Book 233: New Caledonia / Kanaky (French) – Tâdo tâdo wéé ou “No more baby” (Déwé GORODÉ)

 

Towards the close of the afternoon, after these useful and playful activities, the children gathered in order to bathe in the waves of the rising tide, where they splashed each other or tried diving while holding their breath, in the water, for as long as possible. They emerged to build little huts with sand, to play at throwing it at themselves or dodging the foam of the waves. On the beach, they traced ephemeral drawings which they admired with the same joy as they got from seeing the tide wipe them out. Some of them imagined that the waves were carrying off these forms to redraw them elsewhere, on the nearest visible island or in some country of dolphins and sirens, on the sea floor.

 

[my translation]

 

This one is in French and hasn’t been translated into English (and I suspect it won’t be).

This big Melanesian island has been colonised by the French. The indigenous Kanaks, who would like it to be called Kanaky, are now a minority in their own country so gaining independence has been a struggle, sometimes violent, since the French settlers and other communities (e.g., other Pacific Islanders, Vietnamese) almost invariably vote against independence. As they inched into minority status and they realised they were forever losing their chance of controling their fate, the Kanaks launched into a violent rebellion in the 1980s. To try to solve the problem, in the last few years France has held a series of three independence referendums, all of which have so far been defeated. In the final one in 2021, the Kanaks’ leaders called for a (refused) delay to the vote, citing the covid epidemic, and the boycott which followed meant that less than half the population voted, but almost all of those who did so voted to remain with France. So the situation remains very uncertain. France has been pouring in development money, no doubt in the hope of keeping this beautiful island.

This novel, by one of the most prominent Kanak independence leaders, politicians and feminists, purports to be the Kanak version of their history and struggle through the 20th century, split between a traditional view of ‘Coutume’ (customary) society, a Marxist independence struggle, and a feminist worldview, trying (not always successfully) to reconcile these apparently contradictory currents. The heroine Tâdo is influenced by the Algerian and Indonesian independence struggles.

We meet her first as a small girl, later she becomes a teacher and heavily involved in the independence struggle. No doubt there is a lot of autobiography in here…

The bizarre title comes from Tâdo’s childhood nickname, Tâdo, Tâdo, wéé!, which comes from a local tale in which a crab calls Tâdo’s namesake in this way. She is always being called like that since she was a girl. (In French, ‘crabe’ means not only ‘crab’ but also ‘cancer’ – which crops up in the novel).

As a novel, I felt this one left something to be desired. But maybe that’s just my conception of what a novel should have, and I need to expand my views… There is hardly any dialogue and it wasn’t engaging for me. The book ends in unconnected ‘news flashes’ from around the world, and a grab-bag of seemingly unconnected poems. I’m not an expert on poetry, but I suspect that Gorodé’s abundant poems in the book are better than the prose… As a novel it seemed a bit of a mess without much of a plot. In short, it wasn’t the best novel I’ve read for this project, but for New Caledonia, there’s very little out there…

The former independence leader, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, who seemingly could have become a great leader were he not assassinated in 1989, strangely is hardly mentioned in the story (perhaps because Gorodé – also spelled Gorodey – co-founded a different pro-independence party, PALIKA). However he does receive a long final quote.

There are a few errors of fact in the book. Sydney is not the capital of Australia, its ‘Harbourg Bridge’ [sic] sounds like it should be somewhere in France! I felt that what is here called the “very Western” “obsession” with terrorism sounded a bit racist… I’m sure ordinary people in places which suffer even more from it, such as in the Middle East or the southern Philippines, are not very happy about the prospect of living and dying with it…

I did get a sense of the battle the Kanaks face not only to gain independence against the demographic and political odds, but also to maintain their traditional society, and respect for their elders, in face of modern ‘drugs’ (both actual and metaphorical).

The author herself suffered from cancer, and died three months before I finished the book. From 2001-9 she served almost continuously as vice-president of the New Caledonian government.

 

Gorodé, Déwé (1949 – 2022), Tâdo, Tâdo, wéé! ou “No more baby”, Pirae (Tahiti), Au Vent Des Iles, 2012, ISBN 978-2-9156-5493-6