Suggested book to read: The Kanak Awakening by David Chappell

The APROFED association is back with you at the beginning of this week to share with you a very informative book entitled: The Kanak Awakening, The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia, published in 2017 by UNC & Madrépores and available in French in particular from the calédolivres bookstore at the following link: Le réveil kanak – Calédo Livres

Its author, David Chappell, an American, anti-colonialist, specialist in the history of the Pacific, traces the history of New Caledonia from the birth of the red scarves to the present day.

As Joel Paul recommends on his blog Le blog de ecrivainducaillou.over-blog.com , this book perfectly sums up the country’s politics and should be read by all Caledonians , which is what we did. You can also find many elements of the work on our site by searching for the author’s name in the search tab (magnifying glass icon) located in the menu bar on the home page.

As already demonstrated in our comparison of events 1984-2024 that we update regularly and that we send to you every 3 months since the start of the May 2024 insurrection, David Chappell’s work allows us to observe an almost perfect similarity of facts between these two periods, even though they are more than 40 years apart , leading us to ask the following question: what is the use of education, journalistic information and universities if politicians do not take them into account and reproduce the same errors?

To this question that we submitted to the AI, it provided us with the following answer, namely that politicians do not always follow scientific or academic recommendations, some politicians even ignore the facts. It is not that politicians do not know, it is sometimes that they cannot or do not want to act , because the short-term costs are electorally risky, demonstrating in view of the damage caused on the territory that representative democracy is indeed dead as we recall in one of our articles (cf. Representative democracy is dead, make way for direct or semi-direct democracy – APROFED ) and that it is appropriate to change it as soon as possible, perhaps for the next provincial elections in 2026 by returning to the basics of democracy, namely direct with the appointment of elected officials by drawing lots.

As a reminder, the notion of federalism is concomitant with that of popular sovereignty and thus contrary to representative democracy . This is also another reason why the federalism project proposed by the loyalists is not federalism because it maintains and seeks to strengthen the representative system, particularly at the provincial level.

The association claims to be inspired by the thinking of Yves Sintomer, French sociologist and political scientist , or David Van Reybrouck, Belgian writer and historian, whose thoughts you will find a clear and concise summary provided by AI below:

Yves Sintomer – French sociologist and political scientist

Key work: “Power to the people. Citizen juries, random selection and participatory democracy”

His thoughts in brief:

• • Drawing lots was a central tool of ancient democracy , notably in Athens.

• • It was abolished in favor of elections , especially after the French Revolution, because the elites wanted to keep power.

• • Drawing lots is not anti-democratic , on the contrary: it allows for more egalitarian representation than elections, which often favor the richest, the most educated, or the most media-friendly.

• • He proposes to reintroduce the drawing of lots :

• • • not to completely replace elections,

• • • but to complement the institutions, limit the perverse effects of representative democracy ,

• • • and strengthen citizen participation.

Central idea: drawing lots can rebalance political power by reintroducing a form of participatory and deliberative democracy .

David Van Reybrouck – Belgian writer and historian

Key work: “Against elections” (2013)

His thoughts in brief:

• • Modern elections are in crisis : rising abstention, distrust of elected officials, rise of extremists.

• • Elections have become an aristocratic technique : they favor competition, empty promises, and professional politicians.

• • The draw , on the contrary:

• • • is fairer , because it gives every citizen an equal chance to participate,

• • • allows for more diverse representation ,

• • • promotes deliberation rather than spectacle or polarization.

• • He calls for a re-establishment of democracy , by combining elections and randomly drawn assemblies , especially for major long-term decisions (such as ecology).

Central idea: the drawing of lots is a remedy for the crisis of modern electoral democracy .

To conclude with David Chappell’s work, he recalls that:

– 2 possible compromises at the end of the agreements were often considered: independence-association and federalism (p.264),

– a solution needs guarantees for the Kanaks and the Caledonians: not to be assimilated and not to be dominated (p.269).