The letter says that Macron’s upcoming visit to New Caledonia will be a good opportunity to express support to the development of statehood in the country, and that this important stage, in which the French President wants to participate together with local authorities and elected officials in Caledonia, should end with a consensus in an environment of mutual trust and peace.
The authors of the letter recall Macron describing colonialism in Algeria as a “crime against humanity and barbarism” in February 2017, a statement that was met with great hope by the Kanak people who were colonized following the occupation by the French on September 24, 1853:
“We are victims of 170 years of colonialism. After your truthful speech, we believed that through you, France would fulfill its commitment to the decolonization of New Caledonia. Today Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front have decided to continue their nationalist and local movement with determination and will for dialogue. Indeed, on February 26 last year, the popular congress of the independence movement approved a single and unitary course for New Caledonia to obtain full sovereignty through negotiations with the French state. This decision is a continuation of the Kanak people’s struggle to get back their colonially confiscated lands and to restore their rights to govern their country according to their customs and traditions. In this regard, the FLNKS, the legitimate representative of the Kanak people in New Caledonia, agreed to participate in three bilateral meetings on decolonization—first with French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, and then with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. During these talks, our pro-independence officials constantly reminded the painful path of the colonized Kanak people accompanied by crimes against humanity during the past 170 years. In this historical reminder, they also include, on one hand, the epidemics that struck the Kanaks who had no immunity, the rebellions of tribal leaders, the repressions accompanied by mass killings by the colonial army, and on the other hand, the indigenization phase accompanied by the settlement, colonial strategy and displacement of the population aimed at making the Kanaks a minority in their own country. The Kanak people’s struggle against colonialism was born out of the brutality of French colonialism.”
The letter points out that the resistance against colonialism paved the way for Kanaks to obtain citizenship, enter political institutions, abolish the framework law, and found the Kanak independence movement.
It is recalled that the FLNKS was created as a result of the rebellions and uprisings of Kanak nationalists in 1984-1988: “These periods marked the history of the Kanak people, written in bloody letters and full of indelible humiliations that give concreteness to the colonial dispute causing a confrontation between us to this day.”
The authors bring up the several rounds of talks with Paris and remind the French President: “… you were and remain responsible for ensuring an irreversible, honest process that allowed New Caledonia to affirm its call to become a sovereign nation, following the example of the Pacific nations. The realization of this agreement is not in doubt since the French state recognizes the desire of New Caledonia for complete independence at the end of this period.”
The letter calls France out on never honoring its promises and commitments: “At every decisive moment of our history, it prioritizes the short-term interests of the ‘great power’ in the Pacific.”
Moreover, “some of the main issues underlying the FLNKS vision of ensuring stability and a peaceful legislative process in the country are still unresolved. First, the current colonial issue continues to be an object of conflict arising from the traumas inherent in many families, many clans, and tribal leaders. For this reason, the FLNKS requested that the discussions be pre-arranged within the framework of bilateral exchanges between France, which governs the state, and the legal representative of the colonized Kanak people. An effective settlement of the Caledonian colonial dispute will allow the Kanak people to establish new relations with France.”
The letter emphasizes that the native population in Oceania faced colonial inequality through a sharp demographic decline (due to epidemics, massacres), land grabbing by non-natives, inability to benefit from new economic initiatives (mining, large-scale animal husbandry, crop export) and moral attacks of western monotheisms. It is necessary to restore balance through successful decolonization, which is the only means for the FLNKS to restore strong social ties between the communities living in New Caledonia. “Finally, the transfer of state powers is necessary to establish a new relationship between France and New Caledonia within the framework of a beneficial, reliable relationship based on mutual consensus.”
FLNKS believes that the country is ready to possess the attributes of its sovereignty. Therefore, FLNKS proposed to consider the adoption of an agreement that would create a political basis for this final stage of legislative evolution within the framework of a joint approach. “When the Matignon-Oudinot Agreements were signed, some around the world speak of an act of civilization, in which the parties to a conflict that had all the hallmarks of a colonial war managed to begin together a process that gave hope for successful decolonization in the twentieth century. You yourself said on your first visit to the area in 2018 that ‘the Caledonians have invented an exceptional collective smart model, which is of worldwide interest.’ So, Mr. President, we believe that together we can repeat this civilizational movement by peacefully completing the decolonization of New Caledonia to prove the viability of this smart model to the whole world.”
Editorial note. As evident from the letter, Macron’s upcoming visit to New Caledonia will by no means be a walk in the park. France’s overseas territories are becoming a time bomb. Paris is anxious to maintain classic colonial rule and full control over the situation here. But it cannot ignore the anti-colonial movement. The measures Paris used to “pacify the natives” have turned into dynamite. The attempts to follow the example of Bashar al-Assad by promising one thing in negotiations but doing something completely different in reality are not helping to strengthen France’s position either.
Finally, all this is happening amid the rapid decline of France’s influence and authority in the Pacific Ocean: the emergence of an alliance of the United States, Britain and Australia excluding Paris leaves no room for doubt.
This means that Macron simply does not have an elegant way out of the situation in New Caledonia.
