Eloi Machoro: chronicle of a Kanak struggle

Audio 48:30

Portrait of Eloi Machoro on a wall in Nakety, the native tribe of the independence leader.

Benoit Godin

By: Céline Develay Mazurelle

51 min

On the occasion of the self-determination referendum being held in New Caledonia on October 4, 2020, travel to this distant French archipelago in Oceania to follow the hurry of a Kanak independence figure: Eloi Machoro. 

Publicity

A controversial figure with a reputation as an intransigent “warlord”, Eloi Machoro is an icon, a myth of the Kanak cause.

However, he still remains largely unknown outside the lands of the Pacific where he grew up and forged his rebellious spirit and integrity.

Born in 1946 in the Nakéty tribe, Eloi Machoro entered politics in the mid-1970s. His trajectory accompanied the emergence of the independence movement which, with him, took a more radical turn in the mid-1980s. that we have modestly called the "Events", old Eloi leads the militants of the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) into the field and carries out powerful stunts.

Starting with the spectacular blow of the tamioc - a traditional ax - against an urn at the town hall of Canala, during the active boycott of the elections of November 18, 1984. This powerful image instantly becomes the symbol of the struggle of an entire people for its independence. .

Less than two months later, Eloi Machoro died under the bullets of the French police.

From Canala to Nouméa via Thio, return with his companions of the time on a period as brief as it is decisive, which revealed to the whole world the Kanak independence claim.

A documentary by Benoît Godin, with original music by Simon Auffret.

Find out more:

- On the route of Eloi Machoro, few publications exist.

Note all the same “ 

 ", by sociologist Hamid Mokaddem, in the Journal of the Society of Oceanists in 2013

- On the rise of the Kanak independence claim, this very complete book by the American David Chappell:" 

 ”, Éditions Madrépores & Presses Universitaires de la Nouvelle-Calédonie.

2017

- On Kanak culture, check out

Eloi Machoro during the blockade of the municipality of Thio in 1984, surrounded by his companions.

Jacques Langevin / Sygma / Sygma via Getty Images

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• New Caledonia

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