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Category: Kanaks

  • French police shoot dead two Kanaks in New Caledonian ‘assassinations’

    By Stefan Armbruster and Harry Pearl of BenarNews

    French police have shot and killed two men in New Caledonia, stoking tensions with pro-independence groups days ahead of a public holiday marking France’s annexation of the Pacific archipelago.

    The pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) decried the deaths yesterday as “barbaric and humiliating methods” used by French police resulting in a “summary execution” and called for an independent investigation.

    The shootings bring the number of deaths in the Pacific territory to 13 since unrest began in May over French government changes to a voting law that indigenous Kanak people feared would compromise their push for independence.

    The men were killed in a confrontation between French gendarmerie and Kanak protesters in the tribal village of Saint Louis, a heartland of the independence movement near the capital Nouméa.

    Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a media statement the police operation using armoured vehicles was to arrest suspects for attempted murder of officers and for armed robbery on the Saint Louis road, with “nearly 300 shots noted in recent months.”

    “The two deceased persons were the subject of a search warrant, among a total of 13 persons implicated, sought and located in the Saint Louis tribe,” Dupas said, adding they had failed to respond to summonses.

    Dupas ordered two investigations, one over the attempted murders of police officers and the second into “death without the intention of causing it relating to the use of weapons by the GIGN gendarmerie (elite police tactical unit) and the consequent death of the two persons sought”.

    Push back ‘peaceful solution’
    Union Calédonienne (UC) secretary-general Dominique Fochi said yesterday the actions of French security forces “only worsen the situation on the ground and push back the prospect of a peaceful solution.”

    Screenshot 2024-09-19 at 2.35.27 AM (1).png
    Pro-independence Union Calédonienne secretary-general Dominique Fochi addresses the media yesterday. Image: Andre Kaapo Ihnim/Radio Djiido

    “The FLNKS denounces the barbaric and humiliating methods used by the police, who did not hesitate to carry out a summary execution of one of the young people in question,” Fochi read from a FLNKS statement at a press conference.

    “We demand an immediate de-escalation of military interventions in the south of our country, particularly in Saint Louis, where militarisation and pressure continue on the population, which can only lead to more human drama.”

    The statement called for an immediate “independent and impartial investigation to shed light on the circumstances of these assassinations in order to establish responsibilities”.

    Prosecutor Dupas said police came under fire from up to five people during the operation in Saint Louis and responded with two shots.

    “The first shot from the policeman hit a man, aged 30, positioned as a lone sniper, who was wounded in the right flank. The second shot hit a 29-year-old man in the chest,” Dupas said, adding three rifles and ammunition had been seized.

    One of the men died at the scene, while the other escaped and later died after arriving at a local hospital.

    Deaths raise Citizenship Day tensions
    The deaths are likely to raise tensions ahead of Citizenship Day on Tuesday, which will mark the 171st anniversary of France’s takeover of New Caledonia.

    For many Kanaks, the anniversary is a reminder of France’s brutal colonisation of the archipelago that is located roughly halfway between Australia and Fiji.

    Paris has beefed up security ahead of Citizenship Day, with High Commissioner Louis Le Franc saying nearly 7000 French soldiers, police and gendarmes are now in New Caledonia.

    “I have requested reinforcements, which have been granted,” he told local station Radio Rythme Bleu last week.

    “This has never been seen before, even during the toughest times of the events in 1984 and 1988 — we have never had this,” he said, referring to a Kanak revolt in the 1980s that only ended with the promise of an independence referendum.

    Authorities have also imposed a strict curfew from 6 pm to 6 am between September 21-24, restricted alcohol sales, the transport of fuel and possession of firearms.

    Kanaks make up about 40 percent of New Caledonia’s 270,000 people but are marginalised in their own land — they have lower incomes and poorer health outcomes than Europeans who make up a third of the population and occupy most positions of power in the territory.

    UN decolonisation process
    New Caledonia voted by modest majorities to remain part of France in referendums held in 2018 and 2020 under a UN-mandated decolonisation process. Three votes were part of the Noumea Accord to increase Kanaks’ political power following deadly violence in the 1980s.

    A contentious final referendum in 2021 was overwhelmingly in favour of continuing with the status quo.

    However, supporters of independence have rejected its legitimacy due to very low turnout — it was boycotted by the independence movement — and because it was held during a serious phase of the covid-19 pandemic, which restricted campaigning.

    Earlier this year, the president of Union Calédonienne proposed Septemnber 24 as the date by which sovereignty should be declared from France. The party later revised the date to 2025, but the comments underscored how self-determination is firmly in the minds of local independence leaders.

