Pro-independence Radio Djiido’s Andre Qaeze told RNZ Pacific young people had said that “Paris must respect us” and what had been decided by Jacques Lafleur and Jean-Marie Tjibaou, who were instrumental in putting an end to the tragic events of the 1980s and restoring civil peace in the French territory.

In 1988, Tjibaou signed the Matignon Accords with the anti-independence leader Lafleur, ending years of unrest and ushering in a peaceful decolonisation process.

Qaeze — speaking to RNZ Pacific today as the week-old crisis continued — said the political problem, the electoral roll, was the visible part of the iceberg, but the real problem was the economic part.

He said they had decided to discuss the constitutional amendments to the electoral roll but wanted to know what were the contents of the discussions.

They also wanted to know the future of managing the wealth, including the lucrative mining, and all the resources of New Caledonia.

“Because those young people on the road, plenty of them don’t have any training, they go out from school with no job. They see all the richness going out of the country and they say we cannot be a spectator,” he said.

‘Rich become richer, poor become poorer’
“The rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and they say no, we have to change this economic model of sharing.

“I think this is the main problem,” he added.

Qaeze said the old pro-independence generation used to say to the young generation: “You go and stop”.

“Then we are trying to negotiate for us but negotiate for ‘us’. The word ‘us’ means only the local government is responsible not everybody.

“And now, for 30 years the young generation have seen this kind of [political] game, and for them we cannot continue like this.”

He believed it was important for the local pro-independence leaders to take care of the content of the future statutes not only political statutes.

According to French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, almost 240 rioters had been detained following the violent unrest as of Monday.

Qaeze said every year about 400 indigenous young people left school without any diploma or any career and these were the young people on the streets.

He added there was plenty of inequality, especially in Nouméa, that needed to change.

“Our people can do things, can propose also our Oceanian way of running and managing [New Caledonia].”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Two radio stations linked to the French Pacific’s decolonisation movements want to co-operate to lift the use of indigenous languages.

The heads of Radio Tefana in French Polynesia and Radio Djiido in New Caledonia said this was in line with the United Nations declaring the next 10 years as the decade of vernacular languages.

Tahiti Nui TV quoted a member of Radio Djiido, Kengy Wiwale-Hauata, saying New Caledonia had 30 local languages and they were all honoured on the radio every day.

The two stations plan to expand co-operation in the region, considering partnerships with Wallis and Futuna, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji.

The two stations were set up in the 1980s when the pro-independence movements were led by Oscar Temaru and the late Jean-Marie Tjibaou respectively. Both broadcast on the frequency 97.4FM.

Radio Tefana is threatened with closure because of a US$1 million fine imposed three years ago when Temaru, mayor of Faa’a and a former President of French Polynesia, was handed a suspended prison sentence over the station’s funding arrangement.

The conviction has been appealed but a hearing of the case has been deferred for a fifth time until next year.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ Pacific

This year’s referendum on independence from France is a chance to turn a new page on New Caledonia’s past, says a Kanak journalist.

The referendum is is due on November 4 – more than 30 years after a boycotted poll and subsequent violence which led to the 1988 Matignon Accord.

The agreement has allowed gradual progress towards independence to be finally decided this year.

READ MORE: 30 years on from the Ouvéa massacre

A 98 percent majority voted in favour of staying with France in the 1987 vote which was boycotted as the indigenous Kanaks waged a campaign for independence.

Violent conflict continued, including the Ouvéa massacre when 19 Kanaks and two French soldiers were killed but the 1998 Noumea Accord a decade later allowed gradual steps towards independence to be finally decided this year.

-Partners-

Andre Qaeaw of the Kanak-run station Radio Djiido said as the next referendum approached, the media had a role to play in keeping conflict at bay.

Speaking at the Pacific Media Summit in Tonga earlier this month, he said the situation did not need to be portrayed as confrontation between France and the Kanak people.

“People are influenced by [the] media. Plenty of media talk about the events as a confrontation – France against Kanak people or Pacific Ocean people,” he said.

‘We can change’
“What we are trying to do is show that we can change.

“We can also say that during the First World War, the Second World War, Oceanic people, they fight together with Australia, New Zealand and [the] French. So we have a common heritage so we are not obliged to be always in the binary confrontation point of view.”

“The challenge is to explain that we are not against France, we are not against another country.”

Andre Qaeaw of New Caledonia’s Radio Djiido … Kanaks don’t want to relive the events of 1988. Image: RNZ Pacific

Some politicians were inciting divisions, he said, but his people did not want to relive events like those of 1988.

“We try to be smarter, a new way of thinking things. We have Facebook, we have internet, we have tutors, we don’t have the same way of thinking [then] and now.

“We have to prepare the new generation,” Qaeaw said.

Pacific means peace, he pointed out and all people belonged.

“The Kanak people say we need to do better, to share and to think not only towards Noumea, the capital.

“We have 300 tribes. They don’t have water, they need schools, they need education and health.

“Pacific islanders, we just need that respect,” he said.

This RNZ Pacific news item is published under a content sharing agreement with the Pacific Media Centre.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz