Coconut Revolution

Al-Jazeera's English language station has recently been showing one of the most inspiring documentaries ever made.

When the people of Bougainville were ripped off by the multi-nationals that had taken over much of their island, they asked for 20 million dollars in compensation. They were laughed out of the room. No one laughs at them now!

Dom Rotheroe's documentary covers not just their insurrection, and the grubby role played by the Australian state in supporting the multi-nationals and Papa New Guinea, but also looks out how the islanders came to grapple with one of the questions all revolutionaries ultimately have to answer - what do we do when the authorities fuck off?

In Bougainville the islanders were left with scores of vehicles, but no petrol. Those vehicles now run on coconut oil. If you want to find out more, you can view the programme here, and you should also be able to find it on Youtube.