Defeat, but 'Wind in the Sails' of Kanaky Independence

Victims of History

Imagine if your island nation of people, with a proud history stretching back thousands of years, was forced to suffer the indignity of colonial invasion that wiped out half the population, only then to be converted into a penal colony, and flooded with convicts from your new motherland and other exploited colonies.

Imagine being pushed back into reservations, only to have settlers use what little land you were left to graze their cattle on your food, being taxed into submission if you dared not to work for your masters, and being legally third-class citizens in your own home.

Imagine not only having rebellion after rebellion brutally crushed, but the victors beheading your most heroic leader only to display his head in their capital’s natural history museum amongst the beasts.

Imagine being forced into indentured servitude, to help mine your own precious resources for export to the benefit of your masters.

Imagine if, to cap all that off, these masters then decide the only way to finally subdue you is to make you a permanent minority in your own home, by embarking on a settlement plan setting in motion a violent conflict.

Now imagine all of that happening within the space of 150 years.

It can be dangerous to attempt to make parallels between anti-colonial struggles, but if we were to engage in such pursuits, the struggle of the Kanak people might be described as akin to suffering the combined trauma of large swathes of Aboriginal Australia being uprooted by penal colonies, of Native Americans being forced onto reservations, of the Congolese sent into mines by maniacal Belgian torturers, of the Plantations of Ulster, the Penal Laws, the centuries of crushed Fenian rebellions and the loss of Gaelic chiefs, and the conflict in the North, and more besides, all condensed into the short space of 150 years.

While nobody aware of the history of colonisation will be surprised to hear of such abuses happening at the behest of western European “liberal democracies”, it is somewhat shocking to think that a policy of aggressive settlement of an island over 10,000 miles away was unapologetically adopted by France as recently as the 1970s.

All this on an island slightly larger than the province of Connacht with only half the population (roughly 270,000).

This helps put in perspective the significance of the vote held in the Pacific Ocean territory known as “New Caledonia” in the West (being named after another nation currently seeking a fresh independence referendum is a twist of history not lost on many Irish readers I’m sure), and “Kanaky” to the indigenous people, on 4 October 2020, the second of three secured as part of the peace accords of Nouméa (the island’s settler capital) which brought an end to the bitter conflict in 1998,  just as we were embracing the Good Friday Agreement on these shores as a peaceful means to decide our island’s future.

In Defeat, Victory?

At this month’s referendum, independence was rejected: 46.7% of participants voted in favour of independence, and 53.3% against. In 2018, 43.6% supported independence, with 56.4% against.

Despite being a defeat, this is a 3.5% swing in support for independence since the last referendum, and another increase of the same magnitude would narrowly secure freedom for the island, one of only 17 territories still listed as non-self-governing and in need of decolonisation by the United Nations (a classification to which France objected).

The 2018 result in itself was a shock to the French establishment. 

Due to the state-orchestrated settlement of French people and people from other colonies and Pacific islands such as Wallis and Futuna, the Kanaks only formed 39.1% of the territory’s population as of the 2014 Census, and the settler population has been fiercely opposed to independence under a Kanak state, with all odds stacked against the indigenous minority. Almost all polling done leading up to the vote showed 60% or more rejecting independence, and with the myth of permanence associated with French rule dispelled by the closer-than-expected result, the Kanak people looked with hope to the future.

As the nationalist President of the autonomous New Caledonian Congress, Roch Wamytan, explained, 2018 was the “psychological and political victory” needed as part of the triple-vote in order to take down “the beast that has been eating the Kanak people for 167 years” – the colonial system – and the killer blow, if not this year, must be delivered in 2022.

Under the terms of the Nouméa Accords, if the first referendum failed, then a second could be requested for two years later by one third of the members of the autonomous Congress of New Caledonia. This is how the 2020 vote was possible, and the same condition was attached to a second vote failing, but only three successive votes in total were allowed for under the terms of the treaty – meaning the 2022 decision would be final.

