Photo Credit. Christian Tein at Port-Leucate, during the 2025 NPA Summer University / Photo Martin Noda

Interview with Christian Tein, president of the FLNKS (Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste) [1], conducted during the NPA summer university [2]

Cathy Billard, François Mailloux: Christian, hello. Thank you first of all for agreeing to speak with us and discuss with the NPA-L’Anticapitaliste. Can you tell us about the situation since May 2024, which brought you, amongst other things, to France and to prison?

Christian Tein. Hello to all the activists, to all the NPA leaders. First of all, thank you for the space you’re giving me today here in this gathering of activists. I’m very happy to spend these days with you.

Since we set up the CCAT [3], with the Caledonian Union congress and the FLNKS, we’ve repeatedly said that we needed to work on an agreement in which we would find all the fundamentals of the Nouméa Accord [4]. Unfortunately, for practically two years now, Mr Attal’s government [5], under the responsibility of Mr Macron, has decided that we would undergo a forced march timetable. So we conducted an information campaign, with numerous tours on the ground, in Kanaky and mainland France, to alert people about this forcing through, particularly about the unfreezing of the electoral roll [6]. We organised large peaceful mobilisations throughout the territory. We raised awareness amongst the populations, we were able to mobilise even beyond the Kanak populations: Caledonians from all communities, metropolitans, Javanese, Caldoches [7]... We were able to make them aware of “how to make country, make people together”. Unfortunately, we systematically found doors closed in Paris, despite all our alerts.

We remained peaceful. I often say it, the CCAT mobilisations were always peaceful. Unfortunately, the French State turned a deaf ear by wanting to impose the unfreezing of the electoral roll. The youth from the northern neighbourhoods who have always been marginalised these past 30 years, once again suffered police repression - this is what triggered the social and political uprising in our country on the night of 12-13 May 2024 [8]. We regret it, because we didn’t make all this journey for this result. We who organised the peaceful mobilisations, we realised that this forced march timetable offers very few prospects to this Kanak and Oceanian youth. These are men and women who haven’t benefited from the advantages and opportunities that the ADN [9] offers, and the unfreezing of the electoral roll would inflict additional injustice on them.

Regarding the judicial dimension, the State needed to find a scapegoat for everything that happened, and I bore the brunt of it, along with the other leaders of the Field Action Coordination Cell which is now linked to the FLNKS as a ground tool. I found myself in police custody for more than 96 hours. The prosecutor decided to send us to Paris. There was an Airbus that had already been prepared for 15 days, there was really a strategy to get me on a plane, to send me far from Kanaky.

I’ve always contested the charges brought against me, I’ve always done peaceful work, I’ve informed people. It’s solely based on videos of my meetings that the prosecutor built these charges. But you can review all these videos, never, at any moment, did I call for breaking, burning, setting fires, endangering people’s lives or harming our country’s economy.

We suffered humiliation. In the 21^st century, France still uses old colonial practices to repress: Exiling men and women far from their families and their country, handcuffed for more than 48 hours then scattered and isolated in different French prisons. I remained in solitary confinement at Lutterbach prison [10], for a year, a difficult situation, by political decision. This situation led us to request, with our lawyers, the transfer of our cases to Paris. Now our judicial files are breathing better. We’re currently on provisional release, we can move around mainland France. We’re forbidden from returning to Kanaky and forbidden to contact each other. It’s already good to have one foot outside, although it’s not yet freedom - we can meet people and continue to speak about our struggle. Thanks again to the NPA for inviting me to this space where I can express myself and make known the Kanak people’s struggle.

Can you tell us about your analysis of what Macron’s government, even if it’s now Bayrou [11], tried to do with the agreements, the so-called Bougival “agreements” [12]? Can you present us with the FLNKS analysis, of which you were elected president at the last congress, whilst you were in prison?

I indeed inherited the Front’s presidency when I was imprisoned at Lutterbach. I decided to take up my pilgrim’s staff again and tour France to explain to the French people the choices that are unfortunately made in their name by the French government. It’s essential that the French people ensure their government respects its commitments.

This commitment for us is the Nouméa Accord. For us it’s the minimal level of protection we achieved. I remind you that we inscribed this accord in France’s Constitution - that’s no small thing! For us, it’s the best safety net, we can’t go below it. If we must discuss, we can only evolve towards full sovereignty and complete the decolonisation process.

The problem is that the State’s entire strategy for some time has been to challenge the Nouméa Accord by no longer respecting their commitment. The Bougival Agreement, I insist, is just window dressing. The decisions were taken some time ago already, it was prepared, orchestrated, measured to the millimetre. Bougival was just staging. The FLNKS rejected the Bougival Agreement at our 45^th congress on 6 August last because we considered that the fundamentals in which the Kanak people and the FLNKS have inscribed themselves are not respected.

For example, two peoples were enshrined in the Nouméa Accord: the French people and the Kanak people - at no point was there question of a Caledonian people.

The Bougival Agreement contains three almost insurmountable locks for accessing full sovereignty:

– The balance of power is modified by the distribution of seats in favour of the loyalist-dominated Southern Province [13]. It would therefore be impossible to reach the 3/5ths in the NC congress [14] to hope to transfer sovereign powers.

– The state must give its green light after studying the modalities and implications of transferring each sovereign power

– and finally the definitive transfer of a sovereign power would be subject to a local referendum with an open electoral roll.

