Tonga, le dernier royaume du Pacifique préservé du monde moderne – Documentaire Découverte - GD

Tonga an archipelago of 176 lost islands in the heart of the South Pacific It is the oldest kingdom in Polynesia He is currently facing the challenge of globalization Two-thirds of the population live on the largest island of the country Tonga Tapu This is the political and economic heart of the archipelago The historical cradle of this monarchy at the edge of the world At the head of the country King Tupou VI is the 82nd monarch in the history of Tonga All kings come from the same lineage dating back to antiquity The king a protective figure in a society considered the most stratified in Polynesia uniting nobility and commoners around the royal family We all belong to a kinship system that connects us to the monarchy This system is represented by what is called the Kava Circle The king of Tonga is at the center of this ceremonial circle Assisting him are members of the royal family the nobles and the elders of the families from the people This circle represents about 300 people All Tongians around the world have been connected to these people for centuries To understand this singular country one must go back in history and head east on the island At Lapa the royal necropolis of the Tongan kings since the 11th century a unique site in Polynesia The location is highly symbolic for Lord Vaea one of the most respected nobles in the kingdom These places are filled with spirituality They speak to us about the past but also about our future We the Tongans believe that our ancestors have a special power that of watching over us They are paving our way ensuring that we remain united Lord Vaea knows the great story of this people of shipbuilding sailors These huge stones were cut from a single block of rock it's coral Then our ancestors put them on canoes to bring them here There was a large canal back then At high tide the boats could come this far These stones come from all along the island's coastline This shows how skilled our ancestors were in the techniques of cutting and transporting These imposing tombs were meant to reflect the power of the Tongian Empire In the 13th century royal power extended across the South Pacific And soon Tonga dominated a vast region stretching from Hawaii to Pak Island passing through New Zealand and the Polynesian triangle Our ancestors built their empire by facing the ocean over great distances They had an incredible ability to survive They had faith in their king It took them a lot of courage to live in such a hostile environment Imagine the storms the fury of the ocean Their strength was also in being able to build a strong society on these small islands We are their heirs Near the tombs they also left to posterity this monument one of the most famous in the Pacific the Ha-Monga Built according to legend by the demi-god Maoui the stones were too heavy to be moved by mortals The capital of Tonga was here in the 13th century Over time the kings moved the center of their power And finally in the 19th century they chose Nuku-Alofa as their capital Here is the royal palace He was erected by the most important monarch in contemporary Tongan history King Tupou I It was he who united all the islands of the archipelago into a kingdom and then established a constitutional monarchy the ninth in the world at that time But above all King Tupou I managed to preserve the independence of his country In the 19th century Europeans came to the Pacific and tried to annex everything The king of Tonga then conducted skillful diplomacy He signed treaties with them The first one was with France Why sign a friendship treaty Because it means you recognize Tonga as an independent kingdom And that you recognize me as the head of state In 1900 Tonga becomes a British protectorate And 70 years later the archipelago gains its independence becoming a member of the Commonwealth Here the past is constantly intertwined with the present In the heart of the capital the kings of the current Tupou dynasty erected this mausoleum which follows the architecture of ancient tombs We are now going west of the island where my clan is from I am the chief of the Houma village My role is to assist at all ceremonies such as weddings or funerals I also take care of the well-being of the 6000 residents of my village I take care of the roads water electricity and even the public schools I have a very important role in this village Lord Vaea is also and above all the one who grants the land In Tonga the land belongs to the king who grants it to the nobles who in turn are responsible for redistributing it to the elders of their clan's families No one can buy or sell property the constitution prohibits it Hey guys please bring the food inside the room Our parishioners cooked a lot of things each person brought one or several dishes On that day in Houma the members of the Protestant church were preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their parish The pig is important for our culture and traditions We eat it on the occasion of major holidays The small pig is for banquets like today The crown is given as a gift during the king's coronation or at royal weddings You see this kind of event For this special day the village chief wore one of his most beautiful taowala The taowala is a mat held in