The National Kanak and Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS), who fought the war, and their pro-independence colleagues in the National Union for the Independence, together hold just short of an absolute majority in the New Caledonian Congress, more seats than the loyalists led by the Rally for Caledonia in the (French) Republic, and therefore have enough seats to make a third and final vote inevitable.

The process to request a third referendum requires a written demand in April 2021, and representatives of the FLNKS confirmed the day of the vote their intention to do just that. Boyed by the narrowing result, and by the increase in what was already high turnout from 81% to 86%, there is real hope that the finality of the next vote will bring out those few who did not vote this time. 

Despite the continuing stark divide between the urban and fertile southern areas voting overwhelmingly against, and the rural mountainous north and east - where Kanaks were forced to relocate over decades of persecution - voting massively for independence, there is talk of an apparent swing in favour of independence expressed by non-Kanak areas of the country, with belief that new demographics are joining the cause. 

“Winds at the Stern” propelling Kanaky towards Freedom

Celebrations placed special emphasis on the mobilisation of the youth, many voting for the first time.

“The ‘Yes’ side has the winds at its stern”, said a visibly jubilant FLNKS spokesperson Victor Tutugoro on national television. All night following the vote, it was excited crowds of separatists honking car horns and dancing throughout the nation in a show of teeming aspiration. Tutugoro explained the growth in support amongst new converts to the cause: “It’s the sense of history, that one must part-take in the emancipation of one’s country”.

Daniel Goa, leader of the Caledonian Union – the oldest party on the island and part of the Front – stressed the need to see loyalists as partners following any potential victory in 2022,  “we will cease to be pro-independence or anti-independence, and perhaps then we can start the discussions on how to build a future together”.

President Wamytan echoed this belief in a shared future, challenging the fearmongering of loyalists that they would be run from the country violently in the event of independence: “There will be no war – war is their history, not our history. We have no intention to chase people out of here, all these people who have come to this country over the past forty years – they can stay, we can live together.”

“You won’t even feel independence because it will pass… as serenely and calmly… as a letter through the post.”

Fairness needed

The scenes following the vote this month were notably more peaceful than in 2018 when some cars were set on fire, but as in that vote there were still fears of electoral irregularities – for example, nearly 3,000 Kanaks whose addresses were not recognised by the authorities were in danger of being unable to vote, and it was not clear that this discrepancy had been adequately addressed in time for this year’s vote. 

What would otherwise be simply small discrepancies in a larger electorate have massive impact when there were just 10,000 votes separating the two sides, making the need for impartiality even more significant.

Bias might be seen as implicit in a country where the only daily national newspaper is seen as overtly French, the main TV station is French state-owned, and the political discourse is mainly through French despite most Kanak people speaking one of their 28 native languages, but even French media highlighted the potential illegality of French flags hung in official election locations, in their minimal coverage of the referendum – the lack of discussion in the French press in itself suggests apathy back on the French mainland towards the fate of their supposed co-citizens.

The French state promised to act as an impartial overseer of the referendum, although as the celebrated former leader of the FLNKS Jean-Marie Tjibaou, assassinated in 1989, said, “promises make imbeciles happy”.

Not only were tricolours allowed to hang prominently, but mainland French political parties, including leaders from Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche, joined the No campaign, and there was also an attempt by loyalists in the National Assembly of France in January to alter the eligibility requirements for voting in the referendum, despite the criteria having already been agreed.

In order to stop further settlement swinging the balance against independence by increasing the population loyal to France, the Nouméa Accords specifically restricted those eligible to vote to ensure only those who had lived in the territory for a long number of years, or those with ancestral ties to the islands, could have a say over its future.

This was secured following the experience Kanak people faced in 1987, when they boycotted an independence referendum organised to ensure a newly established settler majority would vote to defeat it. The bitter struggle that followed this culminated in 1988 in the taking of French police as hostages by Kanak militants, who were met by brutal retaliation by the French state, leaving 4 French police, 2 French soldiers, and 19 Kanak people killed in what became known as the Ouvéa Cave massacre. 

