France’s Colonial stranglehold on New Caledonia

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France’s blatant refusal to grant auto-determination to New Caledonia is both cynical and shameful. It also flies in the face of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution of 2 December 1986, which recognised New Caledonia’s right to manage its own affairs.

Nothing has been done since, and it’s high time that this situation was brought to the world’s attention.

New Caledonia is a small group of islands situated in the Southwest Pacific and the first Western eyes to see it were those of the British explorer James Cook in 1774. The French took control of it in 1853 and subsequently declared it a Penal Colony in 1863 before giving it full Colonial status. It has remained a colony ever since.

Several revolts over the years against the French presence have resulted in brutal repression, including when the French tried to force the indiginous population to fight on the front lines of the First World War in Europe.

Today, France’s control and exploitation of these islands remains as tight as ever, despite cosmetic and completely meaningless changes to the “Statute” which have been decreed. The French have variously described the colony as an “Overseas Territory” or a “Collectivity”.

(This semantic pirouette is normal for a country which referred to the Algerian War of Independence (end of the 1950’s) as “The Events” in the press, and in schoolbooks, until the 1990’s. Also, there are no ghettos in France today. They have much nicer-sounding “Sensitive Zones”).

A referendum was held in France in 1985 as a result of UN pressure, and the French people voted (80%) for the auto-determination of  New Caledonia. The French government responded to this defeat by announcing, in the ‘Matignon Agreements’, a new vote to be held in 1998. But this delaying tactic has itself been put back until 2014 at least. And that’s the current state of play.

Independentists protested and revolted in 1998, and the resulting battle left 18 of them dead. This violence was not necessary and many people think it was carried out on the orders of Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister at the time and candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections on a platform of firm responses to delinquancy and criminality. He won that election.

The current situation in New Caledonia is catastrophic. France has visibly been dragging its feet on the transfer of power, and the result is human rights abuses, the beating and jailing of Trade Union members, the suspension of the right to vote for dissenters and widespread poverty for the local population.

There are rich people there of course, but they are almost all French. They drive and sail around in their luxury cars and boats and keep a keen eye on their construction, tourist, hotel, and production industries. These are the people who control politics and the economy.

There are also thousands of retired French Government officials, Generals and Diplomats for example, who posess houses and apartments in New Caledonia. This is all paid for by French and local taxes. Their pensions are around twice as high as those given to other French citizens. These pensions are called ‘Temporary Retirement Indemnity’. These people are part of the control mechanism of New Caledonia.

Meanwhile the indiginous population is poor and has no access to the luxurious life enjoyed by the French. Many thousands of them live in shanty towns with no running water or electricity, and poverty related illness and social problems are rife. Social unrest is increasing and crime unemployment and violence have reached frightening levels. Those who work do so as low-paid workers in the French-owned hotels and restaurants, construction sites, factories and agricultural businesses.

Some of them are unfortunate enough to work in the nickel mines. These mines are another example of French abuse. These mines, and their waste, make New Caledonia one of the most CO2 polluted countries per habitant in the world. More polluted than the United States. The hypocrisy of this lies in the fact that France, a fierce opponent of the United States’ stance on the Kyoto Protocols, has discreetly managed to obtain the exemption of New Caledonia from inclusion in....the Kyoto Protocols!! This means that people, beautiful coral reefs and other natural sites are being polluted by the waste from the mines in all legality.

New Caledonia does not exist as an independant political entity. The so-called political parties are no more than clubs for the French population. Almost all the prominent figures are French and the parties are endorsed and financed by the major French polititical parties. The only good news here is the emergence of one or two independance parties, but, with less funding, their impact has not yet been a factor of change.

New Caledonians have no say in their country’s geopolitical role either. Two striking examples of this are the recent agreement which grants access to naval ports to Australian warships and the decision to install the French Military’s Pacific Command Headquarters there.

All of this constitutes an issue that needs to be put before the United Nations and debated in view of putting an end to the appalling modern colonial exploitation of a country and its people.

I would like to give the last word in this article to Mr. Nyiteij, a member of the budding local Socialist Party. They were said in response to yet another condescending and patronising speech by yet another French politician who was visiting the island to garner votes for one of the French-controlled parties there.

“Please do not think for us any more. Let us play our own part, in our own way, in world history. Let us use our own consciousness of the world, our own conceptions of life and happiness and a man’s place vis-a-vis his brothers. And let us use our own best means of satisfying a man true needs.”