why the money in png stinks : please don't shit on my country or talk shit about it while you are feeding off it
last saturday night pinky u went to dinner with a whole bunch of people ricebag knows. something happened. a conversation ensued which is still slightly surreal to me, although its not unexpected given some of the racist attitudes of some people, who are not papua new guinea citizens, that ricebag knows. definitely NOT all - just a few. mostly the ones who have been here the longest and somehow think it is ok to talk like this - how could ANYONE ever think it was appropriate to say that the money in papua new guinea literally stinks and that is because the papua new guinean citizens on their payday put the money up their bums/assholes/anus/backsides. HELLO?? how direspectful is that? how crude. how ignorant. how rude.
racism is not ok in varying degrees. ie saying 'oh - thats not really racist' or it's not 'extremely racist' doesn't cut it. a "small" racist slur or a "simple" racist joke or a truly horrifying racist crime - it's all symptoms of the same disease - IGNORANCE at best and ultimately, hatred. and i, for one, can no longer tolerate it.
papua new guinean citizens in this country WORK HARD and with DIGNITY and with HONOUR. papua new guinean citizens in this country are DISADVANTAGED every single day because of those (both citizens and non-citizens) who take advantage and screw both the people and their environment and resources over through corruption and because of greed. papua new guinean citizens in this country are expected to SURVIVE despite the completely UNREALISTIC COST OF LIVING imposed on us by a cash economy and import regime and shitty trade deals ... all things imposed outside the average papua new guinean citizens' control. despite all of this, papua new guinean citizens are NOT beggars in their own country. we are one of the few nations on the planet in which the people still 'own' the tribal lands from which they came and therefore, always have the option of returning home and living off the land. in fact, in this country, 85% of people subsist in the rural economy.
and just in case you didn't realize, papua new guinean citizens, on their payday, do not put money up their bums.
what papua new guinean citizens don't need is for people who are not papua new guinean citizens to come here and INSULT and DENIGRATE and RIDICULE us whilst they are happy to make their own profit in this land.
i am not railing just against the conversation - i am also really trying to get papua new guinean citizens to understand - MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE that we, papua new guinean citizens, need to say that that kind of talking, those kind of views are COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!!!
it is NEVER worth keeping the peace if you LOSE your respect for your self and your heritage. if we dont RESPECT ourselves NOONE else EVER will. and sitting there and letting this slide is akin to saying its ok. and it is NEVER OK. ALWAYS ALWAYS STICK UP FOR YOURSELF - especially when noone else can or will or knows how or is afraid to.
i propose a system of ZERO TOLERANCE.
as a papua new guinea citizen with expatriate education i come across these people daily. up until recently i thought you had to compromise your ethics to survive in this place and definitely to thrive. but that is not true.
i, myself have been the subject of racism - all over the world. it always comes as more of a shock in my own country ... it seems some people who are not papua new guinean citizens think i am black on the outside and white on the inside and therefore must be 'open' to the uneducated and racist conversations that describe other papua new guinean citizens as being like and living like and acting like and thinking like ANIMALS.
other than being incredibly coarse and racist, its incredibly HYPOCRITICAL. many of these people get completely DEFENSIVE if i make a negative comment about their country of origin (not a racist comment but political/social/hostorical commentary) and yet they never think twice of IMPUGNING my people, our cities, our culture, our hopes, our land. and all at the time that they are happy to make money out of it. don't forget - thats papua new guinean money which stinks because papua new guinean citizens stick it up their bums on payday.
so why did i associate with them here? even though i suspected ramblings of racism masked as humour, i ignored it. png is a small country and port moresby a small city, you 'make do' with what is available. and that means the people too.
well, that's all over. my zero tolerance regime kicked in a little while back and whilst my social circle is smaller. i feel a LOT healthier. and un-fucking-compromised.
it pains me because the people who said those things are NOT EVIL - they are ignorant - and it's hard because the ricebag knows some of those people probably have other good, even great, qualities - however, thinking the way they do and then saying it out loud and thinking its ok to be vocalise racist thoughts as fact is not ok - and in the 'game of life', for ricebag, it completely OVERRULES all other personal positive qualities people might possess. there should NEVER be a time when sitting in a public restaurant in papua new guinea at a table with papua new guinea citizens makes it ok to suggest that other papua new guinea citizens are so DESPERATE and FOUL and FILTHY that they put papua new guinea currency into their butt-cracks/assholes/anuses etc etc and that THAT is why the money here stinks.
Jesus.
help me.
now - on pinku u's blog, some people said papua new guinean citizens are ALSO racist. and that is 100% for sure! no doubt about it. racism is a crappy and a universal human condition. but this rant and that conversation on saturday night is not about the racist attitudes of papua new guinean citizens. its about people who are not papua new guinean citizens and who come to this country; bitch about it the entire time they are here; and act like they are doing us a favour while they are "surviving" the incredible shitty experience of living here. guess what? we do NOT need your commerce or your sacrifice. so please fuck off. we have enough of our own shitty, racist, greedy papua new guinean citizens in this country and we certainly do NOT need to import any more people like that. so go back wherever it is you came from. and NEVER say you 'survived' papua new guinea. WE ARE SURVIVING YOU!!
and if you think our money stinks. you MUST love the smell and the taste and the feel of stinking money coz you are still here. making more. so you can go home and buy stuff with it while you tell people who are the citizens of your own country about how crap it was in papua new guinea, but even though the money stank from being put up papua new guinean citizens arses, you still wanted it so much you shovelled and shoved into your ravenous wallets. you know what stinks. you stink. you REEK. you make me sick. you act WITHOUT HONOUR and WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY. YOU ARE GUESTS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA and NEVER BLOODY FORGET THAT.
without you, we will be fine. without papua new guinea - who are you?
THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.
posted by highlander islander @ 19:10
7 Comments:
Kim, another topic that is close to my heart and reality. Being Papua New Guinean has been a struggle of positive identity since being a teenager - when I began to personalise the negative feedback about being Papua New Guinean - apparently we're lazy, stupid, dirty, liars, oh and black. We are valued when we are good workers - don't ask for more than what we're given, smile and keep quite. As an adult, educated Papua New Guinean I still come across incidents of racism - the lack of eye contact at introduction, the demand by a client to talk to a white lawyer, and so on. Of course the incidents are soooooo many, but you get the drift. I have mostly ignored the incidents as I've been busy working and shaping the career, but then something happened - I remembered that I have to power and the obligation to stand up for myself, my son, my mother, my father, my sisters, my brohter, my aunties, my uncles, my grandmother, my grandfather, my lover and my fellow citizens. I remembered that I am living for more than career, that I am living for justice, the enlightened path, truth - all the good stuff.
So recently (the last year or so) I have been saying in all kind of interesting situations that I am a black Papua New Guinean and for that alone alot of times I am treated with such disrespect and disregard. I find that when I have been direct and vocal the racist person looses his/ her power to intimidate and his/ her ignorance is completely obvious to the average inteligent person. We need to believe in ourselves and pass on the postive good stuff about being Papua New Guinean. I have also been subjected to racism from fellow Papua New Guineans - I am lighter than the average Papua New Guinean. The more I think about it the more I know that racism is based on FEAR - fear of someone been better at your job than you, fear of someone making more money than you, fear that someone will treat you with disrespect and so on and on. I have so much more to write...but there is always another day in regards to this topic. Keep fighting, because when your died you can't anymore.
with you ricebag - well said.
You are completely right ricebag. I think that Papua New Guineas have accepted and repeated behaviours which are not conducive with development. Its time that we start taking our own future into our hands. Its well and trully time that we started working together as a community to improve our situation. We all have unique skills which we can put together and draw from.
Lets clean this place up. I love PNG and I will scream that at the top of my lungs. Everyday, more and more a love grows in me. This place is home. Who in their right mind keeps someone who rubbishes their home in their home for long? Not many.
We are here to stay and all those who want to stay and help this country to grow are more than welcome in our home as guests and family.
Peace and Love
K,
I have always had a zero tolerance level to such attitudes. As an educated Papua New Guinean woman I do not and will not put up with such comments from non citezens. Who the hell are they? Some of those people come here as advisers and consultants and know 'f' all about PNG. My favourite one is their 'capacity building' catch phrase. What a load of crap! These people obviously like the money that we stick up our bums coz their still here!
Although I am not a Papua New Guinean citizen, I agree with your sentiments completely.
Any form of prejudice is wrong.
I live in Madang, on the north coast of PNG, and I have noticed in recent months a frightening increase in the amount of anti-Chinese sentiment. This is affecting not only those new Chinese arrivals associated with the Ramu Nickel mine, but also, sadly, those Chinese who have been in PNG for generations.
Another form of prejudice that is of concern in PNG right now is religious intolerance.
Of particular concern are the comments made by Peter Ipatas and others recently against Buddhism and Islam. Surely a democracy should be built upon religious freedom? And indeed, freedom from all forms of prejudice.
Sometimes I just don't get it. Why do we try so hard to be like them? Why don't we take the good;
>Education
>Healthy Living
>Grooming etc
and leave the bad;
>Individualism at the expense of communalism
>Popular culture instead of Melanesean culture..etc
We'll never be good enough,if we try to be like them.
Know yourself,know your history, be proud of who you are.I love going to the village and walking and talking about our ancestors,customs and learning our family tree. It helped me alot when I was in Uni and everyone thought that I was this dumb black kid.I guess they had to think again when I was aksed to give the student vote of thanks at our graduation.
You don't dispell ignorance through long diatribes against racism and prejudice.You take all that righteous anger and you channel it into actions that will educate them and force them to change their perspective.
I am so crazy for my beautiful country PNG, as a black female professional working & living in Sydney it is tough but I am someone that likes to take the bull by its horns and show them what I am made of!!!
Okay I let them( ignorant ones that is)judge me by the colour of my skin but in my mind I am thinking just you wait and see what this gal is capable of and I aim to knock them off on the first round. Do or die and Never Say Never, the sky is the limit. As for those white outcasts back home, they will never fit into their own society because they are just not fit and competable thats why some of them have been in PNG like forever!! with no intention of returning to their country. Theses so called expats in PNG would most probably end up being gardeners, cab drivers or even gabbage collectors.......... ONE THING I REALLY HATE IS OUR "YES MASTER THREE BAGS FULL".
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THESE SO CALLED EXPATS.
Give us another 3-5 years and we will be running the show coz amongst the other Pacific Islanders we are are very proud and hard working people so we have great times ahead.!!
I AM BLACK AND PROUD - Will Smith when interviewed by Oprah said " ONCE YOU GO BLACK THERE IS NO TURNING BACK"!!
Much Love,
Another Highlander Island gal
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