Paradise and the bomb
Tahiti, the last paradise of the travel guides, is als exposes the colonial regime in "French Polynesia" THE FIRST NUCLEAR TEST LED TO NEARLY TWO DAYS OF RIOTING, of a violence rarely seen in Polynesia.! The airport was set on fire, halting all air traffic. The centre of the capital, Papeete, experienced widespread damage. Several dozen people were wounded, after confrontations between supporters of the independence movement and the "forces of order". One Tahitian had his hand severed by a tear gas grenade. The next day, emergency trials began. Numerous proindependence activists, trades unionists and unemployed, were interned, one trade union was declared illegal. What's wrong in "paradise"? The "Overseas Territory'"2 of French Polynesia is made up of 130 islands - 3,600 km- ot dry land spread over an area the size of Europe (4 m. km-) in the south Pacific, 17,000 kilometres from Paris. The islands are divided into several archipelagos: the Society Islands (including Tahiti and Moorea), Gambier, the Australs, the Marquesas, and Tuamotu (including Mururoa). Tahiti is the biggest island (1,042 km2), eight times smaller than the French departement of Corsica). People from south east Asia settled in Polynesia in successive waves of migration, starting in the 4th century. In 1521 the explorer Magellan landed in Tuamotu. In 1767, Captain Ellis took possession of Tahiti in the name of king George III. The explorers Bougainville and Cook also visited the archipelago. But the Europeans only installed themselves definitively at the end of the 18th century, with the arrival of the London Missionary Society, which repressed local priests and destroyed temples in its drive to replace local religious beliets by Protestant Christianity. In the process they imposed certain European rules of behaviour and certain "values": work, money, morality, repentance, modesty. CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES FROM FRANCE LANDED ON THE Marquesas in 1834, to try and supplant the British Protestants. Behind this religious battle 3 was a struggle for influence in this part of the world between France and the British empire. In 1838 the pastor Pritchard encouraged Queen Pomare IV to demand English protection. But in 1842 the French admiral Dupetit Thouars put pressure on her to sign an agreement with France. One year later the first governor, Armand Bruat, arrived. Expecting a British reaction, Queen Pomare wrote a letter asking the people to remain patient until the arrival of British ships. Her letter provoked the opposite reaction to that intended, and the winds of revolt began to swell. The combat was unequal, with villages being bombarded from ships, and some thousands of inhabitants being deported to Kanaky (New Caledonia). The British never came. The resistance laid
• France's nuclear test centre. Laurent Durase down its arms in 1847. The Maohi people were decimated, not only by weapons, but also by European diseases like influenza and smallpox. The population of the Marquesa islands fell from over 20,000 inhabitants at the arrival of the westerners to 2,000 in 1916. In 1901 the territory was established as the French Settlements of Oceania (EFO). Polynesian volunteers fought (and died) in Europe uring the first and second world wars. One survivor of the Pacific battalion, Pouvanaa, became the first autonomist leader, winning the legislative elections of 1949. He was very popular because of his past record, but also because he made constant reference to the Bible. There was an ambiguity in his "tiamaraa" programme; was he demanding autonomy or independence? In the Maohi language, the word means both. In 1950 he set up the Democratic Rally of the Tahitian Peoples (RPDT) which obtained 18 of the 25 seats in the Territorial Assembly. In 1957 the EFO took the name of French Polynesia. One year later General De Gaulle organised a referendum on the future association of France's Pacific colonies with the "mère patrie". Pouvanaa campaigned for a no vote, but state radio was forbidden to him and official maritime transport strangely disrupted. The Gaullist regime was determined to install the Pacific Test Centre (CEP) in Polynesia. Pouvanaa was framed — he supposedly wanted to burn down Papeete — and imprisoned in France.4 In 1961 the airport at Faa'a was built, allowing France to import the necessary material for the CEP. One year later, the journalist Jaques Gervais, was expelled from Tahiti for having revealed rumours of the imminent installation of a nuclear site at Gambier.5 We will see later the influence that the implementation of the CEP (the first bomb was exploded in 1966) had on the social and economic structure of the region. Te Ao Maohi today has 212,000 inhabitants, more than two thirds of them living on Tahiti; the urban zone of Papeete alone has a population of more than 100,000. According to the 1988 census, 50% of the population are under 20. The ethnic breakdown is as follows; 83.8% Polynesian and assimilated, 11.4% Europeans (98% of them French), 4.3% Asian (largely Chinese) and 0.5% others. Of the Polynesians and assimilated, 66% are Maohi and 17% mixed race or "demis". This notion of "demis" is complex — for some anybody of mixed ethnic ancestry is a demi, for others, like Michel Panoff7 " ... in this population of mixed race, everyone is always somebody's demi and somebody else's native at the same time! It is moreover this decidedly relative character which shows, if there was a need, that the line of divide between the two is a social and not a biological one" Unlike in Kanaky, there are no "French colonists"
January 1995 29
N. Korea
S. Korea
Japan
China
• Okinawa
Hawaii
Taiwan
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Mariana
Kalama
Philippines
Fed. States of
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• Marshall Is.
