Tahiti's militant trade union
Interview with Roland Oldham,
Secretary General of the Confederation of Independent and Democratic Unions of Polynesian
Workers (CSIDTP).
Q: What influence does your union have? What are its activities?
Oldham The CSIDTP was founded in July
1992. Its objective is to change the overall outlook of the Polynesian trade union movement which does not seem to understand certain aspirations of the people.
The unions must begin an oftensive and go beyond exclusively wage-related demands
They have to give particular attention to
[military] problems which threaten world peace and which jeopardize the very existence of the entire human race. We are the only Polynesian trade union which has taken a clear position against the French nuclear tests on Moruroa atoll but also against all other militarist efforts everywhere else in the world.
Our union is also the first and the only one in Polynesia to clearly come out in favour of self-determination for the Polynesian people. The goal is to freely exercise national sovereignty - in accord with the spirit of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the United Nations charter.
We are a young organization, scarcely three and a half years old. Implanting ourselves in the enterprises is not an easy thing to do. The employers, coming for the most part from France, behave like colonial conquerors. Despite these difficulties, we are well represented in large and small retail outlets, and the big hotels of Bora-Bora, an island which attracts many tourists. We have
Since 1992 we have participated in the occupations of landed estates to protest against the multinational institutions. In the name of development and supported by a corrupt local government these institutions want to fill the pockets of foreign investors and strip the people of their natural resources. Our first strike began in the Continent supermarkets; where we achieved a complete shutdown of their business in order to reach a quick settlement. In 1993 we participated in the general strike against a wage freeze, proposed by the A Tia I Mua trade union organization. In "94 we joined a general strike against the new "solidarity" tax, which in reality shifts the burden of financing social security onto the workers. In reality the lowest paid were the most affected while the higher incomes of the bosses and the rich pearl producers escaped this tax completely.
Ever since the announcement by
[French] President Jacques Chirac that nuclear tests on Moruroa would resume we have been playing a leading role in the protests of the Polynesian people. As members of the non-governmental network Hiti lau, we
Joined in organizing several demonstrations.
In July 1995 I was invited by Greenpeace to campaign against the nuclear tests in 13 large
European cities. I also joined the "Peace
Could you gives us a general picture of the Polynesian union movement?
First there is the Alliance of Autonomous
Unions of Polynesian Workers (USATP), which is affiliated to [France's moderate union federation] Force Ouvrière. USATP is mainly composed of civil servants working for the government and in defense-related establishments. Second comes the Federation of Unions of French Polynesia (FSPF) with a majority of those employed in the public sector. Third largest is A Tia I Mua, which is affiliated with France's CFDT. This union is divided: the secretary general took a clear antinuclear position, but he was not followed in this by the large majority of the membership during the strike of September 1995
That strike ended with the burning of the airport in Fa aa and rioting in the capital,
The large union organizations say they are apolitical, but in the end they are too often subservient to the government. They want to be viewed favorably by the state power, and to achieve this many unions are silent in the face of the contamination of the environment, natural resources, and the negative effects on the health of the population and of the workers on Moruroa. They dare not consider the question of national sovereignty - an important issue in terms of the rights of the Polynesian workercitizen who must decide on economic development and what kind of society needs to be created. Those trade unionists imprisoned as a result of the events of last September are presently out on bail and await sentencing. They may wait a while longer. The state has every interest in letting this affair cool off a bit. Why did you participate in the creation of Hiti Tau, the National Council of nongovernmental organisations?
This step seemed quite logical to us since we joined in considering and researching new alternatives, completely outside a system based on dependence, assassination, and corruption things which only reinforce the territorial power and maintain colonialism.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
Polynesia * have an important role to play in the economic development of Polynesia, in deepening respect for human rights and the rights of the Ma'ohi (Polynesian) people, who are continuously humiliated by the government and the colonial state.
During more than 150 years, colonialism's undermining of traditional values, the social problems, the exclusion which our youth experience, and the destruction of our natural resources compel us to believe that colonialism and the present system must be absolutely eliminated. We have to undertake the emancipation of the mass of the people and work on the following questions:
• small projects and sustainable development in island nations and states;
• protection of the natural and social environment;
• land reform;
• the right to a cultural identity:
• the right to self-determination of native peoples;
• the right to national sovereignty.
We think that to work in the NGO network gives us better means, wider solidarity to confront the problems which we face in our society today. What is the place of young people in Polynesian society?
The youth of a certain milieu, mostly Polynesians, drop out of the education system. The educational system is inadequate, drastically lacking in means, and their studies stop even before the end of primary school. They have no hope. They are without employment and have no chance of finding any. The events of last September reflect the moment when the excluded youth expressed their anger against an unjust society.
This is a very grave problem which the politicians do not seem to be much concerned with. Nevertheless, more than half the population in Polynesia is younger than 20. The unemployment rate among young people is not precisely calculated in the territorial statistics, but we estimate it at more than 30 percent among youth up to the age of 25. This is a serious situation which entails the risk of a social explosion in the near future, and an additional opportunity for the French state to send hundreds of soldiers and military weapons to teach the Polynesiar people to respect public order. Economically, what have been the consequences of locating the French nuclear test center in the Pacific?
The transfer of France's noclear test center from Algeria to Polynesia in 1962 was the beginning of "development without eco-
September 1996 #280 25
Cheques payable to New Left Review or Fax: 0181 648 4873
Send to: New Left Review,
No: 0000000000000000
120-126 Lavender Avenue,
(Access, Visa, Mastercard, Eurocard, Amex accepted) Mitcham, Surrey CR4 3HP, UK
* Polynesia nomic growth" for the territory. The inflow of rent and other payments certainly enabled considerable infrastructure development, but it also encouraged an increase in commerce at the expense of agriculture and manufacturing, and the abandoning of traditional activities directed at export or domestic consumption (vanilla, coffee and copra). Imports have risen incredibly, and the price level is nearer that of France than that of other Pacific countries.
