For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL
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Country profile - Kanaky
Kanaky is a country in Oceania, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, south of Vemarana and east of Australia.
History
The Treaty of Amiens, addressing the fate of French colonies after the country’s defeat in the Great European War, would give New Caledonia, among other spoils of war, to Germany. The German government settled for the colony instead of French Polynesia or the New Hebrides condominium, not wanting to infuriate the British or the Japanese ; the strategic location of New Caledonia, allowing a strong position in the Pacific Ocean and reducing the distance between New Guinea and Samoa, was considered a strong asset by the Kaiserliche Marine and by Christmas 1920, the SMS Emden, commanded by Captain Karl von Müller, boarded in Noumea to allow the officer to become the first German Governor of the former French colony, that was to get under shared control of the Kaiserliche Marine and the German Colonial Office.
The first assessments made under order of the new Chancellor, Admiral von Tirpitz, was that, beside its strategic location, New Caledonia’s rich mineral resources, mostly in nickel, should allow for heightened exploitation. The Colonial Office would shot down the former French policy of settlement, characterizing it as an utter failure owing to the remoteness of the territory, uneasy relations with the local Kanaks and the overall difficult living conditions. So the government decided to renew with another French policy, discontinued in 1897 : New Caledonia as a penal colony. Nickel mining would be reserved to local residences, eventual settlers, Kanak indigenes (while still enforcing their confinement to reservations), Chinese, New Guinean or other migrants and mostly, in tightly enforced labor camps and as part of their community work, convicts, offering them to eventually settle in better conditions after the end of their sentence. Focused on deportation and mining, the Germans made no real efforts to actively settle the island, enforcing the statu quo with the Kanaks and lowly encouraging anthropological research and letting the descendants of French settlers, the Caldoches, form their own community. Famous deportees to German New Caledonia included Polish General Jozef Pilsudski, Moroccan rebel Abd Al-Krim, German syndicalist Ernst Thalmann and others. The death rate in German labor camps would be around an average 20 %, rising to a horrific 75 % at some times, with conditions reportedly being harsher within the Kanak reservations. The status of New Caledonia as a penal colony was ended in 1950, under pressure of the United States within the Alliance.
Still under shared control of the Ministry of Colonies and the Kaiserliche Marine, New Caledonia nevertheless retained its strategic importance in the Greater Game, allowing the Germans to be present in the Pacific Ocean, against Australian, Japanese and American interests ; the nickel boom of the 1960s also led to increased immigration to the German colony, mostly from China and Indonesia. The Kanaks, who had been neglected by the Germans, now became a minority within their own country, had no civil rights as mere subjects of the German Empire and had trouble maintaining the prime tenets of their culture in a multicultural country. Former Catholic priest Jean-Marie Tjibaou became the voice of Kanak dissent, forming the “Maxha” (Looking up) Christian-democratic political party. Due to repression from the Governor’s office and repeated scorn from Berlin, Tjibaou accepted offers of weaponry from Japanese intelligence and proclaimed the independence of New Caledonia on 3 September 1975, taking the arms and retreating in the forest to lay guerilla upon the Germans with Japanese support.
Considered of least concern by the German authorities for a decade, the Maxhaist rebels heavily recruited within the Kanak community and the bombing of the Governor’s office and the SMS Reinhard Heydrich in Noumea on 24 September 1984 put Tjibaou and the Maxha movement on the world’s foreground. Dubbing the Maxhists as terrorists and refusing to abandon a strategic colony, Chancellor Kissinger ordered the sending of troops in New Caledonia, putting a reward on Tjibaou’s head. The assassination of Governor Hans-Rudolf Boehmer by Maxhaists on 12 January 1985 increased German repression sharply, forcing the Maxhaists to continue the fight underground. The crumbling of the Japanese Empire on 1987 left the independentists without funds or arms and the Maxhaist united front finally split ideologically. Nevertheless, the terrible images of the repression (notably Berserker commandos hunting down rebels in the forest with flamethrowers) along with political pressure from Australia and resentment towards belated colonialism compelled Kissinger to seek an agreement with Tjibaou, still the strongest Kanak figure.
The Noumea Agreement, signed by most of the Kanak parties and the German government on 26 June 1988, was ratified by referendum the same year on 6 November : under its terms, New Caledonia was to become fully independent in 10 years, in a process monitored by Germany, inspiring itself from the German constitution and making the future country a full member of the Reichspakt, along with continued military presence and respecting all peoples present in the archipelago. Accepted by most independentist factions, the Agreement was nevertheless rejected by an extremist faction, led by Yann Céléné Uregeï, that saw the Agreement as too favorable to Germany and continued the guerilla, committing terrorist attacks against German soldiers, settlers and pro-Agreement politicians for the following decade, even after the killing of Uregeï in 1989.
New Caledonia became independent on 1 January 1998, with a decreased but still present German military presence. First controlled by pro-German parties, the formerly Maxhaist opposition reunited under Tjibaou and went on to win a majority in the 2002 legislative elections, creating a political crisis that ended with the resignation of the President ; Tjibaou would die of natural causes in 2001, leading to his deputy, Yeiwéné Yeiwéné, to be elected President and leader of a staunchly Kanak nationalist New Caledonian state. The country adopted a new Constitution the following year, changing its flag and its official name in favor of Kanaky, the indigenous name, while suspending its membership from the Reichspakt. Leading up to the 2009 presidential election, Yeiwéné withdrew officially Kanaky from the Reichspakt in 2008, forcing Germany to remove all its troops ; in retaliation, the former colonist established a commercial blockade upon the young country. In 2014, the blockade triggered a economic crisis, that in turn led to riots from the Caldoche community in the period leading up to the presidential election. The situation in 2002 reversed : a former Maxhaist, Rock Wamytan, was elected President but was left powerless due to a Germanophile majority in Parliament. In order to alleviate the crisis and to avoid widespread hunger, Kanaky signed a treaty of alliance with Australia in 2018, putting effectively the country within the Australian sphere. Under Australian pressure, a new Constitution was adopted in 2020 by referendum, establishing full equality between all ethnicities and removing all references to the primacy of the Kanaks.
Political situation
Under the terms of its Constitution, adopted on 4 October 2020, Kanaky is a unitary presidential constitutional republic, with most executive powers being invested in the President of the Republic, elected for a seven-year-term and who also serves as the head of the government with legislative powers being shared by the bicameral Congress, with a Senate elected for six years and a National Assembly elected for four years and with justice being fully independent from other powers. The Constitution from 1998 to 2003 was inspired by the German one ; the 2003 Constitution was modelled on the American one, getting as far as possible from their former colonist, removing all mentions to the colonial name of New Caledonia and affirming the primacy of the Kanak people. The last and current Constitution made no big changes to the last one and instead stressed upon the equality of all Kanakian ethnicities, with legislative representation in both Senate and National Assembly being divided between all ethnicities according to their numbers.
