By JONATHAN M. KATZ and DANICA COTO, Associated Press Writers Jonathan M. Katz
And Danica Coto, Associated Press Writers, Feb. 22, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gjXppOvhRooAUEQZKqUkoTf0uLLQD96GR04G0*********************************************************
Unrest in Caribbean has roots in slavery past
By JONATHAN M. KATZ and DANICA COTO – December 22, 2009
POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (AP) — Protests that have nearly shut down the
French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique are not just about
demands for lower prices and higher wages: For demonstrators they are no less
than a battle against the vestiges of slavery.
Afro-Caribbean islanders — most of whose forbears toiled in the sugarcane
fields under the yoke of slavery more than 160 years ago — not only resent
France's handling of the global economic crisis, they have long resented that
slaveholders' descendants control the economy on both islands.
They also suspect that businesses earn too high a profit on goods, most of
which are imported.
This resentment against slaveholder descendants, known as bekes (bay-KAY) has
lent an especially sharp edge to weeks of demonstrations that at times have
erupted in gunfire, arson, looting, and the death of one activist in
Guadeloupe.
"They've got the money, they've got the power, they've got Guadeloupe," snapped
protester Lollia Naily. "This is not a race thing. It is a money thing and it
is a power thing."
Protesters in Martinique also have rejected the bekes, with frequent chants of
"Martinique is ours, not theirs!" Bekes own most industries in Martinique —
but represent only about 1 percent of the island's 401,000 residents.
Deep economic and social disparities divide France from its overseas
possessions: Unemployment in Guadeloupe is about 23 percent, compared with 8
percent on mainland France, and 12 percent of islanders live in poverty,
compared with 6 percent of mainlanders, according to the most recent
statistics.
The conflict extends beyond the Caribbean: Islanders living in mainland France
are relegated to low-level jobs and are absent from senior positions in
business, the military and government, revealing a "color fracture in French
society," said Patrick Lozes, head of the Representative Council of Black
Associations.
Islanders demand that France treat them as equals — wherever they are living
— and question why food is more expensive here than on the mainland.
"My ID says I'm French," said 28-year-old Philippe Delag. "Guadeloupe is part
of France."
The island certainly looks the part: French flags fly from government
buildings, and tiny Citroens and Peugeots whiz along well-maintained highways.
Residents switch easily from Creole to French in conversations.
On one concrete median divider in Guadeloupe is the spray-painted message, "We
want 200 euros," reflecting protesters' demands for a 200-euro ($250) monthly
raise for low-paid workers, who now make roughly euro900 ($1,130) a month.
The French government, which has insisted that any salary increases must come
from the private sector, announced it could provide extra government benefits
totaling nearly euro200 ($250) extra a month for low-income workers.
And both sides in Martinique have reached an agreement that would lower prices
on 100 products by 20 percent. Protest leaders and government officials are
still negotiating to lower the costs of housing, gasoline, water and
electricity.
But the problems extend beyond economics, protesters say.
Serge Romana, president of an association that commemorates the abolition of
slavery in the French territories, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy "must
absolutely abolish all traces of neocolonialism and vestiges of slavery in the
overseas regions."
Sarkozy himself — who raised islanders' hackles when as interior minister in
2005 he endorsed a bill requiring textbooks to recognize the "positive role" of
colonialism — acknowledged last week that old wounds still fester.
"I know the feeling of injustice that you have, given the inequalities and the
discrimination," the president said in a television appearance on Thursday
aimed at quelling the unrest. "How can we justify monopolies, overly high
profits ... and, why not say it, forms of exploitation that should not have any
place in the 21st century?"
In Paris, thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday to show their
support for striking workers and to pay homage to Jacques Bino, the labor-union
activist killed in Guadeloupe last week.
Despite such signs of solidarity, most of France doesn't understand the
islanders' demands, Lozes said.
"They don't see it as a demand for justice, but rather as a demand for
charity," he said.
Jean-Luc de Laguarigue, a beke, said tensions have festered over generations
because France and its islands have not explored the painful past. He said he
knows of no slavery museum in France. The subject is generally taboo in
schools.
But Laguarigue insisted that bekes no longer represent power and colonial
force, and suggested that the islands — not Paris — should decide what is
best for them.
The protests are "not a call for war, but for dignity," he said.
On Sunday, mourners dressed in white packed a gymnasium in the cane-growing
town of Petit-Canal to hear poems about struggle and rousing songs in homage to
Bino, the dead labor-union activist, whose body has been displayed in an open
casket on the island for two days.
"We want respect," said Adele Goram, 50, an islander from a nearby town who
attended. "We live in France and there should be no difference between France
and Guadeloupe."
Several islanders blame the arrival of 450 French riot police for the violence
that has erupted during protests — and say it shows how France treats the
islands like colonies.
Martinican painter and intellectual Victor Permal described Paris' proposals as
"general and blurry" and criticized the decision to send force, saying France
has often overreacted when problems arise on the islands.
"The people are starting to gain a clear notion of what belongs to them,"
Permal said. "So they become conscious that it is not France who should define
their path and needs."
*
Danica Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press writers Jenny
Barchfield and Dheepthi Namasivayam in Paris contributed to this report.
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