Macron unleashes colonial repression

On 12 June, Macron announced the « suspension » of the constitutional law « unfreezing » New Caledonia’s provincial electorate. This law was widely rejected, since its unconcealed aim is to make the colonised Kanak people a minority in their own country.

The « suspension » announced by Macron may thus have appeared to the workers and the Kanak people as a measure of conciliation and calm, a consequence of the political crisis in France.

Nothing of the kind. On 19 June, eleven pro-independence leaders were arrested and put into police custody. They included Christian Tein of the Cellule de Coordination des Actions de terrain (CCAT – “coordinating group for groundwork action”), as well as the key aide to Roch Wamytan, the pro-independence president of the New Caledonian Congress. The offices of the Union Calédonienne (UC), the main party of the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS)-Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front), were searched.

The pretext for the police custody (up to ninety-six hours!), according to the Nouméa public prosecutor, the judicial representative of the colonial power, is that an investigation is being carried out against « the presumed initiators of the atrocities committed » since 12 May 2024. The charges are serious: criminal conspiracy, armed robbery by an organised gang, complicity in the murder of persons holding public authority, in short, acts « falling within the scope of organised crime« , according to the magistrate.

Second phase of the provocation: seven of those in police custody were transferred to mainland France on 23 June, 17,000 kilometres from home. (Read accompanying article)

The root cause of all this: Macron has decided to hit hard. A revelation published in the French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné (5 June) reports: « In New Caledonia, negotiations are at a standstill and Macron is flexing his muscles. He has « engaged a personal strong-arm », says one of those close to him. An example? The President has asked the cops to arrest Christian Tein, the head of the CCAT, the most radical pro-independence wing.« 

The Union Calédonienne (UC) has rightly denounced « abusive arrests, while local anti-independence leaders and criminal militias strut around unchecked« , referring to the militias of armed settlers who shot Kanak demonstrators with live ammunition.

As for the Parti des Travailleurs (France), it took a stand on 19 June denouncing this provocation by the French colonialist government. It « calls for the immediate release of the arrested activists and the lifting of all charges against them. No one can claim to be a democrat if they do not recognise the inalienable right of the Kanak people to freely decide their own fate« .

An excerpt from La Tribune des Travailleurs (France)