Noumea Accord Research Articles

Sovereignty and Coloniality in the French‐Speaking Pacific: A Reflection on the Case of New Caledonia, 1980–2021

ABSTRACTFollowing the end of Indigénat rule (1946), Kanaks as the Indigenous people of New Caledonia entered the political world to claim their rights as full French citizens, demand recognition of their identity, and subsequently assert their independence and the sovereignty of their own country. Nine years after the May 4, 1989 drama of Ouvéa, where Jean‐Marie Tjibaou, Yeiwéné Yeiwéné and Jubely Wea were killed, the Noumea Accord (May 1998) introduced the idea of a new form of French citizenship for the people living in New Caledonia and provided a framework for three consultations on the country's accession to full sovereignty. The Accord also raised the foundational question of how any form of incorporation in the French state could avoid denying Kanak identity while taking into account the political desires of various other populations who lived in New Caledonia before 1988. From the stance of an anti‐colonial anthropologist rooted in the colonial metropole and conducting fieldwork in a colonial context, this article undertakes a review of almost half a century of debates over the articulations of independence versus sovereignty at the heart of the New Caledonian debate, the campaigns for the referendums and their results, and the diverse forces present. Ultimately, I conclude that what is sometimes put forward as ‘decolonization inside the republic’ may also be understood as a form of re‐colonization.

The 2020 New Caledonia Referendum: The Slow March to Independence?

ABSTRACT At a second referendum in October 2020 the majority of the eligible population of New Caledonia voted to remain with France rather than choose independence. After violent conflict in the 1980s, two accords brought a process of ‘rebalancing’ over 30 years, aimed at creating a ‘common destiny’ primarily between the Indigenous Melanesian Kanak population and European settlers, culminating in a series of referendums on independence. Despite some economic development in the largely rural and regional areas dominated by Kanaks, a first 2018 referendum campaign highlighted persistent acute divisions between Kanaks who sought independence, and loyalists who preferred stability, security, and preservation of the status quo. The relatively close outcome of that first referendum, 56 per cent against independence as compared to 44 per cent in favour, was followed by a second still closer outcome, 53 per cent against and 47 per cent in favour. Whereas most of the world’s remaining non-decolonized states have avoided the path of secession or full independence, New Caledonia appeared to be edging towards independence. Nonetheless divisions were hardening. With a third referendum on independence posited for 2022, and the election of a majority pro-independence government in February 2021, New Caledonia faces the alternatives of independence, a new accord agreed between loyalists and pro-independence parties, or a future continuation of the power-sharing institutions created by the 1998 Noumea Accord.

The New Caledonian referendum: Events, processes, decolonization

This article considers the referendum on self-determination held in New Caledonia on 4 November 2018. It sets this vote in context by reviewing previous referenda in this French overseas collectivity, beginning in 1958. The vote in the recent referendum was closer than many, Kanak included, expected (43.33 per cent in favour, 56.67 per cent against). The article analyses this result and takes into account aspects of social change in New Caledonia. It examines different approaches, by Kanak and Europeans resident in New Caledonia, to the question of events and processes, leading to a discussion of underlying attitudes to decolonization and historicity. It concludes by presenting some of the factors and forces in play in the Provincial elections in New Caledonia in May 2019. These elections will determine the composition of the local parliament (Congrès), and through it the New Caledonian government, for the period 2019–24. It is this new government that will be in place for the remainder of the Noumea Accord that includes potentially two further referenda on independence, and in the case of a NO vote prevailing, for the post-2022 process of further negotiations with France over arrangements for the future of New Caledonia.

