Nagriamel
Encyclopedia
Nagriamel is a political movement initially based in the northern islands of the New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

 (later Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

) during the late 1970s.

Nagriamel called for a focus on the traditional, village-centered way of life for the ni-Vanuatu people, though its messianic
Messianism
Messianism is the belief in a messiah, a savior or redeemer. Many religions have a messiah concept, including the Jewish Messiah, the Christian Christ, the Muslim Mahdi and Isa , the Buddhist Maitreya, the Hindu Kalki and the Zoroastrian Saoshyant...

 leader Jimmy Stevens
Jimmy Stevens
Jimmy Stevens, known as "Moses" , was a Ni-Vanuatu nationalist and politician. As leader of the conservative Nagriamel movement, he declared the independence of Espiritu Santo island as the "State of Vemerana" in June 1980 and referred to himself as "prime minister"...

 and his compound in the Fanafo area of upland Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

 gave it something of a cultish flavor. Nagriamel believed that the New Hebrides was not ready for independence and the modernization it would bring, though the movement was reputedly manipulated by anti-independence French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 factions and the Phoenix Foundation
Phoenix Foundation
The Phoenix Foundation is a libertarian foundation that has supported numerous attempts which at times have been violent to create independent enclaves based on libertarian principles and tax havens. The foundation was a started by Nevada based real estate millionaire Michael Oliver, his friend...

.
As the independence movement in the New Hebrides gathered momentum after 1975, led by the more Anglo-centric Father Walter Lini
Walter Lini
Father Walter Hadye Lini was an Anglican priest and the founding Prime Minister of Vanuatu. He was born on Pentecost Island. During the era when Vanuatu was a condominium ruled by the United Kingdom and France, Lini formed the Vanua'aku Pati, which was principally backed by English-speakers...

 and the Vanua'aku Party, the Nagriamel party sought to delay the end of British/French condominium
Condominium (international law)
In international law, a condominium is a political territory in or over which two or more sovereign powers formally agree to share equally dominium and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into 'national' zones.Although a condominium has always been...

. With backing from the Phoenix Foundation, Nagriamel declared a separate nation on the island of Santo on the eve of Vanuatu's independence in 1980. Vanua'aku Party and Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

n soldiers quashed Jimmy Stevens' and Nagriamel's short-lived 'Republic of Vemerana' only weeks later. Reprisals against Nagriamel supporters spread throughout the northern islands, though the entire affair was settled with a modicum of bloodshed by modern standards.

The memory of Nagriamel continues as a somewhat romantic political force mainly in the northern provinces of Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

, and aging supporters of Jimmy Stevens can still been seen in Luganville
Luganville
Luganville, called "Santo" by people from Vanuatu's northern islands who use Luganville as their big city, and called "Kanal" by rural residents of the large island of Espiritu Santo, is the second largest city in Vanuatu. The population is .Luganville is one of Vanuatu's busiest ports,...

 (Santo) wearing the trademark badge of Nagriamel. Following the 2008 general election
Vanuatuan general election, 2008
Parliamentary elections were held in Vanuatu on September 2, 2008. In July, the Melanesian Progressive Party requested that they be postponed, contesting the constitutionality of the Peoples Representation Act No. 33 of 2007, which allegedly enabled voters in certain constituencies to vote in two...

, Nagriamel has two Members of Parliament
Parliament of Vanuatu
The Parliament is the unicameral legislative body of the Republic of Vanuatu.It was established by chapter 4 of the 1980 Constitution, upon Vanuatu's independence from France and the United Kingdom....

, and is a part of Prime Minister Edward Natapei
Edward Natapei
Edward Nipake Natapei Tuta Fanua`araki is a politician from Vanuatu. He was elected Prime Minister of Vanuatu on two separate terms, and was previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in 1991, the acting President of Vanuatu from 2 March 1999 to 24 March 1999 , and Deputy Prime Minister...

's government. Its MPs are Havo Moli, Minister for Agriculture, and Ioane Simon Omawa, a backbencher
Backbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...

.

The name 'Nagriamel' is a concatenation of the names for two different plants in Vanuatu: the Nangaria and the Namele. The Nangaria is an ornamental with relatives common throughout tropical countries; the colorful wisk broom-shaped leaves are used in chiefly costumes and kastom ceremonies. The Namele is type of small palm whose sturdy fronds have a variety of largely symbolic and ceremonial uses in Vanuatu kastom
Kastom
Kastom is a pijin word used to refer to traditional culture, including religion, economics, art and magic in Melanesia.The term is the generally accepted anthropology term to describe such phenomenon as well as the common and lay term used in everyday language.The word derives from the Australian...

; on the Vanuatu flag, two crossed namele leaves are shown within the boar's tusk.
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