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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
April 25, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| April 2, 2008 |
Gabriel Tetiarahi: Reuniting the South Pacific Island Community |
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Dr Gabriel Tetiarahi joined the 60th voyage as a guest educator between the ports of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Papeete, Tahiti |
Behind the azure blue seas and stretching white sand beaches of the South Pacific islands lies an ugly history of European colonialism and nuclear oppression that you won’t find advertised in tour brochures. Tahitian indigenous leader Dr Gabriel Tetiarahi, who has spent the large part of his life fighting against nuclear colonialism, nuclear racism and nuclear terrorism in the South Pacific, played a key role in putting an end to French nuclear testing in Tahiti. Dr Tetiarahi asks to be called Gabi onboard, but says that he has another, much longer name that he received from his elders. “It is a name that describes the mountains and sea, the reefs and trees and flowers of my home, a name that connects me to my family and the neighboring islands, a name on which I can dance, and write poems and legends.” |
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| Participants were fond of the barefooted, tropical shirt-wearing Gabi, and enjoyed sharing time with him onboard |
Gabi cherishes his connection with the sea, which indigenous Tahitians call “Hiva,” and with the earth, which he calls mother. Constantly barefoot, Gabi responds when asked why he doesn’t wear shoes that “I like to feel close to my mother, the earth.” Gabi has worked hard to protect the earth in his native Tahiti and the surrounding islands. “I am a farmer,” Gabi says humbly, and explains that his nongovernmental organization, Hiti Tau, teaches traditional farming methods to local people in Tahiti. Before the French started to develop nuclear testing sites in Tahiti in 1960, Tahiti was 95 percent self-sufficient, relying primarily on local crops like coconuts, bananas and taro, and on offshore fishing. When nuclear testing finally ended in 1996, the self-sufficiency rate had dropped to roughly five percent. The entire economy had changed, and traditional lifestyles had been replaced by an import-dependent economy. |
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| Gabi conversing with a group of staff members on deck |
The damage inflicted upon Tahiti and its people extends beyond economics. Test site workers suffer from serious health problems, and the growing cancer rate in Tahiti alludes to the extent of damage done during French nuclear colonization. Tahitian people have been emotionally and spiritually scarred, and have lost much of their traditional way of life. Gabi illustrated this point with a story of the Tahitian childbirth ritual, explaining that Tahitian people plant the placenta in the ground, and a tree above it to celebrate the birth of a new life. When the fruit of the tree ripens, the child is the first to eat from it. In contrast, the French government planted nuclear bombs in the earth, our mother, which can be called nothing less than a crime. |
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Participants were eager to learn how to wear the beautiful Tahitian pareos that Peace Boat sold onboard as a fundraiser for Gabi’s NGO, Hiti Tau |
During the nuclear colonization of the South Pacific over 2000 nuclear tests were carried out in the region, reaching the equivalent explosive power of 20,000 times the Hiroshima bombing of August 6, 1945. Sadly, little can be done to change the unfortunate history of the region, but Gabi hopes to build a peaceful future for the South Pacific islands, which he refers to as the “Octopus Nations.” Legend has it that a civilization of bold navigators once lived on the island of Taputapuatea, near Bora-Bora Island. One day, the eight most capable navigators set out in eight different directions, like the legs of the octopus, to search for inhabitable islands to accommodate the growing community. The octopus, believed to be a guardian deity, guided the sailors to new lands like Hawai'i, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Aotearoa (New Zealand). This octopus-shaped community of islands lived harmoniously for many centuries, until the colonial powers of the west divided up the South Pacific, and shattered the harmonious relationships of the South Pacific community. |
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In a gesture of appreciation and hope for peace, participants folded a necklace of origami cranes for Gabi before his final lecture |
To reunite this community of Octopus Nations, Gabi established PIANGO (The Pacific Islands Association of Nongovernmental Organizations) and the Pacific Indigenous Management Initiative, a university that spans over ten South Pacific islands and has almost 2400 students as of early 2008. Through these organizations, Gabi seeks to restore the islanders’ ability to live self-sufficient lifestyles in harmony with the environment and in coordination with each other. Ultimately, Gabi seeks decolonization of all of the South Pacific, without which he believes the region will never find peace. To conclude his final onboard lecture, Gabi shared the thought that “peace without freedom is a bird without wings,” and vowed to establish a foundation in Tahiti called the Octopus Foundation for Peace and Freedom, which will strive to create a South Pacific community of independent nations. |
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