President Emmanuel Macron is imposing a state of emergency in the French archipelago of New Caledonia after pro-independence protests left at least three dead and disrupted nickel production.
so, i didn’t know shit about New Caledonia and decided to dive a little, especially with the opening graf putting the “disrupted nickle production” on front street right there next to people dying.
from the article:
The most recent protests are centered on a draft constitutional change being examined by French lawmakers that would modify voting conditions in the territory. As of now, only people who have been in New Caledonia for a certain length of time are able to vote in elections, effectively excluding residents who came after 1998 even if they were born there.
more on the “modifying voting conditions” later…
from the natopedia, some additional context:
In the 2018 [independence] referendum, 56.7% of voters chose to remain in France.
In the 2020 referendum, this percentage dropped with 53.4% of voters choosing to remain part of France.
The third referendum was held on 12 December 2021. The referendum was boycotted by pro-independence forces, who argued for a delayed vote due to the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; when the French government declined to do so, they called for a boycott. This led to 96% of voters choosing to stay with France.
huh, looks like the trend was pretty obvious and that the latest referendum was bunk… now let’s get back to the “modified voting conditions”
As part of the Nouméa Accord of 1998, the population of New Caledonia continue to vote in national elections—French president and National Assembly—but the number of people who can vote in provincial elections as well as independence referendums is restricted. This so called “frozen electorate” consists only of those who were already living in New Caledonia in 1998 as well as their children, with the condition that they lived continuously on the Islands in the ten years previous to each election. This effectively deprived of voting rights the later migrants and their children from European France as well as the important local community originating from Polynesia, in particular from Wallis and Futuna. Excluded voters amounted to 8,000 in 1999, 18,000 in 2009 and 42,000 in 2023. That last year, the frozen electorate numbered 178,000 while the total electorate able to vote in national elections amounted to 220,000, thus excluding one voter out of five from participating in provincial elections.
The refusal of the <<independentists>> to recognize the result of the third referendum, which they boycotted, led to an institutional deadlock as local talks ground to a halt, while the next provincial election—scheduled for 15 December 2024—loomed closer. On 26 December 2023, the Conseil d’État concluded that the current rules deviate in a particularly significant way from the principles of universality and equality of suffrage, by denying the right to vote people born in New Caledonia or who have resided there for several decades.
places like that, where there is some enormous resource of high demand, burn away all the pageantry and scaffolding of political liberalism’s self-conception to reveal the shining, metal skull of capitalism and empire. they thrive in the distant fog of geographies distant from the glittering hubs of finance, infotech and real estate.
there’s this open pit mine in alaska (owned and operated by a canadian corporation, naturally, because canada offers the best protections from liability for mining of any corporate jurisdiction… though the land it is own is owned by an indigenous corporation). anyway, this one pit produce 10% of the world’s zinc. and it is also probably one of, if not the, most heavy metal contaminated places on the planet. though the commissioned investigations, studies and findings about this are consistently finding ways to contort what is obvious into some kind of muddled statement where maybe the mine is “ok for the environment, actually”. and any critical reading of the messaging and situation makes it clear the capitalists are saying anything to keep it open to get the next load out before somebody calls bullshit.
so, i didn’t know shit about New Caledonia and decided to dive a little, especially with the opening graf putting the “disrupted nickle production” on front street right there next to people dying.
from the article:
more on the “modifying voting conditions” later…
from the natopedia, some additional context:
huh, looks like the trend was pretty obvious and that the latest referendum was bunk… now let’s get back to the “modified voting conditions”
if you’d like the pepper the gumbo even more, check out the size and demographic characteristics of the french military presence there. On hon hon hon! Le cochon a faim!
and finally, let’s get to the center of this bon bon:
Yup, this is colonialism in its purest form. France is occupying New Caledonia against the will of its people in order to steal their resources.
places like that, where there is some enormous resource of high demand, burn away all the pageantry and scaffolding of political liberalism’s self-conception to reveal the shining, metal skull of capitalism and empire. they thrive in the distant fog of geographies distant from the glittering hubs of finance, infotech and real estate.
there’s this open pit mine in alaska (owned and operated by a canadian corporation, naturally, because canada offers the best protections from liability for mining of any corporate jurisdiction… though the land it is own is owned by an indigenous corporation). anyway, this one pit produce 10% of the world’s zinc. and it is also probably one of, if not the, most heavy metal contaminated places on the planet. though the commissioned investigations, studies and findings about this are consistently finding ways to contort what is obvious into some kind of muddled statement where maybe the mine is “ok for the environment, actually”. and any critical reading of the messaging and situation makes it clear the capitalists are saying anything to keep it open to get the next load out before somebody calls bullshit.
Indeed, when push comes to shove, the mask falls off very quickly and the brutal reality of capitalism asserts itself.