The current Président of the Republic is Gérard Poadja, an ethnic Kanak, son and brother to chiefs of the Poindah tribe. A member of the Kanaky Together (Kanaky Ensemble), a centrist-to-conservative party that was considered before as pro-German and now is seen as pro-Australian and defending the Caldoche interests. President of the National Assembly from 2014 to 2021 and as such, leader of the opposition and one of the main artisans of the 2020 Constitution, he opposed incumbent President Roch Wamytan (Marxhaist Alliance, big-tent Kanak nationalist), whom he defeated in the second round of the presidential election, on 12 December 2021 on a platform of strengthening links with Australia and modernizing Kanaky. The next legislative election is scheduled for 2022 and has a Kanaky Together majority
Social situation, population
Due to its unique history, Kanaky enjoys one of the most diverse ethnic compositions in the world : the Kanak natives, of course, but also the Caldoches (descendants of French settlers prior to German control), descendants of German settlers, of Javanese, Tahitian, Ni-Vemarana, Vietnamese or Chinese migrants who mostly came here to work in the nickel mines and even small Polish, Ruthenian, Ukrainian or Baltic communities who hailed from the deported of the penal colony era along with recent immigrants. Each community has produced its lots of mixed race individuals, have had different conceptions of their attachment to Kanaky, has bonded or been in conflict. The Constitution adopted from 2003 to 2020 had identified Kanaky “as the cradle and homeland of the Kanak race” ; due to protests from the other communities of the former New Caledonia, such as the Caldoches who remained on the islands in spite of the transfer of territories, the 2020 Constitution now refers as Kanaky as “the homeland of the many peoples that elected to prosper in Kanaky”. German colonization did nothing to alleviate the differences between all ethnicities, with the Kanaks being confined to reservations and their culture coming under threat by the exploitation in the nickel mines and German missionaries, and the Caldoches willing, by sheer nationalism, to maintain their use of the French language. Thirty years after colonization, the German language is no longer used.
With a third of its population being under 20, two thirds of the inhabitants of Kanaky live in Greater Noumea, the capital and largest city, itself located south of Grande Terre, the largest island of the archipelago, with the rest of the population being scattered throughout the islands. With 282,000 inhabitants, Kanaky can be considered to be overcrowded, with the island nation being heavily dependent on foreign imports ; as a result of the German blockade since 2008, public infrastructures became depleted and the country was almost on the verge of collapse prior to the alliance with Australia in 2018. Neglected for decades by Germans, more and more Kanakians tend to migrate to Australia due to lesser opportunities.
Economy
Nickel is the main resource of Kanaky, and has been the target of covetousness by the French, Germans and Australians : the exploitation of the mines was the motor behind the development of the colony and took its toll on the archipelago’s fragile and lush ecosystem. Nevertheless, massive exports of nickel allowed Kanaky to enjoy a steady income and a high GDP. Nevertheless, the lack of diversification to the economy during the German era became evident after independence, with only basic and old infrastructure left, and agriculture being limited to yams, coconuts, taro and plantains : the German blockade post-independence almost threw the country in a hunger before the question of imports was settled with tying the country’s fate with the Australian sphere, now the first and almost only trade partner of the young nation, who also enjoys a very large maritime space, used for fishing and offshore prospecting. Tourism is still growing strong and could prove a future major source of income for the nation once the Wuchang Pneumonia ceases.
Military
Once the pride of the German Pacific Fleet, the naval base of Noumea has been abandoned since Kanaky left the Reichspakt in 2008 and the navy buildings now rust visibly under the tropical climate, even if the Australian Navy is in negotiations with the government to have it leased. The Germans took all their equipment with them and the Kanak Army is now left with few means and remains small, with its main prerogatives being territorial defense and patrolling the maritime areas. The independence war lasted from 1975 to 1988 and remained of low intensity, but the scars are still visible : not only the German contingent was harsh in repressing the revolt, but the most hardline rebels attacked pro-German communities and committed their fair share of war crimes, and having the Maxhaist Alliance filling Congress with veterans and alleged war criminals was difficult to some inhabitants. The independence war is, as such, still a source of dissent in Kanaky.
Culture
The handsoff attitude of the German Navy towards New Caledonia also helped to preserve the Kanak ancestral culture and traditions, left in reservations and proving a wonderful ground for ethnological studies in German New Caledonia ; now heralded as the catalyst for Kanaky and protected by the Constitution, the Kanak culture is still strong nowadays, backed by a blooming cultural life, in music, literature (Pierre Gope, Nicolas Kurtovitch) and cinema. It would be nevertheless diminishing to talk of only a Kanakian culture, as the rich history of the country allowed it to be even more culturally prosperous, from the Caldoche “tropical French” culture to the pidgins created by mixing Polish or German with the Kanak languages. This blooming cultural scene, along with the lush fauna and nature of the archipelago, are now the best assets of Kanaky in making their country known internationally, both for culture and tourism.
History
The Treaty of Amiens, addressing the fate of French colonies after the country’s defeat in the Great European War, would give New Caledonia, among other spoils of war, to Germany. The German government settled for the colony instead of French Polynesia or the New Hebrides condominium, not wanting to infuriate the British or the Japanese ; the strategic location of New Caledonia, allowing a strong position in the Pacific Ocean and reducing the distance between New Guinea and Samoa, was considered a strong asset by the Kaiserliche Marine and by Christmas 1920, the SMS Emden, commanded by Captain Karl von Müller, boarded in Noumea to allow the officer to become the first German Governor of the former French colony, that was to get under shared control of the Kaiserliche Marine and the German Colonial Office.
The first assessments made under order of the new Chancellor, Admiral von Tirpitz, was that, beside its strategic location, New Caledonia’s rich mineral resources, mostly in nickel, should allow for heightened exploitation. The Colonial Office would shot down the former French policy of settlement, characterizing it as an utter failure owing to the remoteness of the territory, uneasy relations with the local Kanaks and the overall difficult living conditions. So the government decided to renew with another French policy, discontinued in 1897 : New Caledonia as a penal colony. Nickel mining would be reserved to local residences, eventual settlers, Kanak indigenes (while still enforcing their confinement to reservations), Chinese, New Guinean or other migrants and mostly, in tightly enforced labor camps and as part of their community work, convicts, offering them to eventually settle in better conditions after the end of their sentence. Focused on deportation and mining, the Germans made no real efforts to actively settle the island, enforcing the statu quo with the Kanaks and lowly encouraging anthropological research and letting the descendants of French settlers, the Caldoches, form their own community. Famous deportees to German New Caledonia included Polish General Jozef Pilsudski, Moroccan rebel Abd Al-Krim, German syndicalist Ernst Thalmann and others. The death rate in German labor camps would be around an average 20 %, rising to a horrific 75 % at some times, with conditions reportedly being harsher within the Kanak reservations. The status of New Caledonia as a penal colony was ended in 1950, under pressure of the United States within the Alliance.
