New Caledonia: Two dead as riots escalate after French vote (www.bbc.com)

submitted 4 months ago by Amoxtli@thelemmy.club to c/world@lemmy.world

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 14 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] Addv4@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

It seems like the French colony is pissed as France is trying to allow French citizens who have lived there 10 years voting rights. Honestly, kinda seems justified, but dont know the whole situation.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Agreed. If you’ve lived somewhere ten years why should you be denied a vote? Frankly I would allow all residents to vote even when they first arrive but I’m sure this would be even more controversial.

Seems like a strange thing to riot over—is this being perceived in a lens of colonialism?

[-] bamboo@lemm.ee 24 points 4 months ago

I think the context here is that New Caledonia wants to be an independent country, and has had several referendums to try and do so electorally. France is doing everything in their power to block New Caledonian independence, using both politics and violence against natives. By granting voting rights to French immigrants, it will increase France’s apparent political support on the islands and make it harder for them to achieve independence, ensuring France can continue to plunder the islands.

[-] Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 months ago

Although a boycott effectively rendered the 2021 referendum on independence meaningless, referendums on the issue in 2018 and 2020 in contrast had over 80% turnout, voting against independence by 56% and 53% majorities. As voter registration for those referendums excluded residents who had moved to the island after 1994, the issue of independence among long-term residents is, at the very least, a divisive issue.

In any case, suppressing the voices of those promoting independence, aside from being clearly undemocratic, will only worsen France's optics among New Caledonians. If the French government wants to convince locals that staying part of France is the best outcome for them, it needs to invest in the island's tourism and service industries to ensure its residents, particularly the disproportionately lower-income Kanaks, have an economy that will outlast the limited nickel deposits of New Caledonia.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 months ago

I see. Well I definitely support New Caledonia’s right to self-determination but I don’t think fighting over disenfranchising people is going to be the best way to achieve that.

[-] bamboo@lemm.ee 5 points 4 months ago

I’m of the opinion generally that settler colonialism should be avoided, since every previous settler colonial project has been a complete disaster, and especially for the natives (see: the Americas, Palestine, South Africa, Algeria, Australia and New Zealand). The population of Europeans in New Caledonia was last recorded declining both in percentage and absolute values, while natives have been growing. France could discourage or ban new settlers, grant current settlers full rights, and it’s possible in a few decades the European population may naturally decline to where it’s not significant. Then again who am I to set such a long timetable.

[-] Drusas@kbin.run 2 points 4 months ago

I think you got it backwards and you are disagreeing.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Can you explain it to me. What is going on, I tried to read the article but I don't think I grasped why the rioting is occuring. He said they have been citizens for 10 years, why weren't they able to vote before..?

[-] Drusas@kbin.run 1 points 4 months ago

It's similar to gentrification, if you're more familiar with that. The natives on these Pacific Islands don't want their culture to be diluted or eventually lost due to an outside group being able to vote and make decisions.

I'm not familiar with the law which prevents immigrants from voting there, but I understand why the native population would be against outsiders impacting their culture and politics.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 0 points 4 months ago

Yeah you might be right. Oh well.

[-] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

France in general doesn't get as much hate as it should. They're about as bad as the US with all the economic colonialism they still practice

[-] Drusas@kbin.run 4 points 4 months ago

Wow. And I've been under the impression that this sort of extremely overt, blatant Western colonialism had been basically phased out in the decades after World War II.

[-] vulture_god@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Same here, but apparently this isn't even an isolated example:

https://youtu.be/fiD24uEvY1U?si=kqH-ixnhSvc4S_HG

(Video about their colonialism and exploitative monetary policy in the Saheel / Africa).

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 3 points 4 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/fiD24uEvY1U?si=kqH-ixnhSvc4S_HG

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

this post was submitted on 15 May 2024

53 points (94.9% liked)

World News

38578 readers

2148 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.