Another Pause for Independence? The 2018 New Caledonia Referendum

ABSTRACTNew Caledonia is a distinctive French overseas territory with significant interest in independence. It reflects the legacy of a settler colony, where Melanesians were displaced to reservations in the nineteenth century. Pressure for independence comes almost exclusively from the minority Kanak (Melanesian) population. In the 1980s a violent and unsuccessful struggle for independence was defeated and the Matignon Accords, followed by the Noumea Accord, sought to maintain peace and ‘rebalance’ social and economic life over a period of 30 years in favour of the Kanak population and less developed regions of the country. Kanaks acquired greater stakes in the important nickel industry, but became divided between those who achieved economic success and those who perceived the ‘modern’ economy as means of destroying Kanak unity and cultural traditions. Uneven development has not been reduced and urbanisation emphasised inequality and relative deprivation. The Accords culminated in a referendum on independence in November 2018 with a significant majority voting against it. Voting broadly followed ethnic lines with Europeans expressing strong support for remaining French, and fearing instability and loss of French financial support, and Kanaks arguing that independence was a historical and cultural necessity. Two more referendums may follow in the next four years but independence is unlikely to be the outcome.

New Caledonia's Independence Referendum: Re-Defining the Future

ABSTRACTThe historic independence referendum that took place on 4 November 2018 in New Caledonia marks the beginning of a potentially four-year self-determination process that is, like the French territory itself, unique. It is the final stage of a series of agreements that ended civil war over independence, and that have overseen peace in New Caledonia for 30 years. The referendum has highlighted the real achievements under the peace agreements, but also areas of deep difference, creating new uncertainties and risks to stability. While the November vote saw majority support for staying with France, it exposed continued ethnic division, with a sizeable Indigenous Kanak vote for independence, despite years of Accord compromises. The referendum is only the first of potentially two more divisive votes by 2022, to be preceded by local provincial elections in May 2019. Whatever the voting outcomes, the majority loyalists must take into account Indigenous independence aspirations in considering the major issues left over after the Noumea Accord's completion, if peaceful governance is to continue. UN decolonization principles present three options: independence, independence in some kind of partnership with France, or continued integration with France. So long as the answer remains ‘no’ to independence, this final process will demand serious dialogue between bitterly opposed parties, at the least about expanded local powers, re-defining governance in New Caledonia beyond the Noumea Accord.

Introduction: The Long-run Impact of New Caledonia’s Noumea Accord

In the mid-1980s, New Caledonia’s crisis was the major focus of news coverage of the Pacific region. Conflict between largely pro-independence Kanak and mostly loyalist settlers and their descendan...

‘We Lost on the Numbers, But for Us It's a Victory’: New Caledonia's 2018 Referendum on Self-Determination

ABSTRACTOn 4 November 2018, more than 141,000 voters in New Caledonia went to the polls to determine the political status of the French Pacific dependency. A referendum on self-determination, the culmination of a 20-year transition under the 1998 Noumea Accord, posed the question: ‘Do you want New Caledonia to accede to full sovereignty and become independent?’In an unprecedented turnout, 56.67 per cent of voters decided to remain within the French Republic, while 43.33 per cent voted Yes for independence. These figures, with a clear majority opposing full sovereignty, suggest a setback for New Caledonia's independence coalition Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS). In reality, the size of the Yes vote has disappointed partisans of the French Republic and opened the way for a second referendum in 2020.After briefly outlining the 1998 Noumea Accord, the article details the results and participation rates in the November 2018 vote. It then focuses on different aspects of the referendum campaign, including: the role of opinion polling, administration of the referendum by the French state; disputes over electoral registration; international monitoring; key objectives of the anti-independence parties; grassroots campaigning by the FLNKS and the significance of the youth vote. It flags some issues in the aftermath of the referendum, as New Caledonians prepare for the next local elections to be held on 12 May 2019.

