The announcement of the “mediation and work mission”of Emmanuel Macron, on May 21, formed by three officials, encouraged a handful of New Caledonians to come together to create the National Collective for Dialogue (CPPLD). This movement wishes to bring together citizens of different sensibilities and origins who want to work to reconnect the threads of dialogue within society. “Whatever the quality of the men, this mission of the high officials seemed insufficient to us, not up to the challenges”summarizes Patrice Godin, an anthropologist at the University of New Caledonia, a member of the collective along with other personalities, as ordinary citizens.
To lay the foundations for what could be the reconstruction of a model of society, “We need to listen to what people have to say. “If the solution comes from above again, we will repeat the same mistakes.”estimates Thierry Carpin, another member of the CPPLD.
Barely ten days after the start of the insurrection, the group took its pilgrim stick to the independence checkpoints, to the barricades of the “vigilant neighbors” and, more generally, “wherever people were willing to meet us”. Although the situation was particularly tense, the group found itself alone when it came to listening to and collecting the population’s feelings of anger, fear, desperation, but also hope. “It is also the fact of never having heard these words that led us to this catastrophe. “We must move away from the totally institutional and the totally political”underlines Didier Guénant-Jeanson, a former trade unionist who came out of retirement to participate in the collective.
Complaint notebooks
The hundreds of interviews, individual or collective, feed lists of complaints that paint the picture of the feelings of New Caledonians of all stripes and all communities. Some guidelines stand out, in particular the desire to “continue building together”but also an immense gap between political leaders and the population.
A division that is all the greater as the voice of civil society in institutions has become almost inaudible in recent years. In 2021, the politicization of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of New Caledonia, with the appointment of leaders of pro-independence and non-independence parties, instead of representatives of apolitical general interest associations, sparked heated controversy. An observation that makes Pastor Var Kaemo, president of the Protestant Church of Kanaky New Caledonia, also a member of the collective, say that “lack of places for sincere discussions”believing that “It is the debate that allows us to exalt a people”.
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