In the Name of Growth—Fiji: A Story of Fisheries Development, Indigenous Women and Politics (review)

In theName of Growth—Fiji:AStory of Fisheries Development, Indigenous Women and Politics,53 minutes, VHS(PALandNTSC), color, 2001.Filmmaker: 'Atu Emberson-Bain; assistant director, directory of photography, and original music: Michael Preston; editing studio: Digital Domain; distributor: Infocus Productions, Suva, Fiji. Individuals and local nongovernmental organizations US$25.00 or F$40.00; institutions or overseas nongovernmental organizations US$45.00 or F$65.00, plus postage and handling.

In the Name of Growth is the latest Infocus production by independent filmmakers 'Atu Emberson-Bain and Michael Rokotuiviwa Preston. Emberson-Bain is a member of the Fiji Senate and a graduate of Oxford and the Australian National University. Preston is a filmmaker, musician, actor, and sound engineer. The team's previous films (Where the Rivers Meet, addressing Fiji's ethnic relations, and Caught in the Crossfire, on women sex workers in Fiji) are both UNESCO award-winners. Emberson-Bain also produced Na Ma'e! Na Ma'e! We Stand Until We Die, documenting the conditions of indigenous Fijians working for the multinational Emperor Gold Mining Company. In the Name of Growth takes as its focus the situation of Fijian tuna cannery workers, this time subjected to poor wages and working conditions by fellow Fijians. The film exposes the human costs of a growth-driven economic model for workers in Levuka's Pacific Fishing Company (PAFCO) on the island of Ovalau.

The film begins with a historical overview of Levuka's economic development, weaving together the narratives of four individuals who experiencedit.Throughthe memories of two members of the European community, Dora Patterson and Sir Len Usher, and twoFijian chiefs,Tui Cawaci and Tui Toki, we hear how European settlers thrived during the copra era, while Fijians served as indentured laborers on European plantations under slavery-like conditions. Once Levuka's copra industry crashed, the settler community turned to the local fisheries resources as their new trade. Indigenous women formed the new labor force. The Pacific Fishing Company began as a joint venture between a Japanese company and the Fiji government. Workers interviewed recall that the Japanese management provided better conditions than the Fijian management that took over after two coups in the name of indigenous rights in 1987. The Fijian management removed fans that kept the workplace cool, and the workers suffer under the heat and inadequate ventilation."Culture" is a contested issue in the film, as a former acting general manager blamesthe company's losseson worker absenteeism, tardiness, "slackness," and even supposed late-night yaqona (kava) sessions. Workers, in turn, accuse management of misusing culture, in addition to their charges of mismanagement and corruption.

The continuity between the working conditions on Levuka's plantations during the indenture period, and contemporary conditions of work in the Fijian-owned PAFCO cannery, is striking.TuiToki tells of having to produce 300 pounds of copra per day in the 1920s. European bosses shouted at the indentured workers to work faster. If a worker could not meet the target, the contract rate was cut, and if they lost or damaged equipment, the bosses cut their earnings yet again. Out of the 24 pounds per year contract rate, an indentured worker received just 5 to 9 pounds after all the cuts were made. Under the strict conditions imposed by the company's Fijian management, today's cannery workers have a target of cleaning 30 fish per hour, and a pay rate of F$1.65 per hour. One worker testifies that it is only possible to clean 25 or 26 fish at most. Workers recount how deductions (such as a one-hour pay cut for arriving fifteen minutes late) eat away at their earnings, and what is left over is not enough to make ends meet. The similarity in the conditions of the two eras leaves the viewer wondering what lies ahead for Levuka's next generation.

Women cannery...