The ‘Rebalancing’ of New Caledonia’s Economy

ABSTRACTThis article assesses the impact of ‘rebalancing’ (ré-équilibrage) policies implemented in New Caledonia following the Noumea Accord in 1998. These policies were designed to redress the disadvantages of the Indigenous Kanak population (both at the political and at the socio-economic level) and to foster Kanak support for a post-Noumea Accord deal with the non-Indigenous population. It outlines the institutional framework of the Noumea Accord and its impact on development policy, exploring the structural dynamics of the New Caledonian economy and the extent of achievements in reducing inequalities. Conventional indicators demonstrate some accomplishments as regards reducing provincial inequalities but this article argues that the goals of rebalancing remain far from achieved and it explores the reasons for those shortcomings. I argue that most difficulties stem from the lack of structural reforms and absence of a shared vision of development. Nevertheless, scope does exist in New Caledonia for fostering balanced development that is environmentally and socially sustainable and better adapted to local specificities.

The Charter of the Kanak People: in pursuit of “cooperative and balanced legal pluralism” in New Caledonia

ABSTRACTIn April 2014, a significant number of New Caledonia's Kanak customary authorities adopted the “Charter of the Kanak People on the Common Foundation of Fundamental Values and Principles of the Kanak Civilisation”. The product of a year-long consultation process led by the Customary Senate, the Charter's overall objective is to institute “cooperative and balanced legal pluralism” (Preamble, 11) in an internally decolonised New Caledonia. The Charter asserts the indigenous rights of the Kanak people and aims to transform the plural legal order(s) currently existing in this French Pacific archipelago, in which Kanak “customary law” is notably applied by the state to civil matters between individuals of “customary civil status” and to “customary lands”. Adopting a plurality of perspectives on “legal pluralism”, this paper analyses the objectives and implications of the Charter in terms of the ways in which it aims to redraw the contours of “legal pluralism” in the country at a foundational and a mechanical level, while allowing for a range of interpretations so as to maximise its potential impact in the context of the upcoming decisions regarding New Caledonia's future political and legal landscape following the conclusion of the Noumea Accord “decolonisation” process.

Reading between the lines: Identity issues in Kanak narratives and the agency of the storyteller

Abstract The repeal of l’indigénat in 1946 gave the Kanak all the rights associated with French citizenship. However, for many years afterwards, there was growing unrest that came to a head with les événements of the 1980s, when the proindependence groups clashed violently with government forces. This violence led to the signing, first, of the Matignon Accords in 1988 and the Noumea Accord in 1998. The Noumea Accord has set in motion the gradual and irreversible transfer of administrative powers to the colony under the supervision of the United Nations Decolonization Programme, culminating in a referendum (by 2018) to determine ultimate independence from France. It is critically important that the New Caledonians arrive at a functional model for such an arrangement and so, predictably, the practicalities involved have stimulated much discussion at all levels of society. Narratives are an important resource, allowing the reader to better understand cultural values and problems. Using ideas derived from critical discourse analysis, this article examines the emerging discussions in the literature written since the signing of the Accord, focusing in particular on a selection of works by Kanak authors.

France in the South Pacific: Power and Politics by Denise Fisher (review)