Still under shared control of the Ministry of Colonies and the Kaiserliche Marine, New Caledonia nevertheless retained its strategic importance in the Greater Game, allowing the Germans to be present in the Pacific Ocean, against Australian, Japanese and American interests ; the nickel boom of the 1960s also led to increased immigration to the German colony, mostly from China and Indonesia. The Kanaks, who had been neglected by the Germans, now became a minority within their own country, had no civil rights as mere subjects of the German Empire and had trouble maintaining the prime tenets of their culture in a multicultural country. Former Catholic priest Jean-Marie Tjibaou became the voice of Kanak dissent, forming the “Maxha” (Looking up) Christian-democratic political party. Due to repression from the Governor’s office and repeated scorn from Berlin, Tjibaou accepted offers of weaponry from Japanese intelligence and proclaimed the independence of New Caledonia on 3 September 1975, taking the arms and retreating in the forest to lay guerilla upon the Germans with Japanese support.
Considered of least concern by the German authorities for a decade, the Maxhaist rebels heavily recruited within the Kanak community and the bombing of the Governor’s office and the SMS Reinhard Heydrich in Noumea on 24 September 1984 put Tjibaou and the Maxha movement on the world’s foreground. Dubbing the Maxhists as terrorists and refusing to abandon a strategic colony, Chancellor Kissinger ordered the sending of troops in New Caledonia, putting a reward on Tjibaou’s head. The assassination of Governor Hans-Rudolf Boehmer by Maxhaists on 12 January 1985 increased German repression sharply, forcing the Maxhaists to continue the fight underground. The crumbling of the Japanese Empire on 1987 left the independentists without funds or arms and the Maxhaist united front finally split ideologically. Nevertheless, the terrible images of the repression (notably Berserker commandos hunting down rebels in the forest with flamethrowers) along with political pressure from Australia and resentment towards belated colonialism compelled Kissinger to seek an agreement with Tjibaou, still the strongest Kanak figure.
The Noumea Agreement, signed by most of the Kanak parties and the German government on 26 June 1988, was ratified by referendum the same year on 6 November : under its terms, New Caledonia was to become fully independent in 10 years, in a process monitored by Germany, inspiring itself from the German constitution and making the future country a full member of the Reichspakt, along with continued military presence and respecting all peoples present in the archipelago. Accepted by most independentist factions, the Agreement was nevertheless rejected by an extremist faction, led by Yann Céléné Uregeï, that saw the Agreement as too favorable to Germany and continued the guerilla, committing terrorist attacks against German soldiers, settlers and pro-Agreement politicians for the following decade, even after the killing of Uregeï in 1989.
New Caledonia became independent on 1 January 1998, with a decreased but still present German military presence. First controlled by pro-German parties, the formerly Maxhaist opposition reunited under Tjibaou and went on to win a majority in the 2002 legislative elections, creating a political crisis that ended with the resignation of the President ; Tjibaou would die of natural causes in 2001, leading to his deputy, Yeiwéné Yeiwéné, to be elected President and leader of a staunchly Kanak nationalist New Caledonian state. The country adopted a new Constitution the following year, changing its flag and its official name in favor of Kanaky, the indigenous name, while suspending its membership from the Reichspakt. Leading up to the 2009 presidential election, Yeiwéné withdrew officially Kanaky from the Reichspakt in 2008, forcing Germany to remove all its troops ; in retaliation, the former colonist established a commercial blockade upon the young country. In 2014, the blockade triggered a economic crisis, that in turn led to riots from the Caldoche community in the period leading up to the presidential election. The situation in 2002 reversed : a former Maxhaist, Rock Wamytan, was elected President but was left powerless due to a Germanophile majority in Parliament. In order to alleviate the crisis and to avoid widespread hunger, Kanaky signed a treaty of alliance with Australia in 2018, putting effectively the country within the Australian sphere. Under Australian pressure, a new Constitution was adopted in 2020 by referendum, establishing full equality between all ethnicities and removing all references to the primacy of the Kanaks.
Political situation
Under the terms of its Constitution, adopted on 4 October 2020, Kanaky is a unitary presidential constitutional republic, with most executive powers being invested in the President of the Republic, elected for a seven-year-term and who also serves as the head of the government with legislative powers being shared by the bicameral Congress, with a Senate elected for six years and a National Assembly elected for four years and with justice being fully independent from other powers. The Constitution from 1998 to 2003 was inspired by the German one ; the 2003 Constitution was modelled on the American one, getting as far as possible from their former colonist, removing all mentions to the colonial name of New Caledonia and affirming the primacy of the Kanak people. The last and current Constitution made no big changes to the last one and instead stressed upon the equality of all Kanakian ethnicities, with legislative representation in both Senate and National Assembly being divided between all ethnicities according to their numbers.
The current Président of the Republic is Gérard Poadja, an ethnic Kanak, son and brother to chiefs of the Poindah tribe. A member of the Kanaky Together (Kanaky Ensemble), a centrist-to-conservative party that was considered before as pro-German and now is seen as pro-Australian and defending the Caldoche interests. President of the National Assembly from 2014 to 2021 and as such, leader of the opposition and one of the main artisans of the 2020 Constitution, he opposed incumbent President Roch Wamytan (Marxhaist Alliance, big-tent Kanak nationalist), whom he defeated in the second round of the presidential election, on 12 December 2021 on a platform of strengthening links with Australia and modernizing Kanaky. The next legislative election is scheduled for 2022 and has a Kanaky Together majority
Social situation, population
Due to its unique history, Kanaky enjoys one of the most diverse ethnic compositions in the world : the Kanak natives, of course, but also the Caldoches (descendants of French settlers prior to German control), descendants of German settlers, of Javanese, Tahitian, Ni-Vemarana, Vietnamese or Chinese migrants who mostly came here to work in the nickel mines and even small Polish, Ruthenian, Ukrainian or Baltic communities who hailed from the deported of the penal colony era along with recent immigrants. Each community has produced its lots of mixed race individuals, have had different conceptions of their attachment to Kanaky, has bonded or been in conflict. The Constitution adopted from 2003 to 2020 had identified Kanaky “as the cradle and homeland of the Kanak race” ; due to protests from the other communities of the former New Caledonia, such as the Caldoches who remained on the islands in spite of the transfer of territories, the 2020 Constitution now refers as Kanaky as “the homeland of the many peoples that elected to prosper in Kanaky”. German colonization did nothing to alleviate the differences between all ethnicities, with the Kanaks being confined to reservations and their culture coming under threat by the exploitation in the nickel mines and German missionaries, and the Caldoches willing, by sheer nationalism, to maintain their use of the French language. Thirty years after colonization, the German language is no longer used.
