Pouvanaa a Oopa

Who is Pouvanaa a Oopa?

Pouvanaa a Oopa was a Tahitian political leader widely regarded as the founding father of French Polynesian nationalism, a status reflected in his popular title "Metua" (father). Born in 1895 in Maeva on the island of Huahine to a Tahitian mother and a Danish father, he served in the French army during the First World War before returning home to build a political career. In 1947 he founded the Rassemblement démocratique des populations tahitiennes (RDPT), a party campaigning for greater Tahitian self-rule, and in 1949 became the first French Polynesian elected as a deputy to the French National Assembly, serving until 1958. That year he was convicted on arson charges tied to unrest in Papeete and sentenced to imprisonment and exile in mainland France, a trial many historians view as politically motivated. Pardoned by President Charles de Gaulle in 1968, he returned home and served as a French Senator for French Polynesia from 1971 until his death in 1977. In 2018, more than forty years after his death, a French court formally quashed his original conviction.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Pouvanaa a Oopa" (biographical summary) · RNZ, "French court quashes conviction of Tahitian separatist leader" (2018) · Britannica, "Pouvanaa a Oopa | Polynesian leader"