place by a conut fiber belt The kava ceremony opens this day Around Lord Vaea the village family leaders You must understand that we live on a small island Our traditions have allowed us to maintain our unity and not disappear That day Lord Vaea presided over the church's fundraising event It is customary for all parishioners to make a donation We thank Lord Vaea and his family for offering 2000 paungas Everyone respects the nobles Lord Vaea is a very important man for us He is in a way the father of our clan of our village He helps us Thanks to him the elders of the families benefit from land They can build their house and have land And that's the same everywhere else in Tonga Here nobility is completely different from that which exists in Europe We are the guardians of traditions that date back more than 2000 years and have shaped our society Like the practice of kava or our system of kinship in the broad sense It is vital to keep this on our small island 33 nobles keep watch over the 100 000 inhabitants of the archipelago The other pillar of the country's social organization is religion It's good when you hear that note rise And not Listen to how the instruments sound The note must gradually rise as it goes up Listen to the group's rhythm Maka is the choir director of the Royal Tongan Choir Tomorrow is an important day He must attend the grand service of the Westlayen Protestant church to which the monarch belongs Sunday is a very special day here It is the Lord's day Everyone is waiting for this moment with great anticipation The entire population goes to church Not only our church but also the churches of other religious groups Catholics Methodists and all the others On Sundays everyone goes to mass Tonga is one of the most religious countries in the world In the capital dozens of churches have been built to accommodate the faithful Catholics Orthodox Adventists Methodists Mormons Westleys When Christian missionaries arrived on the island in the 19th century they converted King Tupou I We have replaced our old gods with the god of the Christians You must also understand that the Tongians like to live in groups And the most obvious and easiest group to integrate is the church The next morning at the Westlayan church the Protestant majority was in Tonga The king and his wife will honor the service with their presence On Sundays everything is closed Restaurants fast-food places bars No one is allowed to work or do sports No one is allowed to swim either It's really special The only services open are hospitals for sick people and the police in case of criminal acts or problems The airport is also closed Even medical planes can fly On Sundays people go to church and stay with their families Here most schools are religiously affiliated Every morning it's the same ritual Here is Shalom a senior student The families in which we grow up the people around us the environment society everything is based on religion That is why everyone believes in God in Tonga This has also helped maintain our unity Here the concept of mutual aid is essential I know that in other countries it's not like that People prefer to mind their own business But in Tonga because of our kinship system other people's matters are your matters When something happens to your neighbor it's like it's happening to your brother or sister You will always want to help him to give him a hand That is how one lives here Of course Shalom and her friends surf the internet use social media but they remain very attached to the values of Tongian society The king is like a guide for us He teaches us respect Yes respect for others respect for people Those of higher rank or older age as well as the poor The king also teaches us to respect our neighbors and everything we love No other country has colonized us If we hadn't had a king They might have been colonized by America or England perhaps For example in Australia look at the Aboriginal people They were the original inhabitants But in the end it was the foreigners who took control We are lucky to have a king Because it allows us to keep our land Yes it's the same thing in New Zealand with the Maori people who were completely dominated Yes it's quite sad Imagine if we had been colonized We might have become slaves working for others I like something else about the king He is tall And he is handsome Yes not like these small kings Just by looking at them it's hard to believe they control a country Yes we have a strong king It was a great opportunity in 2015 to attend the coronation of the king the most important event in the kingdom It was the first time I danced in front of the king On interpreted the malo a traditional dance among the most famous of Tonga I grew up with this dance the maoloolo You have to do it like this Especially don't move your lower body The only part of your body that will move is your hand Sometimes the haka the dance movements can be different You just bring your hands together to move your body Sometimes you can do that and do that and go further So you move your body but without moving your legs Like this Yes you can move a bit That's called a teki That day I was proud excited and happy So many wild feelings The fact of being there dancing in front of the king That means you honor it Youth is the great wealth of Tonga The number of high school graduates is