Frustration and Protest in Modern Martinique (Transcript)

In September 2024, a series of protests rocked the island of Martinique. However, these protests are a part of a national tradition where in modern Martinican history, citizens have always organise protests over social issues, economic conditions and racial inequality in their society. 

In the Beginning 

Like the rest of the region, the first inhabitants of Martinique were the Amerindians. Then in 1635, the French came and colonised the island where, just like the rest of the Europeans colonisers in the Caribbean at this time, orchestrated a massacre and displacement of the island’s indigenous population. The French then set up sugar plantations all over the island on the literal backs of enslaved Africans. And so for the next 200 years, the sugar industry and enslaved Black people, propelled the wealth of France. Still, just like their peers on other islands, these enslaved Black people riot against the unjust reality they were force into and a number of uprising took place during this time; and it was this resilient that propelled the fight for Emancipation within the French West Indies. And so on April 27th, 1848, the French West Indies achieved emancipation thus outlawing chattel slavery on the island and through. 

By the mid 1800’s, other population made their way to the island due to the system of indentureship. These were mostly Indians and Syrians. And so by this time, Martinique population consisted of ‘Békés’(referring to those of European descendants), Black people, Syrians, Indians, Chinese and “Coloureds”. Still, despite Emancipation, Black people in Martinique were still at the bottom of the social structure. Even more so, ‘Békés’ owned most of the land on the island and controlled the sugar industry which was still the island’s dominant economic provider. However, Black people not only had to deal with social hardship but environmental as well. 

In April 23, 1902, the volcano, Mount Pelée, erupted. In its aftermath, it killed an estimated 30,000 persons and completely destroyed the capital city of Saint-Pierre. As such, the capital and economic centre of the island was change to Fort-de-France. Still, the issues that existed in Saint-Pierre just evolve in Fort-de-France - there was really no change in the Black oppression of the island. As the lawyer and author, Joey Fanon stated, Fort-de-France, was a “failed city… flat, sprawling, dirty, with drains that were nothing more than open sewers”.

Negritude and Departments d’Outre-Mer

The issues plaguing Fort-de-France continued as the new century went on. The livelihood of Black Martinicans during this period would be portrayed in Joseph Zobel 1950 semi-autographical book, “Black Shack Alley”. The book’s movie adaption, Sugar Cane Alley, was released in 1983 where it was directed by the legendary Black Martinican director, Euzhan Palcy.

As a side note, it would be an injustice to released an episode where Martinican storytelling is mentioned and not talk about Euzhan Palcy. Upon its release, Sugar Cane Alley won more than 17 international awards, including the Venice Film Festival Silver Lion. The film also won the prestigious César Award for best first feature film, making Palcy the first Black person and the first woman director to do so. By 1989, she became the first Black woman to direct a major Hollywood feature with “A Dry White Season”. With this film, which dramatised the lives of Black South Africans living under apartheid, she also made history as being the first Black director to direct an actor to an Oscar nomination when Marlon Brando got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as Ian McKenzie. All of these are just some of the many history-making hallmarks in Palcy’s career thus making her not only one of the most important persons in West Indian film history but one of the most important woman and Black filmmakers in history.

But back to the episode. 

Now by the 1930’s, with the situation getting worse, a group of Black persons in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Senegal and other French colonies began to rethink their relationship with France. This school of thought of protesting and rejecting colonialism in French societies would be called Negritude; and two of the foremost persons in the movement were two Black Martinican anti-colonial writers: Suzanne and Aimé Césaire’. The couple, who were married for almost 26 years, founded the Tropiques with René Ménil in 1941. Based in Martinique, the literary magazine, published poetry, essays and short stories that commented on colonisation and surrealism. In 1945, the magazine published one of Suzanne’s most fame essays, “The Great Camouflage,” where she explained the history of the Americas and colonialism and how it shaped race, class and gender in Martinique’s society. She writes: 

“If we are proud to proclaim our extraordinary vitality throughout the Americas, if it seems to promise us a definitive salvation, we need the courage to say that subtle forms of slavery remain rampant. Here, in these French islands, it still debases thousands of negroes, for whom a century ago the great Schoelcher demanded, in addition to liberty and dignity, the title of citizens. We must dare to point out, caught by the implacable spotlight of events, the Caribbean stain on France's face, since so many of the French seem determined to tolerate no shadow of it”

