Referendum in New Caledonia: a strange non-campaign – archyde

Posted today at 6:00 p.m., updated at 19:49

At the large roundabout of the expressway, at the entrance to Nouméa, the separatist activists deployed banners on which is inscribed: “On December 12, 2021, we are not voting”. Above flies the Kanak flag. A passive presence: they do not seek to challenge the drivers who use this strategic node. In the oppressive heat, there are about fifteen of them, taking refuge in the shade of the mango trees, can of cold beer in hand. A few tens of meters away, two trucks of mobile gendarmes and soldiers parked in the middle of the dungeon.

“They watch our banners and we watch over them”, jokes Dawera Dianou, suggesting that the visible presence of the police could stir up the reactions of young Kanaks in this popular district of the Valley of Tir. Dawera is the son of Alphonse Dianou, head of the commando which in 1988 organized the hostage-taking of Ouvéa, killed during the military assault. He had met Emmanuel Macron when the President of the Republic went to Ouvéa on May 5, 2018, as a sign of reconciliation. A moment of exchange, hidden from view, and intense emotion.

At present, he does not have enough harsh words towards the Head of State who “Reneged on the word of the state”. Like all components of the independence movement, this radical activist denounces “The stubbornness of the State to maintain at all costs the date of the consultation of December 12” while the health crisis hit the territory at the beginning of September, causing 280 deaths, more than half of them in the Kanak community, and a year of Kanak mourning was decreed by the Customary Senate for the period of September 2021 and September 2022 .

Strange campaign, where the supporters of independence refuse to take part in the third referendum on the accession to full sovereignty which they had requested the organization after the first two had given a majority to the no. They campaign, on social networks, but also by mobilizing their local structures, to call… not to vote. This sometimes raises some questions in their database: “We’ve been waiting for thirty years. What is this pirouette? I will vote yes ”, thus reacts an activist to the instructions of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).

“We no longer have anyone in front of us”

The independence leaders do not deny some tensions. “There are people who do not understand”, admits Johanito Wamytan, chief of staff of the Union calédonienne (UC) -FLNKS group in Congress. Tensions accentuated by the vaccination obligation which will be implemented in the territory from December 31. A decision adopted by the Congress of New Caledonia, with a pro-independence majority, and which triggered strong reactions. On Saturday December 4, several thousand people demonstrated in the streets of Noumea, most of them without a mask.

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