(Im)patience is a Virtue: Independence of Bougainville, 2027
2019 was a big year for Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and the South Pacific as a whole. It was this year that the people of Bougainville voted overwhelmingly (almost 98%) for independence from Papua New Guinea. This was the monumental step dreamt of by generations of Bougainvilleans, that one day they can govern themselves in peace, free from the multitude of oppressive regimes of the past several hundred years. The day came and went, and now Bougainville has been a proud member of the UN since then…
…except that last part never happened. Rather, now eight years later, it seems like a whole lot of nothing has happened. Besides the Era Kona Covenant signed between the two parties in April 2022, an agreement that has promised the materialization of a “political settlement” for Bougainville’s future by 2027, the 11th National Parliament of Papua New Guinea has largely done everything it can to preserve national unity: by doing precisely nothing of binding significance. Led by Prime Minister Michael Somare, who is facing the most contentious fight of his political life this June, PNG’s Parliament has refused to table the critically non-binding referendum for ratification, a move Somare agreed to motion for by the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the Bougainville House of Representatives, led by the never-tiring President Ishmael Toroama, has expressed that the only settlement from the Era Kona Covenant that they’ll settle for is independence and nothing less. Unlike Mr. Somare, President Toroama has been true to his word, having informed his constituents that he will give the National Parliament until the agreed 2027 to follow through on their commitment to completion.
2027 has now arrived, and the over 250,000 Bougainvilleans of the name-sake Autonomous Region are well past waiting another day for the independence they voted for eight years ago. President Toroama has called the Bougainville House of Representatives and allied parties for a special session that could only be described as a Constitutional Convention, as they seek to unilaterally declare independence for the third time in their history. Will the third time be the charm? How will Somare’s Papua New Guinea retaliate, if they choose to do so? How will the world respond to a potential new battleground for US/China relations?
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AN UPDATE ON THE WORLD OF BOUGAINVILLE
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Alec Vizoso
Chair
Alec is a third-year in The College, majoring in Economics, Public Policy, and Latin American & Caribbean Studies. He is from Miami, Florida, the so-called “Capital of Latin America,” so expect some heavily-influenced Cuban Spanglish slang sprinkled all over anything he says. He has been involved in MUN since 8th grade, serving as a Chair for ChoMUN’s first Spanish bilingual committee, "¡Junta queremos!: La independencia de Chile, 1810," last year, and as an AC for "Until Death Do Us Part: Federal Republic of Central America, 1823" in ChoMUN XXV. He has also been involved in UChicago’s Travel Team and MUNUC since his first year, serving as the CD for "EPCOT 1967" in MUNUC 35 and as an AC for the "Foreign Policy Team of George H. W. Bush, 1991" in MUNUC 34. Outside of MUN, he is a Legal Intern at Baker McKenzie’s Pro Bono Practice, and is currently the Political Chair of UChicago’s Organization of Latin American Students. His favorite pastimes include having a Pusheen (yes), sleeping for less than 3 hours a night, and using his favorite cafetera for some classic coladas and/or café con leche with the backdrop of some non-stop reggaetón on AUX. (He’s also way too good at Mario Kart for this world, like all objections will be ruled dilatory upon receipt.)
If he sounds like the coolest guy you can ever meet (and also if he’s not, but still), reach out to him at avizoso@uchicago.edu. He loves to hear from actual human beings every once and a while, ya know.
André Tse
Chair
André Tse is a second-year pursuing Public Policy and Fundamentals (essentially a literature/philosophy thesis programme). Born and bred in Hong Kong, André now tries to ignore their gentrifier status and calls themselves a proud Chicagoan. He started at ChoMUN XXVI as an Assistant Chair for "Let's Keep this War Civil, China in the Warlord Era, 1914-1922," dealing with a nation split multiple ways, dragons, and Indiana Jones in backroom. He's also a member of the travelling MUN team. On a free day, you can catch André in Chicago's Chinatown having suboptimal Hong Kong food to temporarily relieve their homesickness or at a cinema watching a spellbindingly boring indie film (busy logging it on Letterboxd). Due to their background in Hong Kong's own history of struggles, they're deeply interested in resistance movements as well as independence efforts, and they look forward to fighting for Bougainville's independence (or not) with delegates.
For any questions or avant-garde film recs, feel free to contact him at andretse@uchicago.edu.