The company had given them no advance warning of the closure. "It appeared that business was going well at the hotel--we were full," said one worker to Militant reporters during a visit on September 6.

The fight for an improved redundancy package (severance pay) is at the center of their occupation, explained the workers. Many have accumulated more than 10 years’ seniority, they said. Company representatives tried to pressure them into immediately accepting the company’s offer; otherwise, the bosses said, the workers would face delays in receiving their payments, as there would be no Club Med representatives remaining in Nouméa after the hotel closed. While some workers accepted this offer, a number did not, and commenced their occupation. Club Med does not own the hotel, but its equipment and supplies remain there.

The workers invited the Militant reporters to join them for dinner, prepared and served in the hotel’s facilities. "We used to prepare food for the guests--now we prepare it for ourselves," said one worker. After nine months they have made the occupied hotel as comfortable as possible. Some have been joined by children and grandchildren.

The workers emphasized how difficult it is to find jobs in New Caledonia today. The official unemployment rate stands at 18 percent. However, the reality for Kanaks and immigrants from Wallis and Futuna Islands--a French colonial territory not far from New Caledonia that is used as a reserve of cheap labor--is much worse.

Union and social struggles, like the hotel workers’ fight, are part of ongoing efforts by Kanaks and other working people to combat the daily discrimination and brutalities of French colonial rule. While the independence struggle that mushroomed in the 1980s was dealt severe blows by the French rulers, it wasn’t defeated, and today we are seeing new generations joining with those from past struggles against the colonial exploiters.

The 86,800 Kanaks make up 44 percent of the territory’s total population of 196,800, according to the 1996 census. New Caledonians of European birth or descent form the second largest grouping, with 34 percent of the population. Forty-three percent of the 67,500 people in this category were born overseas. Wallisians, who face similar social conditions to those of the Kanak people, make up 9 percent of the population, or 17,700 people.  
 
Struggles for housing
Equal numbers of Kanaks and Wallisians are today living in the squatter areas in Nouméa, asserting their right to housing. Of the 100,000 people who live in greater Nouméa--more than half New Caledonia’s population--up to 7,000 live in 10 squatter communities around the city.

Militant reporters went to one such community, Village Wella. The squatters there have transformed the land they are occupying into pieces of village life. Most have vegetable gardens, places for social gatherings, and a structured leadership with a chief who acts as a spokesperson.

Sylvain Pabouty of the Committee for Defense and Support of Squatters explained that the conditions in such areas have improved in recent years. In the past decade, he said, such communities "have become a more organized force. This was precipitated in 1992 when members of a wealthy local family wanted to develop land that was occupied by squatters," using bulldozers to "clean up the area."

"People demonstrated, set up barricades, and put out a call for everyone to come and help, finally forcing the developer to retreat and allow the squatters to remain on some of the land," said Pabouty.

Following these events the committee was established, he said, with the objectives of fighting for "the right to decent housing, to better conditions of life," and a political goal of explaining "that underlying the housing crisis is the whole system in New Caledonia that encourages speculation in land and buildings. At the end of 1995 the squats won the right for water to be supplied by the city," he pointed out.

Village Wella residents explained to the Militant how they came to be living there. Anne Marie said that she had been living rent-free in one of the houses owned by a former Chateau Royale. When the company had gone out of business no one was left to collect the rent. In 1994 City Hall moved half the residents out with the promise that it would ensure they were housed. She and her sister are still waiting.

Lionel, another resident, told the Militant that "cop harassment is normal," since "we are in a struggle and the developer still wants the land. The police use the pretext of investigating alleged crimes to intimidate people. They also try to create conflicts and provoke people."

A legal association has been formed to act as a coordinating body among the different groups of squatters. At the high point of squatters’ organization in the 1990s, noted Pabouty, "the national police had to ask the association if they wanted to enter a squat."  
 
Immigrant workers and Kanak struggle
The nickel boom in the 1960s saw large numbers of immigrant workers from the Pacific Islands come to New Caledonia, including a big wave of people from Wallis and Futuna. The vast majority of such migrants and their descendants settled in Nouméa. Most people in these communities today were born in New Caledonia.

Paris’s agents set out to foster divisions among these nationalities, all of whom are subject to French colonial rule. In the past, for example, the pro-French New Caledonian rulers have promoted gangs of Wallisian youths, many of them unemployed, to act as "militias" to attack independence demonstrators and Kanak youth in general.

With the 1990s came the signs of a breakdown in these tactics. In one significant development, a political organization based among the migrant workers, the Oceania Democratic Assembly (RDO), was formed in 1994. RDO president Aloises Sako explained that they have "moved towards recognizing Kanak independence as a legitimate idea, allowing the people to be free from colonialism." In 1999 the new organization joined the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), a coalition of pro-independence parties supported by the overwhelming majority of Kanaks.

These oppressed nationalities have common interests in opposing French rule, which is founded on their superexploitation and national oppression. According to official statistics, New Caledonia’s annual per capita income is among the highest in the Pacific at US$16,500. The country has a higher Gross Domestic Product than nearby New Zealand, an imperialist country. But the squatter communities reveal the disparities that are hidden under such statistics.

Rents in Nouméa are highly inflated, in part because of the impact of financial transfers from the French government that sustain the large public sector. Of the more than $500 million transferred in 2001, about half funded public service salaries. The balance was directed to health, education, and special development projects.

