Indigeneity, decolonization and the “politics of common destiny” in New Caledonia

New Caledonia has been a French colony since 1853 – now a sui generis overseas ‘collectivity’ – and is currently engaged in a process of ‘decolonization’ following the signature of the Accord de Nouméa on the 5th of May 1998 (cf. point 4 of the preamble). This process of decolonization, as we argue in this article, is counteracted by a political strategy, which we will refer to as the “politics of a common destiny”. This strategy aims at creating a feeling of citizenship by fostering reconciliation between peoples and communities living in New Caledonia. To achieve this, history is reinterpreted and reinvented by emphasizing togetherness and shared destiny. By way of illustration, two examples are examined: first, the celebration of the citizenship; second, Mathieu Kassovitz’s movie L’ordre et la morale [Rebellion in English]. Next, acknowledging that this strategy goes beyond symbolism and spreads through the political economy of New Caledonia, we examine how, in a background of social inequalities, the Kanak People’s labour struggle becomes subsumed in a vast program of Social Dialogue that is part of the overall framework of social partnership.

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Tides of Transformation: Pacific Pasts, Pacific Futures. 6th Biennial Conference of the Australian Association for Pacific Studies

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