    The unrest that erupted in May was the worst outbreak of violence in decades and has left the New Caledonian economy on the brink of collapse, with damages estimated to be at least 1.2 billion euros (US $1.3 billion).

    Some 35,000 people are out of a job.

    Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Two Kanaks shot dead by French police in New Caledonia decried as ‘assassinations’

    French police shot and killed two men in New Caledonia on Thursday morning, stoking tensions with pro-independence groups days ahead of a public holiday marking France’s annexation of the Pacific archipelago. 

    The pro-independence FLNKS decried the deaths as “barbaric and humiliating methods” used by French police resulting in a “summary execution” and called for an independent investigation.

    The shootings bring the number of deaths in the Pacific territory to 13 since unrest began in May over French government changes to a voting law that indigenous Kanak people feared would compromise their push for independence. 

    The men were killed in a confrontation between French gendarmerie and Kanak protesters in the tribal village of Saint Louis, a heartland of the independence movement near the capital Noumea.

    Public prosecutor Yves Dupas in a media statement said the police operation using armored vehicles was to arrest suspects for attempted murder of officers and for armed robbery on the Saint Louis road, with “nearly 300 shots noted in recent months.”

    “The two deceased persons were the subject of a search warrant, among a total of 13 persons implicated, sought and located in the Saint Louis tribe,” Dupas said, adding they had failed to respond to summonses.

    Dupas ordered two investigations, one over the attempted murders of police officers and the second into “death without the intention of causing it relating to the use of weapons by the GIGN gendarmerie [elite police tactical unit] and the consequent death of the two persons sought.”

    Union Caledonie secretary general Dominique Fochi said on Thursday the actions of French security forces “only worsen the situation on the ground and push back the prospect of a peaceful solution.”

    Screenshot 2024-09-19 at 2.35.27 AM (1).png
    Pro-independence Union Caledonie secretary-general Dominique Fochi addresses the media on Sept. 19, 2024. (Andre Kaapo Ihnim/Radio Diijo)

    “The FLNKS denounces the barbaric and humiliating methods used by the police, who did not hesitate to carry out a summary execution of one of the young people in question,” Fochi read from a Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front statement at a press conference in Noumea.

    “We demand an immediate de-escalation of military interventions in the south of our country, particularly in Saint Louis, where militarization and pressure continue on the population, which can only lead to more human drama.”

    The statement called for an immediate “independent and impartial investigation to shed light on the circumstances of these assassinations in order to establish responsibilities.”

    Prosecutor Dupas said police came under fire from up to five people  during the operation in Saint Louis and responded with two shots.

    “The first shot from the policeman hit a man, aged 30, positioned as a lone sniper, who was wounded in the right flank. The second shot hit a 29-year-old man in the chest,” Dupas said, adding three rifles and ammunition had been seized.

    One of the men died at the scene, while the other escaped and later died after arriving at a local hospital.

    The deaths are likely to raise tensions ahead of Citizenship Day next Tuesday, which will mark the 171st anniversary of France’s takeover of New Caledonia.

    For many Kanaks, the anniversary is a reminder of France’s brutal colonization of the archipelago that is located roughly halfway between Australia and Fiji.

    Paris has beefed up security ahead of Citizenship Day, with High Commissioner Louis Le Franc saying nearly 7,000 French soldiers, police and gendarmes are now in New Caledonia.

    “I have requested reinforcements, which have been granted,” he told local station Radio Rythme Bleu last week. 

    “This has never been seen before, even during the toughest times of the events in 1984 and 1988 – we have never had this,” he said, referring to a Kanak revolt in the 1980s that only ended with the promise of an independence referendum.

    Authorities have also imposed a strict curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m between Sept. 21-24, restricted alcohol sales, the transport of fuel and possession of firearms. 

    Kanaks make up about 40% of New Caledonia’s 270,000 people but are marginalized in their own land – they have lower incomes and poorer health outcomes than Europeans who make up a third of the population and occupy most positions of power in the territory.

    New Caledonia voted by modest majorities to remain part of France in referendums held in 2018 and 2020 under a U.N.-mandated decolonization process. Three votes were part of the Noumea Accord to increase Kanaks’ political power following deadly violence in the 1980s.

    A contentious final referendum in 2021 was overwhelmingly in favor of continuing with the status quo. However supporters of independence have rejected its legitimacy due to very low turnout – it was boycotted by the independence movement – and because it was held during a serious phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted campaigning.

