The gentleman, in his fifties, did not even wait to leave the François-Anewy room, in Nouméa, to drop these few words: “Oh, there will be more, occasions …” he chuckles, turning to a small group about to enter the gymnasium transformed for the occasion into a polling station. How to say that the new victory of the “no” in the third and last referendum of self-determination of New Caledonia, Sunday, December 12, “do not change anything”. that “it’s a comma in the story, not a full stop”. It is thus: the voters of New Caledonia did not want to say with 96.49% of the voices they wished remain in the bosom of the French Republic, the demands of the separatists remain intact.
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Already because the independence leaders had warned that they would not recognize the result. Then, because the choice to stay in France and the end of the Noumea agreement do not in themselves constitute the consecration of the current status quo. From Monday, a transition period of eighteen months will begin. Concretely, the various political parties have until June 30, 2023 to “examine the situation created” and put down on paper a new status for the archipelago, can we read page 45 of the official document unveiled by the State. “In these discussions, even if the loyalists won the three referendums in 2018, 2020 and 2021, the notion of independence will always be at the heart of the negotiations, points out Joël Kasarhérou, president of the Building otherwise movement, made up of independentists and non-separatists. The separatists will play their card to the maximum and try to keep the pressure on the state to say that their objective has still not been reached. “
All the specialists in the Caledonian question that Franceinfo interviewed go in the same direction. “D‘from a legal point of view, the Nouméa agreement is over. But has the independence issue been resolved? Certainly not, insists anthropologist Benoît Trépied, researcher at CNRS. The desire for independence will not stop in the days or in the weeks to come. “” Just as the independence demand is not extinguished by the result of Sunday evening, the right to self-determination of the News -Caledonia does not disappear “, analysis for his part the former Minister of Justice Jean-Jacques Urvoas, rapporteur for the permanent information mission on the institutional future of New Caledonia in 2015.
In other words, a decision of law cannot bury a political claim. “By definition, the political fight is governed by the will of the participants. In the Caledonian situation, the separatist parties will continue to demand the means to obtain it, continues the former Minister of Justice. Independence is not a condition, it is a goal. And since this objective is not achieved, the separatist parties will continue to fight for independence within the framework of the Republic, as they have already been doing for thirty years. “
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Exactly what voters they met on Sunday had in mind. “France has not finished with us, repeated a Kanak crossed in the parking lot of a polling station in the Rivière-Salée district, in Nouméa. If necessary, we will hold a seventh, a ninth, a fifteenth referendum. “ Ten kilometers further, Eloi-Franc school this time, near the racecourse, Hélène, favorable to staying in France, sums up the situation. “We are fed up, we are tired of all this. But we also know that we have not finished hearing about independence”, breathes the 79-year-old lady, umbrella over her head to protect herself from the blazing sun.
“The president didn’t understand, coward Agnès, independence activist met while listening to Emmanuel Macron’s speech in the popular Pierre-Lenquette district, in Nouméa. Independence is not a yes or no. It’s when and how. I have friends who vote no every time. But even they, they know deep down that we are going there, towards independence. “
Jean-Philippe Tjibaou, the eldest son of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, emblematic leader of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), assassinated by one of his family in May 1989, was right. “The right to self-determination of the Kanak people will not end on Sunday evening or Monday morning, he assured Franceinfo when we met at his home, in the Tiendanite tribe, in Hienghène, in the north-east of Grande Terre. We continued the work of our old folks. And our children will chase after him. “
“If it’s not that time, it will be for another time, for another time.”
Jean-Philippe Tjibaouto franceinfo
The impression of hearing his father thirty-four years earlier, in September 1987, on the occasion of the first referendum on the independence of New Caledonia. Boycotted by the Kanak population, the ballot saw the overwhelming victory (more than 98% of the vote) of retention within the French Republic “On the evening of September 13, some will cut the champagne. The next day, we’ll be there, to say shit, and to say that we are there and that we will always be there. Each nascent Kanak will be born again with the right to independence . And this right, no referendum, (…) will not call into question “, declared at the time the former independence leader to microphones and cameras (from 2’05 ”).
Understand: the goal of independence has “an indefinite lifespan”. “The question of independence has something perpetual, something that dates, something that does not move, emphasizes Joël Kasarhérou, from Building otherwise. There is a symbolic side which is enormous. The younger generations are taking up the tradition of the elders. And the young people who will get old will be replaced in this fight by other young people. ” “We will stop when we get satisfaction”, Pierre-Chanel Tutugoro, the secretary general of the Union calédonienne, a political party which campaigns for the independence of the territory, slipped to us a little while ago.
So let’s sum up: will the question one day be resolved? And if yes, how ? Anthropologist Benoît Trépied responds “yes, but only on one condition” : “The question of independence will be settled when the institutional solution includes the word ‘independence’, they’ve got it in their guts.” “It all depends on what independence we are talking about, nuance Jean-Jacques Urvoas, currently lecturer at the University of Brest. Are we talking about real independence? Are we talking about a partnership? Are we talking about an associated state? France will have to come to terms with it, she has no other choice. “
The loyalists, supporters of staying in France, have understood this well. “We have always respected the fight for independence and we will continue to do so. We know it, that’s how it is.he question of independence makes and undoes the political life of the archipelago. It all comes down to this question “, slips to franceinfo Brieuc Frogier, elected at the Congress with the Avenir en Confidence group.
In March 2019, New Caledonia saw a new party, Oceanic Awakening, emerge from the waters, engaged on a third path, that of “no, not now”. “‘Our’ no not now ‘means yes, the country will become independent when it is ready, but today it is not possible, we are not ready. Because we do not currently have the capacity to assume our sovereignties “, explains to franceinfo Milakulo Tukumuli, its president. Before concluding : “But it’s just a matter of time.”