Valley Group to Join Protest of Fiji Ethnic Strife

Showing community solidarity, two ethnically diverse groups will join to protest the ongoing ethnic strife in Fiji between majority indigenous Fijians and minority ethnic Indians.

The Fiji Assn. of Southern California, a social and cultural group based in Van Nuys, and the Fiji-Indian Assn., a newly formed group from Santa Monica, plan to march Saturday afternoon through downtown Culver City to draw attention to the plight of the democratically elected leaders being held hostage by rebel forces.

Organizers said they plan to march along Culver Boulevard between the post office and Veterans Memorial Hall beginning at 2 p.m.

At the conclusion of the march, the group intends to give a petition with 400 signatures to U.S. Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles), whose district includes many Fijian Indian residents. The petition asks the U.S. government to issue visas to Fijians being prevented from leaving their homes by supporters of rebel leader George Speight, who is holding much of the former government captive.

“Our appeal to our U.S. government is to grant visas to those who have suffered hardship and have been threatened by these rebels,” said Augustine Raju, a title insurance executive from Van Nuys and president of the Fiji Assn. of Southern California. The association claims 600 members from Los Angeles.

Short of traveling to their homeland, Raju said Fijian Americans intend to press federal officials to withhold foreign aid and impose economic sanctions against the island nation that is heavily dependent on tourism.

With an estimated 70,000 Fijian Americans living in California--many making their homes in Los Angeles and Orange counties as well as Bay Area communities--Raju said he expects their voices to be heard.

“We condemn the actions of George Speight and his associates and all those who have helped hijack a democratically elected Parliament,” Raju said. “The insanity of a few persists while the people who helped develop the country economically live in fear of their lives behind closed doors.”

Fijians of Indian ancestry have been beaten, had their cars stoned and have been forced to stay inside their homes since Speight and six gunmen stormed Parliament on May 19.

In the weeks since the takeover, Speight has forced the removal of Fiji’s president and prime minister, scrapped the constitution and won a promise of amnesty for himself and his supporters from the nation’s new military ruler, Commodore Frank Bainimarama.

Attempts to free hostages held inside Parliament--including the nation’s first democratically elected Indian premier, Mahendra Chaudhry--have so far been unsuccessful.

Speight says he represents the majority indigenous Fijians against the minority ethnic Indians, who control much of the commerce in the South Pacific nation 3,000 miles southwest of Hawaii.

“Many would have thought that racism was behind them,” Raju said, “and the country was ready to face the challenges of the new millennium in a democratic environment.”