    Earlier this year, the president of Union Caledonian proposed Sept. 24 as the date by which sovereignty should be declared from France. The party later revised the date to 2025, but the comments underscored how self-determination is firmly in the minds of local independence leaders. 

    The unrest that erupted in May was the worst outbreak of violence in decades and has left the New Caledonian economy on the brink of collapse, with damages estimated to be at least 1.2 billion euros (U.S. $1.3 billion). Some 35,000 people are out of a job. 

    BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Stefan Armbruster and Harry Pearl for BenarNews.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Pacific Lands and Seas Are Neither Forbidden nor Forgotten


    Mahiriki Tangaroa (Kūki ’Airani), Blessed Again by the Gods (Spring), 2015.

    Since May, a powerful struggle has rocked Kanaky (New Caledonia), an archipelago located in the Pacific, roughly 1,500 kilometres east of Australia. The island, one of five overseas territories in the Asia-Pacific ruled by France, has been under French colonial rule since 1853. The indigenous Kanak people initiated this cycle of protests after the French government of Emmanuel Macron extended voting rights in provincial elections to thousands of French settlers in the islands. The unrest led Macron to suspend the new rules while subjecting islanders to severe repression. In recent months, the French government has imposed a state of emergency and curfew on the islands and deployed thousands of French troops, which Macron says will remain in New Caledonia for ‘as long as necessary’. Over a thousand protesters have been arrested by French authorities, including Kanak independence activists such as Christian Tein, the leader of the Coordination Cell for Field Actions (Cellule de coordination des actions de terrain, or CCAT), some of them sent to France to face trial. The charges against Tein and others, such as for organised crime, would be laughable if the consequences were not so serious.

    The reason France has cracked down so severely on the protests in New Caledonia is that the old imperial country uses its colonies not only to exploit its resources (New Caledonia holds the world’s fifth largest nickel reserves), but also to extend its political reach across the world – in this case, to have a military footprint in China’s vicinity. This story is far from new: between 1966 and 1996, for instance, France used islands in the southern Pacific for nuclear tests. One of these tests, Operation Centaure (July 1974), impacted all 110,000 residents on the Mururoa atoll of French Polynesia. The struggle of the indigenous Kanak peoples of New Caledonia is not only about freedom from colonialism, but also about the terrible military violence inflicted upon these lands and waters by the Global North. The violence that ran from 1966 to 1996 mirrors the disregard that the French still feel for the islanders, treating them as nothing more than detritus, as if they had been shipwrecked on these lands.

    In the backdrop of the current unrest in New Caledonia is the Global North’s growing militarisation of the Pacific, led by the United States. Currently, 25,000 military personnel from 29 countries are conducting Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), a military exercise that runs from Hawai’i to the edge of the Asian mainland. Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research worked with an array of organisations – a number of them from the Pacific and Indian Oceans – to draft red alert no. 18 on this dangerous development. Their names are listed below.

    They Are Making the Waters of the Pacific Dangerous

    What is RIMPAC?

    The US and its allies have held Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises since 1971. The initial partners of this military project were Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which are also the original members of the Five Eyes (now Fourteen Eyes) intelligence network built to share information and conduct joint surveillance exercises. They are also the major Anglophone countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO, set up in 1949) and are the members of the Australia-New Zealand-US strategy treaty ANZUS, signed in 1951. RIMPAC has grown to be a major biennial military exercise that has drawn in a number of countries with various forms of allegiance to the Global North (Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Tonga).

    RIMPAC 2024 began on 28 June and runs through 2 August. It is being held in Hawai’i, which is an illegally occupied territory of the United States. The Hawai’ian independence movement has a history of resisting RIMPAC, which is understood to be part of the US occupation of sovereign Hawai’ian land. The exercise includes over 150 aircraft, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, and other military equipment from 29 countries, though the bulk of the fleet is from the United States. The goal of the exercise is ‘interoperability’, which effectively means integrating the military (largely naval) forces of other countries with that of the United States. The main command and control for the exercise is managed by the US, which is the heart and soul of RIMPAC.


    Fatu Feu’u (Samoa), Mata Sogia, 2009.

    Why is RIMPAC so dangerous?

    RIMPAC-related documents and official statements indicate that the exercises allow these navies to train ‘for a wide range of potential operations across the globe’. However, it is clear from both US strategic documents and the behaviour of the US officials who run RIMPAC that the centre of focus is China. Strategic documents also make it clear that the US sees China as a major threat, even as the main threat, to US domination and believes that it must be contained.

