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NEW FIJI: OUR COMMUNAL FARM

By Dennis Rounds beloved “New Fiji”, took to our airwaves to also discourage
rumours and misinformation about the extent of the break-
There I was on my balcony, settled in comfortably on an old out of the corona virus in their patch of the woods.
couch, surveying my neighbourhood while savouring my first Then it dawned on me, by equating rumour mongering and
“bilo” (bowl) of “kava” for the day. misinformation to treason and mutiny, our managing directors
In the midst of the normal Western heat, I felt that at a were working in the interests of our beloved “New Fiji” by
cost of $5 for 25gms, I had to enjoy every drop of the highly- ensuring our benefactor didn’t cut off the much sought-after
priced “national brew” as it trickled down my parched throat. manure for our communal farm.
To do otherwise would be like pouring a now highly prized I began to accept that that was why the chosen managing
bottle of Fiji Gold beer down the kitchen sink. directors of our communal farm could pass judgement and
I consoled myself with a comforting, but somewhat declare our otherwise much loved citizens enemies of the
venomous, rationalisation that as equal citizens, all Fijians State.
had to pay abnormally high prices to beef up the coffers our But my “old guard” brain would not let me rest. It coaxed
managing directors regularly dip into to keep our beloved me into wondering whether in the greener pastures of our
communal farm, “New Fiji”, economically afloat. communal farm, there would be questions about whether our
Then it hit me, like an overwhelming stench of cow dung farm directors were working in the interests of the larger and
from the western barnyards. highly benevolent farm across the seas.
One of our esteemed farm directors was warning the state’s And whether such a motive would in fact make our farm
beloved citizens on the national airwaves not to spread directors enemies of our equal citizenry State.
rumours or misinformation on social media about a health Then, in a groggy state of mind, I remembered someone
matter of global concern – the corona virus. called George Orwell warning us about how some citizens will
To do so would make one an enemy of the State, he consider themselves more equal than others.
declared! As a patriot, I mentally pushed Orwell’s warning to the
Mother Nature cloaked me in a sheet of goose pimples as I back of my mind. I had no intention of carrying an enemy
shuddered at the thought that a fellow equal citizen could be of the State tag. I succumbed instead to the numbing effect
paraded around our beloved communal farm carrying a cow of the $5 worth of 25grm kava and simply settled for the
bell labelled “Enemy of the State”. explanation of the farm’s Deputy General Manager that we
I didn’t dare to contemplate what a fitting penalty would were all living in an intellectually barren space.
be for such a treasonous and mutinous act against our equal I did another visual survey of our communal farm.
citizenry. Everything was normal.
To add to my discomfort, an envoy of a benevolent and
much larger farm, some fair nautical miles upstream from our editor@islandsbusiness.com

Islands Business, February 2020 5