THIS IS THE MAU REBORN
Samoa is unique in its interaction with other nations. Samoa comes from a background and history that has yet to be fully understood by the historians and anthropologists. They see the people smiling and the beauty of their land, they also see the vibrancy of the culture but there are mysteries that are lurking beneath the pleasant exterior. These secrets are known to those in the Samoan culture because they have been taught the way of the Samoan, the Faa-Samoa.
The Faa-Samoa is a code and set of cultural values which dictate the actions and reactions of Samoans in nearly any situation. These codes were set up by ancient Samoans who had a very expansive world view. Unlike the Europeans and the land hugging cultures of the world who were intimidated by the large expanse of water which circled the Planet, Samoans viewed the Ocean as their pathway, their freeway to the rest of the world. In very early times even 1000 to 2000 years ago, Samoans were sailing around the Pacific on fast maneuverable outrigger canoes which are the ancestor of the catamarans seen racing in America's Cup regattas. These vessels were ahead of any sea faring technology available at the time.
These navigators were also proficient in the reading of the heavens, the ocean waves patterns, color, sky and cloud patterns as well as the migration of birds and fish. It was this acquired knowledge that allowed them to venture out thousands of miles from their island homes and return to the same small islands in the largest Ocean on the planet with uncanny accuracy. These were the Samoans.
In this ability to not be lost was built an air of confidence and assertiveness of their position among the nations even though they were one of the least in terms of population and technology. But this ability to travel and explore and colonize allowed them to understand from first hand experience the nature of many of the inhabitants of the world. Only now are scientists and anthropologists discovering the extent to which these hardy sailors traveled and explored.
The nature of the Samoan being a free spirit to come and go as they please and to not be bound by the barriers of mountains or climate or politics, is something that defines the very soul of the Samoan. These are people who understand the nature of the various civilizations of the world from early on but chose to be less sophisticated because from their vantage point as they viewed man made activities without any attachment. Their unobstructed observation of behaviors and the rise and fall of men and their schemes has been key to their somewhat aloofness when it comes to materialism. However, that is no longer the case.
When the rest of the world caught up to the travelling skills of the Samoans and surpassed them, the sophistication of the Western civilization became a thing of wonder and attraction. Samoans were educated by the White man and taught the cultural propaganda that was part of the education. They were misled to believe that Western civilization was superior and the answers to all the world's issues were now available through the knowledge of science and modern technology. They became isolated and reliant on what the modern world produced. The superior war technology created an imbalance that locked Samoans into the servitude and obedience to the will of the white man.
The initial Mau was a rebellion led by the chiefs of Safotulafai and Savaii called the Mau a Pule. These were led by a brilliant orator by the name of Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe. He was of the thought that they were submitting to an inferior culture if they submitted to the colonial powers of Germany. The Samoan culture was, in his opinion, superior to the Western Culture and he fought for a self governing Samoa, which he believed Samoa had already mastered. Samoa was the heart of the Polynesian triangle, they also were advanced sailors who knew the ways from Samoa to all points in the Pacific and beyond. While the "glorious" English captains were discovering "new" lands that were all inhabited by Samoans and Polynesians for at least a 1000 years before the Europeans arrived, the Samoans were polite by slightly amused at these newcomer's audacity and their clunky vessels which were large but quite slow.
However, the "new" technology that Samoans were unable to overcome were the guns. These weapons made the armed white men more dangerous and the leaders of Samoa were not going to sacrifice their small population with a military revolt. So they began to organize and protest with non-violent marches and petitions to the powers that they be allowed to maintain their authority as the high chiefs of Samoa. These were the initial interactions between a superpower and this small island as well as colonialized nations of the world where the use of passive resistence was used. Samoans were able to use this tactic to baffle the German Governor, Solf, who eventually exiled Lauaki and the Mau leaders to Saipan.
