In early May, the Kanak people rose massively against the French colonial rule. The fact that led to the current demonstrations was a bill that aimed to change the election legislation in the territory, reducing the weight of the Kanak population in the electorate. The brutal repression from the French colonial rule was followed by a state of emergency and the bill did not move forward. The mobilizations have empowered the struggles for the independence of Kanaky. To learn about the history of this struggle for independence and its current challenges, Capire spoke in May with three World March of Women militants from Kanaky (New Caledonia): Oriane Trolue is a member of the WMW International Committee, Françoise Callard is a WMW Kanaky militant, and the third sister will have her identity protected.
The history of resistance of the Kanak people against French colonization
Oriane: To understand the uprising of the Kanak people and their allies, we must look at the official colonization of New Caledonia by France. That started on September 24th, 1853. Since then, the Kanak people has been subjected to several forms of subjugation to a colonial system. The consequences of this include the disorganization of the Kanak society, which previously had kingdoms with different clans and a central chiefdom. The colonial administration started to create tribes and reserves, so the borders between the different clans changed. The first great Kanak revolt happened in 1878, and then again in 1917. The goal of the revolts of the Kanak people have always been to demand recognition and, above all, to stop being treated as inferiors.
Françoise:When I was a teenager, in 1969–70, there was a revolt staged by young Kanaks called “Red Scarves.” I was there directly—involved even—in this youth revolt that aspired for a free country. To me, that was a drive for my spirit, I wouldn’t say as a woman, but as a rebel feminist. Back then, it was really a liberation movement led by young people, drawing from the wave of the May 1968 revolutionary movement in France. In that movement, we were also able to discover our own history, because, up until that point, the French colonial school did not teach the history of our people, but only the history of the Gauls. Our imagination was completely immersed in learning French culture, which was very different from our Kanak culture, and that was truly a wound. When we realized that we were also human beings, a civilization with a very rich culture, we said to ourselves we had to free ourselves from this colonial rule that was depriving us of our dignity.
Oriane: In 1984, through to 1988, there was a time called “the events.” It’s important to understand that that was a Kanak revolt, yet again, in which the Kanak people organized as a people and politicized the struggle under the auspices of the FLNKS—-Front de Libération Nationale Kanak Socialiste [Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front]. Like in other colonial stories, the people’s revolt was met with bloody repression. After these events, peace agreements were signed between pro-independence leaders with the FLNKS and the loyalist leaders, establishing a decolonization process that was supposed to lead to the emancipation and full sovereignty of New Caledonia.
An agreement was signed in 1988 and, ten years later, there was the Nouméa Accord. The decolonization process set forth in this agreement, technically, legally, and politically, involved three consultations. The first consultation was held in 2018, with this question: “Do you want New Caledonia to become independence, yes or no?” The results of the first referendum were: 57 percent voted “no” and 43 percent voted “yes.” Then, the second referendum—or exit consultation—was held in 2020. The results were 53 percent “No to independence” and 47 percent “Yes to independence.” So we can see that the “Yes” side made really good progress within one and a half year.
For the third consultation, scheduled for 2021, the Kanak people requested a postponement, because we were in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we had suffered more than 200 Kanak deaths. The Customary Senate, which represents Indigenous traditions at the institutional level, declared Kanak mourning. Kanak mourning lasts one year, because there is a whole number of calls to be made between clans, the clans on the father’s and the mother’s side, to return the deceased to their land and return what they were, their blood, to their “uterine uncles”—in other words, the mother’s clan, which is very important, and this is why we need a year. The French state and non-independence advocates refused to postpone the consultation. Therefore, the French state unilaterally decided to impose a date for the third referendum. The FLNKS and the several pro-independence political parties made an appeal to the population, so that they would abstain from voting. The results of this latest referendum were: 56 percent abstained votes. Pro-independence advocates, then, challenged the legitimacy of this latest referendum and now they have filed an appeal with the International Court of Justice to have this third referendum annulled.
When on May 12th, 2024 the majority of the National Assembly of France voted to unfreeze the electorate, the Kanak people organized an alliance—the CCAT—with several different pro-independence movements and groups, to say that we opposed the unfreezing of the electorate, and that the freeze was closely connected to the right of the Kanak people to self-determination.
Unfreezing the electorate is effectively a violation of the right to self-determination of the Indigenous people.
Risk of genocide
Oriane: We can see how, despite all the time that has passed, despite all the opportunities that have been offered to achieve decolonization, the struggles of the Kanak people over the years have always been peaceful, we have always called for peace, we have always asked to live well together—even ourselves, young people today. We have only received bullets as an answer. Gunshots.