With a third of its population being under 20, two thirds of the inhabitants of Kanaky live in Greater Noumea, the capital and largest city, itself located south of Grande Terre, the largest island of the archipelago, with the rest of the population being scattered throughout the islands. With 282,000 inhabitants, Kanaky can be considered to be overcrowded, with the island nation being heavily dependent on foreign imports ; as a result of the German blockade since 2008, public infrastructures became depleted and the country was almost on the verge of collapse prior to the alliance with Australia in 2018. Neglected for decades by Germans, more and more Kanakians tend to migrate to Australia due to lesser opportunities.
Economy
Nickel is the main resource of Kanaky, and has been the target of covetousness by the French, Germans and Australians : the exploitation of the mines was the motor behind the development of the colony and took its toll on the archipelago’s fragile and lush ecosystem. Nevertheless, massive exports of nickel allowed Kanaky to enjoy a steady income and a high GDP. Nevertheless, the lack of diversification to the economy during the German era became evident after independence, with only basic and old infrastructure left, and agriculture being limited to yams, coconuts, taro and plantains : the German blockade post-independence almost threw the country in a hunger before the question of imports was settled with tying the country’s fate with the Australian sphere, now the first and almost only trade partner of the young nation, who also enjoys a very large maritime space, used for fishing and offshore prospecting. Tourism is still growing strong and could prove a future major source of income for the nation once the Wuchang Pneumonia ceases.
Military
Once the pride of the German Pacific Fleet, the naval base of Noumea has been abandoned since Kanaky left the Reichspakt in 2008 and the navy buildings now rust visibly under the tropical climate, even if the Australian Navy is in negotiations with the government to have it leased. The Germans took all their equipment with them and the Kanak Army is now left with few means and remains small, with its main prerogatives being territorial defense and patrolling the maritime areas. The independence war lasted from 1975 to 1988 and remained of low intensity, but the scars are still visible : not only the German contingent was harsh in repressing the revolt, but the most hardline rebels attacked pro-German communities and committed their fair share of war crimes, and having the Maxhaist Alliance filling Congress with veterans and alleged war criminals was difficult to some inhabitants. The independence war is, as such, still a source of dissent in Kanaky.
Culture
The handsoff attitude of the German Navy towards New Caledonia also helped to preserve the Kanak ancestral culture and traditions, left in reservations and proving a wonderful ground for ethnological studies in German New Caledonia ; now heralded as the catalyst for Kanaky and protected by the Constitution, the Kanak culture is still strong nowadays, backed by a blooming cultural life, in music, literature (Pierre Gope, Nicolas Kurtovitch) and cinema. It would be nevertheless diminishing to talk of only a Kanakian culture, as the rich history of the country allowed it to be even more culturally prosperous, from the Caldoche “tropical French” culture to the pidgins created by mixing Polish or German with the Kanak languages. This blooming cultural scene, along with the lush fauna and nature of the archipelago, are now the best assets of Kanaky in making their country known internationally, both for culture and tourism.
How bad would you say are the reputations of Bharatvarsha and Peru? I assume that while they're international pariahs, they're more on the level of OTL Iran than North Korea in terms of reputation.
Senaciismo is the Esperanto name for anationalism, that is the abolition of nationalist endeavours, in favor of peace.
Ukraine was independant for some time, Kazakhstan is still firmly under Russia, and independant Corsica sounds ASB to me with this POD.
Sayid Abdulloh Nari, the leader of the Islamic Emirate of Ferghana.
Quite good actually !
ahmedali
Banned
Indeed, it is only possible to get Germany to finance Corsica's rebellion against Italy by creating a state in which Bonaparte's heir would be king or emperor of Corsica with significant German influence
After all, you restored the Jacobins in modern-day Scotland, so the Corsica Empire does not seem that difficult.
Bharatavarsha is on a Russia level : they announced free elections for 2022 but they are still stained by the scale of the Muslim genocide. As of Peru, we are more about Myanmar, a country that was in the middle of a democratic transition before turning to authoritarianism.
The Bonaparte heir has some role here, although in the fringe. Italy is firmly entrenched in Corsica and the island would be impossible to sustain in case of independence. As of Scotland, it was more of a political choice in order to reinforce the national movement, not a Jacobite reaction.
Living standards and economy were improving following the Great European War and the Revolutionary Wars ; as of human rights, it was far more democratic than OTL USSR, more on par with Gorbachev's era.
Considering Star Wars is the basis of a religion ITTL, what is science fiction and fantasy like ITTL in terms of tropes and the like? Any major science fiction and fantasy franchises ITTL? Also, I assume that Russia regaining Ukraine and Georgia after their brief independence was due to the not!Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact they had with the CWR?
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Country profile - Scotland
Scotland is a country in Western Europe, bordered by the United Kingdom and the Irish Sea in the south, the Atlantic Ocean in the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast.
History
The Velvet Divorce between England and Scotland can hardly be seen as a foregone conclusion. United officially since 1707, both countries participated to the rise and fall of the British Empire, all around the globe and up to the Moon, fighting side by side during the 20th Century in the Irish War, the World War and through the Greater Game. Nevertheless, the two nations began to move their different ways after the World War: Scotland was a Labour and even Syndicalist stronghold, England became more and more conservative ; the English compensated the downfall of their international relevance by jingoism, the Scots rediscovered their Celtic roots thanks to modern research and Neo-Druidism ; the whole Great Britain suffered terribly from deindustrialization and the 1983 krach, yet Scotland could now rely on the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1970. The idea of home rule or at least federalization of Great Britain began to make its way in Scottish minds : as a gesture to Welsh and Scottish Labour MPs, Prime Minister Peter Shore made devolution a campaign promise and voted the Devolution Act in 1979, that provided Wales and Scotland with their own parliament in 1982.
