When Fiji's military dictatorship started censoring the media, the people naturally turned to the internet, both to learn what's going on, and to spread the word about what was happening. In the past few days the blogs have been hot with stories about the arrest of journalists, the detention of judges, and the reaction of foreign countries - all news the regime did not want them to see. Now they're striking back - by shutting down the ISPs:
We have been advised that tyrant Frank has ordered FINTEL, Vodafone, Kidanet, Connect and other ISPs in Fiji to close their internet operations.So, Fiji is now moving past Burma to become the North Korea of the South Pacific - an information black hole from which nothing is allowed to emerge. They won't be able to keep the people ignorant of what the world thinks of them - there is always radio - but they will be able to keep them ignorant of what is happening in their own country. And this from a coup which is supposed to be in the name of a better democracy...