This critique of French colonialism would bear fruit just a year later when in 1946 on March 19, a law was passed in France which created the status of overseas department (departments d’outre-mer) or DOM. Caribbean countries recategorise were Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana and this reclassification as overseas department meant that they were no longer “colonies” but French as those of the metropolitan departments. As such, they were apart of the French Republics and were represented in the Senate, National Assembly and Economic and Social Council. These West Indians were also allowed to vote to elect members within the French parliament. This recategorisation of the French Antilles was widely popular for many West Indians as they saw it as away to ease the social and economic problems in their society. Still, the implementation was slow and the law was postponed until January 1948. This delay and its failings to improve society, would cause the populace in Martinique to be even more frustrated. This frustration would roll over into the 1950’s. 

Turbulence

The frustration in the 1950’s French Antilles would have one of its first explosion in Guadeloupe. Throughout the decade, the island would experience a series of strikes by sugar workers. By February 1952, the French riot police called “Companies for Republican Security” (CRS), turned their guns on workers striking, resulting in four deaths. These murders, included the killing of a mother of six, Constance Dulac, who was hiding from the violence in a courtyard.

Still as the decade rolled on, the economics and societal issues would only get worst and many Black West Indies in the French Antilles - Martinicans included, as many grew even more frustration where the status of overseas department began to lose its shine. As a response to the activities happening in the French Antilles, the 1950’s saw West Indians students in France began to organised around an anti-colonial future. As the historian Dr. Grace Carrington stated in her paper, “The May 1967 Massacre in Guadeloupe: Trauma, Nationalism and Decolonization”: 

“As the quality of life for many Antilles worsened following departmentalisation, France was increasingly seen as the source, rather than the solution, of colonial oppression”. 

Around this time, organisations such as the Martinique Communist Party, were demanding a change of the political status of the island. This demand was embolden by the ongoing Algerian War of Independence and the then president of France, Charles de Gaulle, drive to give self-rule to all former colonial territories. And it would be this atmosphere that Martinique would be in when a traffic incident occurred that eventually kickstarted an island-wide anti-colonial reckoning.

The Popular Rebellion 

On Sunday, December 20, 1959 a traffic incident occurred in Fort-de-France between a Black Martinican and a white metropolitan. The incident led to an escalation and when protestors would took to the streets, police used tear gas and fired over their heads to clear the crowds. By Tuesday, sporadic outbreaks occurred all over Fort-de-France where two police posts and a tax office were reported to have been set on fire, as citizens brought forward their frustration with colonial rule. Other buildings such as shops and even automobiles were also ignited. In their clash against the police, demonstrators made barricades stones and wire to hinder law enforcements. In summarising the three nights of violent clashes between protestors and the police, a New York Times article published on December 25, 1959 tilted, “France Reinforces Martinique In the Wake of 3 Days of Rioting”, stated:

“Three persons were killed during fights between demonstrators, most of them young people, and the police, the spokesman said. At least a dozen persons were injured. The official confirmed that the disorders, which included the looting of at least one hotel and the burning of many auto- mobiles and some police posts and offices, began last Sunday following disagreement over a traffic accident in the heart of Fort-de-France”. 

To put a stop to the protest, France enacted an 8pm curfew in Fort-de-France. As Dr. Grace Carrington stated:

“This popular rebellion was spontaneous and not organised or orchestrated by any political group. However, occurring less than a year after Castro had taken control to Cuba, ‘December 59’ frightened French authorities and prompted them to take measures to repress further protests”.

Likewise, France also sent police reinforcement and a warship to the island. As reported by the Miami Herald on Dec 27: 

“A communique issued by the office of Jacques Soustelle, minister in charge of the overseas territories, said that police reinforcements have been sent to Martinique from the neighbouring West Indian island of Guadeloupe and from France.”

The newspaper also reported that a 3,500 ton cruiser sailed from Brest to Martinique with 160 petty officers and 750 sailors abroad. And yet, no other French law enforcement would become more synonymous with the 1959 rebellion, than that of the CRS. Just like what happened in Guadeloupe in 1952, the unit faced accusations of using brutal and excessive force against protestors. Due to their behaviour in invoking violence in the name of security, the unit was banned in Martinique. And it is this reputation that followed the CRS, that caused them to be rarely deployed in other French territories.