The traditional Polynesian family has been transformed. Traditional values like mutual assistance, reciprocity, sharing, and the spirit of community have declined. The growth in criminal activity (thett, prostitution, drugs, delinquency) can be traced directly to the fact that wealth is very badly distributed between the most privileged strata and those who are excluded from the system.
Concerning the environment, the growth in consumption [linked to the nuclear test programme] automatically implies problems of pollution: noise, poisons, and non-degradable products, which were not taken account of in the beginning. The public should have been educated about environmentalism, and a proper waste management system should have been people no longer seem able to do without.
Meanwhile, Polynesia is being stripped of its natural riches. These are exploited for the benefit of a few in the name of a economic development —when they are not stolen outright through legal or political maneuvers to benefit the state or a corrupt government. The territorial government and most of the politicians take part in large projects in partnership with foreign investors. The multinationals do not hesitate to slip a bribe to the decision-makers, who are able in this way to finance their election campaigns and buy votes. Nothing new, they are simply copying France. Though in Polynesia, corruption is certainly more serious. French water utility La Lyonnaise des Eaux enjoys the right to strip property owners of their land in order to install canals. The landowner-users are then compelled to pay astronomical bills for water which had previously cost them nothing.
If we are going to limit class distinctions and return to the communal ancestral spirit then we have to refer to the ideas of Langi Kavaliku, the Pacific intellectual, who spoke of "the necessity of a multidimensional development, respecting the values and the culture of the oceanic peoples. Not to raise the material aspirations of the islanders too high. Development must be a process in which the people and the society grow step by step, consciously and unconsciously, toward objectives designed to improve their well being-both quantitatively and qualitatively [..] Societies are differentiated by their scale of values, their objectives... The small island states of the Pacific must honestly consider the possibility of developing the quality of life without necessarily generalizing material abundance.'
Polynesians must master the process of our economic and social development, not be subordinate to it. In 1994 you spoke at the congress of the [pro-independence] USTKE trade union movement in Kanaky (New Caledonia).
Relations with the USTKE date from the creation of our organization in 1992. The Kanak comrades encouraged us, helped us, counselled us, in the difficult moments at the beginning of our existence. The USTKE implemented.
new left review 217
Instead, our lagoons have been polluted by the runoff from factories, hotels, and other establishments. Rivers remains for us a source of inspiration and an important support in our union life. Our philosophies mesh. Like the USTKE
"wonderfully confident and eloquent writing" New Statesman have been upset by massive water use, authorized and un-
"the flagship of the Western intellectual left" The Guardian authorized, destroying their
160 PAGES EVERY TWO MONTHS FROM LONDON our union is an anti- colonialist organization, for the liberation of our natural course.
What are your economic
Robert Wade - The World Bank and the Art of Paradigm Maintenance;
proposals for the islands?
Eric Hobsbawm explains why Identity Politics undermines the Left; Mike Davis
Development in our reports on the permanent revolution in the Earth Sciences; Paul T investigates country cannot be conceived the building industry; Finn Bowring discusses how Gorz is misread; Tobias on the basis of a solely Wes-
Abse assesses the Left's victory in Italy; Roy Edgley on Feyerabend's life and tern vision. Such an approach philosophy; Mary Mellor, Ariel Salleh and Cecile Jackson debate ecofeminism.
to development, and to the economy in general, is part of a purely capitalist notion.
We have to organize economically in Polynesia in such
THE "EAST ASIAN MIRACLE"
SPECIAL OFFER
FREE BOOK plus FREE BACK ISSUE people and opposed to nuclear weapons.
In December 1995 you addressed the congress of France's
[Communist-led] CGT trade unions.
My intervention was strongly applauded, and published in the CGT's journal The People. My
FREE BACK ISSUE a way that the first preoc-
NLR 216 Mahmood Mamdani Understanding the Rwandan Genocide;
cupation is people in general,
John Lloyd vs. Peter Gowan Russian Misery: The Shock Therapy not the individual. The
Controversy: Jonathan Steele Why Gorbachev failed; Noel Thompson objective must be development based on the identity, the
What New Labour Really Means; Alan S. Milward Euro-Money and the Left;
culture of the people, our
Caroline New Man Bad-Woman Good?; Jan Otto Andersson The Third environment - and not its
Left; Craig Brandist Gramsci and Bakhtin; Stallabrass on Damien Hirst;
exploitation for money.
Kim Moody on the unions and the US Left
We want to be the ones
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION who decide our own future,
(six issues)
FREE BOOK (tick one)
the principle actors in our
INDIVIDUALS:
own economic development
• Eric Hobsbawm Echoes of the Marseillaise
E22.50 (inland), E26/USS47 (overseas)
INSTTTUTIONS:
according to our own choices.
Perry Anderson Zone of Engagement
I48 (inland), E51.50/US$93 (overseas
This is not actually what
SINGLE COPY: 64.50 or US$8.30
Christopher Hitchens For the Sake of Argument happens now since we submit too often to the pressure of
Name.
money, and that obscures the
Address realities we face. This neocolonialism is becoming more and more difficult to escape, as artificially-created needs become real necesities which
Credit card type:
_Code
Expiry dare call for independence was well received. And the
CGT, in its actions with regard to Kanaky and
Polynesia, has always condemned French colonialism. I had already met the leaders of the
CGT during the congress of the USTKE, and in July
1995 during the anti- nuclear campaign in
Tahiti.
On the trade-union level I have surely drawn many lessons, notably from the history of the
CREDIT CARD
CGT but also from unions
HOTLINE in other countries where
0181 685 0301 the struggle is extremely difficult. *