Category Archives: Freedom

IN The Good Luck Girls, Charlotte Davis embraces a genre rarely picked up on for YA fiction a western that breaks free from the stereotypical adventures of men getting into gun fights. This story instead, is one led by young black women, with justice and earned vengeance at the heart of any violence they become involved in.

Daviss writing is refreshing and exciting at every turn, with immersive world building leaving you wanting more. Now is the perfect time to pick up The Good Luck Girls as the sequel The Sisters Of Reckoning just came out in October.

While the heavier themes of sexual assault, addiction and references to rape and suicide may be upsetting for some readers, these mentions are done with care and purpose to the story. Anything related to such topics is handled in a way that I would hope any aspiring YA author would take note of for more than anything this story is filled with hope, and that is what stays with you after reading.

The fictional country of Arketta where the events of the book take place is harshly divided by class, with those less fortunate in their parentage known as dustbloods and living under terrible conditions. It is due to this that another option arises, when these families have daughters they can be sold to welcome houses, to be kept in clothes, food and more comfortable conditions, but of course for this there is a price.

From their arrival to when they are 15, those living there are known as daybreak girls and perform chores around the house theyve been sent to for their keep, however on the night of their 16th birthday their role changes to serving as sundown girls auctioned off for their first night to one of the male customers, known as brags.

The story begins on Clementines 16th birthday, and therefore her first night away from the comfortable oblivion of day to day chores her so called lucky night where she will be chosen by her first brag. The advice of her concerned elder sister Aster who is more used to getting through life as a sundown girl is to distract herself by singing a song. But when Clementine accidentally kills her brag, the only option is to face the consequences or run from a life that has always seemed inescapable.

With the help of another three from the house they get out ut their problems dont end there. Upon arrival at the welcome houses, children are marked by magical tattoos, favours, that mark them forever as what they are with seemingly no way to be hidden or removed. It is Violet, the favourite of the mistress of their house, who has been allowed the most information of the outside and shares with them what she knows.

Lady Ghost, the woman of folk tales rumoured to be able to remove favours is, it turns out, real, and all that is required for their freedom is to find her.

An unforgettable story, beautifuly told.

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Search for Lady Ghost and the freedom only she can provide - The National

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Most people spend their whole lives chasing their dreams, but in some cases, you find yourself pursuing something you may not be able to name just yet. According to Robert Del Grande and Jonas Muthoni, everyone craves time freedom in their life, even unknowingly. However, it isn't easy to achieve it with the current work setup. As a result, people spend their lives working to achieve that freedom, only to keep missing it.

Handout

(L-R) Robert Del Grande and Jonas Muthoni

Time is the greatest equalizer in existence. Everyone gets the same amount of hours in a day. As explained by Grande and Muthoni, the ultimate goal of success is to have complete control over that time. That means getting to dictate what you do with every second of your day without worrying about finances.

The promise of time freedom at the end of it all is what keeps many people focused on their pursuit of success. Everyone wants to succeed so they can slow down on work and enjoy their time. However, with the grim 9-to-5 schedule, this dream can seem impossible.

The millennial generation has stepped into the world stage, ready to stake their claim, and they want it all. Grande and Muthoni say millennials have shone a light on the possibility of time and financial freedom. This has also been made possible by the ongoing digital transformation. The Internet makes it possible for people to work from anywhere in the world, giving them more control over their daylight hours.

Time freedom doesnt mean you no longer work, says Grande. All it means is that you have a lot more control. For instance, you get to work when you are productive, and no one requires you to clock in for a set amount of hours every day. Muthoni says that the rebellion kickstarted by millennials has opened peoples eyes to the need to break free.

Life is about more than just working all day to make money; make more of yours, says Grande. Muthoni echoes this, explaining that it is time to give up the rat race and chase the freedom to live a full and inspired life.

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Time Freedom Is the Ultimate Goal Of Success - Entrepreneur

Enes Kanter plans to change his last name to Freedom after becoming a U.S. citizen on Monday.

BOSTON (AP) Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter is changing his name to Enes Kanter Freedom to celebrate becoming a United States citizen.

