New Caledonia: Deadly Riots Derail Independence Bid

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03-06-2024: During mid-May, France’s National Assembly deliberated on an amendment bill which would allow those who have resided in New Caledonia for ten years to have the right to vote in provincial elections. Voting is currently restricted to people who lived in New Caledonia before 1998, and their children.[1] New Caledonia, an archipelago in the South Pacific with a population of some 295 000 people,[2] is a French overseas territory, but there has long been a movement for independence supported by most, but not all, indigenous Kanak people. In response to the French government moves, riots broke out which led to the wholesale looting and burning of properties. Around 5000 mostly young people were involved in the riots, and the French government declared a state of emergency and deployed troops to restore order. Some apps such as TikTok were banned which raised concerns about the suppression of free speech. The violence continued for several days.[3]

Colonisation

French troops first landed in New Caledonia in 1844, and France formally annexed the archipelago in 1853. A penal colony was established in 1869, and land was allocated to convicts which they would own after they had served their sentence. The problem was that the land was already occupied by the indigenous Kanak people. Thousands of exiles were sent to New Caledonia from the Paris Commune as well as Algerian Kabyles, who had fought French colonial rule.[4] A great Kanak revolt against French colonial land theft erupted in 1878, and again in 1917. Both of these uprisings were savagely repressed by French colonial authorities.

From the 1860s to 1904, the practice of “blackbirding” meant many Kanaks and others from around 80 Melanesian islands were kidnapped or tricked into being taken to places such as Australia. There, they were forced to perform back breaking labour by cutting sugar cane harvests by hand. With the adoption of the notorious White Australia policy as part of federation in 1901, the new Australian government deported thousands of Kanaks, even those who had settled and started families on the continent. Slavery did exist in Australia despite many preferring not to recall such times.[5]

In the 1970s, the inequality of land ownership in New Caledonia was blatant. The majority of the land was owned by European settlers, while indigenous Kanaks were crowded in the remaining areas. The territory was polarising into two seemingly irreconcilable communities that had little contact with the other. Kanak demands led to the formation in 1984 of the Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS). FLNKS was formed from four of the five independence parties as well as a pro-independence trade union, a land rights committee and a women’s group. The 80s saw violence erupt between both pro-independence Kanaks and settler groups, with killings taking place on both sides.[6] Despite this, the FLNKS coalition tried to establish a form of economic sovereignty by claiming partial public control[7] of the country’s main resource – nickel. Despite its small size and population, New Caledonia is the world’s third largest producer of nickel,[8] a metal critical for the production of electric vehicles (EVs), which are exploding in numbers internationally.

Defeated referenda

Driving the demands for independence from France is the glaring gap between the living standards of Kanaks compared to non-Kanaks. According to a 2019 census, the poverty rate amongst indigenous Kanaks is 32.5%, compared with 9% for non-Kanaks.[9] Kanaks reportedly have just 25% of the living standards of European settlers.[10] Despite this, the three independence referenda which have been held as a result of the Noumea Accord of 1998 have recorded a victory for those opting to remain with France. The referenda took place in 2018, 2020 and 2021, however the 2021 referendum is strongly contested. It took place during the fraudulent “Covid pandemic” and the independence movement largely called for a boycott due to a purported virus. This call was observed by other New Caledonians, not only the Kanaks, which form some 40% of the population.[11] Loyalist parties and the French government claim that the results of the referenda confirm that the majority of New Caledonians wish to remain with France as an overseas territory. Independence groups, on the other hand, claim that nothing can be resolved until the issues of the 2021 referendum are resolved.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently lifted the state of emergency which was imposed for 12 days on the 15^th of May. The riots have caused seven deaths, hundreds of injuries and almost 1 billion Euros worth of damage to the local economy. Up to 500 companies, businesses and retail stores have been looted or destroyed by arson. Macron has boosted the number of French security forces to 3500.[12] Some claim that France is desperate to hold on to its territory in case an independent New Caledonia turns towards the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Yet the socialistic PRC only has the intention of building mutually beneficial relations with the Pacific nations, in terms of trade, cultural relations and security. Beijing did sign a security deal with the Solomon Islands in 2022, which alarmed Washington and Canberra. Yet these actions were taken in response to Washington’s meddling in Honiara, which resulted in anti-China riots and the deaths of three people in December 2021.[13]

