Can blogging drive political action?

The "Fiji Freedom Bloggers" enjoy a bowl of grog while listening to Bula FM ;-)

Those anonymous bloggers that snubbed us at the bloggers' meet are at it again. Their plan to have individuals who are opposed to the Interim Government stay home on May 1st has netted international press attention and has had the military both hunting Fijian Black and then not hunting him in the very same day.

It will be interesting to see how all interested parties will respond to this call for a May Day strike - for that is exactly what it is even though Captain Intelligentsiya tells us otherwise. Will large numbers of people stay home? What will employers think of employees who call in sick?

Photo by vapours

The first Bloggers' Meet in Fiji

Last night at the ROC on Victoria Parade and Loftus in Suva, I attended the first ever bloggers' meet in Fiji. Ok, only two other bloggers showed up, but that still justifies our historic claim! The two other attendees were the brains behind the Paradise Failed: Abort, retry, Fail? blog. We had a great talk about everything from politics to family history to taxi drivers to Hi5 - oh, and blogging, too.

Special note: There was no military or police visit (my neighbours were wrong), nor did any of Fiji's anonymous bloggers come - unless they were at a different table.

Resolutions: We will meet again. The USP Library ought to try and reach USP students through Hi5. For a related discussion see here.

Photo by Brett L

History in the making - Suva bloggers' meet in 24 hours

It is now roughly 24 hours until history will be made. At 7pm tomorrow (Thursday) night, at the Republic of Cappuccino on Victora Parade and Loftus Street in Suva, the first ever bloggers' meet will be held. If you are a blogger living in the Suva area, or even just thinking about maybe blogging, please come out and meet your fellow blog-heads in person. Drink some coffee, make some friends, and have some fun.

It would not be going too far to call 2007 The Year of the Blog in Fiji. Although, it may be more accurate to call it The Year of the Anonymous Blog. For the first time, blog has become a household word and politically vocal blogs authored by pseudonymed individuals are regularly mentioned in international media reports. Anonymous blogging has become perhaps the most popular method of expressing dissent against Fiji's Interim Government as public forms of dissent have been met with a firm hand by the military.

However, there are also a significant number of bloggers in Fiji who do not make any attempt to conceal their identity. Bloggers such as... While we do not get as many hits or comments as our anonymous counterparts, we do write about many things other than politics. For example, one of the most prolific bloggers in Fiji is Gilbert Veisamasama, Jr. He runs two blogs, Promoting Suva (http://promotingsuva.blogspot.com/) and Invest in Fiji (http://investinfiji.blogspot.com/) and he seems to post to both almost every day.

So, if you are a blogger living in the Suva area and you can comfortably answer the question, "What is your blog's address?" in public, I look forward to seeing you Thursday night!

p.s. Gilbert has given his regrets for tomorrow's meet.

Photo by eurleif

Fiji bloggers meet - ROC on Loftus, April 19, 7:00 pm

Updated 11/4/2007


Calling all Fiji bloggers to meet up at the Republic of Cappuccino on Victoria Parade and Loftus Street at 7:00 pm, Thursday, April 19, 2007. Drink coffee, be merry, and put a human face on your favourite Fiji blogs. Leave a comment to let me know that you are coming or email me at thrashor(at)gmail(dot)com.

Help to spread the word: post an invitation on your blog or link to this post!

Photo by eurleif