Pouvanaa a Oopa

Biography

Early life

Pouvanaa a Oopa was born in 1895 in Maeva, on the island of Huahine.

He was a veteran of World War I, serving in the Pacific Battalion of the French army.

Politics

During World War II, Pouvanaa criticized people who profited financially from the war, and was exiled to a reef islet in his native Huahine in 1942. Following the end of the war and the liberation of France, Pouvanaa continued to criticize French colonial rule in the islands. In 1947 he was prosecuted for "challenging government authority", but acquitted. In October 1947 he founded a political party, the Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People (RDPT), which advocated Tahitian nationalism and an end to French colonial rule.

Pouvanaa was first elected as a deputy in the National Assembly of France in the 1949 French Oceania by-election, following the death of Georges Ahnne, becoming the first French Polynesian to serve in the French Chamber of Deputies. and 1956.

He became the leader of the local government administration of the islands in 1958. Under the slogan of "Tahiti for the Tahitians; Frenchmen into the sea!", Pouvanaa's RDPT swept local elections.

Pouvanaa was a strong advocate of in favor of independence for French Polynesia during the French Polynesian referendum of 1958, which was part of the wider French constitutional referendum. The 'no' vote was defeated in the referendum by a margin of 62–36%, and French Polynesia remained a French territory. However, some local commentators believe 'no' would have won if they had been able to campaign freely.

Arrest and exile in France

In 1958 Pouvanaa was charged with arson in Papeete. He was released from prison in 1962. French President Charles de Gaulle pardoned Pouvanaa in 1968 and he returned to French Polynesia in 1969.

Later life

Pouvanaa campaigned for and was elected to the French Senate, representing French Polynesia, in 1971. He continued to hold this office until his death in 1977.

Pouvanaa died on January 10, 1977, in Tahiti.

Legacy

In 1982, the Pouvanaa a Oopa Monument was erected in Papeete in front of the Assembly of French Polynesia. The memorial in memory of Pouvanaa became a rallying point for Tahitian during the French nuclear tests of 1995. Nearly one third of the Tahitian adult population gathered at Pouvanaa's memorial in July 1995 to protest against French nuclear detonations in the Tuamotu Archipelago. A street in Papeete, Avenue Pouvanaa A Oopa, is also named in his honor.

Pouvanaa's family requested a new trial in 1988, though their request was denied by the French Justice Department in Paris.

In July 2009, the Assembly of French Polynesia unanimously passed a resolution asking the French government for a new trial for Pouvanaa a Oopa. The call was repeated in 2013. In 2018 his conviction was quashed by the Court of Revision after new evidence showed that French police had fabricated evidence or extracted it by threats of violence, and that the Governor had reported Pouvanaa's arrest before the fires had even been set. Patrick O'Reilly claimed that the accusations were the result of a "Molotov cocktail [that] had been thrown over a wall by a city employee, and then recovered by another city employee."

Notes

References

References

1. "Tetuaapua, Pouvanaa Oopa". Assemblée nationale 2019.
2. Kernahan, Mel. (1995). "White Savages in the South Seas". Verso.
3. (February 1950). "NOTES FROM FRENCH OCEANIA". Pacific Islands Monthly.
4. (1 February 1956). "Fr. Oceania Re-Elects Pouvanaa a Oopa". Pacific Islands Monthly.
5. (1 April 1958). "LEFTIST PARTY TAKES OVER IN FRENCH POLYNESIA". Pacific Islands Monthly.
6. (1 May 1958). "WORK CEASES IN PAPEETE Tahiti Assembly Stoned: New Tax Hurriedly Repealed". Pacific Islands Monthly.
7. (1 November 1958). "Pouvanaa and 22 Others Arrested". Pacific Islands Monthly.
8. (1 November 1962). "News From French Polynesia New Deal For The Isolated Marquesas". Pacific Islands Monthly.
9. (1 October 1971). "SENATOR POUVANAA!". Pacific Islands Monthly.
10. (1 March 1977). "TAHITI LOSES TWO OF ITS MOST COLOURFUL VETERANS". Pacific Islands Monthly.
11. (1 July 1982). "Pouvanaa: A monumental blunder?". Pacific Islands Monthly.
12. Stanley, David. (2003). "Moon Handbooks Tahiti: Including the Cook Islands".
13. (3 July 2006). "TEMARU PUSHES PAPEETE STREET NAME CHANGES". Pacific Islands Report.
14. (9 July 2009). "Call to rehabilitate French Polynesia’s Pouvanaa a Oopa". [[Radio New Zealand]].
15. (18 February 2013). "Call to review 1959 conviction of Tahiti's Pouvanaa". [[RNZ]].
16. (26 October 2018). "French court quashes conviction of Tahitian separatist leader". [[RNZ]].
17. (25 October 2018). "L’ancien député polynésien Pouvana’a a Oopa innocenté soixante ans après". Le Monde.
18. [http://www.tenete-tahiti.org/pdf/Oreilly.pdf ''Carnet de Route Oceanien''],by [[Patrick O'Reilly (ethnologist). Patrick O'Reilly]]; published 2012 by Le Rocher-a-la-Voile, New Caledonia; {{ISBN. 9782953950915; archived at Tenete-Tahiti.org