to the water surface. Underneath hardly detectable waves, marine life is fascinating and diverse. On hotel terraces, the coolness of coconut juice burns the refined throats of jet setters. Traditional huts rub shoulders with some of the most expensive resorts in the world. 500 US dollars would hardly sustain a couple for more than a day here and it is not meant to - this may be one of the most expensive parts of the world.
Welcome to Rarotonga - the main island of the "Cooks", a country covering a huge expanse of the Pacific Ocean. "Raro" may be the main island of the country, but the length of its coastal road is only a bit over 31km.
The Cook Islands, a former New Zealand colony, are the subdued English speaking answer to their Francophone neighbor and one of the most lavishly posh places on earth - French Polynesia.
With all that beauty, one would expect an enormous influx of foreigners, uncontrollable population growth, a local demographic explosion. But the opposite is true: the Cook Islands are losing people at an alarming rate. And despite the arrival of desperate migrant workers from Fiji, the Philippines and elsewhere (almost 300 were given permanent residency status this year), the total number of people living here is declining rapidly.
Between 2005 and 2007, according to statistics of the Ministry of Education of the Cook Islands), student enrollment in elementary schools decreased by 6%; by 20% since 1996; all as a result of migration.
There are now 60 thousand Cook Islanders living in New Zealand alone. The total population of the Cook Islands is only around 18,700, of which between 10 and 12 thousand live in Rarotonga.
"I can definitely understand why people are leaving", explained a painter Ani Exham-Dun who owns the small gallery Art@Air Raro - a Cook Islander who was born in New Zealand. "There is nothing they can do here. Another day a girl was caught painting graffiti on the wall in the capital. As a punishment, she was told to scrub graffiti off the wall. That's what the government did, instead of thinking how to make the life of local young people at least a little bit more exciting."
Boredom is, of course, only one problem the Cook Islands have to struggle against. With luxury tourism becoming the main money earner, prices have skyrocketed. A small bag of cassava chips at the gas station now costs almost 4 NZ dollars (3.50 US dollars) while a milkshake sells for 7 or even 10. Food, like in the rest of the Pacific, is mostly imported from New Zealand or Australia and is exorbitantly expensive. But the local minimum wages are stagnating at 5 NZ dollars an hour.
"The Cook Islands are one of the best performing countries in the Pacific", explains Elisabeth Wright-Koteka, Director of Central Policy and Planning Office of the Prime Minister. "Our people want the same standards as New Zealand. But we do not have enough resources to satisfy them. Independence was both a blessing and curse. Blessing: because we have our own country and we have freedom of movement, which is guaranteed by the fact that all of us are in possession of New Zealand passports. If we wouldn't have it, we would be just another Tarawa (in Kiribati) - overpopulated, stuffed and desperate. Curse: because now we don't have enough people and we have to import workers from the Philippines and Fiji and even that is not enough to fill the gap."
The Cook Islands are not the only country that is exporting people to the richer nations in the area.
There are more Samoans and Tongans living abroad than at home. These two countries are sending young people to New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere, so they can support families at home. More than half the GDP of Tonga is covered by remittances and foreign aid, Samoa not being far behind. According to "Statistics New Zealand", in 2006, Samoans were the largest Pacific ethnic group in New Zealand, making up 131,100 or 49 percent of New Zealand Pacific population (265,974)." The entire population of (independent) Samoa is around 180,000. Over 50,000 Tongans live in New Zealand, further tens of thousands in Australia and the United States. 112,000 live in Tonga itself.
Needy people from some of the poorest nations in the Pacific - like PNG (Papua New Guinea) and Solomon Islands - find it difficult to obtain visas. Only the relatively well off and educated citizens can secure their trips to Australia, New Zealand or the United States, leading to brain drain.
Three Micronesian countries - Palau, RMI (Republic of Marshall Islands) and FSM (Federated States of Micronesia) - have a "Compact" agreement with the United States: a deal that brings foreign aid to government coffers, while allowing American military bases to be built on the territory of these nations. Citizens of Palau, FSM and RMI can travel to the US and settle there. They can also send their children to study. Many educated ones never come back. Some of the families from Kwajalein Atoll (where Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS) is located) that receive rent money from the US government never spend it in the Marshall Islands.