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Rapanui •
Pitcaim Is. - even the French minimim revenue (RMI).& Nearly 40,000 people live in poverty, and the island of Tahiti has an unprecedented housing crisis. Educational problems amplify this phenomenon. Only 0.4% of Polynesians go to university, compared to 2% of demis, 7% of Asiatics and 21% of Europeans. The imported educational system takes little account of the local culture; Maohi Reo only became an official language in 1980. For many years children were forbidden from speaking it at school, even during playtime, under threat of severe punishment! The social consequences are numerous. Papeete's Nu'utania prison, has become a rite of passage for the young unemployed. There is both alcoholism, with the emphasis on the consumption of the local on the consumption ot the local beer, and the growing and trade of "pakalolo", the local cannabis. One youth in three uses the drug. WOMEN FACE A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS. Access to contraception is complicated. Polynesian women today do not want more than 5 children, not 10 or 12 like their mothers. But the health education service is underresourced, and only 56% of sexually active women use contraception. Finally the French law on abortion? has not been extended to this overseas territory. The second problem which affects women is the growth of alcohol consumption among men. It has gone from 4 litres of pure alcoho|10 per year per inhabitant in 1958, to 10 litres today. The immediate effects are the growth in the number of rapes, of battered women, and increasing female alcoholism. A third scourge, prostitution, has developed with the massive influx of military servicemen, and also with the development of tourism. In the area of social protection, the situation is hardly any more encouraging. There is a more or less private fund, the CPSI, reserved for waged workers. Tax policy was until very recently based uniquely on indirect taxes, thus strongly weighted against those on low incomes. In 1992, the territorial government negotiated a "pact for progress" with the French state. But, as local activist Gabriel Tetiarahi explains, this pact "was very quickly translated into a framework accord which ceded several areas of economic activity, drinkable water, electricity, household garbage, and tourism to the multinationals... the 'Pons Flosse' law offered those close to the French right the possibilities to create joint ventures and enjoy subsidies and tax sweeteners if they invested in France's 'Overseas territories' ... The big hotels privatised the coastal areas and built without thought for environmental impact..." Polynesia was obliged to stump up extra cash, hence the creation of the CST (territorial social contribution), the first direct tax, supposed
Belau •
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Kanaky
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Kiribati
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Wallis &
Futuna
• Tokelau
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Cook Is.
dominating power. Virtually all the economy is controlled by the demis to the benefit of French imperialism. Though some elements of the demi bougeoisie have challenged this tutelage, since the profits they draw from it are falling. The installation of the CEP has considerably transformed the economic status of Fenua. From 1962 to 1965 the number of Europeans doubled, while the need for workers led France to send boats to the islands to recruit. Rapidly, the administration became the premier enterprise of the territory. The demand for consumer goods progressed at dizzying speed at the same time as exports fell; the phosphate mine of Makatea closed in 1966, while there was a fall in agricultural production (copra, vanilla, coffee because of the massive migration of Maohis to Tahiti. The trade balance went significantly into deficit, which led to a total dependence of the economy on the external world. Despite the reduction of the activities of the CEP starting from 1975, the rural exodus continues. The plans for recovery by the state and some efforts at industrialisation, notably in tourism, cannot absorb this population influx, which is reflected in the shantytowns which have grown up in Papeete and Faa'a. A minority has rapidly enriched itself, by speculation and corruption. On the other side, a majority, cut off from its culture and its traditional family structures, vacillates between temporary, unskilled work and unemployment, without successfully integrating into western values. The Gross Domestic Product is now one of the highest in the Pacific, but the richest 10% has an income 15 times higher than the poorest 10%. The changes of status of the territory in 1977 and 1984 only slightly modified this situation, social tensions continued to sharpen and in October 1987 violent riots broke out during a strike of dock workers in the port of Papeete. Today, unemployment is running at between 15 and 20% of the active population (7000 unemployed in 1988, mainly women and youth). There is no unemployment benefit, not 30 International Viewpoint n° 273
