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BANABANS Their
story?
The Banabans are an Oceanic
people from a South Pacific island called Banaba or Ocean island.
In 1900 Banaba was discovered to be made of pure phosphate. This
fateful discovery would see the beginning of eighty years of
phosphate mining by the governments of United Kingdom, Australia and
New Zealand and the virtual destruction of the Banaban’s homeland.
During World War II the Japanese Imperial forces
invaded Banaba with the aim of taking over the mining operation.
They murdered one-fifth of the Banaban population and removed the
rest to other Pacific islands, where they were forced into labour.
After the War was over the
surviving Banabans were gathered together by the British Colonial
government and told they could not return to their homeland. The
Colonial government used Japan’s invasion as an excuse to dispose of
the Banabans who stood in the way of their plans to continue the
phosphate mining of their homeland.
The Banabans were then relocated to Rabi island over
2,000 miles away in the Fiji Group arriving without supplies and
support on 15 December 1945. Any future plans to visit or see their
homeland could only be done after obtaining approval from the
British Colonial government.
In 1965 Banabans began legal proceedings against the
Colonial government in the British High Court. This expensive and
long fought legal battle would end up
becoming one of the longest civil cases in history resulting in the
judge stating that even though they had been wronged, he was
powerless to award damages against the British government. It was
not until 1981 that the Banabans received any type of compensation,
however menial.
At the same time as their court proceedings, the
Banabans further extended their fight for justice petitioning the
British government to grant independence. Once again the British
government washed their hands of the Banaban issue and left it up to
the Governor of the Colony and the newly formed Council of
Ministers. Again their hopes were dashed as the Council opposed
independence for Banaba now or in the future.
By November 1979 the last shipment of phosphate
left Banaba’s shores and the Banabans found their homeland under the
control of the newly formed Republic of Kiribati, former Gilbert
Islands, a nation remote in custom and location. The majority of the
Banaban community were left forgotten and struggling for survival
far away from their homeland in Fiji on Rabi Island, where they
still remain today.
Banaba will always remain their homeland.
BANABANS Life today?/font>
The Banaban people like their homeland has now been
left forgotten, while the people still suffer greatly from one of
the world’s greatest environment and human rights injustices. The
phosphate rich deposits Banaba and the bones of their ancestors are
now dust scattered across the farms of Australia, New Zealand and
Great Britain.
Over the 80 years of mining Banaba, the governments
of United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries
reaped billions from the farming benefits and the sale of the
phosphate soil taken from their homeland, yet the Banabans have been
left with nothing.
On Rabi and Banaba islands today with no assistance
or proper infrastructure for future development, daily Banaban life
is a constant struggle for survival, where the basic human rights of
health care and education are considered luxuries. The abandonment
of both remote communities only has added further to the forlorn
isolation and depression of the Banaban community.
The Banabans only real legacy from the destruction
of their homeland by phosphate mining are the obstacles left by the
governments involved that would further ensure the repression and
inhibit any further action to seek justice.
Banabans find themselves a forgotten minority
community submerged in two Third World developing countries.
Today the Banabans face one of their greatest
challenges—the very survival of the Banaban people. For them the
struggle for justice is far from over.
The BANABANS...
And why the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and
Japan prefer the Banaban Story—remain ‘Forgotten?
Originally in 1900 the mining of
Banaba was carried out by a privately owned British company. But in
1920 this company was brought out by the British, Australian and New
Zealand governments who joined forces and formed a consortium known
as the British Phosphate Commission. These three governments mined
Banaba relentlessly until 1981 and made no attempt—in spite of
earlier promises—to rehabilitate the devastated island or to make it
a liveable Banaban homeland once more.
In today’s society the story of the Banabans and the
maltreatment they received at the hands of four powerful nations is
hard to believe.
Today we have the benefit of hindsight and modern
technology allowing global networking and communications at a level
never before imagined. Today also makes each and every one of us
aware of just how small Planet Earth is and of our moral
responsibilities to our global neighbours. In our era of increasing
and complex globalisation, it is easy for the international
community and, especially, the countries responsible for this
humanitarian and environmental catastrophe to lose sight of their
moral responsibilities to assist the Banabans to overcome the
obstacles remaining as an unjust legacy of their now abandoned and
once highly profitable mining exploitation of the Banaban homeland.
These are the facts these governments do not want you
to hear, for them the Banabans should remain?
The Forgotten People of the Pacific |
