Julie is an active activist in the Solidarité Kanaky collective and the
CNT. Mandated by this union, she stayed in New Caledonia to attend thecongress of the pro-independence union USTKE (Union syndicale des
travailleurs kanak et des exploités) in December 2023. Since the social
explosion that took place in the archipelago in mid-May and which was
severely repressed by the French state, she has been participating in
solidarity with Kanak prisoners, particularly those who were deported to
France. Here, she takes stock of their situation and explains how the
support provided to them is organized.
SOLIDARITY!
The Justice and Freedom for Kanaky committee has opened, on HelloAsso,
an "internationalist, anti-colonialist and anti-capitalist solidarity
fund" against the current repression in the archipelago, "in
coordination with local movements (unions, rights defense organizations)
and solidarity networks in France". This association "supports the
struggle of the Kanak people for the respect of their right to
self-determination", and the funds collected are used "for the legal
defense of the victims of the repression, their families, lawyers' fees,
travel expenses".
Contact: jlk[at]riseup.net
Can you tell us about the police and judicial repression against the
rioters since mid-May, to begin with?
This repression was historic, with a huge deployment of law enforcement,
reinforcements sent in addition to the 4,000 gendarmes already on site.
Kanaky was sealed off for a month, no one could enter or leave except
officers.
There was an initial repression on February 21: the demonstration
against the "thaw" of the Caledonian electorate was blocked by trucks of
mobile guards, people were arrested and sentenced to two years in
prison. These are activists from the CCAT[field action coordination
unit]who are still in prison. The repression took on another dimension
when the law on this "thaw" was voted on in the National Assembly on May
13. A few days earlier, there had already been a mutiny that was harshly
repressed at Camp-Est, which is the Noumea prison and a former penal
colony. The day before the vote, when the USTKE launched a strike on the
docks, at the port, and in air and land transport, there were flashballs
fired at young people carrying the Kanak flag in the working-class
district of Montravel, in Noumea. The riots began then: it was a
response by Kanak youth to police provocation and repression. Then,
there was an outpouring of violence with the deployment of the GIGN and
RAID, and manhunts in the working-class districts of Noumea. About ten
young Kanaks were shot dead, among others by armed militias protected by
the police and supported by local elected officials. We still do not
know the exact number of injured people - the Médipôle (Noumea hospital)
was completely militarized at that time - but there were many.
The law on the "thaw" of the electoral body was suspended thanks to this
uprising of the Kanak youth, but the repression continues today. There
are more than 3,000 arrests, which is enormous[there were 112,000 Kanaks
in 2019]- compared to the French population, it is as if there had been
1.5 million arrests here.
Do you know if there were any women arrested? We don't read anything
about them...
There were some. Currently there are no more among those arrested, but
women are under house arrest. And among the young people who were shot
dead, there is a 17-year-old girl.
How did the judicial repression take place and what do we know about the
convictions?
There is a colonial justice system in Kanaky: sentences against Kanaks
are already very harsh, as a general rule, but here they were totally
disproportionate. Concerning the demonstration of February 21, the two
comrades sentenced were sentenced for refusing to comply and minor
injury to a mobile gendarme: two years in prison.
Very few lawyers did their job - which would be to defend in a "neutral"
way, let's say, the arrested Kanaks. A column by 38 lawyers from the
Noumea bar appeared in the press stigmatizing Kanak youth and the CCAT,
and saying that they could not defend people who had threatened public
order (and their families).
The objective of the judicial system was of course initially to file
everyone. There were many CRPCs (appearances on prior admission of
guilt), without investigation and based solely on the statements of the
police officers. Most of the people arrested did not have a lawyer...
According to the Kanaky Political Prisoners Support Committee (CSPPK)
which monitors the people arrested (in conjunction with the CCAT legal
department), there were nearly 2,500 people taken into custody, nearly
500 brought before an immediate court, more than 200 people placed in
preventive detention, and more than 500 "alternative sentences to
prison" such as TIG[community service], with bans on demonstrating.
Noumea February 21, 2024
The repression also fell on CCAT activists...
Yes, a whole media arsenal was deployed to criminalize the independence
movement, in particular by treating CCAT activists as "terrorists". 13
of them - including Christian Tein, the president of the FLNKS[Kanak and
Socialist National Liberation Front]since August 2024 - were arrested.
11 at the premises of the Union Calédonienne[UC]party of which they are
members, and just before a press conference planned by the CCAT. They
were indicted, as were two activists a few days later, with charges
relating to the crime ("criminal association") and unrelated to their
political activity - for example for "attempted murder" or for
"organized robbery with a weapon". They were blamed for everything that
happened in Noumea from May 13 onwards. Most of them risk harsh
sentences, even life imprisonment.
