noCaledonia was only intended as a stopping point, a stopping point, on a family sailing trip around the world. “But it’s a very nice place to stay and live,” says Frenchman Xavier Declamer, from our boat moored in Noumea’s marina. “The infrastructure is excellent, including roads, libraries and schools. It was also a very peaceful place.
“It’s a small place, but the people are kind to each other and say hello to everyone. It’s a very polite place and we really enjoyed it.”
And so it became home for Decramer, his wife, New Caledonian-born Maeva Zebrowski, and their three young children. The kids are enrolled in school, and the family has found a community in Nouméa.
But unrest that turned violent this month ended his return to New Caledonia. Less than a year later, his family plans to load whatever supplies they can onto a ship and set sail for Brisbane, Australia, in the coming days. The voyage will be 770 nautical miles and will take about 6 days.
“It’s obviously with a heavy heart that we’re leaving here,” Declamer said.
“Keeping in mind that my wife was born here, we wanted to settle here. I’m really torn between feeling like I’m leaving behind people who can’t leave.”
Noumea International Airport is closed to commercial flights, so leaving the country is not an option for many. Some governments operate repatriation flights to remove their nationals from New Caledonia.
Declamer said the decision to leave was the hardest on their three children. “I made friends at school, but I can’t go back…They are the ones who say goodbye to friends who are leaving.”
The recent unrest in New Caledonia, a French Pacific region of 270,000 people, erupted over France’s plans to unfreeze electoral rolls for state elections. The changes would give tens of thousands of non-Indigenous people the right to vote.
Under the terms of the Nouméa Agreement, voting in provincial elections was restricted to people who had resided in New Caledonia before 1998 and their children. This measure was intended to increase the representation of the indigenous Kanak people.
The Kanak people make up about 40% of New Caledonia’s population, and they claim the new voting rules will dilute their vote.
More than a week of rioting, looting and arson left six people dead, including two military police, and hundreds injured. France has deployed more than 1,000 security forces to its overseas territories, and President Emmanuel Macron told a Defense Security Council meeting that there was “clear progress in restoring order.”
But pro-independence, mainly Kanak, activists have vowed not to back down from their protests, and reports from Noumea said some of the barricades removed by security forces were being rebuilt by pro-independence forces.
Declamer said political unrest was always present and manifested itself in protests and occasional unrest.
“The demonstrations that have been taking place over the last few months have certainly been large-scale, but they have been peaceful and part of everyday life for people who have lived here for a long time. They tell you: “Forty years, there have been ups and downs. You’re new, you don’t understand, but it’s okay.”
“Unfortunately, we have seen even local residents surprised by the speed and intensity of the uprising.”
But this month, even as political rifts escalated into violence, “there was great solidarity between different peoples.”
“The local news radio, NC La Première, is doing a great job. They are putting on outdoor shows and everyone is calling in with information and questions…People are helping each other out.
“We have people providing cords so that people on faraway islands can charge their phones. We have people going out to buy medicine for elderly people who are stuck in their apartments, We have live information about whether it is safe and which stores are open or not.”
At the height of the violence, Declamer and his family left Noumea for a nearby island in a lagoon off the capital.
“We were 12 nautical miles away, but we could still hear some of the explosions coming from the city at night. The burnt smell of the plastic that was burning at the time was still there. Even deep in the lagoon… there was still chaos. I could feel it.”
Declamer said the deaths from the violence were a tragedy for New Caledonia, but he called the neighborhood patrols “a blessing.” His youngest child’s school is patrolled at night by parents from his class to protect against attacks.
And Decramer is optimistic about the future of New Caledonia, hoping that the multiculturalism of the Kanak indigenous people and the islands will be recognized.
“I hope their path to independence will be peaceful and not like it is today.
“As far as the future of New Caledonia is concerned, I think greater autonomy, or even real independence, is the long-term future of this place. But for it to be a peaceful movement, , it has to be comprehensive.”
