Bulletin No50 septembre 2024 While France is struggling with one of the longest political crises of the Fifth Republic , which has its roots in the deep contradictions of its capitalist development called into question by the intensity of the class struggle and the clashes within the imperialist system, the French colonial state is not sparing the intensity of the repression against the peoples fighting for their economic, social, cultural and political rights, whether in Kanaky, Martinique or in all its overseas colonies.
Thus, while on this September 24, 2024 in Kanaky, whose colonization goes back to the day 171 years, the High Commissioner of the Republic announced the implementation and reinforcement of liberticidal measures: curfew across the territory and restriction of any movement without justification between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., as well as a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages, their consumption and the carrying of firearms. In addition, gatherings and demonstrations will be systematically prohibited. These authoritarian measures reflect the authorities' fear of a potential resumption of mobilizations on September 24. The deliberate murder, according to the FLNKS, of two young Kanak activists by the colonial forces of repression on the night of Wednesday September 18 to Thursday September 19, during a police operation south of Noumea and which brings the number of deaths to 13 have increased the tension reigning on the Island.
The deceased are inhabitants of the Kanak tribe of Saint-Louis aged 29 and 30. They were fatally injured by gunfire from a member of the GIGN, according to a statement from the Noumea public prosecutor Yves Dupas.
Everything is done by the authorities of colonial France to criminalize the movement fighting for the legitimate independence of Kanaky. The violence of the repression of the French state against the Kanak independence movement has been particularly violent in recent months. Between the arrest of several leaders of the CCAT [1] — deported and imprisoned in France — as well as the transfer of many common law prisoners to mainland France and the brutal siege of the Saint-Louis tribe and the dozen deaths caused by the forces of repression and French militias.
The violence of the repression is commensurate with the stakes of maintaining the overseas territories under the colonial rule of imperialist France. Thus, in a column in the newspaper Le Figaro [2] , RN MEP André Rougé observes that it is: "... a fierce geopolitical struggle between the great powers for the control of global resources, whether it is hydrocarbons off the coast of Mayotte, Caledonian nickel, the fishing resources of the Scattered Islands, gold from Guyana, rare earths from the Antilles, the ocean current of Reunion, the list of riches of France on the high seas is long. If we add to this its immense Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), control of the Mozambique Channel and the locking of the archipelago separating the China Sea from Australia, we can measure the stakes of foreign strategies where "field actors" and "intellectual authors" interact, aiming for global hegemony ." In a few lines, this text highlights the predatory nature of imperialism as well as the war that the powers wage to seize natural resources and control communication routes. This same argument of competition within imperialism has long served as an argument to justify maintaining colonization in Algeria and this to supposedly prevent the United States from seizing its gas and oil! In the name of these arguments, the rights of peoples to their independence would therefore not count. Beyond the position of the RN, Renaissance executives also distinguish themselves by taking positions justifying colonization. Thus, Renaissance MP Nicolas Metzdorf, who is parading in a photo alongside the Israeli ambassador to France, draws a parallel between Israelis and Caledonians, " treated as settlers even though they have been in their own country for several generations " and adds "Today, Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East. We do not agree with Mr. Netanyahu. He could be defeated in the next elections. This is not the case for other countries which are more like dictatorships. So I am signing up for a tour of democratic countries, which can help us to bring democracy to life in New Caledonia through their voices at the UN."
Clearly, colonialists stick together to justify the unjustifiable.
But the justification for maintaining French domination over overseas territories does not stop at the marches of parties classified on the right and the far right. Thus, in 2022 JL Mélenchon in his Livrets Thématiques de l'Avenir en Commun [3] wrote: " If France has the second largest maritime territory in the world in terms of surface area, and the first for its biodiversity, it is thanks to the overseas territories. The overseas territories make our country more universalist than European. Indeed, we share maritime or land borders with countries as diverse as Australia, Madagascar, the Samoan Islands, Barbados and Canada. France's longest land border is with Brazil, its longest maritime border with Australia. ", in no way calling into question the colonial nature of French domination.
Faced with the rising revolts and the struggles of the people for their national liberation, we must provide a clear response to the root of the problem and provide unwavering support to these legitimate struggles for independence.
[1] https://www.sitecommunistes.org/index.php/france/politique/2868-liberation-immediate-des-militants-independantistes-kanaks
[2] Edition of Tuesday, September 24, 2024 p.17: New Caledonia: foreign interference attacks France's overseas territories