By Jill Hickson
SYDNEY — Around 70 people packed into the Art Resistance video studio here recently for the premiere of a new video on Bougainville. Bougainville: Australia's Hidden War was produced by Actively Radical TV, a community-based group whose aim is to produce regular programs dealing with topical political and social issues.
"We want to produce programs which would be used as a resource by the social movements. We decided the first program should be Bougainville because of Australia's direct but secret involvement in the war and which is totally ignored by the Packer-Murdoch press", said John Reynolds from ARTV. "In fact, it was programs like the Foreign Correspondent report by Sean Dorney in June that sparked off our interest in taking up this issue."
The video, which runs for just over 33 minutes, includes a documentary section featuring footage of Bougainville and its people taken by Rosemarie Gillespie on her last visit there. It documents the background to the struggle, the effects of colonialism, the introduction of the Panguna Copper mine and the pollution and devastation of caused by the mine, and the Bougainvilleans' struggle for peace and independence over a period of 20 years. Included is footage of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army not been seen before.
The video also features songs written and sung by Peter Hicks and Alistair Hulett as well as traditional Buka music (Buka is the small island to the north of the main island which is being used as a military base by the PNG Defence Force).
The second aspect of the video is a panel discussion with Moses Havini, the representative of the Bougainville Interim Government, Marilyn Havini, an artist and teacher who lived and taught on Bougainville for 20 years, and human rights lawyer Rosemarie Gillespie.
Since the closing of the Panguna Copper Mine in 1989, the PNG government has enforced an information and economic blockade and has waged war on the tiny island. The blockade has caused the deaths of more than 2000 Bougainvilleans.
The Australian government denies any involvement in the war despite overwhelming evidence that Australian-supplied patrol boats, helicopters, mortar bombs and rifles are causing destruction and human suffering on a large scale.
Actively Radical TV, a voluntary organisation, sprang up around the interest in community TV and set itself the aim of producing a regular 30-minute program every fortnight. So far it has produced programs on politics and music; the ACTU and the Indonesian generals; and Reclaim the Night.
ARTV meetings are every Wednesday night at 10 Norton St, Leichhardt, on the 2nd Floor from 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome who agrees with the general aim of the group and who would like to get involved and learn new skills.