************************ ERIKA'S RESPONSE *********************************

to: tahitipm@mail.pf

Letter from Anaho

Dear Alex du Prel,

Thank you for your copied editorial letter comparing me with the French colonial admiral and fleet commander M.Petit-Thouars. I never thought of myself as quite that important or bloody, but no doubt I have anchored in the same bays as he did, and marvelled at the same beauty as he has, and as you have as well when you sailed here with your own sailboat.

First of all, and most importantly, why did you make me into a German lady from Lower Saxony who feels "chez elle" in your editorial?

>une dame "purutia" de Basse-Saxe [qui] se sente soudainement chez elle

You are the German who feels at home in Polynesia, not me. How many times did I say to you that I am Jewish American? Did you make me German, with what you see as a typical Germanic severity, for the sake of your editorial? Are you trying to create a hatred of Germans in Polynesia? I am simply defending what I see as fair, the fact that my husband is German and he has no rights here. Every French Polynesian (including yourself) has the right to come to any EU-Country to study, trade goods or work or just stay as long as they want tomorrow.

I would appreciate a correction in your paper stating that the woman in question was NOT German, but even worse, a JEWISH AMERICAN. (Oooh, are you going to add paranoid, hysteric, righteous, frustrated, domineering, etc.?) I just don't think you're going to do it. It would be a shame to think that you adopt the same truth stretching journalistic tendencies as do most of the French Polynesian press.

Unlike you, however, whether you like it or not, you are German, not Tahitian. After weeks of discussion with all sorts of your old sailing buddies here in the Marquesas, including our mutual friends Odile and Alain of Taohaie, we've come up with one rather relieving conclusion which would explain your attitude most precisely:

As yourself a closet German-American-Frenchy-Popa, you feel the most comfortable in the role of defender of the Polynesian people, as a Polynesian yourself. More of a Polynesian than the Polynesians themselves, it fact! Any mentioning of yourself as a first generation visitor to Polynesia, having arrived a few years earlier on your yacht, in the exact same way that we have, and as you say, did Admiral Petit- Thouars, is completely effaced.

You end the editorial with:> Quand enfin aurons nous droit a un referendum ?

Who is this "nous?" Us, the Polynesians? You, as a now resident of French Polynesia? Why do YOU have the right to colonialize but not the next guy?

On many points I couldn't agree with you more. That's what has made the whole correspondence with you more difficult than it should be. But that brings me to the second falsity in your editorial: my first letter to you was NOT, as you falsely stated, a "demande de l'aide." READ ONCE AGAIN THE LETTER "Chapeau, Alex!" from November 23, 1998: It was a compliment on your magazine which I painstakingly (never said I was completely fluent) wrote to you in French, informing you of our struggle with the French authorities here. I simply promised to keep you up to date with the struggle, and never asked for help. I did ask for help on finding a reasonably priced, non-monopolized Internet Service Provider in Tahiti, which you couldn't help me with.

We wouldn't have even gotten involved in the whole thing if the French tourists also still posted bond, but somehow they lifted the bond for themselves in 1995. So now their little empire is complete. They get all the goodies from both Europe AND Polynesia, and are hiding under the umbrella of "territoire" so that they don't have to face ANY of the inconveniences which are part of the treaties they've signed.

Both you and I seem to be disgusted at the magouille colonialization of French Polynesia and the dishonest ways that the French have continued to milk both sides: Europe on the one, Polynesia on the other. You really think it was the Polynesians who initiated this bond law? I know you don't.

You purposefully misinterpret us. WE DON'T WANT TO PUNISH THE POLYNESIANS. I wish the Polynesian people had more of a voice and a say in the whole thing. I don't feel at all like I can speak for them, or that I can come here and know what is good for them, as you seem to know. That is why I should probably be more insulted than I am at your consistant referal to me as a "neo-colonist." Sticks and stones will break my bones.

I am the last to say I have some God-given right to be here. As long as French politics remain two-faced, however, I will do what I can to force them to face the facts, and expose them to those who care.

If someone asked me my opinion, I've seen many countries who've made it just fine after independence. One of our favorite countries we visited is Trinidad, independent since 1962 and doing very well: deeply cultural, well educated, steady economy. No one said it would be easy to become independent, but I bet Europe would be even more generous with their subsidies to Polynesia if they choose to stand on their own feet.

Speaking of which, Achim and I do not find the EU-Funding for French Polynesia stingy as you state in your short article last year "Radin, l'Europe." Divide the amount by 188,000 citizens and then try to find a place that gets more money per capita! Germany pays 61.77% of this money, while "La Grande Nation" France gets away with 4.4%.(Data source: EU-Kommission Brussels).

- Why should French Polynesia get money from the EU at all?
- Why does French Polynesia have its own representative in Brussels?
- Why do German taxpayers need to pay for environmental cleaning in French Polynesia?
- Why is it not the moral responsibility of France to take care of their own decontamination problems?

Why, Alex?

I'm not the only one who is shocked that you refuse to put a link to our Tahiti-Bond website in your magazine. In the last few weeks it has had over 1,000 visitors. We've scanned all original documents, along with the Tribunal Administratif's and the High Commissioner's responses. We just received a letter from Gaston Flosse himself and one from the German Embassy in Paris, both which will be added to the site as soon as possible.

Almost all of the Polynesia related sites you have on your Internet link page are in English, so that's not an excuse. You're happy to put all sorts of boring business investment website links on there. The only excuse I can think of is that you don't print things that don't follow your own platform, once again reminding me of so much of the other press in town.

YUCK! Alex, get out of your german closet and prove to all of us that you're not like that.

http://www.pangaea.to/tahiti

See it yourself: our site really does let the reader make up their mind, with every response and opinion voiced on it. As far as the referendum goes, I assume you agree that anyone who makes a decision ought to make it educatedly. Or do you want everyone to only hear your opinion on the matter? We hope not.

I will be happy to translate this letter into French if you wish to publish it in your magazine. I'll even trust you to correct my French, can you believe it? How's that for paranoid?

Sincerely,

Admiral Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt and her Admirable Achim anchored in Anaho

[MID: 4224_AC6IH Sent Via: K4CJX Date: 1999/03/09 05:08:14]

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