    This containment has come through the trade war against China, but more pointedly through a web of military manoeuvres by the United States. This includes establishing more US military bases in territories and countries surrounding China; using US and allied military vessels to provoke China through freedom of navigation exercises; threatening to position US short-range nuclear missiles in countries and territories allied with the US, including Taiwan; extending the airfield in Darwin, Australia, to position US aircraft with nuclear missiles; enhancing military cooperation with US allies in East Asia with language that shows precisely that the target is to intimidate China; and holding RIMPAC exercises, particularly over the past few years. Though China was invited to participate in RIMPAC 2014 and RIMPAC 2016, when the tension levels were not so high, it has been disinvited since RIMPAC 2018.

    Though RIMPAC documents suggest that the military exercise is being conducted for humanitarian purposes, this is a Trojan Horse. This was exemplified, for instance, at RIMPAC 2000, when the militaries conducted the Strong Angel international humanitarian response training exercise. In 2013, the United States and the Philippines cooperated in providing humanitarian assistance after the devastating Typhoon Haiyan. Shortly after that cooperation, the US and the Philippines signed the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (2014), which allows the US to access bases of the Philippine military to maintain its weapons depots and troops. In other words, the humanitarian operations opened the door to deeper military cooperation.

    RIMPAC is a live-fire military exercise. The most spectacular part of the exercise is called Sinking Exercise (SINKEX), a drill that sinks decommissioned warships off the coast of Hawai’i. RIMPAC 2024’s target ship will be the decommissioned USS Tarawa, a 40,000-tonne amphibious assault vessel that was one of the largest during its service period. There is no environmental impact survey of the regular sinking of these ships into waters close to island nations, nor is there any understanding of the environmental impact of hosting these vast military exercises not only in the Pacific but elsewhere in the world.

    RIMPAC is part of the New Cold War against China that the US imposes on the region. It is designed to provoke conflict. This makes RIMPAC a very dangerous exercise.


    Kelcy Taratoa (Aotearoa), Episode 0010 from the series Who Am I? Episodes, 2004.

    What is Israel’s role in RIMPAC?

    Israel, which is not a country with a shoreline on the Pacific Ocean, first participated in RIMPAC 2018, and then again in RIMPAC 2022 and RIMPAC 2024. Although Israel does not have aircraft or ships in the military exercise, it is nonetheless participating in its ‘interoperability’ component, which includes establishing integrated command and control as well as collaborating in the intelligence and logistical part of the exercise. Israel is participating in RIMPAC 2024 at the same time that it is waging a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Though several of the observer states in RIMPAC 2024 (such as Chile and Colombia) have been forthright in their condemnation of the genocide, they continue to participate alongside Israel’s military in RIMPAC 2024. There has been no public indication of their hesitation about Israel’s involvement in these dangerous joint military exercises.

    Israel is a settler-colonial country that continues its murderous apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people. Across the Pacific, indigenous communities from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to Hawai’i have led the protests against RIMPAC over the course of the past 50 years, saying that these exercises are held on stolen ground and waters, that they disregard the negative impact on native communities upon whose land and waters live-fire exercises are held (including areas where atmospheric nuclear testing was previously conducted), and that they contribute to the climate disaster that lifts the waters and threatens the existence of the island communities. Though Israel’s participation is unsurprising, the problem is not merely its involvement in RIMPAC, but the existence of RIMPAC itself. Israel is an apartheid state that is conducting a genocide, and RIMPAC is a colonial project that threatens an annihilationist war against the peoples of the Pacific and China.


    Ralph Ako (Solomon Islands), Toto Isu, 2015.

    Te Kuaka (Aotearoa)
    Red Ant (Australia)
    Workers Party of Bangladesh (Bangladesh)
    Coordinadora por Palestina (Chile)
    Judíxs Antisionistas contra la Ocupación y el Apartheid (Chile)
    Partido Comunes (Colombia)
    Congreso de los Pueblos (Colombia)
    Coordinación Política y Social, Marcha Patriótica (Colombia)
    Partido Socialista de Timor (Timor Leste)
    Hui Aloha ʻĀina (Hawai’i)
    Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (India)
    Federasi Serikat Buruh Demokratik Kerakyatan (Indonesia)
    Federasi Serikat Buruh Militan (Indonesia)
    Federasi Serikat Buruh Perkebunan Patriotik (Indonesia)
    Pusat Perjuangan Mahasiswa untuk Pembebasan Nasional (Indonesia)
    Solidaritas.net (Indonesia)
    Gegar Amerika (Malaysia)
    Parti Sosialis Malaysia (Malaysia)
    No Cold War
    Awami Workers Party (Pakistan)
    Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (Pakistan)
    Mazdoor Kissan Party (Pakistan)
    Partido Manggagawa (Philippines)
    Partido Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (Philippines)
    The International Strategy Center (Republic of Korea)
    Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (Sri Lanka)
    Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
    Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist)
    CODEPINK: Women for Peace (United States)
    Nodutdol (United States)
    Party for Socialism and Liberation (United States)

