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