a parable for an empire in collapse

Photo: Activists helped detainees escape from Woomera during a protest in 2002.

Nauru is a tiny island, population 12,000, a third of the size of Manhattan and despite being in the middle of nowhere has been in the middle of some of the biggest global events.

"This American Life" contributing editor Jack Hitt tells (yes, back in 2003, but I missed it!) the untold story of this dot in the middle of the Pacific.

Highlights include the bankrupting of the Russian economy, global terrorism, North Korean defectors, the end of the world, and the late 1980s theatrical flop of a London musical based on the life of Leonardo da Vinci called Leonardo, A Portrait of Love. And there are 89 Afgani and Iraqi detainees trapped on this island in conditions similar to Guantanemo. The difference? They escaped from the Taliban and Sadam Hussein!

The story is SO worth the $0.95 download because it is a parable, an almost unbelievable story illustrating the dis-eases of our current misguided civilization and its warped, material-entrapped world view.

Interesting to me (at least, because of the name) was the role that Senator Andrew Bartlett of Australia in criticizing the government's treatment of the detainees. Bartlett has been a courageous advocate and human rights champion of refugees and the people trapped on Nauru. A recent blog post of his talks about a hotel guest book and the stories it tells. And you can watch a You Tube video talking about his stances and testimonies from Nauru detainees.

As I can't find the transcript of the radio show, here is a version Hitt did for Utne Reader on Nauru. Toward the end, this question is posed:

Could it be that Nauru will become the first nation-state of the modern age simply to go out of business? Once, Australia offered to give the Nauruans a new island off the Great Barrier Reef. The Nauruans declined, since it would have meant completely surrendering their sovereignty. But it does seem likely that some future leader will have to plan for such a contingency.