They shoot at us because we are raising our flag, because we are proud of raising the colors of Kanaky. And we can see that, in 40 years, things have not changed. Every time, we experience different emotions—from anger to sadness to collapse when we see our siblings, our younger siblings falling from the bullets shot by militias. In all occasions, it was the peaceful movements that were repressed with blood. And the French state tells us that it is the homeland of human rights, it reminds us of that every time, and it chants that to the entire world; but we can see that, for us, the Kanak people, it is nothing like that.
WMW sister: When I saw what was happening in Palestine, I quickly connected the dots with what was happening here in Kanaky. It is important to remember that France has never condemned Israel—quite the contrary.
For example, France has sent around 2,700 soldiers to a territory where we are a population of 270,000—110,000 of them are Kanak people.
We need to be aware of the risk of genocide.
These peace agreements were nothing more than apparent social peace. When we see all the discrimination and when we see what the Kanak people is going through, we cannot talk about peace. Actually, the Kanak people is not at peace on their own land. Just because sometimes they can express themselves and have these moments of joy and rejoicing, that doesn’t mean they are at peace. The French state is the governing power here. You can see how the decline of France can be catastrophic. Anyway, it is on the fascist side, there is no doubt about that, we can see how it is allying with Israel. The French colonial state is current in a really bad situation, in the sense that its position in the Indo-Pacific axis has just been seriously challenged thanks to the Kanak people.
The place of Kanaky in geopolitical battles
Oriane: We are aware that everything that is being done here is part of a strategic neoliberal plan of the French state. There have been several visits of the minister for Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, who was previously the minister of Overseas France. He came to talk about the Indo-Pacific axis, with meetings with several chiefs of state of the Pacific, before things erupted here in Kanaky. So, we, as freedom fighters, saw that this massive militarization was justified because of the people’s uprising. They have used the people’s uprising to justify the deployment of nearly 3,000 soldiers to the Kanaky territory.
In a broader sense, this militarization is part of a neoliberal, colonialist plan they call “Indo-Pacific axis.” This gives them a platform here, because New Caledonia has a very interesting geopolitical situation.
In the South Pacific, the only French territories are New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna. The rest is British, with important relations with the United States. Asia is our neighbor and we are in the Asia-Pacific region. So behind all that, there is the fear of China and also of Russia. That is, we are in the middle of the collateral damage of all of France’s political shenanigans.
New Caledonia also has nickel, which is a very important resource, regarded as one of the best ores in the world. The other deposit near us is located in Indonesia. The nickel from New Caledonia is facing issues right now, especially with the French government holding SLN [Société Le Nickel] shares. We are facing major economic destabilization—effectively a crisis—regarding nickel. All of this is at stake. The New Caledonia exclusive economic zone [EEZ] encompasses more than one million square kilometers. Now gas deposits have been found in this zone, but exploring them has not been possible so far.
The Indigenous Kanak people, through several institutions and traditional areas, is opposing that. There is a moratorium in an area known as Natural Park of the Coral Sea. It’s an area in New Caledonian waters and beyond where, for one year or more, exploration has been banned. Right now, what they call scientific missions are in our waters, but we know very well there is exploration going on.
The fact that the Indigenous people are demanding independence and sovereignty over their own territories, their own lands, will get in the way of France’s neoliberal geopolitical plans, because we have to understand that, in our culture, in our civilization, the deep seas are the abode of our ancestors’ souls.
And they cannot be disturbed, because these are taboo places. The sea clans are the protectors and guardians of the seabed; therefore, any exploration will disturb our ancient peoples, and we refuse that.
Of course, we know that transnational corporations are behind that and, like all neoliberal regimes, governments come together and offer them armed forces. When we—the Kanak people and freedom fighters—denounce the recolonization of settlements and an overhaul of colonialism, we are denouncing neoliberalism.
Françoise: We, women of the World March of Women, organized a seminar about militarization issues in our country in 2021, even before all these events transpired. We took this initiative as feminists, and the governments were really concerned about the fact that we are interested in the matter of militarization.
I highlight here the growing awareness among feminists about militarization; our concern is based on the consequences that this might have for our families, our culture, and, of course, the violence against women.
Moreover, we are a small territory, only 600 kilometers long and 400 or 300 kilometers wide. Therefore, with 6,000 soldiers—soon to reach nearly 10,000—, this is becoming very concerning, because the consequences have not yet been assessed. I think this will be one of our main areas of work to prevent, in any way, what can happen in the future with all this mass of military personnel coming to our small territory. Regarding geopolitics, certainly no one in our country is fooled today—we are aware that France’s interests here are necessarily geopolitical. And, with this, come the arms transnational corporations, the gun trade, and all that.
And finally, I would like to pay tribute to a young person from Maré, Jybril, who was shot in the back by the anti-Kanak militia. He was 20 years old and today (May 15th) was his funeral on Maré Island, where I come from.