The 2006 ADB Study on Remittances in the Pacific states, "Migration is very significant in Pacific island states, especially in Polynesia, primarily as a response to uneven economic and social development. In many Pacific island countries, the remittances that flow from internal and international migrants to family members at home have been of growing importance, again especially in Polynesia where they often represent the single most prominent component of national income. They reach levels rarely found elsewhere in the world."
But in the Cook Islands, claims Elisabeth Wright-Koteka, migration is not necessarily about remittances. "It is different here than in many other island nations. It is not about escape from the culture like in Samoa or Tonga. It is not necessarily about money. We have a culture of migration. We are sailors. Our whole history is about movement. We used to be a colony of New Zealand and we used to send migrant seasonal workers. Migration became part of our culture, of growing up. Young people always like to go away and experience how it is to live in big cities, in "big smoke". Some come back. The biggest cohort of returnees is that of the people in their 40's who managed to save money abroad and want to start their new life back in Cook Islands".
The Secretary of Education of the Cook Islands, John Herrmann would probably agree, but due to migration he is facing urgent problems: "I am struggling to find secondary school teachers", he explained at the meeting with UNESCO representatives. "Many of our teachers have left the country and we are increasingly relying on overseas teachers, particularly on those from New Zealand."
In fact, almost the entire country is now relying on foreign workers and professionals.
A skilled masseuse in one of the luxury resorts on Muri Beach turns out to be a university-educated economist from Suva, capital of Fiji. Although she doesn't want to be identified, she is ready to assess the situation on conditions of anonymity: "There are more than 600 Fijians working in the Cook Islands. About one half are employed legally, the other half overstays. After the last military coup in Fiji, the situation is extremely bad. Families are breaking apart because they have no means to survive on meager salaries. We are forced to leave. But unlike the Cook Islanders, we have only our own (Fijian) passports and now we need visas to go almost anywhere. The Cook Islands are one of the best countries for us to work. There is almost no racism here, unlike elsewhere in Polynesia. People are very welcoming and compassionate. Wages are low for them, but excellent for us. Many Cook Islanders are leaving for Australia or New Zealand and there is always a demand for foreign workers. We are simply filling the gap."
It is obvious that the problem is becoming increasingly severe. The Pacific is losing people. Environmental refugees are pouring out of Tuvalu, which may be the first country to become uninhabitable due to global warming and the rising sea level. Kiribati is facing the same problem, plus overpopulation and social malaise. And the same can be said about the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) with some of the worst ecological and demographic problems anywhere in the world (mainly as a result of the US nuclear experiments and present day missile range on Kwajalein Atoll).
Social destitution and racial intolerance in the larger Melanesian countries (PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji) are sending tens of thousands of people to distant shores, in search of better living or simply survival.
And Polynesia, that eternal paradise once immortalized on the canvases of Gauguin, is not doing much better than the rest of the Pacific. Riots in Tonga, child abuse and feudal oppression in Samoa.
"I left the Cook Islands and went to New Zealand", recalls Elisabeth Wright-Koteka. "But I decided to return. I simply like to be here. I like my job, my house. I would like my kids to grow up here. To be a Cook Islander... What is it, really? Maybe a sense of belonging, something we carry inside. It is abstract. We are like Parrotfish from a long reef - a fish that travels the world but always finds its way home. But coming back doesn't mean that we stay in one place forever. Maybe our lot is exactly that: a movement between the wide world and the reef."
As she speaks, a light breeze begins to penetrate the tropical heat. It is suddenly easier to breath. But the water of the Pacific is slowly rising while there are more and more people boarding planes with a one-way ticket that will take them far away from the palm trees, transparent water and quiet nights of unspeakable Polynesian beauty.
ANDRE VLTCHEK - novelist, journalist, filmmaker and playwright. Co-founder of Mainstay Press publishing house for political fiction and LibLit. His latest novel - Point of No Return - tells the story of war correspondent covering New World Order conflicts. He lives in Asia and South Pacific and can be reached at andre-wcn@usa.net
From: Z Space - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
URL: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3482
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