The protests in New Caledonia that began in May have already become an important milestone in the history of this island territory. The French neocolonial model of governance has entered a phase of systemic crisis. There are many reasons for this: The French government’s attempt to limit the voting rights of the indigenous population of New Caledonia through constitutional reform, the economic exploitation of the island’s resources by French corporations, and the high level of unemployment among New Caledonian youth, etc… But in order to better understand and analyze these events, we can recall their origins during the colonization of New Caledonia. After all, it was colonial rule that inflicted irreparable and severe damage on the local indigenous population – the Kanaks.
Long before the arrival of the colonizers, the Kanaks had their own unique social structure. Communities formed from related families living in the same territory played a key role. These communities could enter into alliances with other communities living in neighboring areas.
The Kanaks have had a set of unwritten rules since ancient times. A striking example of such rules was the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes; that is, conflicts between different communities were supposed to be resolved with the help of arguments, without the use of force. Customs, passed on by word of mouth, served as the foundation of society.
An important place was also occupied by the exchange system, known in many other regions of Melanesia. Within its framework, the symbolic exchange of certain objects (for example, sea shells) took place between different communities. Such a practice strengthened relations between different communities and had an important ceremonial function.
What does all this mean? That before the arrival of the French colonizers, the Kanaks lived happily on their original territory in accordance with their social structure and way of life. They lived in communities, fished, and were engaged in agriculture. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, they were free from despotic colonial power. However, everything changed when France declared New Caledonia a colony in September 1853.
A flood of French settlers poured into the territory. In addition, prisons were created there, where prisoners and exiles were sent en masse from the metropolis. The settlers began to take away the land from the indigenous Kanak population. A little later, the colonizers began to create pastures for cattle on the island territories, which caused great damage to the areas where the indigenous people grew crops.
The French colonial administration not only took away most of the Kanak land but also drove the indigenous people into reservations. Ignoring the structure of Kanak society, the colonizers forcibly divided the inhabitants of New Caledonia into different tribes, forcing them to live in isolated areas. The indigenous population was deprived of the tradition of self-government and began to appoint leaders approved exclusively by the colonial authorities and not by the inhabitants themselves.
What did all this lead to? To very difficult and sad events. For the Kanaks, land has played an important role since ancient times:
1. Land was necessary for the development of agriculture, which helped to meet the communities’ needs for food.
2. Land had significant symbolic significance for each community living on it. It was a symbol of unity and common roots of related families whose ancestors lived there.
Having lost their own land, many communities were literally torn away from their roots, from their history. Free people were locked in isolated reservations, taxed in favor of the colonial administration, and forced to engage in forced labor. Colonizers captured thousands of Kanaks into slavery and sent them to sugar cane plantations on other islands of the South Pacific.
This process of barbaric colonial conquest can be viewed through the prism of the theory formulated in the second half of the 19th century – early 20th century by the famous Russian scientist and theorist Peter Kropotkin. Discussing the origin of states, he came to the conclusion about the existence of rural communities that were formed from related families and clans. The life of these communities was based on the principles of mutual coexistence and unwritten norms and customs. They lived in a certain territory and could enter into alliances with other communities.
A little later, they contributed to the emergence of urban communities and free cities. According to Kropotkin’s theory, these communities faced expansion and conquest by the established states, led by strengthened feudal aristocrats. As a result of the seizures of urban and rural communities, their residents faced severe oppression, their communal land was taken away from them, and they were forced to submit to royal or princely power. Despite the fact that Kropotkin’s theory mainly drew on medieval European history, his approach can also be applied to the analysis of historical processes in Oceania.
The communities of New Caledonia, which appeared in ancient times, provided their members with land, housing, and mutual assistance from other people in the community. Before the arrival of the colonizers, the Kanaks lived much more freely than after the capture of New Caledonia by Napoleon III.
Having captured the territory, the colonizers first began to destroy the communities, which were the ancient basis of the social structure of Kanak society. For these purposes, the colonial authorities created reservations, which led to negative consequences for the indigenous population of New Caledonia. In parallel with this, the communities were deprived of land, which was given to French settlers. Having destroyed the traditional communal structure, the colonizers already in the second half of the 19th century established a cruel regime in New Caledonia, which was engaged in slavery and exploitation of resources. The Kanaks did not benefit from the minerals found on their land, particularly the nickel that is still mined there by French corporations.
Thus, it is the colonial expansion of the 19th century that is the root cause and source of the current social and political tensions in New Caledonia. 170 years ago, two forms of social organization clashed here. On the one hand, there was the traditional Kanak society (communities based on the principles of self-government, mutual coexistence, and family kinship, with their own unwritten code of conduct and unique system of exchange) and the empire of Napoleon III with its colonial administration (based on dictatorship, oppression of the indigenous Kanak population, plunder of the colony’s natural resources for the benefit of the metropolis).
Such a contrast completely refutes the false opinion that Western colonialism allegedly brought “civilization” to the enslaved peoples. The peoples who were colonized themselves had a unique way of life that was acceptable to them. And before colonization, they had a greater degree of freedom. Colonizers not only seized territories and resources but also destroyed the social order and value system in the conquered lands.
New Caledonia is a vivid example of the tragic history of colonial expansion and how negatively it affected the fate of entire nations.
Al Mayadeen