From: http://www.ft-ci.org
Caribbean GUADELOUPE: The general strike continues and spreads to other French colonies
By Philipe
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Since January 20, the island of Guadeloupe, a French overseas department (DOM, new name to designate the former French colonies), has been paralyzed by a general strike. The demonstrations are being led by the LKP (Collective against Exploitation), that arose from the union of more than 40 associations, union and political organizations. Among the main demands, we find a net increase of 200 euros [257.75 USD] per month for the lowest wages, a reduction of 0.50 euros [0.64 USD] in the price of fuel, lowering the value-added tax on mass-consumption products, etc.
In Guadeloupe, the big distribution centers are closed or blocked by strike pickets, getting gasoline is nearly impossible, the hotel industry, at the height of the season, is being severely affected, public administration and agriculture are paralyzed. However, the strike has the support of the great majority of the population, and the demonstrations have been massive for three weeks, "the equivalent of 6 million people in the metropolis" (Le Monde, Feb 2, 2009). The magnitude of the srike is such that the "domino effect" has already made itself felt in the nearby French overseas departments: Martinique (another French island) is paralyzed and supermarkets have been blockaded by demonstrations since February 5, the day when the general strike was called and on which between 15,000 and 20,000 people demonstrated in the streets of Fort-de-France, the capital of the island; in French Guiana, a similar movement is beginning. Likewise, the Antillese who live in Paris organized a demonstration of support for the LKP on January 31, which brought together between 700 and 800 people, according to the organizers.
For his part, the Secretary of State in charge of overseas territories, Yves Jégo, only appeared on the island days after the conflict had begun. From the beginning, in an attempt to demonize the protest, he did nothing but denounce "certain unacceptable provocations" and "intolerable attacks on the rule of law" by the demonstrators and announce totally insufficient proposals, like a one-time bonus of 200 euros beginning in April to the 40,000 households in Guadeloupe that receive the lowest wages ..., and, as could not be otherwise, tax breaks for the bosses, to "allow an immediate increase in low wages." Thus it is that on Sunday, February 8, after 21 consecutive hours of fruitless negotiations with representatives of the LKP, the Secretary of State suddenly took a flight to Paris, in order, according to him, to "negotiate" with Prime Minister F. Fillon. This news made a very bad impression on the strikers, who spontaneously went out to the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre to demonstrate their rejection of his attitude that, according to them, is contemptuous. Although the Secretary of State's arrival was originally appreciated, it now seems to have increased the discontent.
On the other hand, the bosses, brought together in the "Guadeloupe Businessmen's Movement," responded with cynicism in a press release to the workers' demand for a net increase of 200 euros per month in wages, saying that "all wage earners that want to get a net increase of 200 euros [253.45 USD], will be able to do that on the basis of voluntary work and from a quota of extra hours" [1]. Nothing more or less than "working more to earn more," the favorite formula of N. Sarkozy during his presidential candidacy! At the same time, several groups of bosses, impatient at the steadfastness of the strikers, are complaining about the absence of the forces of order. In this sense, we have to say that the protest is unfolding, up to now, without big violent incidents.
It is necessary to point out the silence of the French metropolitan communications media as well as that of the political authorities. In fact, recently, in the second week of conflict, the metropolitan media began to cover events on the island more seriously, in many cases, in order to demonize the strikers. For his part, President N. Sarkozy, in his "big televised speech" of February 5 (as the journalists christened it), in view of the economic crisis and the January 29 strike, did not say a word about the conflict in Guadeloupe and Martinique. This silence could be explained, on the one hand, by contempt from the dominant classes of the metropolis towards the inhabitants of the French colonial territories, and, on the other hand, from fear of contagion in the metropolis of the tenacity of the strike in those territories. If we take into account the magnitude of the January 29 general strike in the metropolis, this fear is more than justified.
In short, this determined struggle, of the workers and exploited masses of French imperialism's colonies, like Guadeloupe and Martinique, has begun to revive some questions tied to national and ethnic oppression. These entanglements can be observed in the cries of "Martinique belongs to us, not them," of some demonstrators, noted by an article on the demonstration in Paris in support of the LKP, where it is stated that, in view of the silence of the government regarding the strike, the demonstrators from the Antilles have arrived at the conclusion that "the French government disparages the people of Guadeloupe and considers them only as French people completely separate" [2], in the demand by the LKP that the language (Créole) and culture of Guadeloupe be taken into account in the communications media, and in the denunciation of the concentration of the determining sectors of the economy in the hands of the "béké" (white descendants of the colonists). With this, we do not mean at all that the current strike movement in Guadeloupe is a movement for independence; we only wish to emphasize that these questions are alive among the population of a territory occupied since the seventeenth century and artificially populated with an enslaved people brought from Africa to satisfy the economic ambitions of the elite of the metropolis. The duty of revolutionaries and workers from the metropolis is to fight, above all, against their own imperialism; that is why they must surround the workers on strike in the French colonies with solidarity and, more than ever, follow their example to realize their own demands and so that the capitalists pay for the crisis.
[1] « Réponses des socioprofessionnels réunis en Mouvement des Entrepreneurs de Guadalupe aux revendications de LKP », versión del 2/02.
[2]CaribCreole1.com,http://www.caribcreole1.com/news/france/1,918,01-02-2009-lkp-sur-seine-le-soutien-s-organise-.html.