Doris Doupere, an independence activist in the Kanak Liberation Party, explained that a typical two-bedroom unit in Nouméa goes for about $690 a month, almost equal to the minimum wage of $860. In housing provided with assistance from the provincial government the rent can range from $215 to $345.  
 
A long history of anticolonial struggle
In waging their day-to-day struggles, many squatters and union fighters--who are often one and the same--are conscious of the long history of struggle against French colonial rule, over the past 150 years.

After annexing New Caledonia in 1853, Paris set up a colonial settler-state there, transplanting a large population from France itself. Until the early 1950s, the indigenous people were confined to small reservations of land, where they carried on subsistence agriculture, hunting, and fishing, and lived in conditions comparable to those endured by the Black population in apartheid South Africa. These "tribal" land reserves were laid out by the colonial authorities in the second half of the 19th century.

Kanaks living on reservations had to perform forced labor on roads and other public works. The right to leave the tribal areas was severely restricted. They were excluded altogether from towns after dusk.

While they made up a clear majority of the population, Kanaks had no right to vote and received no government-provided education. Kanaks were excluded from the colonial economy, either as farmers producing for the market or as wage workers in the mines and plantations.

Within three decades of the foundation of New Caledonia, movements of resistance to such brutal exploitation began to arise, leading to a revolt in 1878. Following World War II, under the impact of anticolonial revolutions that erupted throughout Asia and Africa the first political organization to involve descendants of French settlers as well as Kanaks was formed. This was the origin of the Caledonian Union (UC), which demanded internal autonomy for New Caledonia.

Weakened by this worldwide upsurge and under pressure in New Caledonia itself, Paris began to make some adjustments to its colonial rule in the 1950s. Some fundamental rights were legally recognized for Kanaks, including the right to vote, to receive an education, and to travel freely.

By the late 1960s the demand for independence was beginning to be articulated more clearly. The emergence of a new Kanak nationalism was reflected, for example, in the adoption of the name "Kanak," which had previously been a term of racist abuse.

New political groupings of young Kanaks emerged, demanding immediate independence from France. By the late 1970s their growth and combined pressure had won over the Caledonian Union to demand independence. Under the leadership of Eloi Machoro, the UC combined with other Kanak parties in September 1984 to form the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).  
 
Upsurge in independence struggle
In 1984–85 thousands of Kanaks, reacting to the refusal of the French government of François Mitterand to sanction moves toward independence, and in response to a boycott call by the FLNKS, mobilized against the Territorial Assembly elections. The mobilizations continued after the vote. In Nouméa and elsewhere, independence fighters led mass demonstrations. Towns and villages were occupied, and roadblocks set up. This upsurge of Kanak resistance brought the independence struggle to world attention.

In response, Paris brought in thousands of troops and unleashed a wave of repression. Dozens of independence activists were arrested and jailed, and a number were murdered by the military and right-wing thugs. In 1985 such forces attempted to behead the independence movement by assassinating Eloi Machoro and his aide Marcel Nonaro. Machoro’s assassination marked the beginning of a counteroffensive mounted by the French government that for a period succeeded in reversing the momentum of the anticolonial struggle.

The impact of this reactionary, brutal effort was reflected in a 1987 independence referendum. The FLNKS call for a boycott was heeded by 83 percent of registered Kanak voters. Of the 59 percent of the total registered voters who participated, 98 percent voted for New Caledonia to remain part of France--a demonstration of the fact that Paris still commanded majority support among the non-Kanak population.

The French imperialists had not pushed the Kanak struggle off the stage, however. With the right-wing Rally for Caledonia within the Republic (RPCR) at their side, they entered negotiations with the FLNKS, resulting in the 1988 Matignon Accord. The agreement provided for greater local autonomy, including the election of provincial governments, and substantial aid demanded by Kanaks as a way of beginning to redress the deep inequalities between French settlers and Kanak communities. A referendum was supposed to have been held 10 years later.

Today the territory is divided into three provinces: the Northern Province and Loyalty Islands, which are governed by the FLNKS, and the much wealthier Southern Province, headed by the RPCR, which includes Nouméa. In the 54-strong national Congress the Northern Province holds 15 seats, the Loyalty Islands 7, and the Southern Province 32.

Ten years later the same parties signed the Nouméa accord. Among other provisions, the new accord postponed the referendum until sometime between 2014 and 2018. New Caledonia was granted enhanced autonomy and special status under the French constitution. Paris retains responsibility for military spending, courts and cops, currency, and some areas of external affairs.

Paris has much at stake in resisting the efforts of independence supporters. New Caledonia is the world’s third largest producer of nickel, and holds an estimated quarter of the world’s reserves. The French military holds three bases in New Caledonia, which along with Tahiti and the nuclear testing facilities at Moruroa atoll are an important part of its operations in the Pacific.

Kanaks have made important strides in overcoming the French-imposed marginalization that they endured for so long. Land is being returned to the traditional tribal owners under the direction of a state agency. Kanaks are more a part of the territory’s economic life, from mining, to agriculture, to tourism.

Deep inequalities remain, however. For example, there is only one Kanak doctor practicing medicine on the islands.

On a range of battlefronts, from disputes over nickel resources, to housing, to employment, Kanaks are utilizing the political space that exists today to continue to press toward independence.  
 
 
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