Kanaky

The term “Kanak” refers to the Indigenous people of the Pacific territory commonly known as New Caledonia, located about 2,000 km off Australia’s East Coast. “Kanaky” is the name that Kanak people use to refer to their territory. The name is also used by pro-independence people and, more broadly, by people who respect the freedom and right of Indigenous people to define themselves in their own terms. The identification and affiliation with Kanaky are however usually ignored or silenced in the current political context.

The name “New Caledonia” was given by James Cook on sighting the main island in 1774. The English term has been gallicized, and Nouvelle-Calédonie is the only name currently recognized by the French Republic. At the start of the colonisation of the territory, French settlers coined the word “canaque” – borrowing from the Hawaiian word kanaka (meaning “man”) – and started using it as a slur word to refer to the Indigenous people of the territory. In the 1970s, as the pro-independence movement rose, Indigenous people made the political choice to adopt the term, assert their distinct identity, and change its spelling to “Kanak”. In 1984, the name Kanaky was officially adopted to name the territory and the Kanaky flag was raised for the first time. 

Kanaky, although a more recent coinage than “New Caledonia”, goes back to a much older and deeper affiliation to the place. It reflects the affirmation in the name of a unified Kanak people of unceded Kanak sovereignties. It is constituted by the Kanak people. According to the late Kanak politician Jean-Marie Tjibaou and most Kanak people today, it includes the non-Kanak communities peopling the country as well. New Caledonia is a colonial appropriation; Kanaky is an Indigenous and decolonial re-appropriation. The term Kanaky has reflected the emergence of the political project for an independent nation. In December 1984, the Provisional Government of Kanaky was created as a parallel executive power guiding the pro-independence areas of the territory. In October 1987, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, on behalf of the Provisional Government of Kanaky, presented the constitutional project for the Republic of Kanaky to the UN. The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front declared that “the government of Kanaky symbolises the dignity and sovereignty of the Kanak nation”. In the aftermath of the 1988 Matignon-Oudinot peace agreements which put an end to the armed conflict, the Provisional Government was dissolved but the name Kanaky has continued to be used to refer to the territory and to the projected independent nation. 

The appellation “Kanaky” continues to face opposition though. In 2012, former French Minister for Overseas Territories Victorin Lurel’s using the word Kanaky in addition to New Caledonia, “to respect all parties” because “we say New Caledonia but it has a connotation” led to political contestations from local loyalist politicians. They condemned it as a provocation and warned the government in mainland France that they would “fight against any unilateral proposition that would go against the maintaining of New Caledonia within France”. More recently, in 2024, pro-France political party Générations NC succeeded in having the decision to use both French and Kanaky flags on New Caledonian driving licences abolished. The Kanaky flag was thereof removed. Nonetheless, pro-independence politicians have regularly asserted over the decades that as long as Kanak people will live, so will their struggle for an independent Kanaky.