#kanaky

[kropotkindersurprise]

2025 - An interview with Christian Tein, a leader of the Kanak independence movement, who was arrested by France, taken from Kanaky (New Caledonia) to a French prison and held for for a year in solitary confinement without trial, after independence protests in 2024. [video]

[soon-palestine]

[radicalgraff]

"Long live the kanak struggle. Down with the colonial state"

Graffiti in Sydney in solidarity with the anti-colonial movement in French ruled Kanaky / New Caledonia, which has been rocked by a major revolt in recent days.

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[oaks-and-willows]

So Kanaky-New Caledonia is going through the most violent times it has seen since the 1980s revolt and it's barely on the news. I'm not a local, let alone indigenous, but I'm stuck in Brisbane on my way there because the international airport of Nouméa closed, and worried indigenous friends are keeping me updated.

The Southern Province is seeing a lot of lootings and armed barricades, and two youths were killed by French special forces today.

Why? Because the French government passed a law that changes who gets to vote in Kanaky New Caledonia, from indigenous people, people born in KNC, and people who have lived there continuously since 1998, to everyone who has lived there for at least 10 years. Less than half the population is Kanak, and the strong influx of French people is shrinking their proportion even further. Immigrants who like the sun and the tropical sea but don't need that to mean that they'll learn about the cultures and the country, i.e. expats. So far, this influx was bad for the job prospects of locals and for property prices, but it didn't matter in local elections. The current government is pro-independence, a stance strongly congruent with Kanaks but not with Europeans.

This is Darmanin's and Macron's reaction to the third referendum on independence from France having failed. Darmanin called it 'a minimum of democracy'. The first two referendums were close calls and the second (51/49) more so than the first (53/46). The third was 90% against independence, which was due to a boycott of the referendum; it happened during Covid, electoral campaigns were impossible except vis TV, which is easier for the well-funded loyalists than for their opponents. Macron ignored this. The referendums were very peaceful and disciplined, but since this discipline was used by the State against the indigenous population to legitimize neo-colonialism, the current violence is not a surprise. Last time barricades were used, in the 1980s, they were very successful. We'll see what happens this time.

[sissa-arrows]

A settler organized in a militia killed a Kanak protesting for liberation from French colonialism in Kanaky.

They are trying to minimize it by saying (without proper investigation) that the settler was defending himself and calling him a “civilian” as well as by calling the Kanak man a “rioter”. The high commissioner also announced that if “calm” doesn’t come back he will organize a military intervention to bring back “peace” and “calm”. For the record there’s already a lot of military checkpoints (edit: I used the expression military checkpoint but it’s not the right one I’m talking about the control by the gendarmerie who are like cops except they are in the military) that Kanak people have to go through daily in certain area and a heavy military presence so when he is talking about military intervention he is talking about killing people.

Article (in French)

This is all happening because France wants to accelerate the colonization of Kanaky by allowing every single white French adult the right to vote locally. The Kanak resistance managed to negotiate so only settlers who had been in Kanaky for a decade or more in 1998 could vote locally. New settlers cannot do it. And France and its settlers want to go back on that accord saying that the 2021 referendum shows that people don’t want liberation so it’s racist (against settlers) to not let them vote (and take over Kanaky completely)

If any piece of shit brings up the 2021 referendum as a justification of French colonialism in Kanaky, know that it has zero value. The Kanak people and the resistance called for a report of the vote because of COVID. Mentioning that not only there was a health risk but that Kanak people have a long grieving period which meant that they wouldn’t be able to vote. That vote ended up being only a settler vote. If you compare it to the two previous votes with higher participation rate it’s almost certain that the Yes to independence would have won.

For those who don’t know it international law recognize Kanaky as a colony. The UN has Kanaky on the list of territories where indigenous people have no right to self determination and they recognize France as the occupying power (thanks to Palestine we’ve seen that international law doesn’t apply to Western backed colonialism but that’s an other topic)

[fusdoq]

“The great chief Ataï refuses the slavery of the Kanak people. In doing so he chooses death. The colonialists assassinate Ataï, massacre, burn the rebel tribes because Ataï and his warriors dared to proclaim to the end that they are free kanaks” - Dewé Gorody

his skull was delivered back from French "museums' archives" to the his descendants in Kanaky only in 2017

Ataï fut le chef de la première insurrection kanak à la fin du XIXe siècle. Tué et décapité par les forces de la répression coloniale, sa tê

[browngirl9diary]

🐚 The Saltwater Series ~ Stories from the Pacific

“Shining light on the silenced stories of the Kanak people and the Pacific”

⋆₊𓇼࿐𖦹˖ ࣪⭑ Kanak Rising- What’s Happening in New Caledonia Today?⋆｡˚⋆ Part 2: Nouméa Accord and Referendums

The Nouméa Accord was a notable step toward self-determination. One of its key elements was that only residents who had lived in New Caledonia before 1998 could vote in local elections. This measure was intended to ensure that Indigenous Kanak voices were protected, given that decades of French migration had already made them a minority in their own land.

As part of the accord, three referendums were held in 2018, 2020, and 2021 asking voters whether New Caledonia should become independent from France.

In all three referendums, the majority voted to remain part of France, but the outcomes were deeply contested.

The 2021 referendum was boycotted by many Kanak groups, who argued that the vote was held during the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing fair participation.

Despite these results, many Kanak leaders argue that the process has not fulfilled the promise of decolonization.