ABSTRACT
Before the advent of French and British imperialism and Christian missionaries in the South Pacific during the 19th century, Fiji and New Caledonia were basically inhabited by Melanesian tribes. Suppressing tribal resistance, France and the United Kingdom acquired New Caledonia and Fiji in 1853 and 1874, respectively. New Caledonia turned out to be one of the richest territories on earth, given its size (40 miles long and 10 miles wide, or some 64 km by 16 km; the population today is c. 150,000). Its mineral riches include cobalt, manganese, silver, gold, mercury, chrome, copper and antimony. During the Second World War, after the fall of France, the USA used the territory as a major base in the Pacific theatre of operations against Japan. This resulted in New Caledonia acquiring modern new roads, harbours and airstrips, boosting its economic development after the end of the war. Today, the conflict is between the indigenous Kanaks (43% of the population) and the settlers, mainly of European, Polynesian and Asian origin, who outnumber the Melanesians. The territory remains a French Territoire d’Outre-Mer, an overseas territory, and not a De´partement d’Outre-Mer, that is, an integral part of France, sending deputies to the National Assembly. The French were and are beset by a dispute of their own making, which is the conflict between the indigenous factions claiming independence (Kanaks) and the parties representing the immigrants and the descendants of the settlers, who prefer French rule and holding on to their privileges. The situation in Fiji is not very dissimilar. The British imported some 70,000 labourers from India to work in their cotton and sugar plantations. By the 1980s, after independence, the descendants of the Indian settlers were more (48.6% of the total population) than the indigenous Melanesian Fijians (46.2%). Fijians of Indian origin dominated the state machine and virtually all business. However, the army remained under the control of the Melanesian Fijians, whose political wing lost the general election in 1987, so Melanesian supremacy was restored via a coup. Another similar coup took place in 2000, holding the Labour Government led by the Fijian Indians hostage for 56 days. Over 100,000 Indians have emigrated since 1987 and, in 2002 alone, almost a quarter of the population-220,000 people-applied to emigrate to the USA through the green card lottery system. Politics and the voting pattern are racially segregated. Elections, owing to the unclear margins of
majority, are always closely fought and contested. Australia and New Zealand openly supported the Labour Party and Laisenia Qarase’s re-election to power in May 2006. However, another coup soon followed. The political situation remains very precarious and both Fiji and New Caledonia are just another two cases of ethnic/religious conflict initiated by imperial undertakings of the past.