Reviewed by: France in the South Pacific: Power and Politics by Denise Fisher William Cavert France in the South Pacific: Power and Politics, by Denise Fisher. Canberra: anu Press, 2013. isbn paper 978-1-9221-4494-2; isbn e-book 978-1-9221-4495-9, xxiii + 342 pages, maps, appendixes, bibliography. Paper, a $28.00; e-book, free download. Denise Fisher makes a timely and unique addition to studies of the French-speaking Pacific with France in the South Pacific. Working to convey French thinking on the Pacific for an English-speaking audience, she offers important historical context for the forthcoming referendum on independence in New Caledonia and the recent reinscription of French Polynesia on the United Nations’ list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Fisher’s service as an Australian diplomat in the French Pacific provides a distinctive lens through which she appraises, analyzes, and presents the role of France in past, present, and future Pacific worlds. Her analysis focuses primarily on politics and economics, with close attention to the intersections of France and Australia over the last century and the potential for closer ties between them as two of the larger powers in the South Pacific. France in the South Pacific: Power and Politics makes a clear argument that France will be a significant regional player as the twenty-first century unfolds. The work is divided into three main parts, beginning with expansive coverage of the French Pacific presence before 1996. Fisher broadly outlines the motives for French colonization, the evolution of colonial administration, and the often-ambiguous French policies toward development and local political rights in the colonies. She suggests that French motivations in the Pacific act as a source of thematic continuity as national prestige, national security, and latent commercial ambitions drive French policy in each period. Notably, these policy orientations explain decisions to grant or rescind local autonomy, detonate nuclear devises, bomb the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior, or deploy special forces to storm the cave on Ouvéa to end the 1988 hostage crisis. The second part of the book follows the end of nuclear testing in French Polynesia in 1996 and devotes most of its pages to the political shifts, debates, and elections in New Caledonia after the 1998 Noumea Accord in anticipation of an eventual vote on independence. This period is characterized by experimentation with new policies on the part of the French state in its shifting responses to autonomy and independence demands from its Pacific territories. Frequently, however, the state’s meddling in local politics is argued to have produced mixed results, as attempts to ensure that pro-French political parties remained strong sometimes misfired or backfired. The final section of the book examines the continuing motivations for France to remain in the Pacific: the international prestige of being a global military power and the commercial potential of its vast exclusive [End Page 254] economic zones, submarine resources, and mineral reserves. Fisher asserts that France holds the potential to be a regional leader through its example of good democratic governance; through its ability to provide relief, aid, or expertise; and finally as a pillar of political stability as it resolves complex local issues of autonomy or even independence. Fisher highlights the changing Pacific context in which France transitioned from an intense imperial rivalry with Great Britain in the nineteenth century, to part of a European brotherhood of colonial powers in the early twentieth, to a colonial holdout in an era of decolonization and independence at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries. This transformation has greatly affected France’s diplomatic standing in the Pacific. Its reputation has frequently suffered when the state has acted unilaterally as though it was still a dominant colonial power unconcerned with the opinions of Island states or local publics. Fisher attributes this disconnect to the physical and mental distance between Paris and the Pacific. This distance becomes visible in enduring French national mentalities that figure the Pacific as economically insignificant and lightly populated, even though it comprises a geographically substantial part of France’s maritime territory. France has in the past acted as a distant government rather than as a regional power. Fisher...

The 2014 Elections in New Caledonia: A Precursor to Self-determination?

ABSTRACTOn 11 May 2014, voters in New Caledonia went to the polls to elect representatives to three provincial assemblies and the national congress. The election results reaffirmed the division between supporters and opponents of independence, as New Caledonians move towards a self-determination referendum scheduled before the end of 2018. The election results confirmed longstanding regional and political divisions. In the rural north and outlying Loyalty Islands, the FLNKS independence movement holds sway. In spite of a united mobilisation by a pro-independence coalition in the Southern Province, three competing anti-independence parties dominate the Southern assembly. The campaign highlighted issues that will dominate political debate in coming years: electoral reforms, economic and fiscal policy, the key role of nickel mining and competing alternatives to ‘exit’ the 1998 Noumea Accord. In the incoming congress, 29 conservative opponents of independence face 25 members of independence parties. This balance of forces in New Caledonia's political institutions and divisions within the loyalist camp means tension will be ongoing as the country moves closer to the scheduled referendum on self-determination – especially as France seeks to maintain its status as a midsized global power.