Kanters manager, Hank Fetic, told The Associated Press that Kanter is will have his citizenship oath ceremony on Monday afternoon and at the same time will complete his legal name change.

The news was first reported by the Athletic.

Kanter, 29, is a native of Turkey who has been an outspoken critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdoan and the Turkish government. Kanter has said his passport was revoked by his homeland in 2017.

The 2011 first-round draft pick has also taken to social media to support Tibetan independence and criticize Chinese treatment of the Uyghur people. During games, he has worn shoes decorated to say Free Tibet and argue for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

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Enes Kanter to change last name to Freedom after becoming U.S. citizen on Monday - NBA.com

On justice and freedom

Every time justice is denied, everyone loses a bit of freedom. In the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, failure to hold him accountable for three shootings, including two deaths, degrades freedom provided by the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment (First of the Bill of Rights), related to the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Some will argue that the assembly was less than peaceful, however, there was no justification to enter an unarmed demonstration with a weapon of war.The only expected outcome was to kill people.

Without justice, there is no freedom. Those who are free have an obligation and responsibility to protect freedom for all. Failure results in the loss of freedom for everyone.Will future protestors feel obligated to arm themselves?

For some in the extreme right, civil war is the object.Those in the extreme right are not conservatives by any definition with which I am familiar.Conservatives protect the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.

Conservatives abhor the Jan. 6insurrection, defend those attacked for speaking the truth, and work to promote the general welfare (read the U.S. Constitution).

Walt Kangas, South Yarmouth

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Letter to the Editor: On justice and freedom - Cape Cod Times

More than 600 million years ago, some of what we now call Boston was part of a chain of volcanoes whose lava flows hardened into a rock called rhyolite. The volcano chain later fused with the North American continent, and the volcanoes eroded over time into more modest landscape features like the Blue Hills and Lynn uplands. Far more recently but still thousands of years ago Massachusett Tribe members in the region began to quarry what remained of that beautiful volcanic rock from an outcropping in present-day Mattapan, harvesting it by hand and carving it into spears and knife tips.

Now the descendants of those Massachusett people want to see the city designate the ancient Mattapan rhyolite quarry, a 2.5-acre parcel across from the Jubilee Christian Church also known as the Babson-Cookson tract, as a city landmark. Its a worthwhile endeavor that would recognize an unsung part of Bostons history, while giving the Massachusett Tribe the chance to share more of their ancestors story with the broader public.

Hundreds of stone tools and weapons found at archaeological sites across the Commonwealth, including nearly all the stone fragments found at a Massachusett site at First Church in Roxbury, have been traced to the quarry in Mattapan including some dating back as far as 7,500 years ago. Known to archaeologists as Mattapan banded rhyolite, the stone varies in color from deep maroon to white or pale green striped with pinks, depending on its stage of weathering. According to oral histories of the Massachusett, rhyolite was considered highly valuable, and its dispersal to many sites suggests it was traded for other goods.

This quarry was active before the construction of Stonehenge or the pyramids of Egypt, said Joseph Bagley, Bostons city archaeologist, in a Nov. 9 city Landmarks Commission hearing where he spoke as a designee of the Massachusett Tribe. If the city makes the landmark designation, the Massachusett descendants of the original quarry-harvesters would seek to help manage the site and to educate the public about its importance.

The city will soon commission a study of the historic significance of the site, after which public comments will open. The landmark designation would elevate the city-owned quarrys status to that of historic sites like Boston Common and the Old State House, which could create more public awareness of the role the Massachusett have played in Bostons history. It could also help Bostonians and tourists learn a little more about the science of the ground beneath their feet. Separately, the city will determine whether to protect the tract as an urban wild, which would prevent it from being developed.

Boston is obsessed with its colonial and revolutionary-era history. A new landmark that surfaces both the deep geological history and the Indigenous history that predates the nations birth gives the city a chance to embrace a wider and no less remarkable view of its past. Thats why the landmarks commission, City Council, and mayor should give this piece of ancient Boston history its due.

Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us on Twitter at @GlobeOpinion.