Caribbean GUADELOUPE: The general strike continues and spreads to other French colonies
By Philipe
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Since January 20, the island of Guadeloupe, a French overseas department (DOM, new name to designate the former French colonies), has been paralyzed by a general strike. The demonstrations are being led by the LKP (Collective against Exploitation), that arose from the union of more than 40 associations, union and political organizations. Among the main demands, we find a net increase of 200 euros [257.75 USD] per month for the lowest wages, a reduction of 0.50 euros [0.64 USD] in the price of fuel, lowering the value-added tax on mass-consumption products, etc.
In Guadeloupe, the big distribution centers are closed or blocked by strike pickets, getting gasoline is nearly impossible, the hotel industry, at the height of the season, is being severely affected, public administration and agriculture are paralyzed. However, the strike has the support of the great majority of the population, and the demonstrations have been massive for three weeks, "the equivalent of 6 million people in the metropolis" (Le Monde, Feb 2, 2009). The magnitude of the srike is such that the "domino effect" has already made itself felt in the nearby French overseas departments: Martinique (another French island) is paralyzed and supermarkets have been blockaded by demonstrations since February 5, the day when the general strike was called and on which between 15,000 and 20,000 people demonstrated in the streets of Fort-de-France, the capital of the island; in French Guiana, a similar movement is beginning. Likewise, the Antillese who live in Paris organized a demonstration of support for the LKP on January 31, which brought together between 700 and 800 people, according to the organizers.
For his part, the Secretary of State in charge of overseas territories, Yves Jégo, only appeared on the island days after the conflict had begun. From the beginning, in an attempt to demonize the protest, he did nothing but denounce "certain unacceptable provocations" and "intolerable attacks on the rule of law" by the demonstrators and announce totally insufficient proposals, like a one-time bonus of 200 euros beginning in April to the 40,000 households in Guadeloupe that receive the lowest wages ..., and, as could not be otherwise, tax breaks for the bosses, to "allow an immediate increase in low wages." Thus it is that on Sunday, February 8, after 21 consecutive hours of fruitless negotiations with representatives of the LKP, the Secretary of State suddenly took a flight to Paris, in order, according to him, to "negotiate" with Prime Minister F. Fillon. This news made a very bad impression on the strikers, who spontaneously went out to the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre to demonstrate their rejection of his attitude that, according to them, is contemptuous. Although the Secretary of State's arrival was originally appreciated, it now seems to have increased the discontent.
On the other hand, the bosses, brought together in the "Guadeloupe Businessmen's Movement," responded with cynicism in a press release to the workers' demand for a net increase of 200 euros per month in wages, saying that "all wage earners that want to get a net increase of 200 euros [253.45 USD], will be able to do that on the basis of voluntary work and from a quota of extra hours" [1]. Nothing more or less than "working more to earn more," the favorite formula of N. Sarkozy during his presidential candidacy! At the same time, several groups of bosses, impatient at the steadfastness of the strikers, are complaining about the absence of the forces of order. In this sense, we have to say that the protest is unfolding, up to now, without big violent incidents.
It is necessary to point out the silence of the French metropolitan communications media as well as that of the political authorities. In fact, recently, in the second week of conflict, the metropolitan media began to cover events on the island more seriously, in many cases, in order to demonize the strikers. For his part, President N. Sarkozy, in his "big televised speech" of February 5 (as the journalists christened it), in view of the economic crisis and the January 29 strike, did not say a word about the conflict in Guadeloupe and Martinique. This silence could be explained, on the one hand, by contempt from the dominant classes of the metropolis towards the inhabitants of the French colonial territories, and, on the other hand, from fear of contagion in the metropolis of the tenacity of the strike in those territories. If we take into account the magnitude of the January 29 general strike in the metropolis, this fear is more than justified.
In short, this determined struggle, of the workers and exploited masses of French imperialism's colonies, like Guadeloupe and Martinique, has begun to revive some questions tied to national and ethnic oppression. These entanglements can be observed in the cries of "Martinique belongs to us, not them," of some demonstrators, noted by an article on the demonstration in Paris in support of the LKP, where it is stated that, in view of the silence of the government regarding the strike, the demonstrators from the Antilles have arrived at the conclusion that "the French government disparages the people of Guadeloupe and considers them only as French people completely separate" [2], in the demand by the LKP that the language (Créole) and culture of Guadeloupe be taken into account in the communications media, and in the denunciation of the concentration of the determining sectors of the economy in the hands of the "béké" (white descendants of the colonists). With this, we do not mean at all that the current strike movement in Guadeloupe is a movement for independence; we only wish to emphasize that these questions are alive among the population of a territory occupied since the seventeenth century and artificially populated with an enslaved people brought from Africa to satisfy the economic ambitions of the elite of the metropolis. The duty of revolutionaries and workers from the metropolis is to fight, above all, against their own imperialism; that is why they must surround the workers on strike in the French colonies with solidarity and, more than ever, follow their example to realize their own demands and so that the capitalists pay for the crisis.
[1] « Réponses des socioprofessionnels réunis en Mouvement des Entrepreneurs de Guadalupe aux revendications de LKP », versión del 2/02.
[2]CaribCreole1.com,http://www.caribcreole1.com/news/france/1,918,01-02-2009-lkp-sur-seine-le-soutien-s-organise-.html.
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