    When the political protests began in New Caledonia in May, I hastened to find a book of poems by Kanak independence leader Déwé Gorodé (1949–2022) called Under the Ashes of the Conch Shells (Sous les cendres des conques, 1974). In this book, written the same year that Gorodé joined the Marxist political group Red Scarves (Foulards rouges), she wrote the poem ‘Forbidden Zone’ (Zone interdite), which concludes:

    Reao Vahitahi Nukutavake
    Pinaki Tematangi Vanavana
    Tureia Maria Marutea
    Mangareva MORUROA FANGATAUFA
    Forbidden zone
    somewhere in
    so-called ‘French’ Polynesia.

    These are the names of islands that had already been impacted by the French nuclear bomb tests. There are no punctuation marks between the names, which indicates two things: first, that the end of an island or a country does not mark the end of nuclear contamination, and second, that the waters that lap against the islands do not divide the people who live across vast stretches of ocean, but unite them against imperialism. This impulse drove Gorodé to found Group 1878 (named for the Kanak rebellion of that year) and then the Kanak Liberation Party (Parti de libération kanak, or PALIKA) in 1976, which evolved out of Group 1878. The authorities imprisoned Gorodé repeatedly from 1974 to 1977 for her leadership in PALIKA’s struggle for independence from France.

    During her time in prison, Gorodé built the Group of Exploited Kanak Women in Struggle (Groupe de femmes Kanak exploitées en lutte) with Susanna Ounei. When these two women left prison, they helped found the Kanak National Liberation and Socialist Front (Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste) in 1984. Through concerted struggle, Gorodé was elected the vice president of New Caledonia in 2001.


    Stéphane Foucaud (New Caledonia), MAOW! (2023).

    In 1985, thirteen countries of the south Pacific signed the Treaty of Rarotonga, which established a nuclear-free zone from the east coast of Australia to the west coast of South America. As French colonies, neither New Caledonia nor French Polynesia signed it, but others did, including the Solomon Islands and Kūki ‘Airani (Cook Islands). Gorodé is now dead, and US nuclear weapons are poised to enter northern Australia in violation of the treaty. But the struggle does not die away.

    Roads are still blocked. Hearts are still opened.

    The post The Pacific Lands and Seas Are Neither Forbidden nor Forgotten first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • A Certain French Stubbornness: Violence in New Caledonia

    France’s Emmanuel Macron can, at times, show himself at odds with the grime and gristle of grounded politics.  Able to pack in various snatches of philosophical reflection in a speech, straddling the highs and lows of a rhetorical display, his political acumen has, at times, deserted him.

    Nothing is more evident of this than his treatment of New Caledonia, a Pacific French territory annexed in 1853 and assuming the title of a non-self-governing territory in 1946.  Through its tense relationship with France and the French settlers, the island territory has been beset by periodic bursts of violence and indigenous indignation.  Pro-independence parties such as L’Union Calédonienne have seen their leaders assassinated over time – Pierre Declerq and Eloi Machoro, for instance, were considered sufficiently threatening to the French status quo and duly done away with.  Kanak pro-independence activists have been butchered in such confrontations as the Hienghène massacre in December 1984, where ten were killed by French loyalists of the Lapetite and Mitride families.

    As for Macron, New Caledonia was always going to feature in efforts to assert French influence in the Indo-Pacific.  In 2018, he visited the territory promising that it would be a vital part of “a broader strategy” in the region, not least to keep pace with China.  Other traditional considerations also feature.  The island is the world’s fourth ranked producer of nickel, critical for electric vehicle batteries.

    In July 2023, Macron declared on a visit to the territory that the process outlined in the Nouméa Accord of 1998 had reached its terminus.  The accords, designed as a way of reaching some common ground between indigenous Kanaks and the descendants of French settlers through rééquilibrage (rebalancing), yielded three referenda on the issue of independence, all coming down in favour of the status quo. In 2018, the independence movement received 43% of the vote.  In 2020, the number had rumbled to 47%.