Some of them were placed under house arrest in Kanaky, others were
imprisoned, and five men and two women were deported to France far from
their families - handcuffed, strapped, with their hands in the air for
more than twenty hours; they could only go to the toilet, under
surveillance and with the door open... They were dispatched to different
prisons; then Frédérique Muliava and Brenda Wanabo-Ipeze were placed
under house arrest here, first with electronic bracelets and then without.
Requests for release were made for these activists, and refused - for
Christian Tein, for example. Joël Tjibaou[son of Jean-Marie Tjibaou],
who was at Camp-Est, was released, but we have little information...
Two mutinies took place in this prison in May. Do you have any
information on what happened there?
At Camp-Est, overcrowding was enormous well before May. The general
inspector of places of deprivation of liberty had made two reports on it
(in 2012, then in 2019), and the OIP[International Prison
Observatory]had prepared files and filed a complaint against the State,
which was condemned in October 2024 for its slowness of action... In
short, the living conditions in this prison and the dilapidated state of
the cells are not new: in some areas (including the detention area),
prisoners are locked in shipping containers, four in cells intended for
two; prisoners sleep on the floor, and eat at a table almost next to the
toilet; there have been backflows of sewage into the cells; in the
juvenile area, children are left alone all night, etc. The prisoners
have no training opportunities, there are almost no workshops (the only
one that existed, sculpture, was closed in December 2023: it was a
collective punishment following an incident). There is almost no
educational support for minors. And, on the medical level, it is
lamentable: you have to wait a week to be able to go to the infirmary to
get a bandage; on the other hand, to see a psychiatrist and find
yourself sealed, it is right away...
Before May 13 there was a mutiny, another on the evening of the 13th,
and for several days afterward. More than 80 cells were burned. The
repression was fierce, with intervention by the RAID, the GIGN and the
ERIS (regional intervention and security teams, in other words the
guards responsible for repression in prisons).
We had several terrible testimonies: regular and systematic beatings of
prisoners by guards, food portions equivalent to that of a 3-year-old
child, prisoners were starved for weeks, visiting rooms suspended. There
was no longer an infirmary, no access to a doctor. Walks were reduced to
thirty minutes per day with body searches on the way out and, on their
return, prisoners were placed in groups in cramped spaces filled with
piss, with extremely tight serflex[clamps]as handcuffs for hours, even
the whole night. Torture... And prisoners told us that a young Kanak
from Canala, aged about twenty, had died at the time. This apparently
happened in May. He was seriously injured during a systematic beating
and died in front of his fellow prisoners, from internal bleeding, as a
result of the blows he received. This information has not been released
by the media, but it has come back to us repeatedly, and it needs to be
known.
We had to put pressure on the family of this young man to keep quiet.
We are not in contact with them, but given the situation in Kanaky we
assume that they did not risk making waves. We also had, in October, a
testimony about beatings that are supposedly continuing in Camp-Est.
Incarceration is a colonial tool for repressing the Kanak people - 90%
of prisoners in Kanaky are Kanak, the others are Oceanian; on the other
hand, those who killed or beat up Kanaks during the riots are left
alone. The elected officials who were identified as leaders of armed
militias have never been worried (Philippe Blaise or Gilles Brial, for
example). The assassinations that have taken place are similar to
extrajudicial executions. Already, for a young man shot dead in Kaméré
at the end of June, the case was closed without further action by the
public prosecutor last December on the grounds of "self-defense". The
same scenario is expected for the other investigations. This sadly
reminds us of the Wan Yaat massacre, near Tiendanite (in the Hienghène
region): on December 5, 1984, a dozen Kanak activists (including two
brothers of Jean-Marie Tjibaou) were shot dead while returning from a
meeting. They were ambushed on the road by several Caldoches brothers
(from the famous La Petite family). The killers surrendered, and the
verdict was "self-defense by premeditation", which legally does not
exist! The French colonial state does what it wants in colonized lands,
and its judicial institution allows it to swallow what it wants with
complete impunity. But this is not forgotten.
Similarly, Eloi Machoro[general secretary of the UC]was shot dead by the
GIGN on January 12, 1985, and there has never been justice. As in all
colonial history, in Kanaky the list of examples is long. And the Kanaks
know what their elders also suffered, and the violence of the colonial
fact. In May, the Kanak youth rose up to stop the forcing through of a
law that would be a step backwards. This time, it was in the middle of
Noumea. For weeks, there was terrorization of the inhabitants of the
working-class neighborhoods - searches, arrests, humiliations, stun
bombs on roofs, house fires, injuries, etc.
