Alexander Rheeney on Journalism, Ethics & Information in the Pacific

Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . I’m your host Philipe and in this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through an island perspective. 

Today we’re continuing our special series dedicated to the speakers of the Virtual Island Summit 2022 organized by Island Innovation, of which were are official media partner. 

For this episode I shared a conversation with Diana Koërner, Sustainable Tourism Consultant and Co-Founder, Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Foundation. 

Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . I’m your host Philipe and in this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through an island perspective. 

Today I’m really happy to open a special sequence in this season 2 of the Pacific Toks. Indeed, today’s episode will be the first of a series that will run through the coming weeks that will introduce you to the speakers of the Virtual Island Summit 2022 of which Pacific Ventury is an official Media Partner.

The Virtual Island Summit is organized by Island Innovation, a full-service marketing and public relations agency which offers unique insights into islands and sustainability.

This Summit aims to encourage islanders share knowledge and solutions for resilient, sustainable and prosperous islands worldwide.

Along the Summit, we have thus decided to seat with some of the speakers to dig deeper into their projects, ideas and their insights for our Pacific islands. 

You’ll be able to hear from people from The Pacific but also from other islands of the globe that share similar challenges and concerns as our Pacific community.

For this first episode, I had the privilege to talk with Ariana Tibon. Ariana is a nuclear justice advocate and Commissioner and Nuclear Envoy to the RMI National Nuclear Commission. 

Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . I’m your host Philipe and in this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through a Pacific perspective. 

Today I’m very happy to introduce my guest for this episode. For once, it’s someone from my home island who’s coming to share a conversation with me. Someone I’ve known for years and with whom I had the chance to collaborate many times: Alexander Lee.

Alexander is an artist from Tahiti who has traveled all around the world to express his art through many forms around the idea of perspective and connections with others. 

With him we talk about his creative process, the need for art and contemporary art in questioning our islands societies in the wake of our history and how art can guide us into the future.

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Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . I’m your host Philipe and in this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through a Pacific perspective. 

Today I’m very excited to share with you a special episode. Today we’re talking and sharing music. For this episode I went to have an open conversation with Edwina Floch, a social entrepreneur, activist and the founder of the Environmental Music Prize . Edwina is from Australia and has dedicated her career to promoting and bringing to our attention all the musical creativity that cares for our planet and our future.

And as a bonus, at the end of this episode you’ll be able to listen to one of the song that made it to the finalist: Ta’u Tama, a song written by Vaiteani, a band from my home island, Tahiti.

Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . In this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through a Pacific perspective. 
This is the last part of my conversation with Lord Fusitu’a  during which we discuss NFTs and their role in land management in the Pacific, as well as how we can envision those technologies as positive disruptors of our institutions, in the context of Polynesian culture. 

Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . In this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through a Pacific perspective. 

This is the second part of my conversation with Lord Fusitu’a  we discuss the technical and social challenges that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can represent in the Pacific and how he plans to overcome them.

Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . In this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through a Pacific perspective. 
Today I’m sharing with you a fascinating conversation I had with Lord Fusitu’a , a Tongan politician and noble of the Kingdom of Tonga, who serves in multiple organizations and who is also a notorious bitcoin advocate in the Pacific.

Lord Fusituʻa is very active in several key areas of anti-corruption and global transnational security in Oceania, as well as in the financial technology arena. He is a grassroots and social media educator and advocate for Bitcoin to empower the underbanked agrarian farmers particularly in the area of remittances. He advocates for legislation to allow Tonga to adopt Bitcoin as a national currency.

Our conversation has been fascinating and extensive as we delved deep into the challenges and benefits of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the Pacific. As I wanted to share with you the whole extent of our chat, this episode will be presented in 3 parts. So stay tuned for the coming parts in the weeks to come.

On this first part of our conversation, Lord Fusitu’a tells us about his career and how he came to realize the importance of Bitcoin for Tonga and the Pacific. He’s also sharing with us some news about the situation of Tonga following the major volcanic eruption in January and how the economy as well as the community have been since then.

Ia Ora Na everyone and welcome to this new episode of Pacific Toks season 2 . In this podcast I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about global challenges through a Pacific perspective. 

Today I’m sharing with you a conversation I had with Mamta Chand , a women’s rights activist from Fiji.

I’ve known Mamta since 2016, when we met at the the East West Center in Hawaii for the Pacific Islands Leadership Program . You’ll hear us talk about it by the way during our tok. 

Since this time I’ve been following Mamta’s work and I’ve been amazed by her power, her strength and her ability to never give up on what is right and on pushing for positive change. She has also been one of the many women who have helped me to continuously question my perspectives and to make sure that my ideas and views on women and women’s rights are based not only on what I think but on what is and what should be according to them.

That’s why I wanted to talk to her today and share it with you. 

Ia Ora Na and welcome to this new episode of our Pacific Toks, where I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about the challenges our world is facing and seeing them through a Pacific lens. 

For this new episode, we’re looking closely at the situation of journalism in our region: what are the challenges, the specificities and the hopes going forward for a well-informed Pacific region.

To share insights to you on this topic, I’m talking today with Alexander Rheeney. Alexander is a journalist from PNG now working as an editor for the Samoan Observer in Apia. Before that Alexander have been strongly involved in reflections on journalism by working at the Pacific Freedom Forum, the Media Council of PNG, the Lowy Institue and many news organizations in the region.

Ia Ora Na and welcome to this new episode of our Pacific Toks, where I engage in active conversations with my guests to talk about the challenges our world is facing and seeing them through a Pacific lens. 

For this new episode, as a big cinema fan, I’m very happy to share with you today a conversation I had with Ashlee Fidow, a stunt woman. “Ashlee kicks but for a living. Literally”. As I’ve read recently about her. And she does! You actually probably seen her work in many movies including Mulan, The Hobbit and soon to come out on the next Thor. Quite some references!