Archive for December, 2008
A Matter of Justice
Saturday, December 20th, 2008It’s easy to say that prisoners deserve what they get, that they’ve made their bed and now they should lie in it. And it’s true, to a degree. But there is a point past which a man ceases to be a man. The measure of our society, of our capacity to care for one another, is made according to where we draw that line. There is nothing in kastom or natural justice that condones crossing that threshold.
The great comfort of kastom is that every person has their place, in life, in the village, in the world. The government needs to commit to building a new prison and to allowing our chiefs to continue to watch over their children. If it does –when it does – it will ensure that conditions will improve, both for our prisoners and for society as a whole.
Lost in Translation
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008The continuing confrontation between the government of Vanuatu and business interests over recent amendments to the Employment Act is being exacerbated by failures in translation. Either through unwillingness or inability to bridge the gap between cultures, needs and concerns, people on both sides of the issue now find themselves staring each other down.
The fuse has been lit on an issue that could have explosive impact on ni-Vanuatu and expat alike, but nobody seems to be able to step forward and quench it.
The (Mobile) Ties That Bind
Saturday, December 13th, 2008The Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) will soon be releasing a report measuring the social impacts of telecoms liberalisation in Vanuatu. One of the main findings is that, in the months following the extension of mobile telephone service to the majority of Vanuatu’s population, families benefited more than businesses in terms of changed perceptions and real outputs.
What It Is
Saturday, December 6th, 2008Today I choose to celebrate the quiet workers, the people who allow others to take credit for their accomplishments and ideas, because that’s what voluntarism really means. The people who accept that misunderstandings will happen, and spend every hour of every day working to bridge the gap between cultures, who navigate on both sides of the gulf of misunderstanding, who devote countless hours to no other end but making sure that others profit, though it profits them nothing.
Perspectives on Privacy
Saturday, December 6th, 2008I’ve written before about the technical, ethical and legal problems surrounding Australia’s plan to enforce a compulsory, universal Internet Content Filter. I maintain that the system is ineffective and inappropriate, foisting a law enforcement role on the nation’s ISPs, and threatening free speech without providing sufficient protection from the very content it seeks to block.
With Internet deregulation on the horizon in Vanuatu, it seems timely to take a look at some of the basic issues underlying the debate.