For a new territorial motto?

The APROFED association is back in this new year following up on its last article (see For a new anthem? – APROFED ) which aimed to examine existing identity signs and the need to reformulate them in view of the events of 2024 and the current context.

This week, we are therefore returning to the country’s motto  : land of speech, land of sharing (cf. Land of speech, Land of sharing — Wikipedia ).

Although, like the Caledonian anthem, the country’s motto was unanimously endorsed by the Caledonian Economic and Social Council, the Council of State, and the Congress of New Caledonia, and subsequently adopted by the territory’s collegial government in 2008, it was nonetheless criticized because it was created by someone not originally from Caledonia.

For its author, academic Jean-Brice Herrenschmidt, the motto was an invitation to cultural exchange and the sharing of wealth.  “It must not remain a pious wish, but a word that commits ,” stressed Rock Wamytan (FLNKS), one of the signatories of the Nouméa Accord (see New Caledonia adopts an anthem and a motto ).

However, while it is possible to observe the daily application of this motto among the general population despite the difficulties , the events of 2024 demonstrated that the situation was quite different among political representatives . The perfect illustration of this is the fist bump (see New Caledonia Agreement: the main points of the historic agreement signed on July 12 in Bougival ) between the non-independence MP Nicolas Metzdorf and his pro-independence counterpart Emmanuel Tjibaou at the end of the Bougival meeting. This contrasts sharply with the handshake 40 years earlier between Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Jacques Lafleur to end the conflict of the 1980s; a symbolic handshake that will be immortalized by a bronze statue in the center of Nouméa, in the Place de la Paix (see Matignon Accords: the handshake doubly celebrated in Place des Cocotiers ).

The motto, for some, was badly damaged in 2024 by the violence linked to the insurrection (see The Caledonian anthem and other symbols of identity (September 24, 2025) – A Khâgne in the Antipodes ). Instead of talking, they preferred to fight.

This is why the association proposes a new motto partly based on that of the Caledonian Union ( 2 colors, 1 single people ) which would be: ” One country, one people, one common destiny “, in order to reconnect with the hope expressed by the Matignon and Nouméa agreements which today seems extinguished, fragmented, lost for some (cf. Politics New Caledonia: Land of the Lost Word – Alexandre Rosada ).  

While we sometimes sign our articles with the motto: unity in diversity , which forms the basis of the federal concept, it should be noted that this is already the motto of several states worldwide such as Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, South Africa or even the European Union (see List of national mottos — Wikipedia ).

Wishing you a pleasant read and reminding you that federalism is the only solution to reconcile unity in diversity.

L’association APROFED