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Beyond the Freedom Trail, Boston history rocks - The Boston Globe

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Men in skirts were once nothing special. Yet the toxic powers of the patriarchy tightened the grip on Western culture, and suddenly gender expressions like "guys in skirts" became a statement of protest and a dangerous line to cross. After I came out as bisexual, I had enough with this convention, and I crossed the line.

There's a moment after you finally come out to the people closest to you, where you feel invincible. It's brief, but beautiful. That pesky padlock holding your closet door shut breaks finally, and now you are free. You're free to move differently in spaces because you're no longer living for others' insecurities. The next step in my journey was my gender expression.

The binary constantly haunts me. The way I grew up, little boys should be wary of even wearing a shade of purple. I was taught boys like girls, girls wear dresses, and I should be interested in sports like football. It's dangerous to detour this ideology in a conservative city like my hometown of Bakersfield, California. None of this made sense to me since I found myself attracted to boys and girls at a very young age. I think nothing rests in the middle of any circumstance, including my sexuality. How I define my attraction and sexuality is my business. I feel the same about my gender expression. Kids shouldn't have to choose between monster trucks or baby dolls. Adults shouldn't have to decide to wear pleated pants or a pleated skirt. Besides, in what world is forcing your kid to play with muscle-bound G.I. Joes in tight uniforms going to make him straighter?

Bisexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction toward males, females, or more than one gender. It includes attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity. But, different people define it in many ways.

Gender expression is how someone expresses their gender identity through their attitude, appearance, or dress.

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Red Table Talk / Via media.giphy.com

If my bisexuality is fluid, what if I could wear what I wanted when I wanted, wherever I wanted? The conventional rules never made sense, so it was my chance to throw them out once and for all. I enjoyed every element of my being free from the confines of a binary. Men everywhere traditionally wear skirts like the Scottish kilt, the Japanese hakama, or the sarong of Asia and Africa. What could go wrong if I put on a dress?

So, I put on a skirt, and just like that, my brief moment of invincible peace was gone. Damn.

Remember that iconic moment in one of the worst years of millennial existence when Harry Styles became the first man to wear a dress on the cover of Vogue in 2020? I know he wasn't the first celebrity man to wear a dress. (The internet tried to cancel people over this fact.) Yet, it marked a pivotal moment in popular culture. Harry's magazine spread was a modern fashion statement and accepted. It was that punky Gucci jacket and the Little House on the Prairie blue dress combo that became the inspiration for my skirt debut, but not the moment that gave me courage.

To courage, I credit stage and television actor Billy Porter. I can pinpoint the day and time when I watched him walk down the red carpet in that billowing, black tuxedo dress, gliding across the red felt like rainbow royalty. Porter was a Broadway fixture quickly on the rise to become a television icon. He wasn't just a comedian looking for a laugh or a screaming rockstar searching for shock value. At this moment, it was more than just a protest or a punchline. That dress was for no one else but Billy Porter. As an American Black man in a dress, we face a different hostility based on our culture and upbringing. But, now I felt prepared for my big moment in a dress.

In the Spring of 2021, I attended my first gay wedding. No opportunity was more fitting than this to wear my brand new Hot Topic pleated, plaid skirt. I showed up in a velvet blazer, Linkin Park shirt, and my new favorite clothing item the plaid skirt. I was a man in a dress, celebrated for my unconventional choice. I wore the skirt, finally as free on the outside as I felt on the inside. Able to show off my Megan Thee Stallion knees at ease, I felt like toxic heteronormative standards didn't predetermine my image for the first time.

When midnight struck, my queer-filled Cinderella moment came to an end. I quickly remembered whatever inclusion happens at a gay wedding stays at a gay wedding. In a wedding full of gays, lesbians, and LGBTQ+ supportive family and friends, I was the belle of the nonconforming ball. I forgot what hate was waiting for me on the outside, and it nearly crushed me.