However, the seeds of the rebellion were now sown and the young paramount chief Tamasese Lealofi picked up the baton of the Mau movement which eventually rallied men, women and all Samoans to disobey the White authority of New Zealand who had become the father figure when Germany lost control of the islands. This angered the New Zealand military commander and he had his armed forces fire at an unarmed group of protest marchers killing Tamasese and others. Tamasese Lealofi as his last act of concern for the Samoan people, while he lay bleeding on the street, pleaded with Mau leaders who were there, not to retaliate. He said that his blood was split for Samoa and Samoa must continue to fight for independence against the superior might of the West until they had achieved their goal. Full independence!
This was realized in 1962 when Samoa was given its independence from New Zealand supervision and became an independent state. There were probably many in the European community who felt the Samoan state wouldn't long.... maybe it would be intact for a few years and then fall apart being such a small nation with no natural mineral resources.
But the Samoan Parliament under the direction of Mataafa and Malietoa forged a solid nation which lived within its means and survived with rather positive results and improving their economic status as the government changed from Mataafa to a new Prime Minister and eventually Tupuola Efi took control. He was a brilliant mind and astute politician. Samoa was destined for greatness with such a well prepared young leader at the helm. However, in the 1980s disaster struck.
In a few years the stability of Samoa's economy was struck with a number of unsettling blows which resulted in the loss of Samoa's foreign reserves and therefore Samoa was unable to afford their imports. The shortages were drastic and devastating to the country. This led to protests as people were unable to buy sugar or any of the basic food items due to the lack of foreign reserves for trade between Samoa and other nations. The curious thing is the country was not operating at a major deficit and its exports were higher than they are today. Samoan taro was king and banana exports were plentiful. Copra was always there as were remittances so when they were told the foreign reserves were depleted this did not make sense.
Prior to this Samoa had sold its shares to its own Bank of Samoa to Australia. The new Australian version of the Central bank controlled Samoan money. In essence the depreciation of Samoan money was established by a foreign entity, a foreign country in this case Australia had the means to sabotage Samoan independence. In the wild days of 1979 to 1982 there was an economic upheaval. The Samoa Tala lost all its value and the foreign reserves which were controlled by the bank now owned entirely by Australia were devaluing the Tala and in the process the foreign reserves of Samoa were depleted. That is my theory on how the government went from a stable situation to one where there were strikes and subsequent intrusion of a Party System which unseated the Matai system that was running Samoa and HRPP were able to come to power.
Strangely enough a year after the HRPP came into power Samoa's financial situation miraculously recovered. The mysterious crisis of the Samoan money supply has yet to be solved. The crisis came and went and a number of devastating hurricanes, the loss of Polynesian Airlines which was in $200 million in debt by the time it shut down in the 80s and other major problems all led to the removal of the government under Tupuola Efi and the rise of the HRPP.
In 2008 the HRPP majority led government passed 2008 a law which was blatantly contradicting the protections of the Samoan constitution against alienation of customary land. With this land registration law which uses the infamous Torrens system used by the Australian and New Zealand governments to remove native Maori and Aborigines from their lands, was inserted into Samoa's laws and yet there was no crisis of land use or land ownership requiring this new law. This was a random law that the HRPP one day decided to insert into the system of land ownership.
2008 was the year this law was passed and in it are the seeds for the removal of land ownership which is held by family members in general and not by a single person to where it now is possible for a Sa'o, the high chief of a family to register all the lands under his name and thus alienating the other family members from their rights to the land because of the effects of this registering mechanism. This is the tool where by foreign powers are scheming to remove Samoans from their land. And HRPP were the ones who put it into play.
This is why we have formed the Samoa Solidarity International group...to inform, to warn and to organize protests and grassroots support in order to render the LTR 2008 law unconstitutional whether by law suit or by forcing the government to repeal it. This is our goal. Thus is what we have come together to reform the Mau. The Mau Reborn is the renaissance of Samoan culture and ideology. A return to our roots as the wise and foreknowing navigators who were able to sail through unknown waters with ease and with confidence. No longer will we listen to those voices that want to diminish who we are. The history of Samoa comes from a place of exploration, discovery and victory.
Welcome to the Mau 2017!
