A-Infos (en) France, UCL Press Release, Martinique: Mobilization against capitalist and colonial profiteers (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Since September 1, a social movement against the high cost of living and 
injustices has been growing in Martinique, but also in Guadeloupe and 
Réunion. This popular anger is being severely repressed by the French 
State, which is seeking to silence it and thus maintain control of its 
colonial empire. ---- At the initiative of the Rally for the Protection 
of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), hundreds of people 
demonstrated and organized blockades of supermarkets to demand that 
prices be aligned with those in mainland France, because food products 
are on average 40% more expensive in the Antilles than in mainland France.

Fifteen years after the popular uprising in Guadeloupe, Martinique and 
Guyana against "pwofitasyon" - that is to say the "outrageous 
exploitation" by the capitalists who control the means of distribution - 
the problem remains in the Antilles.

A structural misery
While the poverty rate in Martinique is more than twice as high as in 
mainland France, the few large families controlling the majority of 
businesses (the "békés") impose exorbitant prices throughout the French 
Antilles. This situation of injustice is all the more striking with 
inflation and a territory that imports 87% of its food.

The high cost and undignified living conditions in Martinique and the 
overseas territories in general are not insignificant: the colonial 
policy of the French state forces these territories to import their 
consumer goods from the mainland, via national companies - Carrefour, 
Auchan and others - despite the immense distance and the proximity of 
the countries of the Caribbean region. This results in the imposition of 
the capitalist model, the destruction of Creole gardens, dependence on 
the mainland, and structural unemployment. Young people are told that 
there is no future there and that they must go and train in the mainland.

A colonial continuum
All this is part of a colonial continuum of the management of the 
"overseas territories". More than 1 billion euros to make the Seine 
swimmable, but still shortages of drinking water in Guadeloupe, 
overcrowded prisons and schools, a ban on the Creole language on 
official documents, a racialized society, the continuation of colonial 
export monocultures, mass and lasting poisoning with chlordecone (a 
pesticide used until 1993) in the Antilles where more than 90% of the 
population is contaminated, extraordinary police violence during the 
Covid crisis, nuclear tests in Polynesia until the 1990s, a specific 
visa for Mayotte with violence and live ammunition during operations 
Wuambushu 1 and 2... The Mayotte Regional Health Agency "advises" 
sterilization to young women on the island, just as mass abortions of 
young women were carried out on Reunion Island without warning in the 
1960s and 1970s for colonial control of demography.

The overseas territories did not "choose" France, as evidenced by the 
colonial counter-revolution during the decolonization period, which 
resulted in the crushing of pro-independence groups and parties. Sixty 
years later, France is still a colonial power, whether it has 
departementalized, whether its colonies are officially no longer 
colonies, or whether the French state maintains its military presence 
and cooperation agreements in Africa.

The UCL unconditionally supports the mobilizations, whether in 
Martinique or in other overseas communities. We hope for a condemnation 
and recognition of the responsibilities of the békés and the French 
state in the poisoning of the Antilles with chlordecone, while a trial 
is still underway - trial on October 22 with two priority questions of 
constitutionality.

Down with French colonialism, and long live the people fighting for 
equality, dignity and their freedom!

Libertarian Communist Union, September 17, 2024.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Martinique-Mobilisation-contre-les-profiteurs-capitalistes-et-coloniaux
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