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Dick UKEIWE’s speech to the Senate in 1985 and Rock PIDJOT’s proposal for autonomy status in 1976
Hello everyone,
The APROFED association is coming back to you this week to relay Dick UKEIWE’s speech, given during a session at the Senate on January 24, 1985.
Reading this, you will be able to see the similarity in every way between the situation at that time and that of today, confirming the quote from the Greek historian Thucydides that history is nothing but a perpetual recommencement.
Faced with the situation at the time, Dick UKEIWE proposed in his speech the bases of federalism , with the creation of a government and a Caledonian congress as well as regions (provinces today), having their own powers but within the French Republic, the latter retaining sovereign powers.
A proposal that would be heard and taken up a few months later by the left-wing President of the Republic at the time, François Mitterrand, who would indicate during an extraordinary Council of Ministers on April 25, 1985, that the solution for New Caledonia would be: a Federation without partition. Upon Pompidou’s death in 1974, Mitterrand, the socialist presidential candidate, already indicated that he condemned the Billotte laws and supported internal autonomy corresponding to the framework law, telling Pidjot that he would put an end to the colonial regime in New Caledonia (see CHAPPELL David, The Kanak awakening, The rise of nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, p.145).
Hoping that this solution will be adopted again in the current context and completed in order to find a political agreement that will allow peace to be restored to the territory as quickly as possible. Because without this agreement beforehand, any reconstruction would be futile, as it would risk being destroyed again in the process.
The APROFED association also hopes that the federalism solution will not take so long to be implemented . As a reminder, it was not until the Matignon-Oudinot Accords of 1988 and then the Noumea Accords of 1998 that all of the senator’s proposals were implemented, several years after his speech.
The association also points out that some of the senator’s proposals echoed those of the Caledonian and Polynesian MPs Rock Pidjot and Francis Sanford, who in 1976 submitted a draft internal autonomy statute to the National Assembly, which was not taken into account and which would subsequently lead some in New Caledonia to independence in 1977, then to the events of the 1980s and those today in 2024. Like the example of Barcelona in 2017 with regard to Spain.
As a reminder, the two deputies wanted to return to autonomy for their territories as in the 1950s with the Defferre framework law . Autonomy lost in the 1960s following a recentralization of all overseas powers by the French State for fear that they would follow the example of the former African and Asian colonies which requested their independence shortly after the adoption of this framework law.
It is worth recalling, however, a historical point, namely that if the Defferre framework law ensured greater autonomy to the overseas territories, with the creation at the same time of the Community, a sort of French-style Commonwealth following the French Union, it actually aimed to go back on a promise made by the French State to its colonies consisting of giving them independence once the Second World War was over in return for their war efforts (see CHAPPELL David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2017, p.208). Unfortunately, once the war was over, the promise of independence was not kept and was replaced by simple autonomy , which was moreover disguised since the State retained all the decisions, notably on sovereign powers and especially on the raw materials necessary for its reconstruction.
Thus, if many Caledonians opposed and still oppose independence, it is appropriate to recall, as we have just mentioned, that it was a promise given by the State that was not kept and that despite this, the Kanak people have always tried to find peaceful solutions, which were initially rejected by the State. Their revolts and their demand for independence are thus in no way the cause of today’s events but rather the consequence of the State’s fears and its unkept promises. Moreover, from 1945 to 1977, independence was never a leitmotif of the Kanak people , who throughout this period have constantly demanded only one thing, namely equal treatment identical to other French people in order to be considered as full citizens. It is worth recalling that in 1966, Kanaks were not allowed to enter Nouméa’s hotels (see Chappell David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, p. 101). The armed (Kanak) revolts do not necessarily seek to expel all Europeans, but rather to renegotiate unequal power relations (see Chappell David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, 320p, p. 51).
In 1956, the UC repeatedly swore that it intended to remain within the French Republic and that it was not seeking a form of autonomy that would lead to independence. Rather, it wanted Paris to recognize the “New Caledonian personality” by transferring administrative responsibility to the territory (see Chappell David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, p. 65). A majority of Caledonians only ask for autonomy, a status that would allow them to maintain links with France, so that political maturity can grow with the experience of responsibilities. (see CHAPPELL David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, p.101). In the spring of 1968, the Territorial Assembly of New Caledonia sent a delegation to Paris to explain that it wanted autonomy restored. But no one in the government agreed to listen, especially not the Minister for Overseas Departments and Territories, Pierre Billotte. (see Chappell David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, p.78) As such, in 1973, a new movement called the Union of Caledonian Youth (UJC), considered the European equivalent of the Red Scarves, defended “Caledonia for Caledonians” and proposed a 10-step program to create a multiracial “Caledonian nation.” Internal autonomy for them thus constituted the first step towards sovereign independence (see Chappell David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, p.141). The first tag “Kanak Independence!” only appeared in 1975 through Frolika (Kanak Liberation Front) (see CHAPPELL David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2017, p.155). In 1976, Rock Pidjot warned that, without real autonomy, the population risked turning towards independence out of despair (see CHAPPELL David, The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, UNC-Madrépores, 2013, p.180). In 1978, the UC officially announced that it would “work resolutely towards independence” (Dommel, 1993).
It should also be remembered that the autonomy project presented to the State in the 1970s was not the first. In the 19th century, settlers were already demanding more autonomy in the face of the omnipotent prison administration, as David Chappell. Asking to be involved in the territory’s affairs, the settlers obtained from the State in 1885 the creation of a General Council (the forerunner of the Congress), with a limited role and electoral base. This Council had no real political role and would only play a consultative role until 1957.
The alternative of federalism and expanded autonomy, proposed by Senator Dick Ukeiwé and MP Rock Pidjot, once implemented after the events of 1984, allowed for the establishment of peace lasting nearly 40 years.
This is why the APROFED association considers this 3rd way as the only solution and thus wishes to see this process discussed again to be finalized and thus find peace and rebuild a common destiny for at least the next 30 years. Indeed, after the establishment of an internal federalism with the Matignon and Noumea agreements, it would now be appropriate to establish an external federalism within the framework of a new relationship with France as requested by all the overseas territories , which has so far remained a dead letter. It is therefore not surprising to find almost all of them in a party located at the extremes in the National Assembly as well as in anti-colonialist meetings such as the Baku group in Azerbaijan, (which should normally have been held in France). The reactivation of articles 78 and following of the Constitution in order to resuscitate the 1958 Community could be a solution.
You can find the speech to the Senate by Mr Dick UKEIWE, as well as the proposal for autonomy status by Rock Pidjot and Francis Sanford, on our website in its Downloads section: Downloads – APROFED
Wishing you a good read.
The APROFED association