Still, the events of the popular rebellion of 1959 showcase Black Martinicans discontent with racial injustice, the island’s economic disparity and French colonial rule. As one of the island’s most famous son, Frantz Fanon, would write in the publication, El Moudjahid, about the uprising: 

“Martinicans can be treated by France as rebels. They are discovering the existence of a rebel spirit, of a national spirit”. 

A Ripple

Due to the rebellion, France enacted a number of changes in Martinique. Immediately, the “Association of Veterans from North Africa” was disbanded as the French believed them to have played a leading role in the riots. Then, a decree in October 1960, gave the authorities power to increase surveillance and the deportation of persons they deemed a problem. This led to many persons exiled from their home nation. One example of this is the arrest of members of the OJAM, the Organisation of Anticolonial Martinican Youth Organisation. Eighteen persons were arrested on charges of treason after declaring the statement, “Martinique for the Martinicans”. Ultimately, five persons were handed down prison sentences to which Dr. Carrington states “demonstrates how quickly French authorities were prepared to stifle any hint of nationalism in the wake of the 1959 uprising”. 

Despite these enactment, societal issues was still high in the Martinique and the rest of the French Antilles. As such, it should come as no surprise to anyone that this frustration would once more boil over. And this time it was not in Martinique, but in Guadeloupe which would ultimately led to one of the most brutal massacres in modern Caribbean history. 

On May 26, 1967, French police would turn their guns on striking workers in Pointe-a-Pitre, resulted in an uprising all over the city. Within the next 48hrs, clashes broke out between protestors and the police where an estimated 8 and 200 persons were killed and many were injured. The French government blamed the incident on GONG - the National Organisation Group of Guadeloupe (GONG) - an independence movement founded in France by Guadeloupean students whose goal was to achieved full independence for the island. Yet, despite inefficient evidence, nineteen members of the group were charged with treason where six were found guilty. But even though the massacre is still not widely known outside of Guadeloupe, it had a long lasting impact on the island. On a future episode, we will go more into this event. 

Still, with these two events, the French solution to the French Antilles frustration was to established the agency of BUMIDOM, the Office for the Development of Migration in the Overseas Departments. The organisation’s mission was to organise and coordinate emigration from the overseas departments to mainland France. But this was not welcome by everyone. As Cesaire stated in 1978, these policies were “genocide as substitution”. In critiquing this policy, Phillipe Alain Blerald, in the book, “Crisis in the Caribbean”, states: 

“Since no impetus is given to a truly local economy, more than 50% of the active population is unemployed. The metropolis encourages emigration to Europe and this means that our young population is diminishing. Each year 5,000 Martinicans leave for Europe. At the same time, the French and other Europeans come and settle on the island. In two senses, emigration gives rise to population substitution. More and more Europeans and fewer and fewer Martinicans”. 

As history will have it, this policy failed to address the complains stated by West Indians. Due to this, societal flair ups, like that of 1959, would continue to take place in Martinique throughout the rest of the century, and the next. 

With this, one of the next major protest that occurred in Martinique took place in 2009. On February 4, a collective, made up of twelve trade unions, went on strike due to the rising cost of living on the island. By February 5, about 15,000 Martinican took to the street of Fort-de-France. Inspired by a similar protest that took place in Guadeloupe a few weeks prior, protestors would chant “Martinique is ours, not theirs!” to voice their frustrations over economic constrictions and societal issues as well as the colonial shadow that still hungover the island. As one protestor sign stated, “Department in theory? Or colony in reality?!”. But on March 16, 2009, the Ministry of Overseas France and the local representatives of Martinique came to an agreement thus ending the strike. In its aftermath, the government ask Martinicans to voice their opinions on their political status with France. When citizens went to the poll, 79.3% of the 55% of the electorate rejected the pro-independence ballot, thus keeping their status as an overseas department. 

