New Caledonia from the dark end of the street

Press, 26 June 1987, Page 17

New Caledonia from the dark end of the street

By

JANE ENGLAND:

Stories and photographs

The smoke-filled cafe has all the. characteristics of hundreds of other similar eating places in Noumea. First and foremost, it stocks French bread; second, it is possible to order "a bowl” of tea; third, it has a TV?..: ; ,

The screen is set ; for a . John Wayne western. The American twang, of course, ; has been dubbed in French. But the italic words rolling'down; the /screen are in English; Their meaning belongs to a .language any revolutionary anywhere in the world would understand. It is the language of .liberation: "At some stage in their , history the people must face the choice of whether to endure.oppression or to resist

Noumea itself seems predominantly peaceful. How else could the popularZCluh Mediterranean, with and row-upon-row of barbecued bodies, survive?

Ask these tourists about their impressions of New Caledonia, and you will recieve a reply relating only z to their stay at one of the biggest single clubs in the world: “Precommend it.”

Unless you speak some French and venture out of Noumea — or Club Med — the impression retained would probably be one of calm.

The boulevards, cafes and wrought-iron gateways are typically European, as are the food and prices. This is the place where men and women can purchase silk suits straight from Paris with lingerie to match, garments which bolster the economy with price tags of SNZSISOO.

Those who look a little harder will notice the barbed wire and armed sentries who guard "official” French residences. Those whose tastes run a little lower than a yearning for shopping sprees and French wine will probably end up spending time with the indigenous Melanesians, the Kanaks.

Kanaks, whose main occupation is recreation, endure boring stretches of unemployment. Men, who work, tend to be employed in the grimy sweat factory which produces 30 per cent of the world’s nickel. Women easily find employment entertaining the French soldiers who now number 7000, in a country which has a total population of 145,000. Not surprisingly, it is a place where over-consumption of alcohol among the indigenous population is commonplace. On an individual basis, the fact that Kanaks have tried to preserve their culture is symbolised

. through a love of land — an inherent ability to care for, rather than control, its produces. Even under the grimy umbrella of . the smoke-belching nickel plant, State houses have J been brightened by small, care-fully-planted gardens. But inhabitants in rows of apartments at the far end of the factory road have no means of improving their concrete environment.

Instead, the graffiti calling for a revolution stands as a testament to their revolt. Children play in puddles, and the mangoes picked in a lone paddock have concealed bruises. Pollution has caused the fruit to be spoiled. The only people here are blacks living in a world of segregation. This is not a legalised system of segregation, like apartheid, but “incidental” segregation which has arisen in many colonised countries in the world, where the type of employment gained and housing entitlements made are split into black and white.

Black people being employed — if they are lucky enough to be in jobs — in the worst lines of work, living where they can afford to live, in the worst areas.

This state of affairs has existed ever since the first French settlers arrived after the discovery of nickel. It is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. The previous Socialist Government, under President Francois Mitterrand, did at least seem willing to take the Kanak cry for independence seriously. Edgard Pisani, the High Commissioner and later “Minister” for New Caledonia — in a specially created appointment — made many promises to the Kanaks, constantly dangling the vision of eventual independence before their eyes.

It is difficult to tell whether this was merely a tactic of bribery in a bid to “keep the natives happy,” or whether his hopes were sincere. That his proposed policies of self-govern-ment for New Caledonia, with France retaining control. of foreign policy, defence and the police, served to alienate the French settlers is abundantly clear.

Those settlers believe Pisani and Mitterrand promised far too much to the Kanaks. They now

welcome the present political situation in France, with a Socialist President but/a Rightwing Prime Minister and Government as the controlling power.

Their feeling is described by one French settler, who says the stance taken by the- Socialist Government created more strife in the long term: “Many Kanaks feel cheated now, and they resent it, but the Socialist Government was trying to move too fast and it would have made New Caledonia weaker in the end.”

Many “settlers” today are third and fourth generation citizens who have more than a vested interest in preserving the New Caledonia they know. They fear that independence would mean a complete withdrawal of French national financial support, a fear which may be well-founded. The New Zealand Prime Minister, David Lange, has already spoken out about the possibility of France completely cutting its ties with New Caledonia as a protest against independence. He feels that independence should actually increase the economic commitment of a departing power, and draws on New Zealand’s continued assistance to Western Samoa 25 years after independence was gained, to prove it.

It is unlikely that France would continue to boost the country’s economy if independence were gained. While the Kanaks would certainly suffer from the withdrawal of that economic support, the people who would fall the hardest are the French settlers.

It is now nearly three years since Kanaks boycotted the local elections and formed a "provisional” Government, an act which sparked a series of killings on both sides, but with the heaviest losses falling to their own.

This was the period when France began sending reinforcements in the form of armed soldiers and policemen, causing the ensuing clashes to be portrayed on the television screens of French living rooms: a fact which still makes the settlers angry.

They say the French knew or cared little about them before the troubles. Most wouldn’t have even known where New Caledonia was. Now the settlers who visit France find themselves faced with a barrage of questions addressed to the “white colonists,” the “invaders” who pushed

back the blacks to. gain everything for themselves.. The settlers say that just isn’t so, but how are the French to know? .. -

The cold, fear of a bad dream is the feeling they face when Kanaks demand that they “go home.” Like the Indians in Fiji and the pakeha in New Zealand, they feel their only home is the country where they were born. But the Kanaks have had enough. They want their country back. They are tired of seeing barbed wire lining the roads, helicopters circling their mountains and soldiers living near their villages. In Noumea, the soldiers do little else but eat, drink, swim, visit 24-hour video parlours and fornicate with Kanak prostitutes. Understandably, their presence still pains the original inhabitants.

In rural and tribal. areas, the Kanaks hurl stones in defiance at these invaders. In Noumea, they satisfy their vengeance by proudly spraying graffiti in support of their party, the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (F.L.N.K.S.) — graffiti calling for a revolution and independence.

It is clear they want independence. It is clear they want a revolution. It is clear they feel cheated. It is seemingly impossible to find a Kanak who does not feel something should happen, and happen fast.

As children, they played happily with the children of French settlers. But maturity saw a distrust develop, and the longer there is little or no change towards independence, the deeper that distrust develops. The underlying anger has been felt by the F.L.N.K.S. President, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, who three years ago was treating suggestions that Kanaks were receiving arms training in Libya with scepticism, saying that it was a “a joke” to consider war against France. He is now warning that young Kanak militants would be prepared to - accept aid from Libya and take up arms' in a battle for independence. His concern is not surprising considering the graffiti on the wall of a building in a quiet backstreet of Noumea — it calls Tjibaou a Judas. The change of French Government has proved a big setback for the Kanaks, who do not hold much hope for success in the referendum on independence to be held within the next two months.

They abhor the inequity of the vote to come, which through strength of population is bound to favour the French. Although Kanaks are the largest group in New Caledonia, they do not have an absolute majority. The. population falls into groups of 62,0000 Kanaks, 54,000 Europeans — mostly French — and 30,000 Asians and other Pacific Islanders who may swing the vote against independence. The Kanaks may choose to boycott, not without a little support, for the referendum has already been the target of strong criticism from the United Nations, and foreign Ministers at the recent South Pacific forum.

Whichever way the referendum goes, it is highly unlikely to lead to independence for New Caledonia and is far more likely to lead to increased strife. Violence before and after has been predicted by Kanaks and French settlers alike. While settlers and soldiers continue to soak up what is left of the good life, the Kanaks are becoming more bitter towards what they see as the pollution of a country which was once pure and free.

One Kanak sums up their feeling by saying he only wants the freedom to live as his ancestors lived, growing vegetables and fishing for his own survival. That is why he wants independence. If it is not achieved through peaceful means, this quiet and calm man says he would be among the first to fight for a revolution. His words echo more graffiti on the side of a building overlooking Noumea, graffiti which mocks the peaceful scene of harbour, bougainvillaea, and cafes. The building is the New Caledonian Cultural Centre, and the crude black lettering outlines an offence on which many colonised countries have based their history. Even if the guilt has been passed into the wrong, young hands, it must remain. For the Kanaks are right when they spray graffiti which says: “You have violated our territory-and taken our culture.” At this stage in their history the Kanaks are choosing to resist such oppression.

Barbed wire, armed sentries

An Incidental’ segregation

Judas charges against leader