    The last of the three, the December 2021 referendum, was a contentious one, given its boycott by the Kanak people.  The situation was aided, in large part, by the effects of Covid-19 and its general incapacitation of Kanak voters.  Any mobilisation campaign was thwarted.  A magical majority for independence was thereby avoided.  The return of 97% in favour of continued French rule, despite clearly being a distortion, became the bullying premise for concluding matters.

    The process emboldened the French president, effectively abandoning a consensus in French policy stretching back to the Matignon Accords of 1988.  With the independence movement seemingly put on ice, Macron could press home his advantage through political reforms that would, for instance, unfreeze electoral rolls for May 2024 elections at the provincial and congressional level.  Doing so would enable French nationals to vote in those elections, something they were barred from doing under the Nouméa Accord.  New Caledonian parliamentarians such as Nicolas Metzdorf heartily approve the measure.

    On May 13 riots broke out, claiming up to seven lives.  It has the flavour of an insurrection, one unplanned and uncoordinated by the traditional pro-independence group.  Roadblocks have been erected by the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT).  It had been preceded by peaceful protests in response to the deliberations of the French National Assembly regarding a constitutional arrangement that would inflate the territory’s electoral register by roughly 24,500 voters.

    Much of the violence, stimulated by pressing inequalities and propelled by more youthful protestors, have caught the political establishment flatfooted. Even Kanak pro-independence leaders have urged such protestors to resist resorting to violence in favour of political discussions.  The young, it would seem, are stealing the show.

    Macron, for his part, promptly dispatched over 3,000 security officers and made a rushed visit lasting a mere 18 hours, insisting that, “The return of republican order is the priority.”  Various Kanak protestors were far from impressed.  Spokesperson for the pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front), Jimmy Naouna, made the sensible point that, “You can’t just keep sending in troops just to quell the protests, because that is just going to lead to more protests.”  To salve the wounds, the president promised to lift the state of emergency imposed on the island to encourage dialogue between the fractious parties.

    Western press outlets have often preferred to ignore the minutiae about the latest revolt, focusing instead on the fate of foreign nationals besieged by the antics of desperate savages.  Some old themes never dissipate.  “We are sheltered in place because it’s largely too dangerous to leave,” Australian Maxwell Winchester told CNN.  “We’ve had barricades, riots … shops looted, burnt to the ground.  Our suburb near us basically has nothing left.”

    Winchester describes a scene of desperation, with evacuations of foreign nationals stalling because of Macron’s arrival for talks.  Food is in short supply, as are medicines.  “Other Australians stranded have had to scrounge coconuts to eat.”

    René Dosière, an important figure behind the Nouméa Accord, defined the position taken by Macron with tart accuracy.  Nostalgia, in some ways even more tenacious and clinging than that of Britain, remains.  The French president had little interest in the territory beyond its standing as “a former colony”.  His was a “desire to have a territory that allows you to say, ‘The sun never sets on the French empire’.”

    For the indigenous Kanak population, the matter of New Caledonia’s fate will have less to do with coconut scrounging and the sun of a stuttering empire than electoral reforms that risk extinguishing the voices of independence.

    The post A Certain French Stubbornness: Violence in New Caledonia first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • New Caledonians Demand Complete Independence from France

    The latest violent anti-French protests by New Caledonians seeking independence from France show clearly that it is time France respected the right of self-determination of the Kanak people of New Caledonia.

    The post New Caledonians Demand Complete Independence from France first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • New Caledonians Demand Complete Independence from France

    The latest violent anti-French protests by New Caledonians seeking independence from France show clearly that it is time France respected the right of self-determination of the Kanak people of New Caledonia.

    The post New Caledonians Demand Complete Independence from France first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • ‘Forgotten’ Melanesians host their first cultural festival in Aotearoa

    By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific journalist

    About 23,000 Melanesians live in Aotearoa and yesterday they had their first very own festival showcasing their diverse cultures.

    Fijians make up the bulk of the population but there are also ni-Vanuatu, Solomon Islanders, Papua New Guineans, West Papuans and Kanaks from New Caledonia.

    The founder and director of the Melanesian Festival, Joana Monolagi, said after years of planning and lots of patience it was wonderful that the event had finally happened.

    New Zealand's first Melanesian Festival
    New Zealand’s first Melanesian Festival. Image: MFA2022 poster

    “From the people that I have spoken to through this planning they have come and voiced their feelings to me and their views are that it’s been a long time coming,” she said.

    “They’ve been praying and waiting for something to showcase Melanesia.”

    Ni-Vanuatu and Melanesian community advocate Leina Isno said the festival put a spotlight on cultures in the Pacific that “often go unnoticed” in New Zealand.

