Tahiti’s President Temaru's message to Hawaiians: "get united"

The Haleakala Times did an interview with Oscar Temaru, independence leader and newly (re-)elected president of Tahiti, during a recent visit to Hawaii, in which he discusses the Hawaiian independence effort, based on his experience in Tahiti.

Temaru doesn’t consider the struggle by Hawaiians for full independence from the U.S, to be an unrealistic dream, given his own historical efforts.

Temaru’s ultimate victory came as a culmination of decades of activism that defined him as one of the most ardent spokespeople for full independence for his country. But he is equally passionate about the need for independence activists to bury their differences and work together in order to achieve that goal. About his meetings with Hawaiian leaders, which included Kekuni Blaisdell and Henry Noa among others, Temaru said, “. . . my message to them is first of all, to get united. They have to get united – there is no other strategy. Don’t stay divided – this is what the colonial powers would wish! . . . they divide to rule. No matter what difference [Hawaiian independence activists] have between themselves, get together.”

[I have also posted the full article in the extended entry.]

UPDATE 6/13: I have a new post about the Honolulu Weekly article on the East-West Center conference that was referred to in the comments.

Haleakala Times
June 8-24, 2005

‘We all belong to the Pacific’
A conversation with Tahiti’s President Oscar Temaru

by Gretchen Currie Kelly

All but unnoticed by the mainstream press in Hawai‘i, Oscar Manutahi Temaru, the dynamic new President of “French” Polynesia, arrived in Honolulu in mid-May to participate in the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders, an annual gathering of Pacific Island leaders who meet to review the work of the Pacific Islands Development Program, a project of UH’s East-West Center.

Although the PIDP conference was the main focus of Temaru’s visit, he was able to utilize some free time while on O‘ahu to engage in discussions with Hawaiian leaders here regarding a subject of intense mutual interest – independence.

In a dramatic and roiling sequence of events that has spanned almost a full year, Temaru’s Tavini Huiraatira – one of the political parties that advocates for independence for the five archipelagos, until recently known collectively as French Polynesia – won a general election and a presidency, lost it to the French-favored government of Gaston Flosse, a 20-year incumbent and personal friend of French President Jacques Chirac, and then regained power in a new election in March of this year.

Temaru was eager to meet with Hawaiian independence leaders to discuss a wide range of topics.

“We all belong to the Pacific,” says Temaru, who sees the potential for Hawaii’s role as a Pacific island nation as a significant one. He expressed interest in ongoing discussions between the two profoundly colonized indigenous nations (Tahiti as a French territory, Hawai‘i as a U.S. territory and then a state) as vital to the emerging call for more indigenous autonomy throughout the Pacific region.

“The French don’t want us to have a link with the other Pacific countries,” maintains Temaru. “They want us to fly from Tahiti to Paris – and that’s all. So we have to work on our relations with our brothers all over the Pacific, including Hawai‘i. They are our closest cousins – brothers and sisters.”

When asked what is now the appropriate name for his country, Temaru replied that, “the French introduced “French” Polynesia . . . that’s not the name of our country. For now, we are promoting the term ‘Tahiti.’ We are awaiting the day when our country will be independent, and we’ll call the country Te Ao Maohi . . . which means ‘the Maohi world.’ So that name – Te Ao Maohi – that will include these five archipelagos.”

The term Maohi is analogous to Hawaii’s Maoli and New Zealand’s (Aotearoa) Maori and refers to the people – the indigenous inhabitants – of this region known as “Pasifika.”

Here, events are taking place that were once considered unthinkable – such as the decisive movements of Tahiti to become free from the domination of France – and reflect a growing political confidence. As nation after nation undergoes populist efforts to wean away from colonial governments and elitist bodies, a pattern of Pasifika people-power is emerging.

After a brief, less than two-hundred-year interruption by the West of the region’s dynamic, advanced and ancient civilization, Pasifika seem ready to take up the steering paddle once again.

Temaru doesn’t consider the struggle by Hawaiians for full independence from the U.S, to be an unrealistic dream, given his own historical efforts.

