Film Screening in Wellington - Rebellion (L’ordre et la Morale). France 2011
Rebellion, directed by Mathieu Kassovitz is a dramatisation of the events on the New Caledonian island of Ouvea in 1988 when pro-independence Kanak activists took a group of French gendarmes hostage. Screening Friday March 21st 6.30pm The People's Cinema, Manners Street (over the road from McDonald's), Wellington. This was a crucial event in the long Kanak struggle for independence from France. Rebellions in 1871 and 1917 were followed by increasing pro-independence activism from the late 1960s. In 1981 a Kanak trade union, the USTKE was formed, followed in 1984 by the FLNKS, a pro-independence federation. During the late '80s pro and anti-independence activity led to protests and armed clashes. Much grassroots organising took place amongst the indigenous Kanaks including the establishment of the grassroots school network, the Ecole Populaire Kanak. The lack of reaction by the FLNKS leadership to the Ouvea hostage situation created a perception of the distancing of the