The veil of my masculine-dominant bisexuality faded like my follower count as family and friends one by one dropped me like an old, stale skittle falling from the sky in a '90s commercial. The skirt was too far. As a bisexual Black man, I walk a very fine of what's acceptable or what can change the narrative of my sexuality through expression. If I dress too masculine, I'm on the down-low. If I dress too feminine, I'm gay. We should be free to wear what we like without critical judgment. Instead, impossible standards force us to an unattainable image of the perfect man or woman. Bullying, harassment, and violence against people based on their gender expression are increasing problems now that cyberbullying has entered the chat in the last few decades. How you decide to express yourself has become a gateway to others to voice their fear and ridicule of what they don't understand. Even more so, predominant black culture in media is plagued by unnecessary rules rooted in homophobia.

If I'm going to cross the line and step into my freedom of expression, I will be met with opposition. I must make the choice to embrace my identity knowing the unattainable standards, emasculation conspiracies, and hate will be used against me. The choice to wear the skirt will be a protest.

In April 2021, Kid Cudi wore a floral dress designed by Off White's Virgil Abloh during his "Sad People" performance from his 2020 album Man on the Moon III: The Chosen. Inspired by Kurt Cobain, Kid Cudi stated that it was "rock and roll" to wear the dress and received backlash. Billy Porter and Harry Styles gave me courage, but moments like this gave me a new purpose. There was no escaping the hate. The price for living in my truth left me vulnerable. If I was going to survive this journey, I needed to channel this "rock and roll" energy.

Jersey Shore / MTV / Via media.giphy.com

There's something evolutionary about sitting at rock bottom. Between the moments of extreme pain, you have a sense of clarity where you look up and realize you know better, and getting back to that good place won't be as hard the second time around. Whether it's Billy Porter serving looks on the red carpet, Harry Styles setting trends on the cover of Vogue, or the revolutionary Tilda Swinton rocking a tuxedo better than any being on Earth, we must embrace our individuality and expression. I refuse to allow hatred to monitor the volume of my truth, and I'll wear a dress as loud and nonbinary as I want!

I put my shame on layaway, bought three more skirts, a few sets of knee-high socks (rainbow pair included), and never looked back at the haters. My gender expression extends who I am and doesn't change anything about who I am inside. Are a lot of closed-minded people going to have a problem with that? Maybe? Is it going to stop me? Nope. I had a taste of freedom, and I'm never going back!

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I Wore A Skirt And Found A New Sense of Freedom, But The Patriarchy Lost Its Mind - Yahoo Lifestyle

Currently, no Catholic doctor can be compelled to perform gender transition surgery, and Catholic hospitals can refuse requests for gender reassignment from a transgender person. They are also not forced to perform abortions or hire abortion doctors. The Biden administration wants to change all that.

The attack is coming from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leading the charge.

A leaked OCR draft brief to the HHS indicates that the Biden administration plans to repeal the Trump administration's policies governing religious freedom, including conscience rights.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wants to remove the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). In his capacity as attorney general of California, he had sued the Little Sisters of the Poor for resisting the Obama administration's HHS mandate, in an attempt to force nuns to include abortion-inducing drugs in their health plans.

The OCR argues that the Trump administration had taken an expansive view of the use of RFRA that has had negative effects on underserved communities. In other words, attempts by gay and transgender activists to impose their secular vision on institutions were blocked by the previous administration.

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) has challenged the Biden administration on this issue. But more news has just been released that shows how things have only gotten worse.

Becerra seeks to remove a wide range of religious freedom exemptions that lawmakers and courts have granted. Documents obtained by the Catholic Benefits Association show a true symbiosis between the HHS and left-wing activist organizations, the most important of which is the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Their success depends on the destruction of religious freedom exemptions put in place by courts, legislators and administrative agencies. More than any other entity, it is the Catholic institutions which suffer the most severe attacks.

If they succeed, Catholic doctors and hospitals will lose their autonomy. They will either have to shut down or comply with the administrations anti-Catholic standards. For example, Catholic hospitals would be forced to perform abortions or hire abortionists on the grounds that denying a woman an abortion would amount to gender discrimination.

Faced with difficulty getting certain laws accepted - such as the Equality Act - due to a lack of public support, OCR and HHS have chosen to bypass Congress and seek court approval for their extremist and anti-natural policies.

