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New Caledonia in the light of French history
Hello everyone,
The APROFED association is coming back to you at the end of this year to share with you a series of two reports of approximately one hour each, published last week on France 5 entitled: Aux frontières de l’Histoire, la France , retracing the history of France over nearly 2000 years, from the 3rd century BC to the 20th century.
You can watch this series again for a few days at the following link: Aux frontières de l’Histoire – La France – France TV
The association found this series interesting because it allows us to understand the functioning and way of thinking of the current French State in view of its history and thus understand certain of its behaviors, particularly with regard to New Caledonia.
We can thus see that France experienced its “golden ages” when it was led by a strong man (king, emperor) like Clovis, Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, … even if it was often to the detriment of other populations or even a posteriori of the French population itself , in view of the incessant wars led by its great men because according to Louis XIV , expanding oneself is the great and most pleasant occupation of sovereigns. The “cult of the leader and of force” has even been the prerogative of the Frankish people since the 5th century . In this respect, it is not surprising that the President of the French Republic today is called a “republican monarch” because he wants to follow in the footsteps of these great men in order to leave a mark on history, although in contrast to the Revolution of 1789 which, by beheading the king, demonstrated the people’s desire to change the regime, taking back power (from below) and putting an end to the so-called total and absolute one (from above). The creation of the departments goes in this direction.
We also learn that France in the year 1000 was a mosaic of very independent duchies and autonomous counties, often in competition with royal power . These would disappear under Louis XIV to give way to total and absolute power .
We can thus better understand the fervor of today’s State to preserve a so-called unitary State.
However, it should be remembered that the concept of federalism does not exclude the unitary state but rather integrates it. This is, moreover, the very foundation of the United States of America, reconciling a unitary state for the management of sovereign powers (army, diplomacy, currency, nationality, etc.) while integrating fully-fledged states in charge of other areas, particularly domestic ones, illustrating the notion of “shared sovereignty”.
Although the French State was inspired several times by this notion of federalism in the 20th century with the “French Union” and the “Community”, then integration within the European Union and finally the settlement of the conflict in the 1980s in New Caledonia, France has unfortunately never been to the end of these processes, voluntarily according to some , and thus being at the source of the main problems and crises in relations not only between European countries, shaking the European Union itself, but also with its overseas territories, requiring for some there again a change, not of regime but of republic in order to move to the 6th republic.
One of the other themes addressed in this series of reports is colonization (slavery) and the role of France. Thus, if until the 15th century, European countries were mostly at war with each other, with a parenthesis around the year 1000 thanks to religion which led them with the crusades to go and fight already in the Middle East against the Muslims, the so-called period of great discoveries in the 16th century will lead the European powers, including France, to divide the world in order to transport their new wealth to the detriment of the local populations, African, Amerindian and later Asian. The goal being to import cheap products from the colonies to transform them into luxury products with high added value.
In the 18th century, France transferred nearly 1.2 million slaves to its colonies and others where men and women were exploited .
A “black code” will be put into effect where slaves will be considered as furniture . Sugar or “white gold” having more value than slaves . The comparison is thus easy with nickel called “green gold” that the State today wishes to keep as a so-called strategic raw material in particular in order to produce batteries for electric vehicles and which is certainly worth more than the opinion of the first (black) people of New Caledonia, the Kanaks. The “Nickel pact” defined by the State in 2023 aimed at supporting the Nickel industry and its factories in New Caledonia actually constitutes regaining control of this deposit, leaving no one in New Caledonia fooled, being thus rejected by these elected officials, thus engaging them in a standoff with the State which, without validation, limits this aid to the territory.
Although abolished by law, slavery was rehabilitated under Napoleon in the 19th century and colonization still continues to this day in the 21st century . The overseas territories are the remnants of this. This opposition between the texts and reality denotes that the French State has no word and only acts according to its interests.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789, which states in its first article that men are born free and equal, and in its second article that liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression are the rights of every man, must leave aside the Kanaks, all the overseas populations, the majority of whom are black, somewhat circumspect because it does not apply entirely to them.
We also learn in these reports that the majority of colonies acquired their independence by force of arms , after 8 to 9 years of war (Vietnam, Algeria, etc.) or were sold (Louisiana) while France was itself in or emerging from an armed conflict with its European neighbors. It is worth recalling here a French statesman who stated that New Caledonia would only become independent if a third world war broke out. Currently in a second cold war between the USA and Russia, some analysts warn of the tipping point of the conflict in Ukraine towards a possible third world conflict.
As the association recalled in a previous article, the case of the sale of Louisiana and that of the purchase of their independence by the Haitians would perhaps also be worth studying in view of the current economic situation in France with a debt of 112% , which continues to be downgraded by international rating agencies and which is the subject of incessant reminders by the EU regarding compliance with the Maastricht rules under penalty of sanctions.
The 2nd report showing that the Vietnam (Indochina) War followed the unilateral self-proclamation of independence by the country’s authorities from France, which, humiliated, triggered an armed conflict that it lost thanks to the support of Vietnam’s neighbors, China and Russia. This should be compared with the unilateral declaration of independence of Kanaky that the pro-independence authorities of New Caledonia want to implement in 2025. If this were to happen, it would risk generating a military response from the State as in 1988, which left several dozen dead. Would the pro-independence authorities have the capacity to hold an 8-year armed conflict with the French State? The answer is no, unless they move towards a pacifist conflict of civil disobedience in the manner of the Indian leader, Gandhi, and have the support of their Pacific neighbors, namely Australia and New Zealand.
The series also shows that at the height of its colonial empire, France had the second largest territory in the world after England, arousing the jealousy of its German neighbor. Today, thanks to its overseas territories, France has the second largest maritime zone in the world after the United States, notably thanks to its territories located in the Pacific Ocean, which the USA considers an “American lake” in which it would like to reduce the influence of its French ally.
Wishing you a good viewing and happy holidays despite the current situation in the country.
We wish you a good read and remind you that federalism is the only solution to reconcile unity in diversity.
The APROFED association