25 Sep 2014

Mau seen as example for American Samoa youth

2:07 pm on 25 September 2014

Young people in American Samoa have been told to look to the history of the Mau Movement in Samoa as an example of how to solve conflict through non-violence.

A symposium held at the American Samoa Community College this week is part of the national movement 'Campaign Nonviolence', which aims to build a culture of peace.

The director of the Samoan Pacific Studies at the college, Okenaisa Fauolo, gave a presentation about the Mau movement during the symposium.

One of its organisers, Agnes Vargo, says it gave young people a valuable lesson of using peaceful means to achieve a purpose.

"To face the abuse, and to face the colonisation that they experienced in the past, they did peaceful methods, they did marches, and many students had not even heard about this. There was a precedent set, already in Samoa. Samoa already has captured the feeling of non-violence, many, many years ago."

Agnes Vargo says it also taught students that there are cultural means to deal with life conflicts.