The unity of the republic vs. living together on the same land: New Caledonia from colonization to indigenousness: law at the center of a major culture issue

New Caledonia experienced from 1853 to 1945 the right of conquest. The French self-styled universalist Republic, oblivious of human rights, flouted all its basic standards. Consequently, for most Kanaks (the principal indigenous people of the territory), Custom became a matter of the respect they claimed for their collective values and identity. Their claim has produced legal, institutional and judicial evolutions during the past 30 years. In respect of personal status, the Kanaks, French citizens, can keep their own customary law if they so wish. In 1982, a local government set up civil courts with customary assessors to implement Customary law. The 1988 Matignon Accords and the 1998 Noumea Accord went further by organizing the coexistence of several legal orders on the same land. The latter Accord enshrines in the French Constitution the acknowledgement of a ‘Kanak people’ besides the ‘French people’, and of Kanak customary law as part of the French legal system. This promotes a ‘native’ policy, and a devolution which suggests that France is no longer a ‘Single and Indivisible Republic’ but a federal state. The Noumea Accord's two keystones are respect for (cultural) identities and a ‘common destiny’ project amounting to the establishment of a New Caledonian citizenship. ‘Kanak Customary Status’ (the legal concept of ‘Kanak identity’) roots this ‘citizenship’ in a common, shared Pacific islands’ system of values. Personal status can thus be seen as a means to escape the colonial impasse by opening up to the Law of the Other. This is the key to the success of a ‘common destiny’ grounded on respect for various cultural heritages, while case law is gradually taking into account the Kanak cultural dimension. This process from colonization to indigenousness shows that Law is still now, perhaps more than ever, the linchpin of a major political project.What are our rights on Kanak lands? I will answer without hesitation the rights of conquest […] I do not think I need to emphasize this basic principle of our Law. Should we deny the right of conquest, I wonder what we would all be doing here. (Governor Feillet)

Sovereignty as interconnection in Oceania? Perspectives from Kanaky/New Caledonia

This article argues that a conception of sovereignty at the intersection of Kanak and Western sociopolitical modalities could have ocean-wide implications for the Pacific region. It analyses some of the complex ways in which the concept of sovereignty has been articulated in the New Caledonian cultural and political domains since the 1970s, with a focus on two cultural events (the 1975 Melanesia 2000 festival and the Mwâ Kâ initiative from 2003) and the 1998 political agreement, the Noumea Accord. The analysis illuminates ‘decentred’ understandings of sovereignty, conceived in terms of interconnections and interdependencies, and in terms of the definition and respect of differentiated but coexisting legitimacies, rights and roles. Such a (re)conception of sovereignty encourages us to reflect further on the potential meaning and implications of the Pacific Ocean as an interconnected and interdependent ‘sea of islands’ (Hau’ofa 1993).

Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2013: New Caledonia

Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2013New Caledonia David Chappell (bio) In a year leading up to the 2014 municipal and provincial elections and a possible choice to hold a referendum on independence (or another negotiated accord), French loyalists and Kanak nationalists debated and postured, with some crossover on particular issues, while questions of sustainable development and reducing inequalities loomed in the background. The most dramatic event of the year was a massive protest against the high cost of living, as autonomy powers continued to devolve from Paris, which maintained its high levels of financial and technical aid. Defining local citizenship and voting rights became contentious, and environmental concerns haunted the expanding nickel mining and processing industry that fuels much of the local economy. It was also a year of commemorations, reconciliations, and regionalism. In a survey conducted by the local government (nc, 27 Feb 2013), only three political leaders garnered public confidence ratings of 40 percent or higher: Paul Neaoutyine (47 percent), the pro-independence president of the Kanak-ruled Northern Province; Philippe Gomès (44 percent, though 40 percent said they distrusted him), deputy to the French National Assembly and leader of the loyalist Calédonie Ensemble (ce, Caledonia Together) party; and Gaël Yanno (40 percent), who had lost his deputy seat to Gomès in 2012, became a dissident within the loyalist Rassemblement-Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (rump), and finally created his own party, the Mouvement Populaire Calédonien (mpc), as well as a new coalition [End Page 495] against independence, the Union pour la Calédonie dans la France (ucf). Taken together, these leaders represent the three largest political groupings in the country today, though Neaoutyine’s Parti de Libération Kanak (Palika) is rivaled in the independence movement by leaders such as Rock Wamytan of the Union Calédonienne (uc), who is president of the Congress of New Caledonia, and Yanno is challenging his former rump boss, Senator Pierre Frogier. The pro-independence Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (flnks), of which the uc and Palika are the largest of five member parties, has been trying to act together, but the loyalist factions of Gomès, Yanno, and Frogier have been waging bitter internecine politics for some time now. The ce has accused the rump of working in ad hoc coalition with the uc-flnks (that combination brought down the Gomès presidency of the executive cabinet in 2011), while Yanno’s mpc/ucf has accused Gomès of agreeing too often with Palika on socioeconomic issues. In September 2013, cabinet president Harold Martin of the Avenir Ensemble party (ae, Future Together, an ally of the rump) closed the doors of Congress temporarily after political disputes over whether to finance moderate rental housing, leading the local paper to ask, “Is the country ungovernable?” (nc, 11 Sept 2013). In view of the 2014 elections, it may become a challenge to elect a new cabinet president. Yet the delegation of governing powers from Paris to Noumea continues, in compliance with the 1998 Noumea Accord. The Overseas Ministry of the Socialist government in Paris created a new structure to “accompany” New Caledonia as new administrative authority was being granted to the country, such as control over secondary and higher education, commercial and civil law, accident insurance, audiovisual communications, maritime and domestic aviation security, and civil defense (including fire departments). Because some transfers have been controversial or have languished for lack of preparation, a special delegate of the ministry will supervise and facilitate administrative reorganization and personnel training (nc, 19 April 2013). Commissioners sent by the French Parliament to examine the local situation expressed regrets that so little groundwork had been done since 1998 to enable such devolutions, which they had hoped would help the country to reduce socioeconomic inequalities. They concluded that local political quarrels over the country’s future status had become an impediment to addressing problems of high living costs and unemployment, so Paris needed to take a more active role in pursuing a “decolonization” that offered better wealth distribution (nc, 9 Sept 2013). The French Parliament passed a special law that enables New Caledonia to create “independent” institutions as needed...

New Caledonia

New Caledonia David Chappell (bio) With two years left before a possible referendum on independence, as stipulated in the Noumea Accord of 1998, local leaders struggled to position themselves for an “exit” from that transitional agreement. The provincial elections of 2014 may decide whether a referendum will be held or perhaps another accord will be negotiated. Fluctuations in metropolitan politics have had a significant impact on New Caledonia, notably in 1958 (when nationalist Charles de Gaulle regained power) and 1981 (when Socialist Fran-çois Mitterrand became president). French presidential elections in May 2012 saw the fall of Gaullist President Nicholas Sarkozy after only one term and the return to power of the Socialists for the first time since 1995, this time under François Hollande. Locally, the year-old alliance between the loyalist Rassemblement-ump (or rump, tied to Sarkozy’s Union pour un Mouvement Populaire) and the pro-sovereignty Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (flnks) suffered a setback in the June elections to the French parliament. Former territorial President Philippe Gomès’s loyalist Calédonie Ensemble (ce, Caledonia Together) won both New Caledonian deputy seats in Paris. In regional relations, the ce objected to a visit to New Caledonia by Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama of Fiji, the head of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, arguing that he has been a military dictator since his 2006 coup. Labor unions remained active, as the cost of living remained high while world nickel prices plummeted due to a slowdown in middle-class Asian demand for stainless steel. But French development aid continued to flow amid local concerns over lingering social and ethnic inequalities. Sarkozy had proclaimed to French voters that he would strongly defend the “eternal France” of Molière, Napoleon, and Charles de Gaulle, but Hollande reminded listeners that Louis XVI lost his head to the guillotine during the French Revolution and it was the left’s turn to govern the country. Hollande opposed austerity budget cuts during the European Union’s financial crisis and instead wanted to raise taxes on the rich (bbc, 20 April, 28 Sept 2012). Sarkozy had inherited the commitment of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, to the Noumea Accord, so transfers of self-governing powers to New Caledonia continued, most recently in civil and commercial law and civil security. But Sarkozy had also voiced his personal preference that the country should remain in the French republic, whereas Hollande remained neutral and supported an open public debate among all New Caledonians to decide their future status. Hollande and Sarkozy both wanted to promote more competition [End Page 382] among importers who kept the cost of living so high in New Caledonia, but neither wanted to end the “indexation” that paid French civil servants and retirees almost twice what they would earn in France (nc, 21 April 2012). In the second-round runoff, Sarkozy won 63 percent of the ballots in New Caledonia and 53 percent in French Polynesia, but Hollande won the French presidency; he also won clear majorities in the two Kanak-ruled provinces of New Caledonia and in Wallis and Futuna (pir, 7 May 2012; nc, 23 April 2012). Hollande appointed Victorin Lurel of Guadeloupe as overseas minister, replacing a Gaullist predecessor, also from Guadeloupe. The flnks praised Lurel as a fellow “islander,” while loyalists said he knew nothing about the Pacific (nc, 18 May 2012). In the June elections, the rump lost its long monopoly over local representation in Paris when Gomès and Sonia Lagarde of the ce won in the second-round runoff. At first, it had looked as if the flnks might win the deputy seat for the interior of the main island, Grande Terre, because its two main parties, the Union Calédonienne (uc) and Palika (Parti de Libération Kanak), ran on the same list for once. After receiving a plurality in the first round of voting, Jean-Pierre Djaiwé of Palika was interviewed by the local newspaper before the second round, as was Gomès, who came in second in the interior in the first round, having been mayor of La Foa for twenty years. Djaiwé was pleased that the reunited flnks had clearly beaten the Rassemblement...