one of the highest in this region of the world A youth dreaming more and more of elsewhere Hello would like to study in the United States But only the most deserving will be able to obtain a scholarship join the diaspora Without the help of the 100 000 Tongan migrants the kingdom would economically collapse The largest portion of our income comes from financial aid from the diaspora Imagine you work as a maintenance worker somewhere in Paris You earn money And so your duty is to help your father and mother Therefore you send them money for example so that they can build a house A large portion of the houses here in Tonga were built by our relatives who live abroad Leaving becomes then a necessity and why not through rugby Rugby is in our blood He is in the hearts of the Tongians Everyone grows up here knowing that rugby is a sport that can take you far Many Tongans make a living by playing in professional clubs abroad We here are not yet professionals we are amateurs The dream of young players is to play abroad in France England or Wales His son Philo Kalafi 16 years old is one of the great hopes of Tongan rugby A New Zealand club has just offered him a scholarship Since I was very young I have had a passion for rugby My father helped me a lot He helped me learn I've always dreamed of playing abroad I fought to be among the best At the end of the year it's the graduation ceremony The next prize is special It will be awarded to a talented rugby player He plays in the under-16s He received a scholarship to study at the University of Auckland This award goes to Philo Kalafi in Koholo This year only a handful of young rugby players were selected across the entire archipelago Philo Kalafi will be leaving for Auckland with his brother Selwyn who also received a scholarship but to study medicine I am very moved because this is the last time I will see them here I won't see them for a little while I'll miss them We send them to study to perfect their education Perhaps they will return But you know life goes on They may get married there stay there and not return to their country until much later In most cases the Tongans remain abroad But when they decide to return it is also good for us Most people in the government as well as the judges were educated abroad The children's departure is scheduled in a few days Will they return to live in Tonga No one knows For years their father has watched the best of the youth leave He is an attentive observer of Tongan society Head of the weekly Talaki the most read in the archipelago Today the journalist can practice his profession calmly The press has much more freedom than it has in the past ten years Previously newspapers were under the control of the power The king and the nobles controlled everything Opposition parties and unions did not exist A situation that the journalist denounced In 1996 I was sent to prison with one of my colleagues who is now prime minister We were so angry at the government We thought the policy being followed was not the right one We wanted more freedom more rapid changes At that time King Tupou IV ruled unchallenged over a miserable population whose annual per capita product is one of the lowest in the world The monarch's power is almost absolute He selects the deputies to the parliament The aristocracy occupies more than two-thirds of the seats at this time The royal family is seizing the country's main treasures In the capital the rebellion is growing On Thursday November 16 2006 shortly after the death of Tupou IV democracy supporters gathered on this street e largest in the capital They are demanding free elections Do you see the building over there under construction In 2006 this is where the democracy supporters gathered They were there from the morning For the first time in the country's history Thousands of people are in the street They started setting fire to this place It was a hotel owned by Indians Then they set fire to all the houses along the avenue up to the building at the far end Everything went up in smoke It was chaos There were ashes everywhere In the rubble eight charred bodies will be found This day the Tongans call it "Black Thursday " The new king who succeeds Tupou IV will listen to the democratic aspirations of his people The monarch organized the kingdom's first free elections in 2010 Of the 33 seats in the Parliament the nobles now have only nine The majority of the deputies come from the people The king retains however a veto power over the laws passed Before we did not live in a democracy Now we are free But in fact nothing has changed You always find people who want to rise to the top of society by crushing others And above all the rich have become even richer and the poor become even poorer Only a few Tongans who manage to obtain a work visa join the diaspora in New Zealand In Australia or the United States Work is scarce on the archipelago There people live off tourism agriculture and fishing I am going there to that small island called Pangay Motu That's where I go to collect my shells You can find a lot of seafood in this area I like to fish That's how I make a living I don't have much time to think about anything else because I have to provide for my family They depend on me Villamy is about to turn 18 and already has heavy responsibilities His father who was also a fisherman