Bougainville!
=============
The war over Bougainville is escalating.  Members of the  Bougainville
Revolutionary Army (BRA) have been waging a war of independence for 7 years.
They want independence from the rest of Papua New Guinea (PNG). At the end
of June, the war took a new turn. PNG troops invaded the neighbouring
Solomons to search out rebel soldiers of the  BRA. They claim the Solomons
government are harbouring revolutionary soldiers. This latest action has
earned condemnation internationally. The New Zealand government has offered
to mediate.

Class Struggle backgrounds the conflict as a problem created by imperialism
which imperialism cannot solve . It is necessasry to fight for an
international workers solution.

 Solomons Proximity
If the Solomons are involved, it puts in question the claim that the
Bougainville conflict is a civil war inside PNG.There is strong sympathy in
the Solomons for the rebels.  The BRA have an office in Honiara,  capital of
the Solomons.  This time the PNG government forces have taken action against
the Solomons. In 1992 they blew up a tank on Shortland Island.
Geographically, Bougainville is part of an archipelago, the northernmost
island in the Solomons chain. The culture, language and physical
characteristics of Bougainvillians are closer to Solomon Islanders than
either Papuans or New Guineans. Suggestions that Bougainville be made part
of the Solomons have re-surfaced during this latest skirmish.
But the Bougainvillians want independence. They do not ask imperialists to
allocate them another `protector'. Their close relationship to the Solomons
is a support for their primary aim -  self determination.

Imperialist Creation
The attachment of Bougainville to PNG was an outcome of European imperialism
in the Pacific. Germany colonised PNG and Bougainville, while Britain
colonised the Solomons. This arbitrary carve up cut through historic
connections between Bougainville and the Solomons in pre-European times.
After the defeat of Germany in World War 1, the League of Nations gave New
Guinea, including Bougainville, to Australia to administer, while Britain
kept the Solomons. (New Zealand got trusteeship of Western Samoa at the same
time.) This has meant that the fate of Bougainville continues to be tied to
the machinations of imperialism, now to mini-Imperialist Australia.
After the next world war, political independence was on the agenda.
Australia granted PNG independence in 1975. But Bougainville demonstrated
its unwillingness to be tied in to PNG, declaring itself independent 15 days
before the mainland.

This act of independence could not be tolerated. Prime Minister of PNG,
Michael Somare, claimed this independence was at risk from the exploitation
of the Australian company that ran the big copper mine in Bougainville,
Conzinc Riotinto Australia (CRA). Bougainvillians submitted to Somare when
he claimed he was rescuing them from CRA.

Profit First; mining giant CRA
Bougainville regretted their compliance as Somare showed himself to be on
the side of multi-national capital, the mining company CRA, and the
Australian government.

The CRA and Australian governments have worked in collusion. Initially CRA
established itself in Bougainville with the support of the Australian
colonial police in a paramilitary operation to subdue locals. The copper
mine at Pangua made an enormous hole in the middle of Bougainville. CRA made
billions from it. They gave generous donations to the Australian Labour
Party election campaigns. Australian PM Goff Whitlam, in granting
independence to PNG, was not about to make life precarious for CRA. His
lackey, Somare, protected them.

Somare's independent PNG was still economically dependent on Australian
capital.. Big Australian companies like Burns Phillip ran the local economy.
The CRA copper mine was a particularly massive earner of foreign exchange
for PNG, an essential part of the new PNG state. Somare misled
Bourgainvillians into believing that he was protecting them from CRA, when
it was CRA he was protecting.

It was in Somare's interests to protect CRA. He and his mates operated as a
comprador elite, working to serve imperialism, ensuring CRA and other
companies ran unrestricted plunder for Australian capital in PNG. In return
Somare's clique made personal fortunes while the local economy flagged. Even
the World Bank noted this `excess spending' into the pockets of the
bureaucratic elite was endemic in a corrupt administration.

Independence from mining
Although  Somare brought in the troops to quell striking miners at Pangua,
jailing 800 workers just before PNG independence, it was troubles at the
mine after independence, that triggered the strongest reaction.

Locals demanded compensation for the damage to the environment that the `big
hole' CRA mine was causing. CRA have expropriated land by force. Waste from
the mine polluted rivers and destroyed fishing. It polluted the land the
locals depend on for their livelihood.

After 24 years of fruitlessly pursuing legal channels for compensation,
locals began a guerilla campaign of sabotage against the mine. PNG reacted
with an armed blitz. Despite official Australian non-involvement, PNG forces
were engineered by Australia. They continue to be backed by Australian
military hardware and personnel. Australian helicopters and mortar shells
have not defeated Bougainvillians.

The mine closed in 1989, followed by a declaration of independence from BRA.
The war continues.

Peasants not workers
Although the Bougainville revolt has erupted over mining, its real purpose
is secession. The Revolutionary Army want to end the exploitation of the
CRA.  They want to reclaim their traditional lifestyle, and end the
connection to PNG.

The BRA are the military wing of the Panguan people, small farmers who are
fighting against the loss or damage of their land by CRA. They support
traditional Melanesian socialism based on land tenure. They do not see the
exploitation of mine workers as their reason for struggle. They reject workin
g class struggle. They do not want to be part of the working class. They are
not revolutionaries against capitalism.

Their support in NZ comes from church groups who recognise the justice of
their fight for human rights.But as their fight involves a challenge to a
multi-national company, they are confronting imperialism, the spread of
capitalism internationally. We know that it is impossible for oppressed nation
s to free themselves from imperialism short of a socialist revolution. That
is why it is important for workers to support their fight. Only the
organised working class can defeat the capitalist system that nurtures
companies like CRA.

We can do this by campaigning in our unions to put bans on CRA and the other
companies ripping off Bougainville. We can mobilise workers aid for their
military struggle, and we can oppose the NZ government deploying its armed
forces in Bourgainville, as back-up forces for the Australian military,
or posing as "peace-brokers.  Only by supporting their right to
self-determination can the Bougainville freedom fighters be won to the
struggle for international working class revolution.

[This article is extracted from the latest edition of the Zine - Cockroach.
Complete copies are available on request from Robert Malecki -
malecki@algonet.se]









