Today’s Fiji Times has four pages of articles and ads to commemorate Bastille Day – July 14 – the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille Prison in 1789 that was the climax of the French revolution. Yet characteristically there is no mention of a major development “just down the road” in neighbouring New Caledonia, which has been wracked by pro-independence violence that claimed 14 lives and caused damage running into the billions.
New Caledonia is to formally become a “state” within the French Republic – with more autonomy – yet it clearly falls short of the demands by many Kanaks for full independence and it remains to be seen how the widely the new arrangement will be accepted.
Fiji, of course, is torn between sympathy for Kanak aspirations and the stability that France brings to our neighbourhood – not only strategic in the big power plays for influence in the region but through assistance with maritime security and disaster relief, along with the contribution France makes to the European Union’s aid programs in the Pacific.
We can only hope that statehood for New Caledonia contributes to that stability. To our Francophone neighbours in New Caledonia, French Polynesia and closest of all, Wallis and Futuna ( or at least those who want to remain French) plus Francophiles everywhere, including Fiji:
Happy Bastille Day!
France in Fiji. Today’s celebrations for Bastille Day.
NOTE:
The role of Wylie “Coyote” Clarke in the events of September 5 at FICAC coming soon.
The Native Fijian who damaged the idols at Samabula Shiv Temple will only be charged. If this was Saudi Arabia and Islam went through the same thing, then the culprit would have been given public death penalty.
This is a development in the right direction. Small steps can lead to giant strides. Wishing the Kanaks all the good fortunes for the best is yet to come.
Throughout history, colonial powers have often maintained control over their former territories not just through political or military means, but by embedding systems of economic dependency that persist long after formal independence. One of the most enduring of these mechanisms is the use of colonial-era currencies, which continue to shape the destinies of nations and peoples across continents.
Senegalese economist Ndongo Samba Sylla has provided a powerful critique of the CFA franc, the currency imposed by France on its West and Central African colonies. Sylla argues that the CFA franc is not merely a relic, but an active instrument of French economic dominance. The system, established in 1945, fixes the CFA franc to the euro, with African central banks required to deposit a significant portion of their foreign reserves in the French Treasury. This arrangement strips member countries of monetary sovereignty, leaving them unable to set independent economic policies or respond flexibly to their own developmental needs.
A particularly stark illustration of this exploitative system can be found in the way French companies have historically extracted African resources. For example, French firms mining uranium in West Africa have been known to pay local governments as little as 80 cents per kilogram, only to sell the same uranium on global markets for up to 200 euros per kilogram.
Such practices, enabled by unequal treaties and the monetary straitjacket of the CFA franc, ensure that the lion’s share of profits flows to France, while African nations remain impoverished and dependent.
This economic stranglehold has not gone unchallenged. In Burkina Faso, President Ibrahim Traoré has emerged as a vocal critic of French neo-colonial exploitation, explicitly denouncing instruments like the CFA franc and the broader system of resource extraction that keeps African nations subservient. Traoré’s movement, inspired by anti-colonial leaders such as Thomas Sankara, is part of a broader wave of revolts across Francophone Africa, demanding not just political change, but the dismantling of economic structures that perpetuate dependency and underdevelopment. Traoré’s rhetoric and actions have resonated deeply with populations frustrated by decades of poverty, corruption, and foreign domination. His government’s calls for revolution and sovereignty are not merely symbolic—they represent a determined effort to break free from the legacy of colonial treaties, military bases, and, crucially, the CFA franc system.
A similar system operates in France’s Pacific territories, including New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, through the French Pacific Franc (CFP franc). Like the CFA franc, the CFP franc was established in 1945 and remains tightly controlled by France. Issued by the Paris-based Institut d’émission d’outre-mer (IEOM), the CFP franc is pegged to the euro, effectively binding the economic fate of these territories to decisions made in Paris.
This arrangement offers stability but at the cost of monetary independence, leaving these Pacific collectivities with little control over their own economic policies or development trajectories.
As New Caledonia moves toward greater political autonomy and possible statehood, the lessons from Africa are clear. Without genuine monetary reform and the attainment of monetary sovereignty, any transition to statehood risks being superficial.
True independence requires not only the trappings of nationhood, but the ability to control one’s own currency, direct economic policy, and chart an independent course free from the lingering shadow of colonial influence.
Until such reforms are realized, New Caledonia’s ascendancy to statehood will remain, in essence, incomplete.
An interesting comment. Many thanks.
I once interviewed Thomas Sankara, the charismatic former president of Burka Faso, at his office in Ouagadougou not long before he was assassinated by his deputy. An impressive guy who had linked up with Jerry Rawlings in neighbouring Ghana to fight corruption. Which undoubtedly contributed to his demise.
I’ve also spent a lot of francs over the years, CFA and CFP. My first visit to any Pacific capital outside Fiji was to Noumea back in 1968 and I’ve been fortunate enough to return multiple times since, including reporting “Les Evénéments’ – the Kanak uprising of the late 1980s – and the assassination of Jean-Marie Tjibaou. (I must bring these leaders bad luck).
Happy Bastille Day, Joan of Arc.