New Caledonia

New Caledonia David Chappell (bio) After three years of ad hoc, issue-by-issue cooperation in the Congress of New Caledonia between the loyalist but centrist Avenir Ensemble (ae, or “Future Together”) and various pro-independence parties in the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (flnks), the formerly dominant Gaullist Rassemblement pour la Calédonie dans la République (rpcr) reconfirmed its control over New Caledonian representation in the French Parliament, thanks in part to the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy as successor to Gaullist Jacques Chirac in the presidential election. But the new regime in Paris confirmed France’s commitment to the Noumea Accord of 1998, which stipulates a gradual devolution of self-governing powers to the territory (since 2003 referred to officially as a semi-autonomous “overseas entity”) and working toward a “common destiny” for this multiethnic society. Progress continued in the development of new nickel mining projects despite ongoing concerns over environmental pollution; in economic growth, despite rising problems with a high cost of living and homelessness; in the recognition of Kanak cultural identity and the teaching of Kanak languages; and in the country’s role in the Pacific region. Militant labor unions remained as active as ever, even forming a new Labor Party. The rpcr had dominated local politics for many years, building a reputation for not consulting much with other parties in making government decisions. But in the 2004 provincial elections, loyalist opponents and dissidents formed the ae coalition and won control of Congress and the Southern Province. Since then it has been the rpcr’s turn to complain about being marginalized in government decision-making. So, starting in 2006, rpcr leader Pierre Frogier began a strident campaign reminiscent of the fear tactics that had polarized the country in the 1980s. In a bid to appeal to French loyalists, especially recent immigrants, Frogier opposed the freezing of the electorate in congressional elections and referendums on independence, calling the concept (embedded in the Noumea Accord, which he signed in 1998) a violation of human rights. The flnks, on the other hand, has been struggling for twenty-five years against allowing new migrants from France and its other Pacific territories to vote on the country’s destiny, considering that in the 1970s France [End Page 460] orchestrated an immigration wave that brought in 25,000 people, during a nickel boom, to make a minority of parties wanting autonomy or independence. The flnks adheres strongly to the Noumea Accord, which stipulated that only those who had been residents for ten years in 1998, or their adult descendants, could vote in key congressional elections or referendums. But Frogier has complained that such a stipulation would exclude 11 percent of residents who could already vote in national, municipal, and even European Union elections; and in Noumea, the capital, perhaps 20 percent of voters would be excluded, including many rpcr supporters. Because French presidential and legislative elections were approaching in 2007, the rhetoric grew more shrill as 2006 came to a close, and some members of the Gaullist allies of the rpcr in France, Chirac’s ump (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire) joined the debate, while the Socialists (generally pro-flnks) and the centrist udf (Union pour la Démocratie Française, to which many ae members adhere) tended to side with the flnks viewpoint to uphold the consensual Noumea Accord and the organic laws that enacted it in 1999. As the issue moved through metropolitan and European institutions, the flnks interpretation prevailed. As early as 2005, the European Court of Human Rights had approved the frozen electorate, and in March 2006 the French Council of Ministers did the same. But in December 2006 and early 2007, the rpcr nevertheless mobilized opponents of the concept in what was clearly an electoral gambit for the 2007 elections. Senator Simon Loueckhote even proposed that three rather than ten years of residence should suffice for all voters, and in January 2007 the rpcr coalition warned that the flnks and its allies wanted to “confiscate the right to vote” and ultimately impose an “ultra-communalist” notion of citizenship “based on blood, and not on soil,” thereby creating second class citizens (kol, 8 Jan 2007...

