Following the imposition of martial law, Fiji's new military ruler, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, announced that all of the rightists' demands were being met. The government and president Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara were dismissed, the country's 1997 constitution was revoked and its 1990 constitution restored, and the organizers of the coup were granted amnesty.

The May 19 takeover of parliament was led by George Speight, described in the press as a "part-Fijian" businessman who returned to Fiji from Australia four years ago. He was accompanied by seven members of the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit (CRWU), an elite army unit set up under Sitiveni Rabuka. Rabuka led two military coups in Fiji in 1987 that prevented a previous Labour government from taking office, and ruled Fiji until elections in May last year.

Hundreds of supporters were allowed to enter the parliament and reinforce the rightist siege during the days following the takeover. Speight demanded that the Labour-led government be replaced by a government run by "indigenous Fijians".

The attempted coup was launched as 5,000 opponents of the government were marching through the capital city of Suva. The rightist Taukei movement and opposition parties linked to Fiji's hereditary ruling chiefs organized the march as part of a campaign to undermine the Labour-led government. These forces raise demands for "indigenous rights" in order to assert their claims to political power, while attacking the Labour-led government as "Indian-dominated" and stirring resentment against Fijians of Indian descent. As news of the coup spread, gangs began attacking Indo-Fijian-owned stores in central Suva, looting 167 and torching 20. President Mara imposed a state of emergency and curfew.

Workers and farmers responded to the coup with a 24-hour strike May 22 that brought the country to a standstill, closing workplaces, schools, and transportation. The Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC), which represents trade unions and organizations of working farmers, called the strike to demand that the Labour-led government be restored to office. The Labour Party was formed by the FTUC in 1985.

Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs began meeting in Suva May 23 to broker a deal with the coup leaders. While opposing Speight's coup and calling for the hostages to be released, they seized the opportunity to press their interests, concurring that the Chaudhry government should be removed and replaced by a government dominated by "indigenous Fijians." The council, however, voted to continue backing Kamisese Mara as president.

Mara announced May 27 that he had dismissed the Labour-led government, which is still imprisoned at parliament, and was appointing a new government. He also said he was considering amnesty for Speight and his gunmen.

Under the 1997 constitution, the Great Council of Chiefs appoints the president, who is head of state and commander of the armed forces. The constitution acknowledges the council as the body from which authority derives. Rabuka, although a "commoner," is chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs.

The Labour Party won a landslide victory in Fiji's May 1999 elections, gaining 37 seats in the 71-seat parliament, an outright majority. Its two coalition partners in the election campaign gained an additional 15 seats. Labour leader Mahendra Chaudhry, who became prime minister, had been a longtime leader of the Fiji Trades Union Congress and secretary of the Public Service Association and of the National Farmers Union.

An opinion poll six months ago showed 62 percent of voters supported Chaudhry as prime minister.

The main party representing the chiefly aristocracy and local capitalists, Soqosoqo Ni Vakavuewa Taukei (SVT), led by Rabuka, was soundly defeated in the elections, winning only eight seats. Speight was a SVT candidate in the elections. A number of reactionary nationalist parties, critical of Rabuka, drew votes away from the SVT. Its coalition partner, the National Federation Party (NFP), won no seats, losing its electoral base to the Labour Party. The NFP, dominated by Indo-Fijian capitalists, had previously been the main opposition party in Fiji, drawing its electoral support from Indo-Fijian workers and farmers.

The Labour-led coalition won the support of workers and farmers who are Indo-Fijians and indigenous Fijians, cutting across the tradition of voting along racial lines. Although two-thirds of the government cabinet were indigenous Fijians, the capitalist media routinely describes the government as "Indian-dominated."

During its year in office the Labour-led government had begun implementing a number of measures that are in the interests of working people. This included lowering taxes and introducing price controls on basic foodstuffs, electricity, health care, housing, and education; introducing social benefits for the unemployed and elderly for the first time; and restoring jobs lost under privatization programs of the previous government.

The population of Fiji is more than 800,000, of whom 51 percent are indigenous Fijians and 43 percent Indo-Fijians. The country was a British colony until 1970, and its economic life today is dominated by Australian and New Zealand banks and businesses.

The Great Council of Chiefs was established by the colonial authorities as a prop to British rule. Ownership of the bulk of the land in Fiji was vested in the chiefs, and remains the source of their income and authority. The vast majority of working people, whether indigenous Fijians or Indo-Fijians, cannot own the land they work.

Workers from the Indian subcontinent were brought to Fiji in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to work on the vast colonial sugar plantations, first as indentured laborers and later as tenant farmers. Colonial laws sought to segregate indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians and ascribed them separate legal and political rights. This set-up was largely retained at independence, with a racially segregated electoral system designed to ensure continued political rule by the chiefs, backed by local and foreign business interests.  
 
Breaking down of divisions
The development of a large modern working class, however, has undermined this social system, increasingly drawing working people of all nationalities together in the factories and on the land. At the same time, working people have forged trade unions and organizations of working farmers, and a Labour Party based on these, to advance their demands for social and democratic rights.

These gains are what reactionary forces are targeting with the coup, the ouster of the Labour-led government, and the demands by the chiefly aristocracy backed by prominent local capitalists for the restoration of "Fijian domination."

The 1997 constitution was drawn up by Rabuka in collaboration with the Australian and New Zealand governments. It replaced the constitution introduced by Rabuka in 1990 following the 1987 coups, which had sought to enshrine the rule of the chiefs and diminish the voting rights of Indo-Fijians.

While hailed by the imperialist powers as "restoring democracy" to Fiji, the new constitution merely removed the most discriminatory clauses of its predecessor, while maintaining the racially segregated voting system and upholding the ultimate authority of the Great Council of Chiefs.

The imperialist powers with interests in Fiji, principally Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and the United States, have threatened sanctions against Fiji unless the coup attempt is resolved constitutionally.  
 
 
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