Author Archives: zmcghee

Genocide is a form of massacre to a grand number of people for political, economic, or social beliefs. When discussing the history of genocide in the world, you can see that whenever there has been a genocide that has taken place, the rules of war have been violated. One example is the Holocaust during World War 2 when the Axis powers and the Allies were fighting each other. Not only was Germany killing actual military soldiers, but they were killing actual civilians that were not trying to interfere with the war, and that went against the Geneva convention which says that you can’t kill civilians that are in areas of conflict. This is just one of the many occurrences that have shown that there is a lack of control of the rules of war during a conflict. Not only does this show that war can be an unfair battle between parties and their people, but it also supports claims that conflict and disagreements should be dealt with by other means. One way or another, mass killings of a people should be banned and if the event of a genocide happens, the oppressors should be handed firm consequences for the harm they caused to the people and the environment around the incident.

Currently in the Solomon Islands, Australia is financially aiding them to make an attempt to prevent climate change from damaging themselves and the world. Though the Solomon Islands have been facing some challenges with COVID-19 and concerns with the United States and Australia, due to the security pact made with some pacific islands and China, this issue is major because the Solomon Islands are losing land rapidly. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that Australia is raising the total budget for development overseas by almost 900 million US dollars, and almost 600 million of that budget is going to the Pacific areas. Wong stated, “this additional assistance will directly support action in the region to strengthen climate resilience, including on climate science and renewable energy.” Her actions in attempt to stop climate change isn’t just for the Solomon Islands. Her motives in this is to also to make “major step towards the goal of making Australia stronger and more influential in the world.” These major actions that the Foreign Minister is making is a crucial step in positively changing the world because the threat of climate change is so severe, it can reshape the world completely if not delt with through direct action.

Al Jazeera. “Australia promises millions in climate, security aid for Pacific.” Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/21/australia-promises-millions-in-security-aid-for-solomon-islands

Endangered cultures are cultures that are close to being extinct due to the lack of involvement of the cultural traditions and the lack of the language being spoken from the culture. Wade Davis’s TED Talk “Dreams From Endangered Cultures” shines light on this issue. His standpoint is that since people have not been partaking in the cultural traditions and speak the languages that they hold, cultures have been dying off at fast rates. I agree with this because people during these times are not as interested in keeping cultural customs and languages alive as their elders and ancestors were and a lot of cultures have become extinct as a result of that. Another reason for some cultures and languages’ extinction is that a change of culture has happened, and the old traditions are left in history. An example of this is the language Tanema. This language is of the Solomon Islander’s culture and is spoken by only one person on the Vanikoro Island. The reason for this is because the Solomon Islands stopped using Tanema and declared Teanu as their main language. Not only did this change stop the language from being taught to people, but this also stopped the culture surrounding it. Even though the language and culture of Tanema is almost extinct because of this, nothing else has been left or lost.

In the Solomon Islands, there has been a long epidemic of inequality. For decades, two of the most predominant forms of inequality in the Solomon Islands are the issues of rape and other forms of violence against, whether with or without a sexual partner, and the economic unfairness against women.

According to an article from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, commonly known as UN Women, “about 90% of women who reported violence experienced it from an intimate partner, while 64% of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 reported physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner.” Along with that, there are “around 10% of women who had ever been pregnant reported physical violence during a pregnancy.” In the five year period from 1998 to 2003, a civil conflict was prevalent which led to an immense amount of violence and abuse which created a snowball effect that led to increased aggression towards against women and children from residents in logging camps.

In the workforce in the Solomon Islands, women are on the short end of the stick in all measures, mainly due to the belief of traditional gender roles. According to an article from UN Women, “about 60.4% of the Solomon Islands’ female population is in employment, compared to 72.2% of men, with over three-quarters of these women participating in subsistence work (76.2%) compared to 58.1% of men.” When women try to become educated to fix this problem, the schools favor the men more, which results in women not getting proper education to play major roles in society.

These are just two of the inequalities that are present in the Solomon Islands as of today. Though there are people attempting to put an end to the disrespect against women with movements and advocating for women’s rights, the conflicts and inequalities continue every day.

Solomon Islands,UN Women, https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/fiji/co/solomon-islands

In the Russo-Ukrainian war, the fear of being attacked by Russia is rising dramatically. With that comes the concern if a country’s security is prepared for an incoming assault. According to the Global Times, journalist Nebojsa Malic states that Australian intelligence says that Chinese military and police are offering to help the Solomon Islands to assist in holding social harmony and build military holds on the ports nearby, but the Australian government is giving that proposal a harsh decline. Having a Chinese military installment within that close of proximity is a clear threat to Australia, which led David Llewellyn-Smith to say that Australia should bomb the capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara.

This is all because of the diplomatic agreements China has with the Solomon islands, which were established in 2019. This is not just concerning Australia, but it is also concerning the United States. Since the United States’ trading routes pass by Guadalcanal, a place where America was fighting the Japanese during World War 2. This also intervenes with America’s “containment strategy in the Indo-Pacific.” This shows that the decisions of the Solomon Islands are infringing upon the US and Australia, and the decisions made in the future may determine if possible aggressive actions will be made by the Australian government and the United States.

Malic, Nebojsa.”Ukraine and the Solomon Islands: A clash of world paradigms.”Global Times. April 28, 2022. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1260572.shtml

According to the Solomon Islands Government webpage, through evidence from archaeologists and linguists, it’s said that people from Southeast Asia established themselves in the Solomon Islands within the range of 3000 to 2000 BC, but it wasn’t until 1568 when the Europeans found out about the Solomon Islands. During that time, a pioneer named Álvaro de Mendana discovered gold in Guadalcanal. His find of such treasury caused him to believe that he discovered the Bible’s King Solomon’s riches, which eventually led the span of islands to be dubbed the Solomon Islands. His voyage to the Solomon Islands gained popularity among other travelers which led to individual islands gaining Spanish names and a British protectorate being put in place in the islands of Tulagi, the capital of the protectorate, Makira, New Georgia, Malaita, and Guadalcanal.

During the 20th century, due to the aggression Japan had in World War 2, the islands turned towards to war. Later in the century, the British protectorate was removed from the Solomon Islands, which allowed them to be an independent nation in 1978. A couple of decades later, tribal strife stirred up into a violent arms conflict, but was settled in 2003 when RAMSI, the regional assistance mission to Solomon Islands, was initiated by Australia and its neighboring islands. Ever since that, the islands have been at peace.