YDS 2021 in Review

C O L O N I A L
R E C L A S S I F I C A T I O N
New Caledonia was colonised by the French in 1854 and the discovery of rich nickel
deposits on the island saw great migrations of workers from within the empire and
elsewhere to exploit the opportunity. For nearly a century the exploitative,
exclusionary, and racist structures of colonialism stood in place. Support for the
Free French government in World War II paved the way for more autonomy for the
island country and the establishment of a multiethnic general council that governed
the island. Once the war had concluded, Paris committed to liberal reforms to their
colonies in order to retain them. In 1959, New Caledonia democratically voted to
remain under French sovereignty, and the island was redesignated as an external
territory of France, with its wartime won autonomies intact.
K A N A K S E P A R A T I S M A N D
This increased political autonomy was short-lived due to the increasing commodity prices
of nickel in the 1960s. Paris unilaterally withdrew these reforms, centralising the
administration of these natural resources and the government in the name of the national
interest, and encouraging more European migration to the islands. This recolonisation of
New Caledonia would foment renewed interest in anti-colonialism with an infusion
communist, Marxist, and socialist ideas brought from abroad by returning students,
mirroring the civil unrest of the concurrent May ‘68 movement happening in France. There
was a plurality of radical groups that agitated for change in this period. This agitation would
result in the publishing of journals and newspapers, protests, demonstrations, and riots.
This environment would also prove fertile for the formation of Kanak political parties.
Collectively these parties lobbied for increased autonomy or independence, elimination of
racism, promotion of the unique Melanesian culture and improving material conditions.
Parties were ideologically divided and struggled to achieve mainstream political
recognition,subsequently merging in 1984 to form the Kanak and Socialist National
Liberation Front (FLNKS).
The formation of a unified political front allowed the independence activism to take on
international characteristics. The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) was formed with
newly decolonised Melanesian nations of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and
Vanuatu the intention of supporting FLNKS case for independence. The establishment of
this subregional group was important in generating wider international support at the 1986
UN General Assembly where, despite French protestations, New Caledonia was relisted as
a non-self-governing territory which brings international scrutiny to the French
administration. Building an international network of allies in the MSG and their plight for
decolonisation recognised formally in the UN gives independence activists a larger
platform to project their goals onto, and can force Paris to act faster than they normally
would if only faced by domestic pressures.
Despite these major developments, there were no improvements to the New Caledonian
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T H E M A T I G N O N A C C O R D S