    “A part of the Pacific that is so under-recognised and under spoken about, especially in the culture of New Zealand. We deserve that recognition, we deserve to be talked about.”

    The festival included food stalls, arts and craft displays and cultural performances.

    Papuan students
    One of the groups that performed is the Papuan Student Association Oceania, led by AUT postgraduate communications student Laurens Ikinia.

    Ikinia said he was grateful to the event organisers who had worked tirelessly to give the Melanesian community a platform.

    “It’s incredible how they’ve put their commitment and their focus just to make this event happen,” he said.


    The West Papuan students performing at the festival yesterday.   Video: Nik Naidu/Whānau hub

    “It’s quite sad to say this year is gonna be the first year for the first celebration but you know on the other hand it’s a great acknowledgement for Melanesian communities who are living in Aotearoa.”

    Monolagi said she spent years working to get everything to fall into place and she was determined, now it had come to fruition, that this weekend’s festival would not be a one-off.

    She said it had all the potential of reaching the same level as other cultural events in New Zealand.

    “There’s room to move,” she said.

    “I think in this short time I’ve experienced the interest not just in Auckland but I recently came back from Wellington and they looked forward to coming up this weekend to celebrate with us.”

    The Melanesian Festival took place at the Waitemata Rugby Club Grounds in Henderson, Auckland.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • 60,000 flee as West Papua conflict deepens, poses questions for region

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Armed conflict in West Papua continues to claim lives, displace tens of thousands of people and cause resentment at Indonesian rule.

    But despite ongoing calls for help, neighbouring countries in the Pacific Islands region remain largely silent and ineffectual in their response.

    This year, Indonesia’s military has increased operations to hunt down and respond to attacks by pro-independence fighters with West Papua National Liberation Army (WPNLA) which considers Indonesia an occupying force in its homeland.

    Since late 2018, several regencies in the Indonesian-ruled Papuan provinces have become mired in conflict, notably Nduga, Yahukimo, Intan Jaya, Puncak Jaya, Maybrat as well as Pegunungan Bintang regency on the international border with Papua New Guinea.

    The ongoing cycle of violence has created a steady trickle of deaths on both sides, and also among the many villages caught in the middle.

    Identifying the death toll is difficult, especially because Indonesian authorities restrict outside access to Papua.

    However, research by the West Papua Council of Churches points to at least 400 deaths due to the conflict in the aforementioned regencies since December 2018, including people who have fled their villages to escape military operations and then died due to the unavailability of food and medicine.

    ‘Some cross into PNG’
    “We have received reports that at least 60,000 Papuan people from our congregations have currently evacuated to the surrounding districts, including some who have crossed into Papua New Guinea,” says Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman, president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches of West Papua.

    West Papuan villagers flee their homes due to armed conflict in Maybrat regency, September 2021.
    West Papuan villagers flee their homes due to the armed conflict in Maybrat regency, September 2021. Image: RNZ Pacific

    The humanitarian crisis which Yoman described has spilled over into Papua New Guinea, bringing its own security and pandemic threats to PNG border communities like Tumolbil village in remote Telefomin district.

    Reverend Yoman and others within the West Papua Council of Churches have made repeated calls for the government to pull back its forces.

    They seek a circuit-breaker to end to the conflict in Papua which remains based on unresolved grievances over the way Indonesia took control in the 1960s, and the denial of a legitimate self-determination for West Papuans.

    But it is not simply the war between Indonesia’s military and the Liberation Army or OPM fighters that has created ongoing upheavals for Papuans.

    This year has seen:

    • more arbitrary arrests and detention of Papuans for peaceful political expression;
    • treason charges for the same;
    • harassment of prominent human rights defenders;
    • more oil palm, mining and environmental degradation that threatens Papuans’ access to their land and forest;
    • a move by Indonesian lawmakers to extend an unpopular Special Autonomy Law roundly rejected by Papuans; and
    • a terror plot by alleged Muslim extremists in Merauke Regency in Papua’s south-east corner.
    Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman
    Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman … the Indonesian president and vice-president have “turned a blind eye and heart to the Papua confict”. Image: RNZ Pacific

    Not only the churches, but also Papuan customary representatives, civil society and the pro-independence movement have been calling for international help for many years, particularly for an intermediary to facilitate dialogue with Indonesia towards some sort of peaceful settlement.

    Groups frustrated with Jakarta
    The groups have expressed frustration about the way that Jakarta’s defensiveness over West Papua’s sovereignty leaves little room for solutions to end conflict in the New Guinea territory.