On the economic part, the ADN guaranteed rebalancing across the entire country. We imposed on the Northern Province and Islands, with their insularity, to catch up their economic and social lag in 20 years. I remind you that the city of Nouméa, like Paris for that matter, wasn’t built in 20 years. I hope that one day we’ll really know what happened on the night of 12-13 May. Who has an interest in us leaving the decolonisation process wanted by the ADN? The Kanak, when he gives his word, he respects it, it’s a commitment, one of the foundations of our custom.

We don’t want to be the last Mohicans of the Pacific region [15]. The Kanak people wish to definitively close this colonial parenthesis.

Can you perhaps say a word or two about the unfreezing of the electoral roll and the stakes around this question right now, immediately?

The electoral roll is what cemented social peace in this country. I remind you that Éloi Machoro [16] was assassinated in a context of contesting the electoral roll of the time. Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Yeiwéné Yeiwéné [17] were assassinated always because of the electoral roll subject. Alphonse Dianou [18], with the 19 who perished in the Ouvéa cave [19], is also a contestation on the electoral roll subject. What happened on 12-13 May is always in relation to the electoral roll. We’ve always said that the electoral roll is the mother of all battles. We are a very small people trying to emancipate ourselves in a colonial context, so we need to maintain balances within the population so as to avoid the local population being put in a minority by massive immigration, with the economic and social consequences that we all know. It’s about maintaining balances to guarantee social peace as long as we’re in a colonial situation.

In the Bougival Agreement, in practice, we open the electoral roll to thousands of people who will be able to decide the country’s future. The country’s future must be entrusted, above all, into the hands of the populations concerned. There are several communities living in Kanaky. I remind you that in 1983 [20], the Kanaks, the only colonised people, opened their right to self-determination to the victims of colonial history. There haven’t been many peoples in the world who made the same choice and we didn’t do it to find ourselves a minority in our own country, we did it to co-build our country with those who want to make people with us. That’s why we must perpetuate over time the state of mind that accompanies the protection of the electoral roll, because we’re not safe from population movements that could annihilate the Kanak people’s independence dream. It’s the most elementary right of a colonised people.

And where does the government stand on this question?

In the Bougival Agreement, we note that there’s a strong opening of the electoral roll. There’s still a whiff of racism in the Southern Province. People, even if they understand the struggle for independence, cannot admit for a single instant that we can manage our country and access full sovereignty.

And the timeframe around the provincial elections?

The provincial elections will be held next November. Mr Macron and Mr Lecornu [21] like to say that elections must be held on time. We agree, but for that we must keep the electoral roll as it is. It’s never good to force things, we know where that led us. Let’s take time to discuss, let’s lay things out, let’s serenely put the foundations on the table so that we can move forward in time. We can’t say we’re going to make an agreement for future generations, with part of the population, in this case the Kanak population, put aside. Making people is above all considering everyone.

So today, for the FLNKS, for you, what are the upcoming deadlines?

The FLNKS remains open to dialogue. A delegation recently met twice with Mr Valls [22]. For the FLNKS, the Nouméa Accord remains our reference, it’s there, it’s our safety net, it allows us to move forward in time and ensure there’s a win-win agreement. We can’t have an agreement where the Kanak people are isolated from the process in which they’ve been engaged, practically since 1853, since the installation of the flag that was planted at Balade [23], in the north of New Caledonia. The Kanaks have always demanded their dignity and their emancipation.

For you, how can organisations like the NPA, which are in solidarity with the Kanak people and their demand for recognition of their right to self-determination and independence, to build their own destiny, how can we, from here, help you?

Opening a space within which the FLNKS is invited to express itself and make its voice heard is already very important. We hope that each French citizen in mainland France, when they return to their commune, to their region, will circulate and share the words and messages of the Kanak people’s struggle. I thank the NPA for opening this space to us, we know that our word will continue to circulate in France. The FLNKS will reconnect with the NPA, to carry the work together, to ensure that we can establish a new agreement with the French State in continuity with the ADN.

And the concrete, material solidarity that you might need, broadly speaking?

We always need support of whatever nature... material, human, in person or at distance... whatever, the essential thing is that this support bears fruit and results that satisfy everyone.

What’s the situation of the 5 other comrades who are with you and all the prisoners?

They’re here in France too, and like me they don’t have the possibility of returning to the country. We don’t have the right to make contact. There are also common law prisoners who were transferred against their will for the most part, to prisons in France. For some months now, some are free, others under judicial control, they must manage to find housing, work, organise themselves for administrative procedures... those who are free and want to return to the country must do so by their own means. The State makes decisions and doesn’t assume the impacts. We must restore dignity to all these young people and help them with the difficulties they encounter... I make an appeal, through the NPA, to make contact with organisations that are already linked with prisoners here in mainland France in order to meet their needs.

We ask the NPA to open spaces for us in France so we can go meet the French and explain our country’s colonial situation. It’s important to speak with the French people about our difficulties, what we’re going through, our future project. Because at the moment, the State speaks in the name of the French. These meetings, like we did here, at Port-Leucate [24], are relevant actions and it’s a necessity. We hope there will be other formats similar to what we experienced these past days, so we can continue to carry the Kanak people’s demands. The echo from the grass roots in mainland France is essential to us.

Interview conducted by Cathy Billard and François Mailloux