However, under the Devolution Act, the Scots felt frustrated that too many powers remained in London and began to push for straight independence, even as Scottish oil began to be the main asset of a fledging British economy. The Scottish National Party, running on independence or at least full federalization under the leadership of Alex Salmond, won a majority in the 1995 local election and petitioned the Williams cabinet for the organization of a referendum, citing the example of Quebec in Canada. Prime Minister Shirley Williams obliged and held a referendum on independence on 11 September 1997 that won, against all odds, a majority of 51,89 %, thanks to vigorous campaigning from the SNP and local figures. However, due to the strong abstention for the ballot, with only 48 % coming to cast their vote, the government refused to acknowledge the results, arguing that the poor turnout heralded poor interest for independance. After a week of riots in Edinburgh and Glasgow and heavy negotiations with the SNP and new supporters for the Scottish cause, Shirley Williams resigned.
Not willing that the situation in Scotland would escalate to something equivalent to the Canadian Crisis, new Prime Minister George Robertson agreed to a second referendum, establishing the terms of quasi-immediate Scottish independence, such as trade, maritime borders, membership of the Commonwealth, the Reichspakt and the European Community, binationals and political changes within the remaining United Kingdom. On 19 November 1998, after even renewed campaigning by Scottish independantists even facilitated by the 1997 riots and the confusion of the British government, independence was voted by 55 % of voters and a 73 % turnout. Six months later, on 19 May 1999, the Acts of Union were officially dissolved and Scotland became independent again after almost four centuries of union with England.
Maintaining free trade, free passage of borders and membership of the Commonwealth, Scotland would join the European Community in 2007, even if the new kingdom stressed its independence by following the Jacobite line of succession and calling upon the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria and Lithuania as rightful heirs to the Stuarts, the last Scottish dynasts : although surprised, King Vytautas III of Lithuania responded by sending to Scotland his second son, Henrikas, who took the regnal name of Robert IV of Scotland. Thanks to preparedness and the riches of oil exploitation, Scotland enjoys one of the strongest growths in Europe and is poised to become a major player of European politics.
Political situation
Drafted by Alex Salmond in 1998 and ratified by the Scottish Parliament in 2000, Scotland is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch only holds ceremonial powers, his attributions being even more reduced than the British monarch, as all executive powers are concentrated in the Prime Minister, designated by a majority of the unicameral Parliament. Elected every four years with proportional representation for its 129 members, the Parliament received full legislative powers from the British Parliament upon independence ; it’s housed in the Old Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, with the Prime Minister seating in St. Andrew’s House. The judiciary system, based on Scots law, was already divergent from the British one before independence.
Robert IV, the first king since independence, was born Prince Henrikas of Lithuania in Kaunas, the second son of King Vytautas III. Soon after independence, willing to reassure European partners upon their moderation, distance themselves from England and reaffirm Scotland’s dynastical continuity, the government turned to the Jacobite line of succession, after the supporters of the House of Stuart’s claim to the British throne, that had ended after the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Since the House of Stuart had become extinct in 1807, the claim had passed, applying primogeniture, to the House of Savoy, the House of Este and finally to the House of Wittelsbach. King Franz of Bavaria, being childless, refuted the claim, and Vytautas III proposed his second son, barely 18, to become king of Scotland. As Jacobitism had been connected with Catholic fanaticism in the past, the Scottish government insisted that the demands made to the Wittelsbachs was a mere affirmation of the continuity of Scottish power. Prince Henrikas took the regnal name of Robert, mostly in a homage to national hero Robert Bruce ; remaining a Catholic, his proclamation ceremony on 30 November 2000 only consisted in an oath taken while seated on the Stone of Scone, that had been used for centuries for the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, and then of Great Britain. Now reigning for two decades, the monarch has had children of his own and made strong efforts to learn English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic, struggling to fix his Lithuanian accent.
The Prime Minister has been Angela Constance since 12 December 2019. A social worker and MP since 2007, she was elected in 2017 leader of the Social Democratic Party, Scotland’s main center-left party and cruised to victory on the 2019 general election, ending twelve years of Scottish National Party’s domination. Her agenda of ecology and social protection was put to a net stop by the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, forcing her to unpopular measures.
Social situation, population
One of the youngest sovereign states in the world, Scotland aligns on the European trend of an aging local population, mostly urban and concentrated in a Glasgow-Edinburgh line, rejuvenated by foreign migrants, mostly from Asia and Africa : if Scottish demography can be roughly compared to the British one, one can see an excess of deaths over births and of emigration over immigration as compared to England and Wales. Historically a country of emigration from old times, Scotland’s population has been slowly increasing thanks to immigration. The use of Scots and Scottish Gaelic remains sparse, as most of the population use mostly English and the government has no plans to enforce Celtification in the example of Ireland and Brittany. The Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church see their flock shrinking, but the local variants of Neo-Druidism also fail to gain traction, turning instead to atheism. Binationals and cross-border workers issues were quickly resolved before independence, with Scotland guaranteeing double nationality and ensuring free passage between both countries.
Since its independence in 1999, Scotland has made efforts to become even a more progressive country than the United Kingdom, legalizing homosexual marriage in 2014 and even sanitizing their political personnel in 2013, among a series of sex scandals that brought upon the downfall of Prime MInister Alex Salmond. Human rights are widely guaranteed by the law and the Constitution and Scotland is considered one of the most advanced and democratic countries in the current world, along with a good level of life, health and education : Scotland followed the same policy of systemic quarantine and lockdown that the United Kingdom in face of the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic.
Economy
One of the industrial powerhouses of the Industrial Revolution, Scotland managed to make its transition to a tertiary economy, as painfully as the 1980s depression was. Recovery was even made more comfortable thanks to a godsend : the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea in 1970, with Aberdeen as its centre, providing the future nation with steady income ; with Devolution, the Scottish Parliament made lots of efforts to direct most of the incomes towards its own infrastructures, creating the feeling that England and Wales were mere parasites to the Scottish success story. In face of ecological transition, the government has made efforts to create a sovereign fund and use opportunities for investment, but all offshore drilling and production is not yet to stop, drawing the ire of some ecologist groups.
Even if the first years after independence were marked by the high costs of nationbuilding and separation of all contacts with British administration and finance, Scotland had its fortunes softened thanks to the Commonwealth and establishing freedom of passage with the United Kingdom, solidified by a treaty of free trade in 2004 ; since the entry of Scotland inside the European Community in 2007, Edinburgh is becoming a major financial and banking centre in Europe, growing more rapidly than London, with Scottish growth in the double digits until the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic. Construction, transport equipment, shipbuilding, education, entertainment, biotechnology, textile, chemicals, agriculture, brewing, fishing, whisky and tourism are also major sectors of the economy, with the Silicon Glen, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, becoming one of Europe’s most important informatics center, as Scotland’s rather lenient fiscality for foreign companies being a major asset, even creating tensions with the United Kingdom.