    On the other hand, Indonesian government officials point towards various major infrastructure projects in Papua as a sign that President Joko Widodo’s economic development campaign is creating improvements for local communities.

    Despite the risks of exacerbating the spread of covid-19 in Papua, Indonesia recently held the National Games in Jayapura, with President Widodo presiding over the opening and closing of the event, presenting it as a showcase of unity and development in the eastern region.

    “The president and vice-president of Indonesia while in Papua did not discuss the resolution of the protracted Papua conflict. They turned a blind eye and heart to the Papua confict,” says Reverend Yoman.

    Beyond the gloss of the Games, Papuans were still being taken in by authorities as treason suspects if they bore the colours of the banned Papuan Morning Star flag.

    Regional response
    At their last in-person summit before the pandemic, in 2019, Pacific Islands Forum leaders agreed to press Indonesia to allow the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into Papua region in order for it to present them with an independent assessment of the rights situation in West Papua.

    Advocating for the UN visit, as a group in the Forum, appears to be as far out on a limb that regional countries — including Australia and New Zealand — are prepared to go on West Papua.

    However even before 2019, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights office had already been trying for years to send a team to Papua, and found it difficult securing Indonesia’s approval.

    That the visit has still not happened since the Forum push indicates that West Papua remains off limits to the international community as far as Jakarta is concerned, no matter how much it points to the pandemic as being an obstacle.

    Indonesian military forces conduct operations in Intan Jaya, Papua province.
    Indonesian military forces conduct operations in Intan Jaya, Papua province. Image: RNZ Pacific

    The question of how the Pacific can address the problem of West Papua is also re-emerging at the sub-regional level within the Melanesian Spearhead Group whose full members are PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s Kanaks.

    The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) is looking to unlock the voice of its people at the regional level by applying again for full membership in the MSG, after its previous application had “disappeared”.

    The ULMWP’s representative in Vanuatu, Freddy Waromi, this month submitted the application at the MSG headquarters in Port Vila.

    No voice at the table
    The organisation already has observer status in the MSG, but as Waromi said, as observers they do not have a voice at the table.

    “When we are with observer status, we always just observe in the MSG meeting, we cannot voice our voice out.

    “But with the hope that we become a full member we can have a voice in MSG and even in Pacific Islands Forum and even other important international organisations.”

    Freddie Waromi, ULMWP representative in Vanuatu
    ULMWP representative in Vanuatu Freddie Waromi … “with the hope that we become a full member we can have a voice in MSG.” Image: RNZ Pacific

    Indonesia, which is an associate member of the MSG, opposes the ULMWP’s claim to represent West Papuans.

    “They’re still encouraging them (the MSG) not to accept us,” Waromi said of Jakarta.

    He said the conflict had not abated since he fled from his homeland into PNG in 1979, but only worsened.

    “Fighting is escalating now in the highlands region of West Papua – in Nduga, in Intan Jaya, in Wamena, in Paniai – all those places, fighting between Indonesian military and the National Liberation Army of West Papua has been escalating, it’s very bad now.”

    Vanuatu consistently strong
    Vanuatu is the only country in the Pacific Islands region whose government has consistently voiced strong support for the basic rights of West Papuans over the years. Other Melanesian countries have at times raised their voice, but the key neighbouring country of PNG has been largely silent.

    The governor of PNG’s National Capital District, Powes Parkop, this month in Parliament lambasted successive PNG governments for failing to develop a strong policy on West Papua.

    Powes Parkop, the governor of Papua New Guinea's National Capital District.
    Governor Powes Parkop of Papua New Guinea’s National Capital District … “We have adopted a policy that is shameful and unethical.” Image: Johnny Blades/RNZ Pacific

    He claimed that PNG’s long silence on the conflict had been based on fear, and a “total capitulation to Indonesian aggression and illegal occupation”.

    “We have adopted a policy that is shameful and unethical,” he said of PNG’s “friends to all, enemies to none” stance.

    “How do we sleep at night when the people on the other side are subject to so much violence, racism, deaths and destruction?

    “When are we going to summon the courage to talk and speak? Why are we afraid of Indonesia?”

    Parkop’s questions also apply to the Pacific region, where Indonesia’s diplomatic influence has grown in recent years, effectively quelling some of the support that the West Papua independence movement had enjoyed.

    Time is running out for West Papuans who may soon be a minority in their own land if Indonesian transmigration is left unchecked.

    Yet that doesn’t mean the conflict will fade. Until core grievances are adequately addressed, conflict can be expected to deepen in West Papua.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.