Temaru’s ultimate victory came as a culmination of decades of activism that defined him as one of the most ardent spokespeople for full independence for his country. But he is equally passionate about the need for independence activists to bury their differences and work together in order to achieve that goal. About his meetings with Hawaiian leaders, which included Kekuni Blaisdell and Henry Noa among others, Temaru said, “. . . my message to them is first of all, to get united. They have to get united – there is no other strategy. Don’t stay divided – this is what the colonial powers would wish! . . . they divide to rule. No matter what difference [Hawaiian independence activists] have between themselves, get together.”

The members of the Union Pour La Democracy (UPLD), the coalition of six political parties and one union that brought about Temaru’s presidency, are not in consensus about the issue of independence and how it might be sustained when achieved, but all were in accord about the need to replace the Flosse government, which after two decades in power had been seen by the majority of citizens to be corrupt and in need of replacement.

“We were not in agreement about some issues,” explains Temaru, “but if we let Gaston Flosse alone, we stay divided and he will win the election . . . So we decided to work together . . . we cannot leave our country for more than twenty-five years under the control of this man. He was just doing whatever he wants.”

Temaru’s party didn’t just roll into power without laying a lot of groundwork – they knew they needed to show the people of Tahiti that they had what it takes to run a government.

“We created our party near 30 years ago, and the aim of the party is to get our authority back from the French colonial power. In 1982, we decided to use the colonial institutions and to participate in the commune (city) elections, so I ran for the position of mayor of Faa’a. It was a strategy to show the people our capacity to manage such a city, and since that time, 1983 until now, I have been the mayor of that city, with all the problems that we had to face. We didn’t get any support from the French for more than 20 years.”

Faa’a, with a population of 30,000, is the largest city in Tahiti, which has a total population of about 250,000; 150,000 on the islands of Tahiti and Moorea, and another 100,000 in the outlying areas of the nation’s five archipelagos. It’s also Temaru’s birthplace.

In Faa’a and in Papeete, the events that preceded Temaru’s victory over a powerful, entrenched, pro-French government – for the second time in less than a year – were explosive, although free of violence. Tens of thousands of citizens marched in protest to the political maneuverings instigated by Flosse and his French supporters to deprive the people of Tahiti of their rightfully elected leader and to intimidate Temaru’s supporters. In one desperate move, Flosse alleged – and a French court agreed – that the blue curtains in one polling district had unduly influenced voters. But the new election that was granted showed even bigger gains by the UPLD.

Temaru has consistently maintained that independence is not going to happen overnight; his government is focusing on creating economic stability and self-reliance in a country which has become heavily dependent on French aid. Temaru is looking fifteen or twenty years into the future for the emergence of a viable independence.

“The issue of the balance of trade is huge,” says Temaru. “He [Flosse] left this country, our country, in that situation, so we have to develop our economy first. Try to find the balance. We just don’t know how long it will take, but it is very important. Our main resources are tourism, aquaculture – black pearl – and agriculture, fishing. We have a huge fishing zone, but our fishing zone has been ravaged by the Japanese, Koreans, and others. They had a special deal with Flosse.”

While in Honolulu, Temaru also met with tourism officials to explore options for his country. “I met the people of the tourist bureau here to study their strategy, and to see how we can use it in our country, but we have to be very careful – we don’t want Tahiti to be like Honolulu. Too much is too much! Our goal in this area is to reach 500,000 tourists a year. That would keep our economy in balance. For the moment, we have 235,000 tourists a year.”

Temaru’s middle name, Manutahi, means sea bird – an animal whose flights of expansion and connection range thousands of miles across the Pacific’s ocean of islands. Temaru, who believes that colonial borders should be no obstacle to indigenous people seeking their own voice, has soared beyond the limitations that once appeared to stand in his people’s way, to emerge as a vibrant leader in this region where self-determination has become a watchword.
What are his goals for his country?

“Whatever we decide,” he says with conviction, “we have to ask ourselves if that will be good for the future generations. What will be the heritage? We want our kids to live in freedom and to be proud of ourselves, our tupuna, our culture.”

Posted: Tue - June 7, 2005 at 03:17 PM

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Tahiti’s President Temaru's message to Hawaiians: "get united"

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