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'What I have sought to do in my work is to give voiceless people a voice, place and purpose, the sense of dignity and inner strength that comes from never giving up no matter how difficult the circumstances. History belongs as much to the vanquished as to the victors.' — Brij V. Lal. 'Professor Brij Lal is the finest historian of the Indian indentured experience and the Indian diaspora. His Girmitiyas is a classic.' — Emeritus Professor Clem Seecharan, London Metropolitan University. 'Brij Lal is a highly respected, versatile and imaginative scholar who has made a lasting contribution to the historiography of the Pacific.' — Dr Rod Alley, Victoria University of Wellington. 'Professor Brij Lal's life is a remarkable journey of a scholar and an intellectual whose writings are truly transformative; a man of moral clarity and courage who also has deep pain at being cut off from his homeland.' — Professor Michael Wesley, Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. 'Brij Lal is a singular scholar, whose work has spanned disciplines – from history, political commentary, encyclopedia, biography and "faction". Brij is without doubt the most eminent scholar in the humanities and social sciences Fiji has ever produced. He also remains one of the most significant public intellectuals of his country, despite having been banned from entering it in 2009.' — Emeritus Professor Clive Moore, University of Queensland. 'Brij Lal is an accomplished and versatile historian and true son of Fiji. Above all, there is affirmation here of the enduring worth of good literature and the value of good education that Lal received and wants others to experience. The world needs more Lals who speak out against ruling opinions and dare to stray into the pastures of independent thought.' — Professor Doug Munro, historian and biographer, Wellington, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland

"It is a milestone in subaltern studies, a biographical journey penned by a living relic of the indentured experience and a scholar whose thoroughly interdisciplinary approach is a good example for the anthropologist, the sociologist or the economist who wish to see the proper integration of their disciplines in a major historical work."Brinsley Samaroo, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad"Professor Lal has made a most distinguished contribution to scholarship on Indian indentured labour in Fiji. His research is characterised by the use of new methodological approaches to the study of history, and by a comprehensive consideration of both quantitative and literary sources. In beautifully written articles, he has arrived at fresh and novel findings."Ralph Shlomowitz, Flinders University of South Australia"Professor Lal has produced a body of work which makes him the premier scholar of the Indian diaspora. His meticulous research, the depth of scholarship, the empathy, and the elegance have earned him great respect among Indian diaspora scholars. The themes covered in this book are relevant to other overseas Indian communities; and they are handled with such mastery that his reputation is secured."Clem Seecharan, University of North London"Brij Lal's Chalo Jahaji is an intensely personal journey through his life and that of the 60,000 Indians who became girmitiyas in Fiji. The intricate history is measured, but Lal reveals himself and his family in a way historians seldom do. This proud grandson of a girmitiya is equally a proud son of Fiji. Chalo Jahaji is Pacific history at its best: rigorous and critical, informative and involved."Clive Moore, University of Queensland

A racially-weighted Constitution, promulgated by decree in 1990, divided the country and invited international condemnation, and the economy suffered from the collapse of institutions of good governance. In 1995, an independent Constitution Review Commision appointed by the Fijian parliament, recommended wide-ranging changes to the Constitution. Its report formed the basis of a new Constitution promulgated, after wide-ranging consultation and debate, in 1997. Two years later, Fiji held a general election under it. This collection of essays looks at the politics and dynamics of that momentous event, and the role of key individuals and institutions in producing an outcome that, a year later, plunged Fiji into its first major crisis of the twenty-first century. The essays look at some of the key political and development issues on the eve of the crisis, but the relevance to the current debates about the nature and meaning of politics in Fiji remains. All the contributors are recognised and longstanding specialists in their fields

"This collection of the writings and speeches of one of Fiji's greatest statesmen, the late Mr AD Patel, points to a different future which, if allowed to come to fruition, would have spared Fiji the fate it later encountered in its postcolonial journey. As a leader, Mr Patel was unmatchable in intellect and oratorical brilliance, glimpses of which we see in this volume. Dr Lal deserves to be congratulated for his patience and perseverance in completing this project. This book will find an honoured place among others on Fiji's complex and contested modern history."