This sad episode marked a turning point, and sparked negotiations to bring about a peaceful resolution to the “Événements” (a French equivalent of “Troubles” used to describe colonial wars). The Matignon Agreements signed in the French Prime Minister’s Paris residence by all sides facilitated a vote on self-determination 10 years later under the Nouméa Accords, the success of which in turn facilitated today’s referenda after 20 years of preparation.

Macron’s Mixed Messages

French President Emmanuel Macron lauded the successful holding of both referenda and promised to deliver on any request for a third referendum in 2022, although fresh Presidential elections are due to take place in April of that year.

In his address to the nation in response to the vote, Macron insisted on the need to move beyond the colonial history of France’s presence in New Caledonia, and appeared even to hint at a tacit support for independence in his use of words – he likened the vote to a series of positive aspirations including gender equality, tackling climate change, regional stability, and finished by saying, “to each of these propositions we can respond with a Yes or a No”. Was that a subtle linking of “Yes” with progress, and “No” with stagnation? Macron did cause a stir in France during his 2017 election campaign by describing colonisation as a “crime against humanity” on a visit to Algeria, and has regularly criticised the country’s colonial past, something unthinkable for previous French Presidents, if a basic expectation in most of the rest of the world.

However, whatever the cryptic meaning of his words, they are unlikely to assuage the concerns of those who have suffered under French colonialism. Families of the Kanak victims killed by French forces at Ouvéa, were outraged by Macron’s decision to visit and plant a tree at the site of the massacre against their wishes in 2018. His welcoming of the referendum results as a display of confidence in the French republic may also grate on those who expect total neutrality on his part. 

Others will feel that delivering the speech with the opulent backdrop of the Élysée Palace’s gold-encrusted interiors speaks to an imperial French grandeur completely detached from the colonial experience, adding to the out of touch reputation Macron had already gained in some quarters by referring to French Guiana as an island during a crisis, and trampling efforts by West African nations to go further in their efforts to gain economic independence from France.

France puts COVID-Free New Caledonia at risk?

A striking point to note about the independence referendum held this month is that no masks were to be seen and there was no social distancing practiced at polling stations. To readers in Ireland this will probably sound like a recipe for disaster, but it is in fact symptomatic of a remarkable success-story.

New Caledonia stands as a shining example of a COVID-Free country. While there were 27 cases on the islands, all were people who brought it from elsewhere, and it was contained successfully without spreading domestically.

Independence supporters point to this as a success stemming from devolution in the health sector, and the decision by the New Caledonian government to strictly quarantine all entrants from abroad, enabling pubs and restaurants to remain open, even if the economy has been devastated by the collapse in foreign tourism.

Given the success of the policy, it is not surprising that there was uproar when the French government decided, in violation of the principle that devolved competences should not be repatriated by the central government, to reclaim decision-making powers over the health crisis in New Caledonia for Paris. 

With cases in France necessitating lockdown measures and causing thousands of deaths, there was considerable unease with the prospect of the French government trying to impose the same COVID response policy to cover Nouméa as well as Paris, and there was also criticism of their support for keeping airports open and exempting military staff sent to New Caledonia from quarantining.

This backdrop facilitated more discussion around what powers are best exercised through self-determination rather than foreign rule.

Expensive Gift comes at Cost of Freedom

Something that will be familiar to readers in the North in particular, is that opponents of independence often raise the Block Grant “gifted” by the French state to New Caledonia each year, saying losing this figure of 150 billion CFP Franc (€1.25 billion) annually would mean financial ruin.

However, the main TV station in the territory, La 1ère, reported last year that 40 large companies based in mainland France recoup in the region of 100 billion CFP Franc from New Caledonian health & social welfare funds through a complex CCS tax loophole, and there also appears to be a 20 billion CFP Franc deficit in pension contributions paid by New Caledonians to French state coffers, according to mainland French collective Solidarité Kanak – a helpful source for those looking for more up to date information on the current situation.

The “gift” seems to come with a substantial price, and even the currency used in New Caledonia, shared with other French Pacific territories in Polynesia, embodies the system of colonial exploitation – the “CFP” in the name originated as shorthand for “Colonies françaises du Pacifique” – as it involves the currency in local use being printed in mainland France, with its value pegged to the Euro (replacing the French Franc) at a rate decided by France. 