MSG

The FLNKS is the only member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) which does not represent a government, despite the FLNKS having members of the New Caledonian government. Indeed, the President Louis Mapou is a member of the Kanak Liberation Party (Palika), which is one of the constituent parties of the FLNKS.[14] The FLNKS also includes the Coordination Cell for Field Action (CCAT), which the government has accused of being the main organiser of the upsurge in violent incidents across the country. Some describe CCAT as “the armed wing of the FLNKS”,[15] though this is not official. Despite this, French President Emmanuel Macron was questioned as to why controversial CCAT leader Christian Téin was included in the independence delegation during his talks with them.[16] So the FLNKS, despite the “socialist” in its name, is a cross-class front which includes various political viewpoints and programs. This is one reason it was granted membership of the MSG in 1989, alongside the governments of other Melanesian majority countries, such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Despite also being a cross class body, the MSG nevertheless defended its interests by denying membership to the separatist United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), whose multiple armed wings carry out violent terrorist attacks on other Melanesians and those of multiple other ethnicities who do not agree with economic and political separation from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).[17] The NKRI is an associate member of the MSG, based on its five Melanesian provinces – Maluku, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua and West Papua.

Independence?

New Caledonia today has a population of around 295 000,[18] and has an ethnic composition of around 40% indigenous Kanak, 28% French/European, 8% Wallisian and Futunian, 2% Tahitian, 1% Indonesian, 1% Ni-Vanuatu, 1% Vietnamese and “others” at around 17%.[19] There is little doubt that indigenous Kanaks have suffered the most from French land theft and marginalisation due to colonisation, but the lower living standards for Kanaks today is bound up with New Caledonian capitalism – despite its relatively small size. The Australian ruling class and French imperialists will move to have it remain that way, while joining with the US rulers in an effort to “push back”, or even wage war (e.g. AUKUS) against China. However the PRC, as a deformed workers’ state, has no imperial designs on anyone in the Pacific. Also, its largely nationalised and planned economy is by far outgunning the hapless capitalist economies of the West, which remain in decline. The PRC’s vast manufacturing, technological and scientific advances come about due to the PRC’s economy not functioning on the basis of production for private profit. The PRC would therefore be a natural partner for an independent New Caledonia, were this to come to pass.

The deadly riots in May in New Caledonia may well have had the effect of pushing independence further away, rather than taking steps towards it. An indigenous identity on its own, while significant, is not enough of a political program which has a chance of winning over non-Kanaks in the archipelago, especially if they sense that violence may ultimately be directed at them. Some of the riots may have been targeted at signs of wealth (such as new car dealerships), but rather than destroy these outlets through fire or looting, the task is to build a pro-working class political movement in New Caledonia and the French “mainland”, along with other working people throughout the Pacific and internationally. This will require an internationalist Marxist leadership, which can help link the ongoing crises afflicting the globe to the dire need for socialism to conquer economic inequality and the threat of war.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

[1] www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/whats-happening-in-new-caledonia-why-is-there-rioting/ar-BB1mSOOC (29-05-2024)

[2] www.worldometers.info/world-population/new-caledonia-population/ (29-05-2024)

[3] www.globalvoices.org/2024/05/22/unrest-in-new-caledonia-the-kanak-peoples-destiny-should-not-be-decided-in-europe/ (29-05-2024)

[4] www.sbs.com.au/news/article/after-165-years-of-french-colonisation-new-caledonias-kanaks-could-win-independence/dmnt1o2xz (29-05-2024)

[5] www.smh.com.au/national/they-ruled-our-lives-what-impact-has-slavery-had-in-australia-20200630-p557ht.html (29-05-2024)

[6] www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/land-and-independence-new-caledonia (29-05-2024)

[7] www.link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-49140-5_9 (29-05-2024)

[8] www.fortune.com/asia/2024/05/17/france-lost-control-new-caledonia-producer-critical-ev-metal-nickel/ (29-05-2024)

[9] www.reuters.com/world/colonial-era-inequalities-that-fuelled-new-caledonia-crisis-2024-05-23/ (29-05-2024)

[10] www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoxWR6VNUlQ (29-05-2024)