So, I met up with my Tawi Jimmy from Tavie last night at Seaside Paama, and he told me a story. I guess the day before, he was playing futsol with some guys at XFOL and was walking back to Seaside at around 7 or 8 p.m. He was with maybe 4 other guys, a few girls, and a bunch of little kids. They were walking past VNPF and this dude was calling for his sister, so he told him to back off and the guy took those as fightin words. And in true Tanna style, the guy called all of his friends over with a whistle and like 10 man Tanna came from some dark corner over near New Look and started beating the living shit out of them. The sister was getting her head slammed repeatedly into a table, some of the little kids were getting punched and kicked, and one of my Tawi's friends was on the ground calling out for his mama. They finally were able to run to the police station, where they gave a statement, but the one that was beaten the worst started puking blood and had to be taken to the hospital and monitored over night. So, Jimmy told me that they had already cut up some pipe and wire and were going to get a camion to take them (all the Paama youth from Seaside and Namba 3, and a big group of young Tongoa dudes) to this Tanna guys house and kill him and anyone who tried to stop them with stones and iron pipes and wire and machetes. I casually suggested that violence may not be the best answer, but...I could totally understand why they were so angry. I'll be interested to see if they actually go through with it. I suspect they won't, because I think this sort of thing happens often. Just last week I saw another fight involving man Tanna, with the same kind of group-on-one technique used, and nobody can really stop a fight like that. Police just wait until they stop. I mean, what are they gonna do without weapons?
The kava was good, had lelas cooked in true Paama-style (aka, lots of coconut milk used) for wasem maot. It's not a great nakamal - no good places to sit and the nastiest toilet of any in the city - but I go there mainly for the Paama fix. I feel fixed.
Did they go through with it? So sad how quickly things escalate into violence and sometimes there really is little you can do to stop that from happening. Good for you for asking if non-violence would be better.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with them later on in the week and they hadn't done anything. I think they just were really angry when they told me the story, which I understood. I'm sure, though, that this story will just join the hundreds/thousands of others about man Tanna and how they fight.
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