Giff Johnson

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Giff Johnson
Occupation(s)Editor, Journalist, Correspondent, author
Spouse Darlene Keju (Deceased)

Giff Johnson is a Marshall Islands based editor [1] and journalist. He is also the author of the self-published book Don't Ever Whisper which tells of his late wife Darlene Keju's fight to share the Marshall Islanders plight with the rest of the world wasn't being told of the events. In 2013, he was interviewed by ABC Radio presenter Geraldine Coutts in relation to the book. [2]

Contents

Career

Johnson is the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal . [3] He is also the Marshall Islands correspondent for Radio New Zealand [4] and for ABC Radio Australia. [5]

Previous roles

He was for a period of time from early 2001 to 2003, [6] the interim managing editor of Pacific Magazine. He continued as Pacific Magazine’s contributing editor from where he was based in Majuro, Marshall Islands until Pacific Magazine halted publication in 2008. [7] He has been a freelance writer and was also an editor for the Honolulu-published Micronesia Bulletin from 1976 to 1984. [8]

Books

Personal

Johnson, who is originally from the United States, has lived in the Marshall Islands since 1984. [10] In 1982, he married Darlene Keju on Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Keju was an outspoken advocate for nuclear weapons test victims in the Marshall Islands and a public health worker who engaged young people with innovative programs for community health development. They were married for 14 years. [11] She died of cancer at the age of 45. [12] A celebration of her life with short speeches and Marshallese music and singing was held at the Church of the Crossroads, 1212 University Ave in Hawaii. [13] In 1998, Johnson married Mathilda Rakin in Majuro. They have one son, Iohaan, and one daughter, Beverly.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshall Islands</span> Country near the equator in the Pacific Ocean

The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 coral atolls and five islands, divided across two island chains: Ratak in the east and Ralik in the west. 97.87% of its territory is water, the largest proportion of water to land of any sovereign state. The country shares maritime boundaries with Wake Island to the north, Kiribati to the southeast, Nauru to the south, and the Federated States of Micronesia to the west. The capital and largest city is Majuro, home to approximately half of the country's population.

The demographics of the Marshall Islands include data such as population density, ethnicity, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communications in the Marshall Islands</span>

The Marshall Islands is an island country in Oceania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of the Marshall Islands</span>

The government of the Marshall Islands is the largest employer, employing 30.6% of the work force, down by 3.4% since 1988. GDP is derived mainly from payments made by the United States under the terms of the amended Compact of Free Association. Direct U.S. aid accounted for 60% of the Marshall Islands' $90 million budget.

Austronesian settlers arrived in the Marshall Islands in the 2nd millennium BC, but there are no historical or oral records of that period. Over time, the Marshallese people learned to navigate over long ocean distances by walap canoe using traditional stick charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majuro</span> Capital of the Marshall Islands

Majuro is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a land area of 9.7 square kilometers (3.7 sq mi) and encloses a lagoon of 295 square kilometers (114 sq mi). As with other atolls in the Marshall Islands, Majuro consists of narrow land masses. It has a tropical trade wind climate, with an average temperature of 27 °C (81 °F).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bikini Atoll</span> Coral atoll in the Marshall Islands

Bikini Atoll, known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a 229.4-square-mile (594.1 km2) central lagoon. The Atoll is at the northern end of the Ralik Chain, approximately 530 miles (850 km) northwest of the capital Majuro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enewetak Atoll</span> Coral atoll in the Marshall Islands; site of U.S. nuclear testing during the Cold War

Enewetak Atoll is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. With a land area total less than 5.85 square kilometers (2.26 sq mi), it is no higher than 5 meters (16.4 ft) and surrounds a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometers (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometers (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kili Island</span>

Kili Island or Kili Atoll is a small, 81 hectares island located in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, 415 people lived on the island, many of whom were descended from islanders who originally lived on Bikini Atoll. They were relocated when they agreed to let the U.S. government temporarily use their home for nuclear testing in 1945. Kili Island became their home after two prior relocations failed. The island does not have a natural lagoon and cannot produce enough food to enable the islanders to be self-sufficient. It is part of the legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. The island is approximately 48 kilometers (30 mi) southwest of Jaluit. It is one of the smallest islands in the Marshall Islands.

<i>Pacific Magazine</i>

Pacific Magazine was a regional news and current affairs magazine and online news agency specializing in the coverage of the Pacific Islands region, including Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The magazine was headquartered and published in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Japanese settlement in the Marshall Islands was spurred on by Japanese trade in the Pacific region. The first Japanese explorers arrived in the Marshall Islands in the late 19th century, although permanent settlements were not established until the 1920s. As compared to other Micronesian islands in the South Seas Mandate, there were fewer Japanese who settled in the islands. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Japanese populace were repatriated to Japan, although people of mixed Japanese–Marshallese heritage remained behind. They form a sizeable minority in the Marshall Islands' populace, and are well represented in the corporate, public and political sectors in the country.