Not only does that mean the Kanak people have no say over their own monetary policy, but we in Ireland have more input through the European Union on the monetary value of their currency than they do. Regardless of economic conditions, they cannot devalue their currency to assist the economy.

Independence is no guarantee of monetary sovereignty however, as France has maintained currency control over many African countries since decolonisation which find themselves unable to break free from the embrace of the CFA Franc.

France’s “benevolence” in Kanaky can be seen as having bringing other benefits to the republic, outlined in a booklet produced by SURVIE, an NGO that combats French colonialism in Africa, which it compiled to advise Kanak separatists how to avoid the pitfalls seen in the “decolonisation” of Africa by France. 

From a geopolitical standpoint, SURVIE explains, New Caledonia houses a base of almost 1,500 French troops in a strategic Pacific location as well as an excuse to participate in Asia-Pacific security discussions and diplomatic organisations, including the Shangri-La Dialogue, the US Pacific Chiefs of Defence Seminar, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Pacific Community, and the UN Asia-Pacific Economic & Social Committee, enabling the country to retain both the status and influence of a world power in the region.

Another military endeavour enabled by continued French rule is the Adapted Military Service which entails a large number of local disadvantaged youth being given militaristic education, described as patriotic propaganda by SURVIE, involving in the region of 30% of young islanders.

Economic advantages also come with the territory, such as 1.4 million km2 of an Exclusive Economic Zone, including control over biodiversity, extensive fisheries, exploitable natural resources, and potential for renewable energy, all helping to make France’s overall Exclusive Economic Zone the second largest in the world. 

The nickel deposits in New Caledonia make it the 6th biggest producer in the world, with 8% of global reserves. The French state has stakes in major extractors, and can use its hold over the industry in its diplomacy with countries wishing to buy nickel, such as the number 1 buyer, China.

On top of this, a third of imports to New Caledonia come from France, and New Caledonia is also one of the most economically productive regions contributing to France’s GDP.

French Rule to “Save” us “From What?”; to “Protect” us “From whom?”

The narrative in media coverage of the independence vote rarely discusses how France benefits from the relationships, but often speaks of the reliance of New Caledonia on French help, financial and otherwise.

President Wamytan, in a rousing address to the crowds before voting this month, spoke of how insulting it was to suggest there was an “indispensable need” for French rule, when the Kanak people had survived for thousands of years before they arrived on their boats one day to “save” them; or to suggest the 1,500 French soldiers based on the island were needed to “protect” them – “From whom?”, he asked. “Protect yourselves at home, and allow us the means to protect ourselves!”

The referendum campaign was characterised by an increased anti-communist Cold War rhetoric from right-wing anti-independence circles, suggesting an independent Kanaky would be at the mercy of the People’s Republic of China exerting its dominance in the region.

Wamytan condemned this “Eurocentric” attitude of superiority that underpinned claims France was “needed” to “help” “backwards” peoples elsewhere.

Looking to the Youth

President Wamytan highlighted the changing profile of those leading independence movement from one where only two FLNKS militants held university degrees prior to the Nouméa Accords to the majority now being graduates, despite all the barriers that remain in the way of Kanak and Pacific Island people. He said this was indicative of a people qualified and experienced to run their country. He spoke directly to the youth of the independence movement: “You now have this capacity. You have a country which we have brought to this point. Take it, now, and advance!” “What are you afraid of?!” 

The Kanak population declined from an estimated 55,000 upon “discovery” by the French in 1853 to 27,000 in 1902, but today stands at over 100,000 proudly maintaining the culture of their ancestors. 

“We Kanaks have, at our core, the power of our cultural identity, of our institutions, of our words, of our clan relations and leadership, of our spiritual relations with the sky, the earth, the sea, that is what has enabled us to survive French colonisation.” – Congress President Roch Wamytan. 

If this resurrection is not an inspiration to all oppressed nations, I do not know what is.

The FLNKS will hold its national convention on 17 October to decide the next steps in its campaign for Kanak freedom.

Le Eoghan Finn