Military
Upon independence, members of the Scottish Division of the British Army were offered the choice between the United Kingdom, which they had served since the Acts of Union, and their homeland : roughly three quarters of them chose Scotland. Counting with centuries of traditions, still marching with kilts and bagpipes, the Scottish Armed Forces are now devoted to protection of the country’s borders, on land, sea and air. Upon independence, Scotland chose to be an observer member of the Reichspakt, refraining from full membership until further notice, but participated to World Council peacekeeping missions. As a result, the British and the German Navies had to leave the international naval base of Scapa Flow in 2011, with the Scottish Royal Navy taking full control of it. Plans for the conversion of the once strategic naval base are being under consideration by the government.
Culture
Whisky. Kilts. Bagpipes. Cows. Heavy accent. Haggis. Beer. Caber toss. If anything, the clichés about Scotland are evidence that in spite of almost four centuries of union, Scotland managed to maintain their own cultural identity. In the years preceding independence, the idea of a Scottish separate identity brewed deeply into the general mind, engineering a true Scottish Renaissance. Now, writers like James Kelman, Irvine Welsh and Carol Ann Duffy, artists like William Johnston, Douglas Gordon and John Bellany, music bands like Self-Abusers, Jaurès, Primal Scream, Detective Rex and Susan Boyle, directors like Lynne Ramsay and Kevin Macdonald and actors like Ewan McGregor, David Tennant, Gerald Butler and Kelly Macdonald are all Scottish names known throughout the world. Along with culture, the gorgeous landscapes of rural Scotland and the trepidant lives in Glasgow and Edinburgh are seen as heavy assets for tourism.
In sports, Scotland is trying its best at appearing in a prominent position in the Football World Cup, making decent progress in the European stage and with the Scottish League growing in importance and consideration from amateurs, other than those drawn to the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers. The young nation fares much better in rugby. The cradle of golf, curling, cycling and waterpolo, Scotland is always proud to claim that the Highland Games, still held every spring and summer (with the cancellation of events in 2020 and 2021 due to the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic being felt as national tragedies), inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin when he was planning the revival of the Olympic Games.
History
The Velvet Divorce between England and Scotland can hardly be seen as a foregone conclusion. United officially since 1707, both countries participated to the rise and fall of the British Empire, all around the globe and up to the Moon, fighting side by side during the 20th Century in the Irish War, the World War and through the Greater Game. Nevertheless, the two nations began to move their different ways after the World War: Scotland was a Labour and even Syndicalist stronghold, England became more and more conservative ; the English compensated the downfall of their international relevance by jingoism, the Scots rediscovered their Celtic roots thanks to modern research and Neo-Druidism ; the whole Great Britain suffered terribly from deindustrialization and the 1983 krach, yet Scotland could now rely on the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1970. The idea of home rule or at least federalization of Great Britain began to make its way in Scottish minds : as a gesture to Welsh and Scottish Labour MPs, Prime Minister Peter Shore made devolution a campaign promise and voted the Devolution Act in 1979, that provided Wales and Scotland with their own parliament in 1982.
However, under the Devolution Act, the Scots felt frustrated that too many powers remained in London and began to push for straight independence, even as Scottish oil began to be the main asset of a fledging British economy. The Scottish National Party, running on independence or at least full federalization under the leadership of Alex Salmond, won a majority in the 1995 local election and petitioned the Williams cabinet for the organization of a referendum, citing the example of Quebec in Canada. Prime Minister Shirley Williams obliged and held a referendum on independence on 11 September 1997 that won, against all odds, a majority of 51,89 %, thanks to vigorous campaigning from the SNP and local figures. However, due to the strong abstention for the ballot, with only 48 % coming to cast their vote, the government refused to acknowledge the results, arguing that the poor turnout heralded poor interest for independance. After a week of riots in Edinburgh and Glasgow and heavy negotiations with the SNP and new supporters for the Scottish cause, Shirley Williams resigned.
Not willing that the situation in Scotland would escalate to something equivalent to the Canadian Crisis, new Prime Minister George Robertson agreed to a second referendum, establishing the terms of quasi-immediate Scottish independence, such as trade, maritime borders, membership of the Commonwealth, the Reichspakt and the European Community, binationals and political changes within the remaining United Kingdom. On 19 November 1998, after even renewed campaigning by Scottish independantists even facilitated by the 1997 riots and the confusion of the British government, independence was voted by 55 % of voters and a 73 % turnout. Six months later, on 19 May 1999, the Acts of Union were officially dissolved and Scotland became independent again after almost four centuries of union with England.
Maintaining free trade, free passage of borders and membership of the Commonwealth, Scotland would join the European Community in 2007, even if the new kingdom stressed its independence by following the Jacobite line of succession and calling upon the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria and Lithuania as rightful heirs to the Stuarts, the last Scottish dynasts : although surprised, King Vytautas III of Lithuania responded by sending to Scotland his second son, Henrikas, who took the regnal name of Robert IV of Scotland. Thanks to preparedness and the riches of oil exploitation, Scotland enjoys one of the strongest growths in Europe and is poised to become a major player of European politics.
Political situation
Drafted by Alex Salmond in 1998 and ratified by the Scottish Parliament in 2000, Scotland is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch only holds ceremonial powers, his attributions being even more reduced than the British monarch, as all executive powers are concentrated in the Prime Minister, designated by a majority of the unicameral Parliament. Elected every four years with proportional representation for its 129 members, the Parliament received full legislative powers from the British Parliament upon independence ; it’s housed in the Old Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, with the Prime Minister seating in St. Andrew’s House. The judiciary system, based on Scots law, was already divergent from the British one before independence.
Robert IV, the first king since independence, was born Prince Henrikas of Lithuania in Kaunas, the second son of King Vytautas III. Soon after independence, willing to reassure European partners upon their moderation, distance themselves from England and reaffirm Scotland’s dynastical continuity, the government turned to the Jacobite line of succession, after the supporters of the House of Stuart’s claim to the British throne, that had ended after the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Since the House of Stuart had become extinct in 1807, the claim had passed, applying primogeniture, to the House of Savoy, the House of Este and finally to the House of Wittelsbach. King Franz of Bavaria, being childless, refuted the claim, and Vytautas III proposed his second son, barely 18, to become king of Scotland. As Jacobitism had been connected with Catholic fanaticism in the past, the Scottish government insisted that the demands made to the Wittelsbachs was a mere affirmation of the continuity of Scottish power. Prince Henrikas took the regnal name of Robert, mostly in a homage to national hero Robert Bruce ; remaining a Catholic, his proclamation ceremony on 30 November 2000 only consisted in an oath taken while seated on the Stone of Scone, that had been used for centuries for the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, and then of Great Britain. Now reigning for two decades, the monarch has had children of his own and made strong efforts to learn English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic, struggling to fix his Lithuanian accent.