to respond to the need of the most needy, by demanding a contribution from all incomes. In reality, the big earners, the bosses, and the rich pearl farmers escaped completely In this complex situation, social struggles multiplied. After the riots of 1987, significant movements emerged in sectors like the hotels and commerce. General strikes were declared against the freeze on wages in 1993, and against the installation of the CST in 1994. At the beginning of the this year, barricades went up in Papeete, and some violent conflicts with the forces of order took place following some sackings at an enterprise in the capital. The last statute of 'internal autonomy' dates from 1984. A high commissioner represents the French state. A territorial government is elected inside the territorial assembly (composed of 41 members elected by universal direct suffrage); there is also a economic and social council. The local authorities are competent in a few areas only: health, education, public works, the French state taking care of the rest. The "Overseas Territory" is represented in the French parliament by two deputies and a senator. The party in power today is Tahoeraa Huiraatira12. This organisation is in fact the local section of France's ruling (conservative) RPR. Its principal leader is Gaston Flosse, who is also a deputy and president of the territory. A former schoolteacher, his political trajectory has been above all one of corruption and intrigues of every kind. He has already been investigated more than 15 times and is nicknamed 'Mr. 10%" in Fenua. But he can count on one faithful friend -today president of the French republic. Jacques Chirac has called Flosse his "brother'"14. Tahoeraa can affirm its power thanks to the local media. The two dailies belong to the Hersant group, and the only television is RFO, which the Maohis call "Radio Flosse Overseas". There are a number of smaller bourgeois parties, which serve There are a number of smaller hourgenic nartipe which corro in general as active supports for local notables like Vernaudon and Leontieff, whose political careers are based essentially on opportunism and corruption. If the right is very much present, the left in the French sense is very weak. The Communist Party does not exist. The small Tireo Party is close to the French Socialist Party. Its principal leader, Jean Marius Rapooto, characterises himself as a "left social democrat". The "autonomist" movement gradually lost credibility after the arrest of Pouvanaa in 1958. It only demanded independence in order to put pressure on France. Moreover, its electoral calls in French elections were dictated solely by tactical interests. New, pro-independence organisations, began to emerge in the 1970s. Some, like Te Toto Tupuna and Te Taata Tahiti Tiama, were very radical. Several of their leaders were imprisoned at the end of the 1970s following a bomb attack on the central post office at Papeete, and the assassination of a marine officer. Both action were claimed by the Te Toto Tupuna, but Charlie Ching15 (head of the Te Taata Tahiti Tiama) was also imnrisoned as one of the lottaral In 1075 Tiama) was also imprisoned as one of the plotters! In 1975, the la Mana te nunaa organisation arrived on the political scene, with two very new orientations. It was a secular party (its meetings did not begin with prayers) and it described itself as socialist and in favour of self-management. It aimed to introduce the concept of class struggle into Polynesia. But it rapidly committed many errors. In 1981, it called for a vote for Mitterand, who continued the nuclear tests!
Te Ao Maohi (Tahiti) * In 1982, la Mana won 9% of the vote, and sent three deputies to the territorial assembly. But in 1987, after the eviction of Flosse, they made an alliance with Alexandre Leontieff (a dissident RPR deputy). Their leader, Jacques Drollet, became minister of health and la Mana ended up discrediting itself. At the 1991 elections it only got 2% of the votes and lost its deputies. Today two pro-independence parties are particularly active. The Pomare party is a somewhat "traditionalist" and "conservative" organisation, led by Joinville Pomare,
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* Te Ao Maori (Tahiti) descendant of the Pomare kings. It defends the Maohi tradition, and fights for the return of all the lands of Fenua to the Maohis. It carries out land occupations and pursues legal actions at the international level, basing its arguments on the victories of the Maoris, who recently regained some thousands of hectares from the big New Zealand companies. The principal pro-independence organisation is Tavini Huiraatira — the Front for the Liberation of Polynesia, founded in 1977 by Oscar Temaru. In 1983 Temaru became mayor of Faa'a, the most populous commune of the territory, basing himself on defence of the excluded. He was re-elected in 1989 and 1995 (this time with 70% of the vote). Tavini has had four deputies in the territorial assembly since 1991. Independence is the base of the party programme, though religion is also accorded a significant place. The symbol of Tavini is a cross carrying the words "God is my master". Its programme envisages nationalisation and the extension of free basic services. The party's areas of struggle are the mobilisations against the tests, and also the installation of the big hotels which they fight through the occupation of lands. Tavini also demands that the UN put Te Ao Maoho back on the list of countries to be decolonised. There is a debate inside the party, with some wishing to define who is Polynesian and who is not, while others, like Patrick Leboucher, argue that all those who love Polynesia should be accepted as Polynesians. Oscar lemaru is a popular man, on account of his charisma and simplicity. But his methods are sometimes authoritarian, as shown in a recent demonstration in Tahiti. He decided unilaterally to set up barricades, without informing the other organisations of the peace flotilla!. Turning to the trade union movement, there are a multitude of organisations. The biggest federation of the territory is the USATP/FO18, led by Pierre