died five years ago He taught him this fishing technique to bring the shellfish out of the sand There are some around here Here is the heater This seafood is used for different purposes You can eat it of course But you can also use the shell to decorate traditional Giens homes You suspend it until the shell turns completely white You can also use it in concrete But the best thing for me is to eat it One might initially think that it is not a difficult task But when you stay in the water for hours and hours you can really get very cold » This morning the harvest is average Villamy will have to be satisfied with that He is expected at the market Walking the beach is the activity of the poorest Those who cannot afford or to share a motorboat "Oh I forgot the plastic bag " "When you come to the market you bring your bags " You're not coming with empty hands What does it cost Ten pounds per bag Give me a bag please Thank you » « Thank you goodbye » « A month I make about 800 pahanga » « That' s enough for us to live on » My dream is to one day have a boat to go fishing Villamy lives 2 km from the market on this strip of land An old landfill squatted for about thirty years by about a hundred families originating from the other islands of the archipelago Driven by poverty these residents settled on the main island of Tonga in hope of a better life Villamy lives in this house with his mother and his nephews They don't have close family abroad and therefore can only rely on themselves " How did it go today " " Is that all you have left " "Yes that's all " "Didn 't you sell everything " "No but it's not a problem let's go eat " "Did you add the conut " "Yes I did " "Here's my little kitchen " I put my pots here my food there there are also my cups and plates Our concern is that we don't have electricity and therefore I don't have a refrigerator "Then how do you do it " "Well our fridge is 5 kilometers away in my daughter's house " That's where we leave the food Every day we go get just what we need for the meals » To light it up Naomi had a solar panel installed on the roof of the house I would like to introduce my twin sister She has come to visit us I will show you where I sleep It's there in a corner of the living room Here is my little bed with a table and a chair And there that's Williamie's room We are from Vavao in the north of Tonga My father was the youngest in his family Therefore he had no rights to the land That's why we left We had to find a place to live It was 30 years ago We arrived in Tongatapu and lived here and there with people we knew Then we settled here without asking for permission The noble to whom these lands belong has rebelled He tried to expel us us and all the people in the neighborhood We held our ground We called the king for help But in the end it was the new government that helped us It has been renting this space for us for a year It's the Tongian way of eating because here we don't have a table Naomi invited her daughter and son-in-law to lunch Come sit down next to me Leka come to the table Come on get over there It's delicious isn 't it Yes grandma It is thanks to Villamy's fishing that one can indulge When I die Villamy will be able to live under this roof This is my eldest son He will inherit all the property I own Yes that's the law Everything goes to the eldest It's like that where we're from Girls have nothing in this country Boys have all the privileges Even though I am older I cannot claim anything We girls can't stay under the same roof for our whole lives We get married and move into our own house If it's him who is the elder then from his husband Otherwise if it's the younger one they live together in the in-laws' house We have a simple life It doesn't matter to us what we own we are happy We are not envious If for example our neighbor has a television we are happy for him What we have is enough for us o live fully Naomi and her family certainly cherish the dream of moving to the other side of the Pacific Ocean But the dream is unattainable They hope at least that electricity will arrive soon in the neighborhood For Philo's children the rugby journalist the big day has arrived the departure to New Zealand We will pack your suitcase We will first put on the clothes Take your traditional outfit Are these really your clothes Yes yes Put them in And don't forget your shoes of course Do you have socks Yes yes And remember to go to church Take your Sunday clothes Yes Here is your passport I will put it in this pocket I am sad to leave Because I know I am not sure of returning to Tonga My future is abroad I will do everything to succeed So as not to disappoint my parents who have sacrificed for me I must let him go I will always be with him Whatever he wishes to do in the future My heart and my strength will always be with him These are pictures of my family when I was little This is my mother and father They will be greatly missed I am very excited about this departure My life is going to change and I am going to be more free In Tonga you know everyone knows you Everyone knows what you're doing Everyone is watching you wherever you are In New Zealand it will be the opposite Few people know me I will feel more free and have more privacy Philokalofi and Selwyn will join the Tongan diaspora They will be in Auckland tonight The beginning of a new life