Are Kanak languages to be taught?

The 1996 census in New Caledonia reveals that there are more than 53 000 speakers of the 28 Kanak languages spoken there. Of these 28 languages, only 6 are taught at school today, although the Noumea Accord (1998) officially states that Kanak languages are teaching and culture languages, together with French. This paper discusses the complex institutionalization of vernacular languages in formal education, after decades of repression in the name of assimilation, and the French republican egalitarism (and Jacobinism). On the basis of field data, it explores how even these days the recognition of Kanak languages has to overcome amultitude of obstacles. It addresses the subtle shift from the conditions under the former colonial domination to the new requirements of the postcolonial «common destiny».

Kanak Identity, New Citizenship Building and Reconciliation

2004-2005 is the twentieth anniversary of the November 1984-January 1985 events which have greatly stigmatized the politics and the social life in New Caledonia. The Noumea Accord (may 1998) introduced the idea of new citizenship for the people living in New Caledonia. On which foundation could it be built, without denying Kanak identity yet taking into account the various populations who lived in New Caledonia before 1988? In July 2004, 15 years after the drama of Ouvea, where Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Yeiwene Yeiwene were killed (May 4, 1989), Kanaks from Mare, Ouvea and Hienghene met without any political organization for a great reconciliation. These facts will be analyzed for a better understanding of the what is actually at stake for the future New Caledonia.

Books, writing and cultural politics in the Pacific: the New Caledonian Salon du livre, October 2003October 2005

The second New Caledonian Salon international du livre ocanien (SILO) took place in October 2005. The establishment of this biennial book fair/writers' festival can be understood in the context of the Noumea Accord (1998). In addition to providing for the devolution of powers from Paris to Noumea, this Accord has called for a greater promotion of Kanak culture and a better distribution of resources within New Caledonia a rquilibrage as well as increased integration of the island within its regional context. To this end, writers, publishers and translators from a number of Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand and metropolitan France were invited to Poindimi on the north-east coast of New Caledonia, a largely Kanak region, for four days of round-table discussions, workshops and other presentations. These proceedings revealed some of the persistent divergences between the European and Pacific Islander vision (for instance, regarding the question of the exotic), as between Polynesian and Melanesian, anglophone and francophone approaches to the themes of nature, youth, tradition, creativity and identity. Other topics discussed were the value and difficulties of publication and the situation of France in the Pacific. The literary prizes announced by the Salon under the patronage of Dwe Gorod, New Caledonia's leading (Kanak) writer and its Minister of Culture, resonated with aspects of the cultural politics of the event, the process of reconciliation and the project of nation building currently under way in New Caledonia.