The Prime Minister has been Angela Constance since 12 December 2019. A social worker and MP since 2007, she was elected in 2017 leader of the Social Democratic Party, Scotland’s main center-left party and cruised to victory on the 2019 general election, ending twelve years of Scottish National Party’s domination. Her agenda of ecology and social protection was put to a net stop by the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, forcing her to unpopular measures.
Social situation, population
One of the youngest sovereign states in the world, Scotland aligns on the European trend of an aging local population, mostly urban and concentrated in a Glasgow-Edinburgh line, rejuvenated by foreign migrants, mostly from Asia and Africa : if Scottish demography can be roughly compared to the British one, one can see an excess of deaths over births and of emigration over immigration as compared to England and Wales. Historically a country of emigration from old times, Scotland’s population has been slowly increasing thanks to immigration. The use of Scots and Scottish Gaelic remains sparse, as most of the population use mostly English and the government has no plans to enforce Celtification in the example of Ireland and Brittany. The Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church see their flock shrinking, but the local variants of Neo-Druidism also fail to gain traction, turning instead to atheism. Binationals and cross-border workers issues were quickly resolved before independence, with Scotland guaranteeing double nationality and ensuring free passage between both countries.
Since its independence in 1999, Scotland has made efforts to become even a more progressive country than the United Kingdom, legalizing homosexual marriage in 2014 and even sanitizing their political personnel in 2013, among a series of sex scandals that brought upon the downfall of Prime MInister Alex Salmond. Human rights are widely guaranteed by the law and the Constitution and Scotland is considered one of the most advanced and democratic countries in the current world, along with a good level of life, health and education : Scotland followed the same policy of systemic quarantine and lockdown that the United Kingdom in face of the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic.
Economy
One of the industrial powerhouses of the Industrial Revolution, Scotland managed to make its transition to a tertiary economy, as painfully as the 1980s depression was. Recovery was even made more comfortable thanks to a godsend : the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea in 1970, with Aberdeen as its centre, providing the future nation with steady income ; with Devolution, the Scottish Parliament made lots of efforts to direct most of the incomes towards its own infrastructures, creating the feeling that England and Wales were mere parasites to the Scottish success story. In face of ecological transition, the government has made efforts to create a sovereign fund and use opportunities for investment, but all offshore drilling and production is not yet to stop, drawing the ire of some ecologist groups.
Even if the first years after independence were marked by the high costs of nationbuilding and separation of all contacts with British administration and finance, Scotland had its fortunes softened thanks to the Commonwealth and establishing freedom of passage with the United Kingdom, solidified by a treaty of free trade in 2004 ; since the entry of Scotland inside the European Community in 2007, Edinburgh is becoming a major financial and banking centre in Europe, growing more rapidly than London, with Scottish growth in the double digits until the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic. Construction, transport equipment, shipbuilding, education, entertainment, biotechnology, textile, chemicals, agriculture, brewing, fishing, whisky and tourism are also major sectors of the economy, with the Silicon Glen, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, becoming one of Europe’s most important informatics center, as Scotland’s rather lenient fiscality for foreign companies being a major asset, even creating tensions with the United Kingdom.
Military
Upon independence, members of the Scottish Division of the British Army were offered the choice between the United Kingdom, which they had served since the Acts of Union, and their homeland : roughly three quarters of them chose Scotland. Counting with centuries of traditions, still marching with kilts and bagpipes, the Scottish Armed Forces are now devoted to protection of the country’s borders, on land, sea and air. Upon independence, Scotland chose to be an observer member of the Reichspakt, refraining from full membership until further notice, but participated to World Council peacekeeping missions. As a result, the British and the German Navies had to leave the international naval base of Scapa Flow in 2011, with the Scottish Royal Navy taking full control of it. Plans for the conversion of the once strategic naval base are being under consideration by the government.
Culture
Whisky. Kilts. Bagpipes. Cows. Heavy accent. Haggis. Beer. Caber toss. If anything, the clichés about Scotland are evidence that in spite of almost four centuries of union, Scotland managed to maintain their own cultural identity. In the years preceding independence, the idea of a Scottish separate identity brewed deeply into the general mind, engineering a true Scottish Renaissance. Now, writers like James Kelman, Irvine Welsh and Carol Ann Duffy, artists like William Johnston, Douglas Gordon and John Bellany, music bands like Self-Abusers, Jaurès, Primal Scream, Detective Rex and Susan Boyle, directors like Lynne Ramsay and Kevin Macdonald and actors like Ewan McGregor, David Tennant, Gerald Butler and Kelly Macdonald are all Scottish names known throughout the world. Along with culture, the gorgeous landscapes of rural Scotland and the trepidant lives in Glasgow and Edinburgh are seen as heavy assets for tourism.
In sports, Scotland is trying its best at appearing in a prominent position in the Football World Cup, making decent progress in the European stage and with the Scottish League growing in importance and consideration from amateurs, other than those drawn to the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers. The young nation fares much better in rugby. The cradle of golf, curling, cycling and waterpolo, Scotland is always proud to claim that the Highland Games, still held every spring and summer (with the cancellation of events in 2020 and 2021 due to the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic being felt as national tragedies), inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin when he was planning the revival of the Olympic Games.
Kudos for noticing !
Well, I have some ideas about science fiction, like Dune having its own franchise after a catastrophic yet seminal Jodorowsky adaptation. I have liked Alan Moore's take on pirate tales becoming the main comics trend in Watchmen, filling the void created by the lack of superheroes.
As of Ukraine and Georgia, it's just Germany took more than it could chew.
Gazeta Polska (Poland) - 15 January 2022
Poland Is Not Yet Lost : Meeting the Poles of Kanaky
By Kamila Kaczyńska
Daniel Kolek to show his visitors the stern-looking, black and white photographic portrait on the wall of his living room. “This is my grandfather Grzegorz” says the 55-year-old travel agent, very proud. “He had served in the Russian Imperial Army before he defected to join the Austro-Hungarian Army, having heard of the Polish Legions led by Jozef Pilsudski. He became aide de camp to the Komendant, fighting with him to the bitter end during the Oath War. He would follow Pilsudski even in exile, ending up here.”
This scene would be expected in the Polish countryside, but the twist is that Daniel Kolek lives in the outskirts of Noumea, the capital of Kanaky. Kolek is one of the prominent members of the 3,000-something Polish community of Kanaky, more than 15000 kilometers away from Warsaw.