James Matayoshi is the mayor of Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands. He was appointed as Rongelap's mayor in 1995 and has served as chairman of the Marshall Islands Ports Authority since 2008. As the mayor of Rongelap, Matayoshi was noted for his activism on calling for the United States government to render assistance to Marshall Islanders suffering from radiation sickness as a result of a series of nuclear tests carried out under Operation Castle in the 1950s.

Leroij Atama Zedkaia was the Marshallese paramount chief, or Leroijlaplap, of Majuro. Leroij Zedkaia spearheaded the movement to break the Marshall Islands away from the rest of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and form the independent Republic of the Marshall Islands. She was also the mother of Jurelang Zedkaia, who has served as the President of the Marshall Islands from 2009 to 2012. Leroij is a title by a female paramount chief, or Leroijlaplap, in the Marshall Islands.

Lijon Eknilang was a Marshallese activist and nuclear fallout survivor. Eknilang advocated on behalf of residents of Rongelap Atoll, who were victims of nuclear fallout stemming from the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

Women in the Marshall Islands are women who live in or are from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, an island country that is politically a presidential republic in free association with the United States. Alternative appellations for these women are Marshallese women, Marshall Islander women, Marshalls women, and women in Rālik-Ratak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in the Marshall Islands</span>

Islam is a minority religion in the Marshall Islands. All Muslims in the country belong to the minority Ahmadiyya sect. The Ahmadiyya mosque in Uliga, first constructed in 2012 in the Marshall Islands is the only mosque in Oceania's subregion of Micronesia. According to a 2009 report there were about 10 Muslims in the Marshall Islands, although more recent reports indicate about 150 believers in the country.

Darlene Keju, also known as Darlene Keju-Johnson, was a Marshallese activist. She was born on Ebeye Island in the Marshall Islands group in 1951. The Northern Islands where she grew up were downwind from Bikini and Enewetak atolls where the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons. She witnessed the evacuation of Regelap and Utirik Atolls after they were contaminated by radioactive fallout. Keju is credited for bringing to the attention of the world the suffering of the Marshall Islanders as a result of the nuclear testing and that many more people were affected than acknowledged by the U.S. government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilda Heine</span> Marshallese politician

Hilda Cathy Heine is a Marshallese educator and politician who has served as the president of the Marshall Islands since 2024, having previously served from 2016 to 2020. Prior to assuming office, she served as the Minister of Education. She was the first individual from the Marshall Islands to earn a doctorate degree, and the founder of the women's rights group Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casten Nemra</span> Marshallese politician

Casten Ned Nemra is a Marshallese politician who was President of the Marshall Islands for 17 days in January 2016. He was elected by the Nitijeļā (Parliament) as President in January 2016, following the 2015 general election, narrowly defeating Senator Alvin Jacklick, a seven-term member of Parliament, by a 17–16 vote. He was the youngest person to hold the job and the second commoner. He was ousted by a vote of no confidence after just two weeks in office by the opposition for jumping ship and joining Iroij Mike Kabua's Aelon Kein Ad party along with Senators Dennis Momotaro and Daisy-Alik Momotaro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amenta Matthew</span> Marshallese politician

Amenta Matthew is a Marshallese politician. She was a member of the Legislature of the Marshall Islands from 2007 to 2011 and from 2015 to 2019, representing the electorate of Utrik. She was Minister of Health under Presidents Litokwa Tomeing and Jurelang Zedkaia from 2008 to 2011 and Minister of Internal Affairs under Hilda Heine from 2016 to 2019. She was the second woman in the Marshall Islands to serve as a government minister.

References

  1. ABC Radio Australia Climate change optimism after Cartagena Dialogue in Majurand Presenter: Richard Ewart
  2. ABC Radio Australia New biography on Marshall Islands' social champion With Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
  3. Marshallese Educational Initiative MEI’S NUCLEAR REMEMBRANCE EVENT DISCUSSED ON RADIO AUSTRALIA by April Brown Archived 19 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Radio New Zealand International Pacific Correspondent for 17 July 2014
  5. ABC Radio Australia Marshall Islanders worried about hypersonic jet debris Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
  6. Fiji Sun Ulamila is new magazine editor
  7. Pina Former Fiji journalist named managing editor of Pacific Magazine
  8. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Paradise lost - Dec 1980 - Page 24
  9. National Library of New Zealand Don't ever whisper : Darlene Keju, Pacific health pioneer, champion for nuclear survivors / Giff Johnson. ISBN   1489509062
  10. "Giff Johnson". Pacific Journalism Review . Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  11. Pacific Scoop New biography details Marshall Islands anti-nuclear fighter’s life
  12. WISE #455 - July 12, 1996 In brief, Darlene Keju died.
  13. Honolulu Advertiser & Star-Bulletin January 1 - December 31, 1996 K Archived 7 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine