The "thaw" of the Caledonian electorate attempted by the French State to
end the independence claim caused in the archipelago, in mid-May, a realsocial explosion(1) which had repercussions in many sectors of society.
The planned reconstruction will make the territory even more dependent
on the metropolis, to the great satisfaction of the non-independence
supporters. The independence supporters have lost the presidency of the
Territorial Congress and are torn over the attitude to adopt towards the
central power, but the militant base of their movement defends an
intransigent line. Finally, the measures announced as "painful" to
redress the economic situation of New Caledonia could well quickly
produce a new social explosion there.
In 2007, the electoral lists for the provincial elections of New
Caledonia had been frozen in their 1998 state, but in January 2024 the
French government submitted to Parliament a constitutional bill
integrating into these lists citizens born locally or who had resided in
the archipelago for at least ten years. This enlargement of the
Caledonian electorate, which would make the Kanaks an increasingly
minority on their land, triggered barricades, fires and looting in the
Noumea metropolitan area on 13 May - the day before its adoption by the
National Assembly. To stop the "exactions(2)", the French State did not
skimp on military means. On the website La Voix du gendarme, we can read
that the Ministry of the Interior authorised the hand-throwing of GM2L
grenades(3) in the archipelago on 25 June.
Louis Le Franc, High Commissioner of the Republic, has continued to
maintain "security measures" there. On August 26, after specifying that
the police had made 2,625 arrests, he recalled various "restrictions": a
ban on selling alcohol, gasoline or weapons, or on transporting them.
Today, these restrictions are still in place. Similarly, the only road
serving the south of Grande-Terre remains blocked by two police
checkpoints near Saint-Louis, a working-class district of Mont-Dore, in
the Nouméa metropolitan area. Its 1,200 residents can only cross them on
foot, upon presentation of an identity document and after a body search;
and they also have no electricity, telephone or access to healthcare.
Gatherings, demonstrations and processions are prohibited in the
municipalities of Nouméa, Dumbéa, Païta and Mont-Dore until September
30. The curfew in the archipelago has been extended for the umpteenth
time, until the end of the month - and it has been reinforced from
September 16 to 24...
Because September 24 was feared in high places this year. It was on
September 24 that France "took possession" of the territory, in 1853,
and this day, which has become a public holiday, is officially the
"citizenship day"; but, for the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation
Front (FLNKS), it marks the beginning of "Kanak mourning". And Daniel
Goa, president of the Caledonian Union (UC, the main component of the
FLNKS), announced on June 8 that a "unilateral proclamation of
independence" would be made for this 171st anniversary of colonization
(which is also the 40th anniversary of the FLNKS). However, despite the
current presence of at least 6,000 police officers and gendarmes
(including 130 GIGN) and the ongoing judicial repression, "public order"
has not been restored in the territory. At least occasional roadblocks
still exist in working-class neighborhoods of Noumea, such as Montravel.
The deportation to mainland France of seven CCAT officials caused a new
conflagration on June 22; the death of a young rioter in Thio on August
15 and then that of two others in Saint-Louis during the night of
September 18 to 19 (all three killed by the police) as well. And,
according to a report by TF1 on August 26(4), access to the SLN mines
remained blocked by activists from the Union Syndicale des Travailleurs
Kanak et des Exploités (USTKE)...
Since mid-May, the public prosecutor Yves Dupas has designated the
Cellule de coordination des actions de terrain (CCAT) as the "sponsor of
the riots", the "mafia organization" that forged a "destabilization
plan". In fact, the CCAT was created on November 23, 2023 (at the
initiative of the UC) to mobilize against the "thaw" of the Caledonian
electorate that the Minister of the Interior Darmanin was going to
announce, then visiting the archipelago. It includes activists from
pro-independence groups that may or may not belong to the FLNKS (such as
the Rassemblement démocratique océanien, the Mouvement des Océaniens
indépendantsistes, the Parti travailliste or the USTKE); on the other
hand, two other components of the FLNKS are not part of it: the Palika
and the Union progressiste en Mélanésie (UPM). Before the riots, the
CCAT organized several demonstrations in Noumea that were as calm as
they were dynamic, and it declared in a press release on July 24 that it
"assumes the political and peaceful mobilization of the balance of power
on the ground." But, for Dupas, its members exploited the
"vulnerability" of young people "in disarray," without training or
employment and suffering from strong addictions, "in rupture with the
tribal or family environment," and "who were able, where appropriate, to
receive some material compensation (alcohol and other products) in
exchange for their active participation" in the "exactions." In
addition, he assures us, "certain operating methods deployed on the
ground" and "certain forms of communication, such as the use of
walkie-talkies," lead him to believe that "foreign powers played a role
on the ground" (!), because it is "logistics that could not be
implemented in the urgency of a spontaneous movement." He therefore
advocates "rapid, diligent and proportionate" judicial treatment of the
11 members of the CCAT taken into custody on 19 June, in particular for
criminal association and for "complicity by instigation of murder or
attempted murder of persons in positions of public authority". (On the
other hand, he does not envisage resorting to "public force" or
"initiating proceedings for obstruction of free movement" against the
"vigilant neighbours" who erected barricades in various districts of
Noumea and its surrounding area.)
Magenta district, Noumea, September 24, 2024.
On the economic and social front
For months, the media and employers have been painting apocalyptic
pictures of the situation in New Caledonia(5) and blaming the rioters.
In summary, the cost of the destruction is estimated at at least 2.2
billion euros. 800 businesses have been damaged, resulting in losses in
tax and customs revenues estimated at 380 million euros. The tourism
industry has ground to a halt; trade and real estate are slowing down,
and the structural crisis in the nickel sector is making this toll
worse. 25,000 people are unemployed (partially or totally) out of the
68,000 employees in the territory.
"The worst is yet to come," warned the representative of Medef-NC, Mimsy
Daly, on 28 August. All public aid has been cut. The health sector is
bankrupt and social aid is being stopped one after the other. It is a
social emergency, not just an economic one."
The institutional parties are constantly calling on the French State for
help, and they have prepared... two plans for it! On August 28, the
Congress adopted by a very large majority a five-year plan for the
reconstruction of the country, led by the moderate non-independence
party Calédonie ensemble and valued at 4.2 billion euros. It asked the
State to finance it and to create an interministerial committee to
manage the "crisis" in the archipelago. Through an amendment, all the
groups that signed this plan committed to implementing the necessary
efforts for a complete return to public order and serenity in the
archipelago. Only the UNI group (which mainly brings together elected
representatives from Palika and the UPM) abstained from voting for it,
criticizing it (rightly) for accentuating the archipelago's "welfare"
compared to the mainland, but also for entering into competition with
the plan concocted at the same time with... the High Commission of the
Republic by the government led since 2021 by Louis Mapou, a Palika
figure. This plan, called S2R because it is called "safeguarding,
rebuilding and reconstruction", aims to "reform New Caledonia in depth":
revise the health and social protection systems; "work" on purchasing
power, transport, etc., and build a "Caledonian identity". But its
"overhaul of the economic and social, societal and institutional models"
also aims more to patch up the existing system than to challenge it.
Following the ongoing digital public consultation on this "S2R", the
Caledonian government will present it to Congress at the end of
September, then submit it to the State before the examination of the
2025 finance bill, scheduled for October 9.
It is certain that New Caledonian institutions are faced with increased
impoverishment of the population and supply disruptions - which led
Philippe Gomès, leader of Calédonie ensemble, to predict "food riots at
the end of 2024". But before the social explosion in May, it was already
known that nearly one in five New Caledonians was below the poverty line
and that 71% of young people without qualifications were Kanak(6). And
the local government was already threatened by cessation of payments,
because its current problems are not new: the deficits of Ruamm (the
unified New Caledonian health and maternity insurance scheme) and
Enercal (the manager of the local electricity system whose main
shareholder is New Caledonia); the lack of cash to pay civil servants'
salaries, pensions, unemployment benefits, etc.
For example, the deficit of the Société immobilière de
Nouvelle-Calédonie (SIC), which houses one in five households in Noumea,
was around 5.8 million euros per year before May. It has only worsened
since then, with the increase in unpaid rents and lease terminations,
particularly in the districts badly affected by the riots.
The "exactions" have therefore mainly accentuated the economic
difficulties that the territory was experiencing. The head of Medef-NC
herself admitted this, but to blame these difficulties on the Noumea
Accords and the institutions that emerged from them, or on the
separatists who are in charge. "We can no longer live as we have done
for thirty years in an over-administered model that has not proven
itself(7)", she asserted. And the Ministry of Finance also considers
that the territory has lived beyond its means for thirty years:
overpayment of civil servants, an overly generous pension system,
underpriced energy and a lack of tax revenue.
To save the local civil service pension fund (CLR) from imminent
bankruptcy, the Caledonian Congress voted on 8 August, by a majority,
for "unpopular measures(8)": employee contributions increased by 1% in
August and retirees' pensions will decrease by 3% until the end of 2025.
(It should nevertheless be kept in mind that civil servants earn almost
double the salary in the archipelago, compared to mainland France.)
A gendarmerie observation post installed in the commune of Mont-Dore,
September 17, 2024.
But it is above all through the State that the most urgent problems have
been resolved, like successive small "miracles", because this State is
ready to make many... loans (at high interest rates, if not repayable
advances) in order not to lose the archipelago:
* At the end of May, the 272 million euros that it paid to the
Caledonian government and to the companies in the territory (excluding
the nickel sector) made it possible to pay for the partial unemployment
of the first 10,000 employees who had, occasionally or not, no longer
had work and to help small and medium-sized companies to get back on
their feet after the riots. However, this sum also served to plug the
holes in the social accounts and to keep local public finances and
Enercal on life support.
* On July 29, the State released another 14.2 million euros to allow
Enercal to return to its current balance in order to continue to supply
electricity to factories, companies and households. But, to pay off its
debt (150 million euros), the price of electricity will increase for two
years by more than 34%... in order to reach the "normal price" of
electricity and its transport.
* As, for several years, the economic and political situation of the
archipelago has made the "metropolitans" hesitate to stay there(9),
leading in particular to a shortage of caregivers, the State has
decided, in agreement with the local government, to "mobilize the health
reserve" in New Caledonia. On September 12, its high commission
announced that 11 health professionals would be sent there (their
remuneration is unknown) and would be assigned to the Médipôle, in the
suburbs of Noumea, and to the North hospital center...
Let us have no doubt, solutions will be found for other problems, and
the Caledonian employers will manage to bounce back. But although some
people, like Yannick Slamet (member of the Caledonian government and of
Palika), assure us: "It will be painful for everyone", "everyone" will
not suffer the same. Illustrations:
In July, the Southern Province extended the period of residence in the
province to receive social assistance from six months to ten years.
Regarding evictions from social housing, Benoît Naturel, director of
SIC, declared on August 28 that it would be "necessarily necessary for
the general balance to arrive at this type of extreme solution."
In the nickel sector, the closure of the Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS) plant
on 31 August caused a shock: it put 1,200 employees and 800
subcontractors out of work. A symbol of the economic rebalancing between
the pro-independence North and the loyalist South, KNS belonged to the
Société minière du Sud Pacifique (51% public shareholder) and Glencore
(49%), which dropped the deal. However, on 12 September, the Okelani
Group One company offered to buy Glencore's shares - but only taking on
400 of the 1,200 employees.
Finally, in the CCI Infos file of August-September 2024, we can read
that it is urgent to "reduce the social divide and inequalities". With
this in mind, the Medef-NC is asking the local government to "have
access to forward planning of jobs and skills" because "many young
people who have been trained cannot find jobs, while companies lack
skills in finance, marketing, digital technology, etc."; and it is
recommending "genuine economic development of customary lands (...) in
order to promote Kanak entrepreneurship and access to employment for
everyone." In other words, the recipe for the much-vaunted Caledonian
"living together" would be to create a few more bosses among the Kanaks,
and to put their idle youth to work so that they can acquire consumer
goods, on credit or not, instead of stealing or destroying them?