In 2021, another protest was sparked on the island which saw thousands called upon judges not to throw out a long-delayed case over pesticide poisoning. The issues surrounded the use of Chlordecone. The substance was created in 1950’s and sold under the brand name, Kepone, where it was used to control leaf-eating insects. However, by the 1970’s, largely in parts to the event that would become known as the 1975 Kepone environmental disaster in Hopewell, Virginia, the substance was banned in the U.S. By 1979, it was classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organisation and banned in many countries - including France. Still, despite this, France did not outlaw its use in Martinique nor Guadeloupe where it was been used for banana cultivation. It was not until 1993, that the chemical stopped been used on the island but because Chlordecone stays in the soil for decades, the damage was already done as it contaminate the land and the water. Today, according to the BBC, 92% of Martinicans have traces of chlordecone in their blood while Public Health France states that 90% of the adult population in Guadeloupe and Martinique is contaminated by chlordecone. As Ambroise Bertin, told the BBC in a 2019 article titled, “The Caribbean Islands Poisoned by a Carcinogenic Pesticide”: 

“They never told us it was dangerous. So people were working, because they wanted the money. We didn't have any instructions about what was, and wasn't, good. That's why a lot of people are poisoned”. 

Despite the protest, in 2023, nearly 20 years after persons sued to hold the French government criminally responsible for the use of the banned pesticide in Martinique and Guadeloupe, a panel of judges dismissed the case, ruling that it was difficult to determine who was to be blame for actions committed that long ago. A civil case was the brought forward where at this time of recording, a French court ordered the state to pay compensation to 11 victims.

Still despite the ongoing legal issues regarding compensation, the effects of Chlordecone have a lasting impact in the French Antilles as countless studies have linked the pesticide to a number of the health issues in the territory. For eg, a 2020 report published by the World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRFI) showed that the world’s highest prostate rates are in Guadeloupe and Martinique. As Bertin, who has prostate cancer, told the BBC, “First we were enslaved. Then we were poisoned.”

Three years later after the 2021 pesticide protest, Martinicans found themselves at another breaking point. At this time in 2024, Martinique was experiencing a high cost of living leading to increasing prices on services, food and other goods. In fact, according to the BBC, 80% of Martinicans food is imported from France where the goods, are on average, 40% higher than that in France. Martinicans also pay more for phone and internet services where they pay a third higher than that of French residents. Yet, prior conversations with retailers on the island seems to not be effective in cutting prices; and as such, Martinicans took to the streets to voice their frustrations. In its wake, the government enacted a curfew and France deployed the CRS on the island to put down the protest. It was the first time they have been sent to the island since their ban in 1959; and, as one might have guess, Martinicans were not happy. As one citizen, Lindy, told AA News: 

“The water is dirty and people are allowed to starve to death. This is unacceptable. All we ask is that the prices are in line with those in France. And today they are sending security forces to us. People who are protesting peacefully so they can eat, children, mothers and people with reduced mobility are being pepper sprayed and it’s deliberate…. Today the prefecture is sending additional troops. What is the message here? Can’t we eat like the rest of the world?” 

Days later, citizens organised another large protest. Videos posted on social media showed thousands of Martinicans marching in the streets waving banners, signs and beating drums. 

But in just a few weeks, due to growing frustration, the protest turned violent as protestors clashed with the police. A police station was set on fire, roads were blocked and the protesters stormed the tarmac at the airport. In its wake, one person died and the airport temporary could not accept flights in and out of the country. A ban was also placed on the purchase, sale or transport of petrol and other inflammable substances.

By mid-October, it seems the effectiveness of the protest was taking shape. On October 17, the BBC ran the headline “France to cut prices in Martinique over cost of living unrest”. However at the time of the article, the agreement was rejected by the organising group behind the protest - Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC). A few weeks later in November, the curfew and the ban was lifted. 

The Fight Continues

Today, although Martinique has improve, they are still experiencing the same issues that were prominent in 1959. According to the French Development Agency, AFD: 

“The territory has a high unemployment rate (11.8%, compared to 7.3% nationally) and a poverty rate (26.7%) nearly twice the national average. Martinique also continues to experience a decline and aging of its population, making it all the more urgent to improve the accessibility and quality of public services” 

These issues and the subsequent consequences it has on the population was recently displayed on the Netflix original series, “Bandi”. The series which is entirely shot in Martinique and one of the few West Indian series backed and available on an international streaming service, follows a group of orphaned Black siblings in Martinique struggling to get by in the wake of their mother’s death, thus driving some of them toward crime. 

Still, although Martinique and the rest of the French Antilles are not usually given the space in historical and political circles, it is these discussed problems that bind them to the wider Caribbean. But most importantly, their 1959 protest and the others that followed, continue the long tradition of West Indians, specifically Black West Indians, in organising and confronting these problems.