The Leadership Conference, which is fueling this campaign, is made up of many well-known left-wing organizations. The ACLU, American Atheists, the Anti-Defamation League, the Human Rights Campaign, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for American Progress.

Their hostility to religious freedom in general, and to the rights of Catholics in particular, is well known. What is not widely known is that the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), which has 40 million members, is a member of this organization.

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Concerns About Religious Freedom in the United States - FSSPX.News

I think in fairness to people too, a lot of people might still just have an asymptomatic infection. And thats the worry if theyre potentially exposing other vulnerable members of their own family.

She said there was an increased risk of acquiring an infection at freedom protests given they bring large groups of people together who are more likely to be unvaccinated. The hospitalisation of one of the unvaccinated attendees highlighted the risk.

Outdoors is safer, but its not as safe as we like to think if youre all crowded, if its not a particularly breezy day, and youre not wearing masks.

It just shows that when you have a large number of cases, people that dont fit the profile that most people have in their head which is someone whos very elderly or someone whos got all these other you know comorbidities that it actually can impact anybody, she said.

While the protests have been held outside, the fact that most people dont wear masks and are closely packed together increases the risk of infection, Professor Bennett said.

If you cant keep your distance from people ... if youre mixing very closely with other people, particularly when youre crowding around listening to someone making a speech, if its not a very breezy day, if youre not wearing masks, all those things we know with Delta can lend themself to outdoor transmission, she said.

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And if people are calling out and cheering, you just add to that possibility ... They only have to stay there for a minute.

Police say 20,000 attended the most recent protest on Saturday, with the group marching through the CBD to condemn vaccine mandates, pandemic legislation and other health measures introduced by the Andrews government.

More protest action is planned for this week, with a march from Parliament to Flinders Street Station planned for Saturday, and a convoy from Melbourne to Ballarat, where a rally is planned for Sunday.

On Monday morning, people were camped outside Parliament House giving haircuts to people regardless of their vaccination status as part of a protest against the vaccinate mandate. Currently, Victorians must be fully vaccinated to attend a hairdresser or beauty service.

Victoria recorded 1007 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and three deaths, as health authorities investigated a suspected case of the Omicron strain of coronavirus.

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Melbourne freedom protesters test positive for COVID-19, one in hospital - The Age

On November 27, 1949, 72 years ago, the headline that adorned the front page of this newspaper was, New Constitution Adopted. On the previous days events in the Constituent Assembly, The Indian Express wrote: At 11-07 a.m. today, the President put to the vote, a motion by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee, that the Constitution, as settled by the Assembly, be passed. A lusty aye indicated the assent of the House. Some of the members shouted Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai both when the Constitution was passed and when the President authenticated it.

Provisions of the Constitution like those pertaining to citizenship, a provisional parliament and other transitional measures came into force immediately, on November 26, 1949. The rest would come alive on Republic Day, January 26, 1950. Those moments captured by reportage, warranted the loud celebrations, for this was the culmination of three years of thoughtful discussions and rigorous drafting amid very difficult circumstances.

What difficult circumstances you might ask? The dual-purpose Constituent Assembly that wrote Indias Constitution sat as Parliament in the morning and drafting assembly in the afternoon, was a hardworking and resilient body. Swamped by the challenges of Partition while simultaneously governing a new post-colonial nation, the constituent-parliament spent the years 1946-1949 drafting a constitution that has endured. The members of the assembly could see and feel the refugees as they poured into Delhi, including taking shelter in Purana Qila, which was a few minutes away from where the constituent-parliament convened. I think of this often on my morning drive to the Supreme Court: What must it have been like to walk through a city that was being flooded with refugees while trying to write a founding text for generations to come?

Other challenges confronted the constituent-parliament. The body was meant to comprise 296 members but was boycotted by some members who would eventually move to Pakistan. Hence, the assembly would be a 210-member body at the initial sessions. Deft statesmanship, not rage was displayed in response to the boycott. To entice these members back, the chairman of the Drafting Committee Bhim Rao Ambedkar says, This is too big a question to be treated as a matter of legal rights. It is not a legal question at all. We should leave aside all legal considerations and make some attempt whereby those who are not prepared to come, will come. Let us make it possible for them to come, that is my appeal.