Preliminary -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Inheritance -- 2. Baptism by fire -- 3. Recuperation and rupture -- 4. Before the Storm -- 5. Sunset at noon -- 6. Transition -- 7. Back from the brink -- 8. New Foundations -- 9. The denouement -- 10. The road to arisha -- Bibliographical guide -- Index

Practising political life writing in the Pacific /Jack Corbett --Political life writing in Papua New Guinea /Jonathan Ritchie --Understanding Solomon /Christopher Chevalier --The 'Pawa Meri' project /Ceridwen Spark --'End of a phase of history' /Brij V. Lal --Random thoughts of an occasional practitioner /Deryck Scarr --Walking the line between Anga Fakatonga and Anga Fakapalangi /Areti Metuamate --Writing influential lives /Nicole Haley --Celebrating my journey /Sethy Regenvanu --Reflections on a remarkable journey /Carol Kidu --Solomon Islands' biography /Clive Moore --Biographies of post-1900 New Zealand prime ministers /Doug Munro.

Preliminary -- Contributors -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Encouraging electoral accommodation in divided societies -- 2. Fiji Constitution Review Commission recommendations for a new electoral system for Fiji -- 3. Constitutional engineering and the alternative vote in Fiji: an assessment -- 4. Fiji's proposed new voting system: a critique with counter-proposals -- 5. Party cooperation and the electoral system in Mauritius -- 6. The recommendations on the electoral system: the contribution of the Fiji Constitution Review.

Coup -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- 1. FIJICOUP.COM -- 2. THE SUN SET AT NOON TODAY -- 3. AN HISTORIC VIEW OF FIJI -- 4. REFLECTIONS ON THE CIVILIAN COUP IN FIJI -- 5. AN ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT POLITICAL CRISIS IN FIJI -- 6. CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER IN MULTI-ETHNIC SOCIETIES -- 7. THOUGHTS ON FIJI'S THIRD COUP D'ETAT -- 8.ON BEING FIJIAN -- 9. OUTCASTS OF THE PACIFIC -- 10. RACE, SPEIGHT AND THE CRISIS IN FIJI -- 11. PEACE IN FIJI -- 12. ON RECONCILIATION -- 13. TWO COUNTRIES CALLED FIJI -- 14. LIVING IN UNUSUAL TIMES -- 15. WHO WILL PICK UP THE PIECES?

May 19, 2000. Fiji's democratically elected multiracial government is hijacked by a group of armed gunmen led by George Speight, and held hostage for fifty days. Suva, the capital, is torched and looted as Speight's supporters gather on the lawns of the parliamentary complex, dancing, cooking food, celebrating the purported abrogation of the constitution that brought the People's Coalition government to power. The country is plunged into darkness yet again, enduring the pain of three coups in a period of just thirteen years. The process of healing and reconciliation, symbolised by the enactment of a new Constitution, unanimously approved by Parliament and blessed by the powerful Great Council of Chiefs, lies discarded, as winds of ethnic chauvinism sweep through the countryside, damaging the fragile fabric of multiculturalism that was carefully constructed by so many over many years. The economy is on the brink of collapse, investor confidence has vanished, and the best and the brightest are seeking succour on other shores. Fiji falls victim, yet again, to the prejudice and greed of a section of its people. This book gathers together a handful of memoirs of those tragic events in Fiji. They were written while the gun was still smoking; personal, anguished reactions of people from all walks of life, concerned about a country they all love but deeply distressed by the developments there. They are first reactions. They will in time become essential building blocks for a larger interpretive framework of academic analysis about origins, processes and impacts. Straight from the heart, these memoirs will be remembered as the people of Fiji and their friends elsewhere contemplate the wreckage and ruin brought about by that act of madness in the month of May 2000.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- From the General Editors -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue -- Introduction: Women in the City -- 1. Representations of Port Moresby: Gender, Class, and Culture in Films about the City -- 2. At Home in the City: Educated Women, Housing, and Belonging in Port Moresby -- 3. Getting Comfortable in the "New" Port Moresby -- 4. From Mosbi to "POM City": Gender, Transnationalism, and Development in Port Moresby -- 5. "The Heat of the PNG Sun": Women in Development -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index