The Saint-Louis checkpoint: on one lane, bastion walls (metal cages
lined with bags filled with rubble) and barbed wire; on the other, two
Centaure armoured vehicles
On the institutional and political level
A notable event took place on 29 August in the archipelago, concerning
local institutions: Roch Wamytan (member of the UC and Grand Chief of
Saint-Louis(10)), who had chaired the Congress since 2019, was replaced
by Veylma Falaeo, from the Oceanian Awakening (for the first time, a
woman of Wallisian and Futunian origin thus acceded to the head of the
Congress).
Wamytan had reached this position thanks to what he called the "Oceanian
majority" - an alliance of the UC-FLNKS and Nationalists and UNI-Palika
groups with the Oceanian Awakening. But on 19 July 2024 Milakulo
Tukumuli, head of this pivotal party - commonly presented as the "third
way" between the pro-independence and non-pro-independence groups - had
criticized Wamytan, in an open letter entitled "And now?", for his
"irresponsibility" since the "insurrection"(11). And Falaéo was actually
elected because the non-independence supporters withdrew in her favor in
the second round of voting. In the first round, Wamytan had obtained 26
votes, Naïa Watéou (the Loyalist candidate) 19; Philippe Dunoyer
(Calédonie ensemble) 6, Falaéo 3. But Wamytan's opponents then voted for
her, and she had 28 votes, he 26.
This electoral setback for the independence supporters must be put into
perspective: on the one hand, territorial elections should take place no
later than December 15(12), so Falaéo may only be in office for three
months; on the other hand, the non-independence supporters only chose
her to get rid of Wamytan and have often been in opposition to the Eveil
océanien. In any case, there is now in Congress a "reconstruction
majority" quite willing to come to an agreement with the French State -
and to continue the partisan negotiations that are the usual fare of
parliamentary democracy. The appointment of François-Noël Buffet (LR
senator) to the Ministry of Overseas Territories is appreciated both by
the employers and by a good part of the Caledonian political class.
Falaéo declared as soon as she was elected: "Oceania is not an ethnic
group", but she affirmed that she was ready to work with both camps, to
defend the values of the Republic, to want to fight against
inequalities, to seek a "partnership with France" to resolve the
question of decolonization (without talking about independence), and to
oppose any management by region (in response to Sonia Backès, the
loyalist leader who pleaded on July 14 for "autonomization of the
provinces" so that her rich Southern province would secede).
On the ground of independence activists
Another notable event took place on 29 August: the 43rd FLNKS congress
opened in Koumac without the Palika or the UPM, which highlighted its
internal dissensions. Since Darmanin made public the project to "thaw"
the Caledonian electorate, the UC has been demanding, like the CCAT,
that this project be withdrawn (Macron has only suspended it); and only
the Palika and the UPM have continued the dialogue with the government.
At the 42nd FLNKS congress, which was held in Dumbéa on 23 March, all
its components were present, as well as the USTKE union and the Labour
Party, because it was essential to adopt a common position against this
famous "thaw". But the disagreements, which have been strong for years
within the FLNKS, have worsened with the riots - concerning the position
of the CCAT vis-à-vis them, the integration of new members into the
FLNKS or relations with Azerbaijan.
The 43rd congress, planned for June 15 in Koné, was postponed because
the traditional chiefs of this commune opposed the participation of a
large delegation of the CCAT. And, during the summer, the statements
emanating from the independence camp showed where its components stood:
On 27-28 July, after its general assembly in Poindimié where the 24
delegations that came represented "an approximate number of 1,500
people", the CCAT renewed its demand that the police leave the
archipelago, that an investigation into their actions be conducted by
parliamentarians and that the "political prisoners deported to mainland
France" be repatriated - this "is an obligation for the return to
serenity" and the resumption of dialogue with the State". The CCAT
confirmed "the maintenance of peaceful mobilization (...) as long as the
subject of the thawing of the electoral body is not once and for all
abolished", with actions organized on the 13th of each month in
reference to the "start of the revolt". She considered the governance of
the FLNKS to be "deficient", but assured that it "remains the national
liberation movement" and considered that its next congress should be
"open to all" and "assume with all the political parties that compose it
the consequences of the coordinated actions on the ground". She demanded
the departure of Louis Le Franc, and declared herself in favour of
holding the provincial elections on the scheduled date "in order to
renew and rejuvenate the entire New Caledonian political class".
On August 26, Paul Néaoutyine (one of the founders of Palika, mayor of
Poindimié and elected member of the Territorial Congress since 1989,
president of the FLNKS from 1990 to 1995, president of the Northern
Province since 1999, etc.) attacked in a resounding press release the
"CCAT relay" of his commune, but more broadly the UC and the territorial
CCAT. Denouncing the "tribute" that this CCAT section of Poindimié
wanted to pay to the eleventh death of the riots, he declared that "the
death of this young man is the responsibility of the CCAT relays
concerned as well as their principals who cover themselves with the
Kanaky flag and usurp the FLNKS acronym in a "strategy of chaos" decided
by a single component of the FLNKS" - and he "called on the competent
services of the State to clear the announced blockages and allow free
movement"!
On 28 August, the UPM deplored in a press release the failure of all
FLNKS components to condemn the riots, the "absence of debate on the
basic strategy" and "security and traffic conditions, prerequisites for
a peaceful debate within the FLNKS" - and it announced that it would not
participate in its 43rd congress. Shortly afterwards, the Palika did the
same after deploring the fact that the modalities for ending the crisis
and the resumption of dialogue with the State were not on the agenda of
the congress. For it, the FLNKS is the subject of "instrumentalisation"
and "this gathering[in Koumac]cannot be a FLNKS congress, what comes out
of it will in no way commit the Palika".
Poindimié, August 15, 2024.
On 27-29 August, the 43rd FLNKS congress was nevertheless held in the
name of the "unity" necessary(13) to allow "our country to free itself
from the French colonial yoke", in the words of Laurie Humuni, secretary
general of the RDO - the party responsible for "leading" the FLNKS,
whose leadership had been rotating since 2001. The themes chosen were
the governance of the FLNKS and the strategy to be defined to obtain "a
free and independent Kanaky", Kanak identity, youth, societal issues and
economic reconstruction. The UC then proposed to reactivate the position
of president of the FLNKS ("a political necessity in the face of the
challenges of the follow-up to the[Nouméa]agreement"), and it supported
the candidacy of Christian Tein presented by the CCAT.
This activist, who is both the spokesperson for the CCAT and the general
commissioner of the UC, is currently imprisoned in Mulhouse. By putting
him at its head, the FLNKS recognized the CCAT as a tool for
mobilization and it hardened its position towards the State(14). Tein's
appointment is quite symbolic given his detention in metropolitan
France, but it aims to give assurances to a Kanak youth determined not
to give up - and to obtain from them a "loosening" of the roadblocks
that remain? Or, concerning Saint-Louis, to "convince the young people
to take their foot off the gas (...) in other words to surrender (...)
to save their lives", in the words of Wamytan on Franceinfo, on
September 23?
September 24 and its aftermath
September 24th took place under heavy police surveillance: 35 squadrons
of gendarmes (out of the 116 that France has) and 30 armored vehicles to
ensure the "maintenance of order" in a territory of 271,000 souls;
"clearing columns" prepositioned to destroy possible roadblocks... The
media mainly reported the "battle" of the flags that took place in
Noumea between "citizen resistance collectives" and independentists, in
a heavy atmosphere. The proclamation of independence that Daniel Goa had
announced was made by the great Kanak chiefs, gathered on the island of
Maré in the presence of Maori, Vanuatu and Fijian dignitaries, but in
the absence of representatives of local institutions or the State.
According to Hyppolite Sinewami Htamumu (the president of the Inaat Ne
Kanaky association that brings them together), the "unilateral
declaration of sovereignty of the chiefdoms over their customary
territories" is a "symbolic and solemn act that will allow the
indigenous Kanak people to break away from the colonial system and
manage their customary affairs with their own means." This great chief
explains that he resigned from the Customary Senate on July 30 because
it functioned as a "state service," while "the youth have called upon
Inaat Ne Kanaky because there is no longer any trust, whether at the
level of customary institutions or at the political level."
In the coming days, we will measure the weight of the customary
authorities, and how the "autonomy of governance of Kanak identity
affairs" and the "support of the indigenous Kanak people in their
development and emancipation for a generation" that they have decided on
are translated into concrete terms. In other words, will the Kanak
elected representatives withdraw from the Caledonian institutions?
The "inter-institutional Caledonian delegation" that arrived - on
September 24 - in Paris to meet with parliamentarians (from various
parties, including the National Rally) and appeal for "national
solidarity" was composed of the main political leaders of the
archipelago, except those of Palika...
Concerning the independence movement, we can note two paradoxes:
On the one hand, it emerged weakened from the riots not so much because
the repression fell on the youth of the working-class neighborhoods,
largely Kanak, but because the gap widened between the leadership of the
movement and its base. The latter is increasingly resistant to the
approach promoted by the Noumea Agreement: accession to independence
through elections and participation in local institutions.
On the other hand, at the same time as the leaderships of the UC and
Palika are opposed on the attitude to adopt with regard to the State and
as the pro-independence camp is weakening in local institutions, the
legislative elections of June-July 2024 have confirmed the strength of
its claim (like the election to the Senate of a member of the UC, Robert
Xowié, on October 2, 2023)(15). Despite the gerrymandering of
constituencies carried out since 1986 by the Minister of the Interior
Pasqua to prevent the arrival of Kanak in Parliament, and while the
electorate is "open" in the archipelago on the occasion of the
legislative elections, Emmanuel Tjibaou was elected deputy with more
than 57% of the votes(16).
However, it remains to be seen what content is currently given to the
word independence, and even more so to that of socialism, to which the
acronym of the FLNKS still refers.
Vanina, September 26, 2024
Notes
1 See in particular the articles published in the previous Courant
Alternatif and the following text in this issue.
2 This term commonly used by politicians and the media allows us to
silence what the "social explosion" suggests: a revolt against the
inequalities existing between classes with antagonistic interests.
3 These grenades, which replaced the GLI-F4s in 2018 (implicated in the
death of Rémi Fraisse in Sivens in 2014), were to be used with a
specific launcher since 2021.
4 "Nickel, symbol of the serious crisis affecting New Caledonia".
5 For example, on 7 August, Franceinfo headlined: "An archipelago out of
breath, an economy on its knees...".
6 In the 2019 census, Kanaks represented 57% of non-graduates, 75% of
workers, 70% of unemployed people, 90% of prisoners and 6% of higher
education graduates in the territory.
7 In this vein, Christopher Gygès, a member of the Caledonian government
and anti-independence, suggests no longer replacing one in two civil
servants.
8 "Public service pensions: the Congress of New Caledonia reluctantly
adopts the CLR reform", Franceinfo.
9 According to the Caledonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the
number of departures this year is already higher than the number of
arrivals by more than 6,000 people.
10 The large chiefdoms are the Kanak customary districts.
11 Wamytan notably caused an uproar in Congress by supporting an
initiative by the pro-independence elected official Omayra Naisseline:
on April 18, she signed in her place a memorandum of cooperation between
the Congress of the archipelago and the Parliament of Azerbaijan.
12 Macron, however, mentioned their possible postponement.
13 As a sign of the existing tensions, there were searches of vehicles
and a ban on carrying any weapons, any consumption of alcohol and any
taking of photos or recording of videos.
14 Note that neither the Palika nor the UPM have withdrawn from it to date.
15 Read "The majority pro-independence voices in the 2024 legislative
elections" (AISDPK blog on Mediapart).
16 His campaign focused on appeasement and reconciliation was
nevertheless able to attract votes from non-independence supporters.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4262
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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