Frebault. This fought against a wage freeze agreement in 1993 (employers had promised a freeze on layoffs in return) but on the contrary has also supported the CST, a direct tax which hits wage earners above all. Two federations are close to the pro-independence movement. First, there is A Tia I Mua more or less close to France's CFDT federation19), which, following the recent rioting, has been declared illegal and its leaders arrested, including its general secretary Hiro Tefaarere. In 1991, A Tia I Mua led an important battle against the tax measures of the Flosse government by blockading Papeete. But in 1993 it supported the agreement on "employment" involving a wages freeze, while Tefaarere, because of his status as a civil servant, received a 5% increase! A former policeman (RG)20, Tefaarere is capable of leading , "muscular" actions, like breaking the social movements. In 1992, he intervened to end a strike that A Tia I Mua had called in the civil service and expelled six trade union leaders! Some of them then joined the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Polynesia (CSIP), one of whose leaders, Roland Oldham, participated in the antinuclear demonstration in Paris in July of this year. This organisation wishes to work a little in the manner of the Kanak organisation USTKE21. The CSIP is antinuclear and for the right of self-determination of the Maohi people It has fought against both the wage freeze in 1993 and the CST in 1994. It is very much present in the hotels and in Tahiti's two Continent supermarkets. Since the beginning of the year, its militants have been very active; in the struggle 32 International Viewpoint n° 273 against dismissals at the Tahiti Brewery in February (some confrontations took place with the mobile guards following the erection of barricades at the entry to Papeete), mobilisations against the resumption of nuclear tests and so on. The CSIP was also present during the confrontation with the gendarmes at Faa'a airport. The federation has an original approach to the associative movement, participating in the Unity of National Liaison (UNL), which regroups about 50 Maohi Non-Governmental Organisations. Founded in 1992, by seven organisations, the UNL is very wide. It brings together associations for the defence of the environment, human rights, a trade union federation, and so on. Actions focus on cultural identity, right to self-determination, development micro-projects, protection of the natural and social environment. Since 1994, Hiti Tau has had several commissions; on women, durable development, culture and other issues. This network participates in the Pacific Island Association of NonGovernmental Organisations (PIANGO). It is in the ranks of Hiti Tau that thinking on the future of Fenua Maohi is the most advanced, and it is here also that progressive ideas are most present in Polynesia. 22 Notes 1. Te Fenua Maohi or Te Ao Maohi in the vernacular language. The name of the people of this region is Maohi and not Maori (the inhabitants of New Zealand). The correct name of the atoll occupied by the CEP (Pacific Centre for Experimentation) is Moruroa, from moru, a net to trap fish, and roa which means big. 2. The remaining French colonies are classified as either "overseas departments" (DOM) like La Réunion, French Guyana and Guadeloupe, which are legally part of France or "overseas territories" (TOM), including Polynesia and Kanaky (New Caledonia) 3. Religion has always had a considerable importance in this area. 50% of the population are Protestant ( the church is antinuclear), 34% Catholic. Political meetings often begin with prayers. 4. Bamettes prison in Marseilles. 5. For the best account of how the French state imposed its nuclear presence in Polynesia, see Moruroa, notre bombe coloniale, by Bengt and Marie-Therese Danielsson, L'Harmattan, 1993. 6. Naturalised in the 1970s (for electoral reasons) they account for 90% of trade. 7. Tahiti metisse, Denoel, 1989. 8. Revenu Minimum d'linsertion. 9. Birth control is a controversial subject in Polynesia Men are more doubtful than women. Their fear that the Maohis will become a minority in their own country. 10. A litre of alcohol is the equivalent of 25 litres of beer. 11. CPS: Caisse de Protection Sociale. 12. Tahoeraa has 18 seats out of 41 in the territorial assembly, but enjoys an absolute majority through an alliance. 13/ His first spell as deputy was thanks to Poniatowski, then minister of the interior, who allowed him to create a gerrymandered constituency. 14/ Flosse was then secretary of state for the DOM-TOMs in the 1986-1988 Chirac government, where he contributed significantly to the repression in Kanaky. 15. This current only demands a little more autonomy in relation to France. 16. See note 5. 17. The Polynesian collective against the tests brings together pro-independence forces, trades unionists, associations and so on. 18. Affiliated to Force Ouvriere, one of the principal French trades unions. 19. Democratic French Confederation of Workers, another French trade union federation. 20. RG; Renseignements Generaux, a branch of the national police. Tefaarere has been relieved of his functions following the recent events in Papeete. 21. USTKE: Union of the Trade Unions of the Kanak Workers and the Exploited, the principal (pro-independence) trade-union federation in Kanaky. 22. Hiti Tau/UNL activists' liberties are constantly violated; in 1993 a teacher, Jacky Bryant, who intended to challenge incumbent Gabriel Tetiarahi for the post of mayor of Bora-Bora, was subjected to administrative harassment for having debated the nuclear tests on the Franco-German TV station Arte.