Why independence movements fail in French Overseas Territories

By Gwynne Dyer - With the sole exception of the 50 people on Pitcairn Island, the United Kingdom (once known as the British Empire) liquidated its holdings in the Pacific Ocean long ago. France, by contrast, has a half million citizens in the Pacific (and another 2 million living in other bits of its former empire on islands in all the world’s major oceans).