There were other juristic concerns. The colonial constitutionalist Ivor Jennings, who long sought to be involved in Indias drafting project but was refused later, asked, why the Constitution of India plays down communalism? This was a stinging question, for Partition was the result of communalism, how could any of us forget that? Ought the Constitution have specifically accounted for crimes and ideologies that were communal in nature?

Given these challenges, the women and men of the founding assembly continued thoughtfully, rigorously, and heroically. Their discussions culminated in who we would be We the People all citizens, not subjects. And what we will become a nation that would secure liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, and ensure equality of status and opportunity.

The drafting conversations at our founding meant that we would commit to making reparations for the structural injustices of caste that permeated our society. Indias Constitution is unique in its approach for making reparations for historical discrimination on grounds of caste that defines the present and future of so many Indians. By contrast, Americas Constitution makes no apology nor enables reparations for slavery. A sturdy provision that prohibited discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth also meant that the new nation embraced those who had been left out of the fold of citizenship for so long women, lower castes and minorities.

Despite being a body that was not significantly diverse, the founders, having appreciated the concerns of their people, were able to stand outside of their own privilege and conceive of a founding document that would speak for those who have been silenced for thousands of years. That may be why Indias Constitution has endured for so long. It has become an instrument for silenced minorities to express themselves, to have injustices redressed and in turn owe their allegiance to their Constitution.

As our Constitution turns 72 years old, let us not take its endurance for granted. In fact, enduring constitutions are the exception, and failing constitutions are the global norm. After having studied every constitution from 1789 to 2005, including 935 different constitutional systems for 200 nations, Tom Ginsburg of the University of Chicago School of Law and his colleagues concluded that on average a constitution survives for around 17 years. The vivid outlier to this norm is Americas constitution which is 234 years old. France with 14 constitutions, Mexico at five constitutions and neighbouring Pakistan with three constitutions typify the global experience.

Indias Constitution has endured because its founders, its interpreters the constitutional courts and litigants in the form of social movements have all ensured that it is used to consistently expand the freedoms of citizens, even if social morality thinks otherwise. The Constitutions morality has stood firmly with disadvantaged castes, women, and religious minorities. In contemporary times, other marginalised groups like LGBT Indians have been heard by constitutional courts that have unanimously found for their freedoms and for a full equality.

Today, we marvel at the 72nd year of the adoption of our Constitution, and 72 years of our birth as We the People. But, as we revel in our good fortune, we must also be aware that its endurance is deeply rooted in the ability of all of us to commit to the project of expanding freedom, not contracting it. The commitment to each others freedom is what keeps this Constitution in place. I may not walk in your shoes, but I commit to ensuring that you will be able to walk.

Congratulations India! Happy belated 72nd Constitution Day. May we always protect and defend our Constitution.

This column first appeared in the print edition on November 27, 2021 under the title The day India was born. The writer is a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India

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Our Constitution, A Beacon of Freedom - The Indian Express

What we have is an expeditionary force seemingly acting at the behest of a despised local administration backed by a callous and rapacious foreign power. Beijing must be sitting back, munching on popcorn and enjoying the show.

Alexandria: Last week in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, demonstrations against the corrupt, CCP-linked Prime Minister Sogavare turned violent. At the request of Sogavare, Australia and Papua New Guinea have sent troops to restore order.

But in another part of the Solomons, less than two weeks before, locals were showing they could create the sort of peace that is truly durable.

Too bad no one outside the country noticed because how they did it holds the key for resolving the current crisis. And it doesnt involve Australians. Or Chinese. Or even Papua New Guineans. It involves Solomon Islanders.

THE MALAITA MASSACRE

It all started in 1927, when Solomon Islands was a British Protectorate.

The Brits had imposed a head tax on able-bodied men. Conveniently, the British also had plantations where those able-bodied men could work to earn the money to pay the head tax. Unsurprisingly, it was not very popular.

On 3 October 1927, William Bell, an Australian-born District Officer, showed up in a coastal town on the island of Malaita to collect the taxes. Bell was killed by Basiana, a local leader. Basiana and his men also killed around a dozen others in the tax collection party, including local policemen from another part of Malaita who were accompanying Bell.

When word got back, the British thought the protectorate was in full revolt and asked the Australians for help to restore order (sound familiar?). The Australians sent the light cruiser HMAS Adelaide to land troops near the site of the attack.

Meanwhile, the Colonial administrators planned a punitive expedition. The expedition included white plantation owners who were so out of shape, they became known as the whiskey army as they drank to the point many were of no use. Vengeful relatives of the local policemen who had been killed were more focused on the task at hand.

By the time the retaliation was over, at least 55 had been killed, close to 200 arrested, villages were burned and Basiana was hanged.

Culturally, the worst lasting damage was the deliberate desecration of ancestral shrines. They believed if the shrines of ancestors were disturbed, their spirits will seek vengeance on their descendants. The trauma was so severe, some converted to Christianity in an attempt to escape their wrath.

FINDING PEACE

So, why are we talking about this 94 years later?

Because a couple of weeks ago, in Malaita, they held a deeply important, open to all, reconciliation ceremony to heal the wounds left festering after the Malaita Massacre.

At the same gathering they unveiled a memorial to Maasina Ruru (roughly rule of relationship of siblings together), the multiethnic network that fought for independence from the British.

CCP IS SYSTEMICALLY ATHEIST

The current foreign power distorting local economics and politics is China. Again, there has been concern and pushback across the country about the effects of CCP influence.

In 2019, soon after the central government switched from Taiwan to China, the Malaita Provincial Government (MPG) issued the Auki Declaration which read: MPG strongly resolves to put in place a Moratorium on Business Licenses to new investors connected directly or indirectly with the Chinese Communist Party.

It explained one of the reasons why: MPG acknowledges the freedom of religion as a fundamental right and further observes the entrenched Christian faith and belief in God by Malaitan and MOIan peoples and therefore rejects the Chinese Communist PartyCCP and its formal systems based on atheist ideology.

So, obviously, the CCP, via its proxies, has been trying to break the resistance in the Solomons. But its hard to buy or bully people of faith (which is also why the CCP is trying to eradicate Tibetan and Uyghur culture). The leaders and people of Malaita, through a deep understanding of each otherand under a shared canopy of respect and faith that leads them towards reconciliationhave been working towards healing wounds created almost a century ago by a callous and rapacious foreign power. They are strengthening themselves to face up to the next one, alongside their similarly concerned siblings in the rest of the country.

FIGHTING FOR PEACE

And this is the situation the Australians walked intofully armed and ignoring the quarantines theyve been saying are so important. It is possible few of the young soldiers on the streets on Honiara have ever heard of the Malaita Massacre. But you can be sure locals looking at them remember.

In an interview with this paper a few weeks ago, respected Solomon Islands leader Hon. Peter Kenilorea, said: Things dont build up very clearly in the Solomon Islandsthings explode suddenly. You need to be more nuanced to read these things.

He was talking about the potential for violence caused by anger at corrupt CCP-linked politicians that, as he predicted, exploded last week. But he could also have been talking about peace. After quietly building momentum, reconciliation and peace was exploding in Malaita. Finally.

Given time, and the involvement of culturally respected leaders, it could have spread across the Solomons. None of the leaders wanted violence. They are calling for calm and want reconciliationand peaceacross the country. Its built into their faith. They are trying to use what peaceful methods they can, including tabling a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister.

The only foreign engagement needed is the sort of thing that helps at a community levelhumanitarian response, transparent and accountable investment, some sound journalism that helps clear up and dissuade corruption. That sort of thing.

What we have instead is an expeditionary force seemingly acting at the behest of a despised local administration backed by a callous and rapacious foreign power. Beijing must be sitting back, munching on popcorn and enjoying the show.

The Australians will need to tread very carefully if they dont want to create the sort of situation that will require Solomon Islanders to once against knit their country back together in a reconciliation ceremony a hundred years from now.

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Solomon Islanders need freedom from PRC, not Australian troops - The Sunday Guardian Live - The Sunday Guardian