In two weeks from now, the world will quietly add yet another year to the Girmit Period that rocked the lives of more than 60,000 men and women from India for 40 years, immersing them into a subjugated state of slavery and deception.
It is a pity, as our Contributor Rajendra Prasad mentions in his article (Fijilink) the ‘Girmitiyas,’ as indentured labourers in Fiji were called, are not only slipping away from memory but are also becoming unknown to the growing generation.
The history of any community is a link between the past and present, and those living with that vital connection, would be devoid of the knowledge of their ancestry and their pride.
There is a joy in knowing about our ancestors, for it is such knowledge that gives us the connectivity and in a sense, our legitimacy. Ignoring our past would tantamount to amnesia of sorts, leaving a community without an identity.
The story of the Indo-Fijians as indentured labourers is one of betrayal, torture, sacrifice and death. Successive generations have heard how their ancestors suffered the brutality of their colonial masters, whipped like animals and pushed towards suicide. Many of them ended their lives either hanging at home or falling into the nearby river; many others simply perished as a natural outcome of physical and mental abuse.
As thousands of Indians were forced to flee Fiji following three devastating coups in 1987 and 2000, their ancestral homeland confined their concerns to expression of sympathy and did little to either support their rights in Fiji or rehabilitate them in India.
The hapless victims of dastardly coups found new homes in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, US and Canada.
The world has scoffed at slavery and those who drove them but has seldom cared for the victims, unless the latter fought for their rights in strange lands and asserted themselves politically, socially and culturally, winning a rightful place in the society.
Africans in Europe, the US and Canada are prime examples of such self-determination but in the case of Fiji, people of Indian origin remained marginalised and relegated to secondary positions.
There are undoubtedly a number of success stories of people who have established their presence commercially and lifted Fiji’s economy in later years, especially after the country gained independence in 1971.
But they did not achieve success overnight; they too struggled, alongside their compatriots, risked their fortunes and promoted businesses. It is said that without Indo-Fijian enterprise, the country’s economy would be far more impoverished and regressive than it is today.
Indo-Fijians are among the most hardworking and enterprising people in the world. With diffidence, devotion and dedication as their attributes, they are never known to moan and groan about not being able to obtain employment. Their spirit of adventure encourages them to seek gainful employment and if that fails, be self-employed.
Thousands of Indo-Fijians are proud owners of large, medium and small enterprises throughout New Zealand.
They judiciously allocate their time for work, family, friends and the community and enjoy every moment of each of these; which is what makes them unique.
But there is no excuse for people to forget their past, worse, ignore the importance of imparting it to their succeeding generations.
Girmit Day should be marked not just by Indo-Fijians but also by all people of Indian origin, because all of us are beneficiaries, in some form or the other, of the sacrifices made by the Girmitiyas and their contemporaries all over the world.