“Poland is Not Yet Lost”
If one would be amazed to meet a Pole in the antipodes, one should remember the history of Kanaky, or New Caledonia as it was known during most of the XXth Century. Formerly French, the archipelago became German following the 1920 Treaty of Amiens : in order to take advantage of the mining riches and having such a remote yet inhospitable addition to its empire, Germany decided to “encourage” settlement by turning New Caledonia into a penal colony, sending the many rebels of Mitteleuropa, including Grzegorz Kolek along with the leaders of the Oath War, to purge their sentence working in the nickel mines.
“When my grandfather completed his sentence, he didn’t think about returning to Poland. The motherland was so far away and he knew that most of the Polish intelligentsia laid dead or exiled like him. So he made a point about settling in his new land and proving to the Germans that Poland would endure and, as the warcry says, that the motherland is not yet lost” says Daniel is his stitled Polish, mixed some time with French words. The Poles, along with Ruthenians, Russians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Livonians and Ukrainians sent in Kanaky by the Germans participate to the unique mix of Kanaky, one of the most multicultural countries of the world.
The Poles of Kanaky however stay among themselves. “We made a point of honour not to collaborate with the Germans, as the Caldoches (settlers of French origin) did, nor with the Syndicalists, the Jews or the browns”. The browns are the Kanaks, the indigenes of Kanaky, in power since independence : Anatole Niemczyk lives farther than Daniel Kolek, in an impoverished farm and his family had to leave the Polish community. Niemczyk speaks a Polish of lesser quality, the so-called “Polish Kanak pidgin” because his ancestor decided to marry with a Kanak woman and was ostracized as such. “The prejudices followed the Polish nationalists in their exile, and preserving the race was among their tenets. Other Poles married with Caldoches, Russians or even Germans, but they never dared to mix with the indigenes”.
Due to hatred towards the Germans, the Polish community of Kanaky sided nevertheless with the rebels during the war of independence but they form a strong conservative and Catholic bloc inside the settler community, protesting Kanak nationalism from the government ; Kolek was a leader of the “Poles for Poadja” movement that supported current President Gérard Poadja, opposed to Marxhaist nationalists. “We, Polish Kanakians, fought as much as everyone on this island to earn our right to live. Why should be ashamed and being accused of colonialism by the browns?” says he, sitting under a huge cross.
Now living on Kanaky for a hundred years, neither Kolek or Niemczyk thought about returning to Poland : some of their neighbours did, they now consider Kanaky as their home. “We are not the first Poles to have emigrated. Anyway, we saw the news from the motherland. It’s as dire as it was during the Oath War. We don’t want to return to an irradiated and impoverished country” explains Niemczyk, even if a visit by President Gagor, graciously invited by Roch Wamytan in 2018, was cheered upon by the Polish community. “Poland is where the heart is” concludes Niemczyk, knowing that there is no palm trees in Lesser Poland, where his great-grandfather came from.
By Kamila Kaczyńska
Daniel Kolek to show his visitors the stern-looking, black and white photographic portrait on the wall of his living room. “This is my grandfather Grzegorz” says the 55-year-old travel agent, very proud. “He had served in the Russian Imperial Army before he defected to join the Austro-Hungarian Army, having heard of the Polish Legions led by Jozef Pilsudski. He became aide de camp to the Komendant, fighting with him to the bitter end during the Oath War. He would follow Pilsudski even in exile, ending up here.”
This scene would be expected in the Polish countryside, but the twist is that Daniel Kolek lives in the outskirts of Noumea, the capital of Kanaky. Kolek is one of the prominent members of the 3,000-something Polish community of Kanaky, more than 15000 kilometers away from Warsaw.
“Poland is Not Yet Lost”
If one would be amazed to meet a Pole in the antipodes, one should remember the history of Kanaky, or New Caledonia as it was known during most of the XXth Century. Formerly French, the archipelago became German following the 1920 Treaty of Amiens : in order to take advantage of the mining riches and having such a remote yet inhospitable addition to its empire, Germany decided to “encourage” settlement by turning New Caledonia into a penal colony, sending the many rebels of Mitteleuropa, including Grzegorz Kolek along with the leaders of the Oath War, to purge their sentence working in the nickel mines.
“When my grandfather completed his sentence, he didn’t think about returning to Poland. The motherland was so far away and he knew that most of the Polish intelligentsia laid dead or exiled like him. So he made a point about settling in his new land and proving to the Germans that Poland would endure and, as the warcry says, that the motherland is not yet lost” says Daniel is his stitled Polish, mixed some time with French words. The Poles, along with Ruthenians, Russians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Livonians and Ukrainians sent in Kanaky by the Germans participate to the unique mix of Kanaky, one of the most multicultural countries of the world.
The Poles of Kanaky however stay among themselves. “We made a point of honour not to collaborate with the Germans, as the Caldoches (settlers of French origin) did, nor with the Syndicalists, the Jews or the browns”. The browns are the Kanaks, the indigenes of Kanaky, in power since independence : Anatole Niemczyk lives farther than Daniel Kolek, in an impoverished farm and his family had to leave the Polish community. Niemczyk speaks a Polish of lesser quality, the so-called “Polish Kanak pidgin” because his ancestor decided to marry with a Kanak woman and was ostracized as such. “The prejudices followed the Polish nationalists in their exile, and preserving the race was among their tenets. Other Poles married with Caldoches, Russians or even Germans, but they never dared to mix with the indigenes”.
Due to hatred towards the Germans, the Polish community of Kanaky sided nevertheless with the rebels during the war of independence but they form a strong conservative and Catholic bloc inside the settler community, protesting Kanak nationalism from the government ; Kolek was a leader of the “Poles for Poadja” movement that supported current President Gérard Poadja, opposed to Marxhaist nationalists. “We, Polish Kanakians, fought as much as everyone on this island to earn our right to live. Why should be ashamed and being accused of colonialism by the browns?” says he, sitting under a huge cross.
Now living on Kanaky for a hundred years, neither Kolek or Niemczyk thought about returning to Poland : some of their neighbours did, they now consider Kanaky as their home. “We are not the first Poles to have emigrated. Anyway, we saw the news from the motherland. It’s as dire as it was during the Oath War. We don’t want to return to an irradiated and impoverished country” explains Niemczyk, even if a visit by President Gagor, graciously invited by Roch Wamytan in 2018, was cheered upon by the Polish community. “Poland is where the heart is” concludes Niemczyk, knowing that there is no palm trees in Lesser Poland, where his great-grandfather came from.
What was the "Muslim Genocide" Bharatvarsha committed like? Was it similar to the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide or was it more like the Poles and Czechs kicking out their German minority after WW2 or somewhere in between?