We know that these investigations concerning the murdered young people,
like those concerning all the atrocities that took place in
working-class neighborhoods, in the jails of police stations, or even in
Saint-Louis for days, and today in Camp-Est and everywhere where the
Kanaks are facing the colonial administration, all the complaints that
have been filed will certainly not lead to much as long as we remain
within French law. France also has accounts to render at the
international level, and it must be attacked as the administering power
in the decolonization process that did not respect it. Even if we do not
expect better from a colonial power, it would be good if it were
attacked on this.
And then everything also plays out on the ground, and, as we know, only
the fight pays to change the balance of power... Independence is not won
in a court of law.
Images taken from a video clandestinely made by a detainee, in November
2020, on the conditions of detention at Camp-Est
To return to the thousands of arrests that took place, do you know where
all these people were locked up?
This is a question that remains unanswered. There are not that many
police stations in Kanaky, and there cannot have been that many people
in custody cells. A hundred detainees were transferred in May from
Camp-Est to Koné prison (which is recent and supposedly a "professional
reintegration" establishment); but these hundred places freed up at
Camp-Est is nothing compared to the number of arrests (especially since
there were also 80 cells that were unusable because they had been
burned). In addition, people who were detained at that time at Camp-Est
and with whom we were in contact say that they did not see any rioters
arrive. There were rumors about the presence, near Tontouta airport, of
containers with people arrested in them, but we were unable to verify
this information. It should be noted that access to the airport was
blocked for weeks. The road from Noumea to Tontouta was militarized and
blocked supposedly because of the roadblocks. In reality, it was
perfectly passable; the army was crisscrossing it for strategic reasons.
Can you tell us now about solidarity here? How did it start?
As early as the end of May, we learned from the statements of the
prosecutor and the haussaire[high commissioner of the Republic,
representative of the French State]that, in order to make room at
Camp-Est, "those sentenced to long sentences" were going to be
transferred out of the country, without specifying their destination. We
started looking for information on this, because many people without
news of their relatives wondered whether or not they were among the
deportees. And the Guyanese MP Davy Rimane openly questioned its
chairman in the Law Commission: had there been any arrivals in France?
This chairman publicly answered in the negative. There was a clear
desire on the part of the French State to "blur" and prevent the
dissemination of information on these deportations - whether on their
number or on the people concerned. At Solidarité Kanaky, we wondered if
they had gone to Polynesia, and we asked ourselves many other questions
about them: were they rioters, or were there some among them? We very
quickly started looking for Kanak detainees in France - this was before
the deportation of the CCAT comrades on June 22 -, and it took a very
long time (it is painstaking work, very time-consuming). We learned,
through a relative of a young Kanak, that he had been deported on June
8, and certainly not alone. Then we had access to a list of names and
prisons.
From then on, as soon as we had a location and a name, we
systematically wrote letters, introducing ourselves to the prisoners and
asking them if they had any needs, if their relatives were aware of
their presence here... Prisoners responded to us by telling us what they
had experienced, telling us about the presence of other Kanaks who were
locked up with them, or the names of Kanaks who had been deported at the
same time as them but of whom they had no news. We now know from various
testimonies how the deportations took place, which were almost all
forced. The prisoners were summoned one by one by the commander of
Camp-Est, surrounded by several ERIS, and they were told that they were
going to be sent to France; they had to sign a paper, and if they did so
they had one hour to prepare their belongings before their departure -
otherwise they left without any belongings. Whether they signed or not,
they had no choice about leaving. And we have the testimony of people
who were threatened with being sedated.
Several waves of deportation have been identified. We don't have all the
information on this, but in any case the number of prisoners we have
located in France - around sixty in around forty prisons, some isolated
(there are no other Kanaks in the establishment) - is below the real
number. We know that in October there was a deportation; in November,
another one...
These prisoners are "long-term prisoners" as announced? And you are in
contact with many of them?
They are prisoners, but not necessarily long-term prisoners - some will
be released in a few months. This was a way of suppressing the mutinies.
Yes, we are in contact with the majority. Among those who have not yet
responded to our letters, some may have relatives here who are in
contact with them; or perhaps they are not in a position to respond to
us. We are still looking for several people: we do not know where they
are imprisoned. But in any case, for the moment, we are not aware of any
rioters from the mobilizations among these deportees.
How do you organize yourself to ensure this solidarity?
In June, we set up a working group at the Solidarité Kanaky collective;
there are also activists close to this collective in it. The bulk of our
work is still to provide material and financial assistance, to connect
with lawyers, etc., to the deportees of Camp-Est and to their relatives
who have come here. It is important to pass on information about the
situation of these deportees because the media does not talk about it -
but of course we also provide support to the political prisoners of the
CCAT, for whom a mobilization is also in place. In addition, an online
kitty was launched on HelloAsso by the Justice and Freedom for Kanaky
committee (see box). This association, which enabled a fundraiser,
provides financial support for our work. A team of lawyers has also been
formed to provide legal aid to detainees who request it. We hold office
hours every week in Paris. We collect and answer the mail, we send help
for the canteen (many prisoners who arrive have neither linen nor
anything to call their families, and a call in Kanaky is very
expensive). We have warned families of the presence of certain prisoners
here (they did not know that they had been deported); others have
contacted us to ask for news of their loved ones.
