- by Liam Ellis
- The Guardian
- Issue #2175
Photo: GeorgeLouis – wikimedia.org (CC BY 3.0)
The New Caledonian riots in May 2024 made a few headlines in Australia, but media coverage primarily focused on the shock of violence in the streets and the impact on Australians in the country. The causes and political significance of the riots was barely mentioned in mainstream media coverage.
The indigenous Kanak people have a long history of struggling against French colonisation. As it did in Algeria, France refers to earlier acts of resistance as “The Events.” The stage for last year’s “events” was set by the three referenda in 2018, 2020 and 2021. These referenda were established by the Nouméa accords in 1998, giving the people three chances to vote for independence. The Independentistes were narrowly defeated in the 2018 and 2020 referenda. In 2021, COVID-19 struck Kanak communities and caused many deaths. Kanak culture requires a year-long period of mourning. As the independence movement is predominantly composed of Kanak people, the impact of COVID-19 hamstrung their ability to campaign for the third referendum. The Independentistes called for the 2021 referendum to be postponed, but the French government refused.
The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), which leads the independence movement, responded to this refusal by calling for a boycott of the final referendum, and declared that it would not recognise the result. The referendum went ahead despite over half the population boycotting the vote. The remainder of the constituency voted overwhelmingly against independence.
In the aftermath of these referenda, the French government attempted to repeal the Corps Électorale Gelé. This policy restricts the franchise to people who lived in New Caledonia uninterrupted from 1988 to 1998 and their descendants. The policy is a concession designed to ensure that despite the significant migration of (primarily French) Europeans to New Caledonia, Kanaks would not become an electoral minority in their own country.
In 2024, after New Caledonian officials commenced talks with China, but before any agreements were reached, the French government initiated reforms to repeal the Corps Électorale Gelé. French Analyst Bastien Vandendyck said in 2021 that the “French Safeguard” is necessary to prevent China from establishing a presence in New Caledonia. “All China needs now to complete its pearl necklace on Australia’s doorstep is New Caledonia,” Vandendyck said. Vandendyck is now Chief of Staff to the President of New Caledonia’s Southern province, which is home to 75% of the archipelago’s population. The proposal to open the Corps Électorale Gelé caused a tremendous backlash which led to the May 2024 riots.
The FLNKS continues to make representations to the UN that the French government has betrayed the Nouméa Accord. New Caledonia remains on the list of non-self-governing territories maintained by the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation. Despite the troops that France sent to put down the unrest in May 2024, and the waves of reinforcements it has sent since, the issue of independence for New Caledonia has not been put to rest, and the struggle of the Independentistes continues.
