Sémir Al Wardi holds a doctorate in political science and lecturer at the University of French Polynesia.
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FIGAROVOX. - At the end of his trip to Polynesia, the President of the Republic has several times "
assumed
" the nuclear tests of the French State in the Pacific, without asking for forgiveness.
Did you think he was right?
Semir AL WARDI. -
If it is just a question of asking forgiveness and leaving it there, that would be very questionable.
The President of the Republic thus explained, in an interview with local television stations, that asking for forgiveness and then compensating would be too easy.
Rather, he hoped, in a relationship of trust, on the contrary, that the victims would grant him their forgiveness.
The essential lies, in reality, in the recognition of the nuclear fact, of the numerous accidents and of the health consequences on the populations. This recognition implies greater compensation for victims and beneficiaries. Today, the paradigm shift lies in the way of tackling problems: it is up to the state to reach out to the victims and help them finalize their cases. It will be a question of speeding up the procedures and of compensating much more widely. It is, to use the words of the speech, "
the debt to Polynesia
" is therefore the only way to close this file.
Finally, it is about opening the archives so that the whole truth is made out.
Clearly, we must tell the truth, hide nothing and compensate to mitigate, to use the very words of Emmanuel Macron, "
the dark hours and the bites of history
".
The Polynesians do not wish and do not consider themselves to be fully assimilable to the French, to the metropolitan, because they have their own vision of the world, their own history, their own languages, their own cultures.
Semir Al Wardi
Does this file affect the relationship between Papeete and Paris?
It's quite complex: at the beginning, nuclear tests allowed an unprecedented development of Polynesia. Money flowed freely and everyone could benefit from it. But at the same time, economic and social life has been completely turned upside down. We have seen "corruption" through nuclear power. Then, little by little, we noticed the harmful effects of the tests and especially the lies which prevailed on the accidents following the tests. Finally, the bad manners of the State with regard to the care of the victims, the refusal to recognize the consequences of the tests, will strain relations between Polynesia and France. This state tension was incomprehensible; only historical truth frees the future. It seems that the Republic has finally changed paradigm.
Emmanuel Macron declared in his speech to Papeete: "There is a 'at the same time'", because "you are both deeply Polynesian and deeply patriotic" ... Is this representative of what Polynesians feel?
Here again, we must measure the complexity of things: the Polynesians do not wish and do not consider themselves fully assimilable to the French, to the metropolitan, because they have their own vision of the world, their own history, their own languages, their own cultures.
In this regard, did the President of Polynesia, Édouard Fritch, not declare to the UN on October 4, 2016: "
Polynesians are attached to their Oceanian culture and are proud of their Polynesian identity. As Autonomists, we are perfectly aware that our history is not that of France; that our Oceanian and tropical way of life is not that of European France. There is simply the fact that the autonomists, aware of the small size of their land of 4000 km2, and the small number of their population of 280,000 inhabitants, have a realistic approach and vision of their country in the face of the interdependence of nations and the globalization of trade
”.
The Polynesians are mostly autonomists, and therefore for maintaining in the French Republic, because they are realistic about their weaknesses and thus understand the need to remain linked to a great nation.
Semir Al Wardi
In other words, the Polynesians are mostly autonomists, and therefore for maintaining in the French Republic, because they are realistic about their weaknesses and thus understand the need to remain linked to a great nation.
Joël Bonnemaison had already written that the Pacific Islands “
want access to the center, they do not want to be integrated into this center.
". It is a balance between opposing elements. There is therefore a gap between the perception of France and that of its belonging to Polynesia. Note the strong will of the Polynesians to exist, to be themselves, to govern themselves, to vote their own standards, but at the same time, to belong to a large group, France. To show off as a people without systematically following a distant metropolis, or subordinating to it, while remaining in this whole. Inside and outside at the same time with fervor in both cases! It is the “
at the same time
” of the President of the Republic when he declares: “
you are deeply Polynesian and deeply patriotic
”.
Democracies cannot reject or ignore the diversity of cultures within their societies.
Thus, the words of Emmanuel Macron, during his speech in Tahiti, mark this new approach by evoking “
the unique, intimate, sensitive pact between the Republic and French Polynesia… fruit of our history
”.
So, between France and Tahiti;
we are far from the “
Tahiti, c'est la France
” of 1995 when nuclear tests resumed!
62.3% of the French Exclusive Economic Zone is in the Pacific with 43% for French Polynesia alone.
France can claim to be from the Pacific, the new center of the world, because it is present there.
Semir Al Wardi
The Head of State has stood up against the appetites of China in the Pacific. Are the authorities in Polynesia aware of these dangers?
He took up his main idea of the Indo-Pacific axis.
This radical change of geostrategic analysis brings a powerful narrative and a new vision of the world.
And France responds on the Indo-Pacific ground because it has territories, real aircraft carriers of national interests.
The terrain is extensive: 62.3% of the French Exclusive Economic Zone is in the Pacific and 43% for French Polynesia alone.
France can claim to be from the Pacific, the new center of the world, because it is present there.
But the support of Oceanians is essential. A few months ago, the President of Polynesia, Édouard Fritch, considered the Indo-Pacific axis as "
as an additional and alternative offer, for our Pacific countries, vis-à-vis the Silk Road
" . It was playing, like the micro-states of the Pacific, on competition between the two axes (Indo-Pacific and Silk Roads) and making the most of it. But the President of the Republic insisted that only the Indo-Pacific axis would be profitable for French Polynesia: "
woe to the small countries ... you will be protected
". He also urged the Polynesians not to accept certain offers from China, not to respond to
"siren songs"
. Emmanuel Macron is on favorable ground because China's promises have not been kept. And it is France which, today, is making promises which seem more achievable because the new geostrategy obliges it to do so.
However, the links with China are old. A failure of France and Polynesia could approach Asia. The Polynesian authorities have always lived their relations with France on an equal footing. France has its strategy, Polynesia its own, and they can intersect in the interests of each. Polynesia therefore has both its own story and a story consistent with that of France and vice versa. If France wants, at the same time, to be a bulwark against the appetites of China and to use Polynesia to assert its oceanity, it will have to show solidarity and therefore generous.