We had to negotiate for months with the SPIP[prison integration and
probation service]of certain prisons to get permission to drop off a bag
of clothes. In some places, the situation was only resolved when a
family member arrived from Kanaky with a visiting permit for a visiting
room and brought the bag into the prison. Since we are not part of the
prisoners' families, it is difficult for us to send a package and obtain
visiting permits in certain prisons. But we negotiate as much as
possible and try to find a solution in all cases.
Solidarity rally near Mulhouse prison, June 24, 2024
This summer we published a guide for relatives of deportees, with all
the steps to take, and giving a telephone number and an email address to
contact us (this guide is online on the Solidarité Kanaky collective
website: solidaritekanaky.fr), because families looking for one of their
loved ones do not know how to get news of them.
We ask prisoners if they agree to receive letters from people in
solidarity; if they agree, we tell the local committees that want to
hold writing workshops. And we are currently trying to organize
ourselves by region, so that there are referents not far from the
prisons where Kanak prisoners are held.
We are in contact with the CCAT and the CSPPK, and we have surrounded
ourselves with different collectives that are used to working on prison
issues. We also did broadcasts with L'Envolée, starting in May 2024, to
send messages to prisoners when we were looking for certain people, to
read testimonies... We are also in contact with comrades in Kanaky -
from the Pause décoloniale or from the Sévices pénitentiaires.
We are also working with the OIP[International Prison Observatory]on the
issue of deportees in general and on the conditions of detention at
Camp-Est. The OIP will soon be releasing the next issue of its magazine
Dedans-dehors on Kanaky/New Caledonia, and we are also preparing a
publication so that information on the situation of these prisoners can
be disseminated.
Regarding solidarity in general towards people imprisoned during various
mobilizations, we often see dissociations: people support the
"politicians" and not the "common law", or the "non-violent" and not the
"violent". What is your position on this issue? During the "events" of
the 80s in New Caledonia, when the Kanak independence fighters mobilized
against the French State, looting of businesses and roadblocks took
place; this was part of the means of action, as in May last year...
The CCAT considers that all the people arrested at the roadblocks and in
the mobilizations are part of the political prisoners that it has
identified (there are 56, not counting the people not locked up but
prosecuted).
We have also debated this issue in relation to the deportees from
Camp-Est. Why support people who are convicted of common law crimes?
Because we are dealing with colonial justice: deporting prisoners as
France did (forced exile 17,000 kilometers from home) goes against
international law; it is completely illegal, and these prisoners are
victims of a colonial act. And because it is a question of human rights,
whatever the reason for their conviction: having clothes and receiving
phone calls for lack of visiting rooms is the bare minimum of human
rights. The deportation of these prisoners has enormous consequences for
them and their families: some end up selling everything they have
overnight or they get into debt to come and see their loved ones. And
then, when they are released, they will find themselves stuck here.
There is the question of their repatriation to Kanaky: the prison
administration and the judicial institution tell them that it will be at
their expense, but it is not up to them to pay for a plane ticket - they
will not be able to buy it anyway. We must denounce this situation and
demand the immediate repatriation of prisoners who wish it, and at the
expense of the State! Furthermore, personally, I consider that a mutiny
is a way of rebelling when one is already in the lair of colonial power.
Starving, locked up in inhumane conditions, and knowing the political
situation outside, the prisoners of Camp-Est rebelled against being
treated like animals, and facing a repressive system alone. And we can
welcome this. As for the "violence" attributed to the rioters, it should
be remembered that no one was killed by Kanaks; the roadblocks were also
used to disarm certain militia vehicles. On the other hand, the
settlers' checkpoints that were still being held a few months ago in the
wealthy neighborhoods of Noumea with weapons of war were never
dismantled by the police.
The violence of the settlers and of a colonial state that denies a
people and crushes them, that is what we are fighting. The looting of
Carrefour and other stores is material. A youth with a huge unemployment
rate, incomparable discrimination in employment, who are shot with
flash-balls for having carried their flag... and Carrefour that is
looted, well yes! Burned cars, well yes! It is above all the expression
of being fed up. The rioters were facing lethal weapons, that is above
all the problem. And it is 171 years of colonization, the real looting
of land and wealth, and destruction of life in Kanaky.
We are of course demanding the immediate release and the cessation of
prosecution for all Kanak prisoners from the mobilizations of the year
that has just passed.
Interview by Vanina on January 18, 2025
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4366
_________________________________________
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