We live in a 3D world. An STS 3D world. It's a grim fact, and so 3D geo-political analysis has got to have its place. But awareness of 4D is a hell of an advantage, but it's not going to help you survive when all hell is breaking loose in your neck of the woods. Unfortunately, I speak from personal experience.
New Caledonia is a French Overseas Territory in the South Pacific, one of the world's great nickel reserves. However, the indigenous Kanaks have been seeking Independence from the French State almost since colonisation. The last great violent uprising, the civil war in the mid 1980s, was concluded with an agreement on a 30-year road map to self-determination, which culminated in 3 referenda on independence which took place in 2018, 2020 and 2021. The French loyalist vote triumphed in each case, though the third referendum remains contested by the pro-independence parties who called for their supporters to boycott the vote. To cut a very long story short, in November 2023, one of the radical pro-independence parties created a separate structure, the Cell for Coordination of Field Action (le CCAT, in French) to contest, in a more muscular way, the proposed opening of the electorate to long-term New Caledonian residents, which would bring an end to the pro-independence parties' dream of gaining independence through democratic process.
The vote on the electoral reform was passed in the French Senate, and then in the National Assembly (13th May, the beginning of the riots), and thus only needs to be passed in the Congress of Versailles (the Senate and the National Assembly, the French Parliament, in a joint vote) to become law. However, on the night of the vote in the National Assembly, riots broke out in the industrial and working-class districts of the capital city, Nouméa, and the three surrounding communes. The rioters were thousands of young Kanaks, between 15-25 years old, plied with alcohol, cannabis and amphetamines by the CCAT, and told to destroy everything! And they did. Basically, in a three-night blitzkrieg (though the we're still in a state of unrest three weeks later) they destroyed over 500 companies (factories, shops, warehouses, car showrooms), caused upwards of €1bn of damage, razed countless houses, burnt who-knows-how-many cars, and caused the loss of approximately 5,000 jobs and temporary unemployment for 15,000 more. And the worst was avoided! Only rapid intervention from the elite military police units prevented the rioters taking control of the airport (key for military reinforcements from France) and the port (key for food supply lines), and also prevented them from blowing up Nouméa's petrol and gas reserves and cutting the water supply. Let that sink in.
Whole districts and major roads were sealed off with roadblocks by the rioters, to the extent that the southern districts of Nouméa were blocked off from the rest of New Caledonia for nearly two weeks and no food could be delivered to the remaining supermarkets, and the rioters became the law in their own mini-fiefdoms. Access to the hospitals were blocked, and numerous schools have been burnt down or even used as observation posts for snipers who have tried to shoot down French military aircraft. The French military and police have been targeted by the rioters, with over 150 wounded and 1 death so far. Though there have been 'only' 7 deaths directly resulting from violence, many old and sick people, and even babies, have died from not being able to get the medical help they require.
This is where it gets interesting and particularly relevant to this thread. The meticulous organisation of the riots, the guerrilla warfare strategies, the methodical manipulation of the international and national press to present the extreme violence as a justified protest for freedom from colonisation, a vicious smear campaign against the French loyalists, and the saturation of the social media networks show this is not simply civil unrest, but a coup d'état supported by a foreign state. Caches of foreign weapons have been found, and at the beginning of the riots, a massive cyber-attack from overseas tried to take down New Caledonia's internet. Azerbaijan remains the prime suspect, the same country whose Parliament, incidentally, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in April with the radical pro-independence President of New Caledonia's Congress.
You may recall that Azerbaijan doesn't appreciate Macron meddling in its war against Armenia, and Azerbaijan has close ties with Russia, which doesn't appreciate Macron's tub-thumping support for Ukraine and the French soldiers on Ukrainian soil.
The Élysée Palace gave local politicians a month to find a political solution to the situation (!), but order has not been fully restored despite the presence of 3500 military/police personnel, and the CCAT have continued to issue ultimatums to Macron to withdraw the electoral reform under the threat of upping the ante to take down the institutions (Congress, Government, Town Halls, Provincial Councils).
Unless Macron pulls a rabbit out of a hat, he has two basic options: give in to the the CCAT's demands and risk an equally violent response from the exhausted and scared French loyalists, or use military force to restore Republican law and order. In any case, the economy is wrecked, the social fabric of the country has been torn apart and a mass exodus is on the cards, as soon as flights start up again.
Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the catastrophe of the three nickel factories and the looming shadow of China.
If we join the dots, we might see this as merely the hors d'oeuvre for 4D STS!
Have a great day!