Charles 'Charly' Pidjot (17 July 1962 - 11 September 2012) was a pro-independence politician from New Caledonia who was a member of the

Kanak people The Kanak (French language, French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, Pacifi ...

. He was born in the community of Conceptions in Le Mont-Dore (

New-Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

) and was the president of the

Caledonian Union The Caledonian Union (, UC) is a pro-independence and the oldest political party in New Caledonia. In the latest legislative elections of May 10, 2009, the party won around 11.65% of the popular vote, and 9 out of 54 seats in the Territorial ...

from 8 November 2007 to his death.

Political heritage

Pidjot was born into a veritable political dynasty as a relative of Rock Pidjot, who was an early elected representative of New Caledonia from 1964 to 1986. From 1956 to 1985 he was the first president of

. At the beginnings he was an

autonomist Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tend ...

, but later became an independentist. His brother, Raphaël also became a militarist independentist as the president of the South Pacific Society of Miners. (This society was founded by those who wanted to assure the participation of the native Kanak people in the mining of the territory). Raphaël Pidjot and other leaders of the organization died in 2000 in a helicopter accident.

References

1962 births 2012 deaths Caledonian Union politicians Kanak people {{NewCaledonia-politician-stub