Contrary to popular belief, the French have never been in favour of colonization, but a pressure group, self-proclaimed "Colonial Party", did manage to use its army to conquer economic opportunities. This pressure group, revived by presidents Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Emmanuel Macron, laid the foundations for the current crisis in Mayotte and New Caledonia. If the policies they have imposed continue, the populations of these territories will be forced to wage war to regain their dignity, as was the case in Indochina and Algeria.

The Kanak revolt in New Caledonia and growing insecurity in Mayotte highlight France’s difficulties with its former Empire.

To understand what’s going on, we need to bear in mind that French colonization bears no relation to the forms of colonization practiced by the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain or the Netherlands. The republican ideal, which has been France’s since the 17th century (Henri IV was the first monarch to declare himself a republican), forbade it to colonize exclusively to enrich itself. The French champions of colonialism all claimed to be "doing the work of civilization". By republic, I mean governing in the general interest, not that of a caste or social class.

From the 16th to the 19th century, most colonized peoples had neither the education nor the technology of Europeans. Some wanted to bridge the gap, while others wanted to exploit it. Throughout the colonial epic, two currents fought it out in France: one for emancipation, the other for colonization. This internal battle found its expression in the parliamentary debate between the socialist Jules Ferry and the radical republican Georges Clemenceau on July 31, 1885 in the National Assembly.

Let’s listen for a moment to Georges Clemenceau’s speech:

“"The superior races have a right over the inferior races which they exercise, and this right, by a particular transformation, is at the same time a duty of civilization". These are the very terms of Monsieur Jules Ferry’s thesis, and we see the French government exercising its right over the inferior races by going to war against them and forcibly converting them to the benefits of civilization. Superior races! Inferior races, that’s all! Personally, I’ve been having a hard time of it ever since I saw German scientists scientifically demonstrating that France should be defeated in the Franco-German War [1870] because the French are of an inferior race to the Germans. Since then, I confess, I’ve looked twice before turning to a man or a civilization, and pronouncing: inferior man or civilizations (...) Inferior race, the Chinese! With this civilization whose origins are unknown and which seems to have been pushed to its extreme limits at first. Inferior Confucius! In truth [...] we can see documents, which certainly prove that the yellow race [...] is in no way inferior [to the Europeans].”

From an economic point of view, French colonization was aimed at finding outlets for the export of industrial production, while British colonization was aimed, on the contrary, at finding raw materials and putting them at the service of British industry.

From a philosophical point of view, French colonization was justified by the theory of races and their hierarchy. But it was clear from the start that no Frenchman could believe it. This argument was exclusively a matter of political communication. Moreover, unlike other colonial peoples, the French always tried to understand the civilization of the countries where they settled, and to mix with other peoples. In contrast, the British created exclusive clubs for them in their colonies, while........

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