FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (21 Feb 2009) — Racial and class tensions gripped the French Caribbean island of Martinique on Friday as 2,000 protesters backing a wage strike chanted slogans against the island's white elite. Some 2,000 mostly black protesters marched Friday through the capital, chanting slogans against "bekes" — the descendants of colonists and slave holders. "Martinique is ours, not theirs!" they yelled. The elite group makes up an estimated 1 percent of Martinique's 401,000 residents, and own the majority of industries. Most of the Martinique's population is descended from African slaves brought to work on its colonial-era sugar plantations. Many working class families are struggling to make ends meet amid a global economic crisis, exposing racial tensions 160 years after slavery ended in Martinique. Police say the protests remain peaceful, and 130 riot police arrived from France this week to keep order. But racial sentiments were inflamed after a one-hour documentary, "The last owners of Martinique," was shown on TV last week. The program focused on how the white minority group has dominated the economy. One white business owner was quoted as saying historians should look at "the positive aspects of slavery" and that a mixed-race family lacks "harmony." Officials in France have opened an investigation against the businessman, Alain Huygues-Despointes. Martinique's prefect, or political leader, Ange Mancini, had been renting from Huygues-Despointes but announced he has terminated his lease and found somewhere else to live. Mancini is white. France's minister for overseas territories, who was in Martinique to try to end the strike, told reporters late Thursday before departing that Huygues-Despointes' comments were "completely revolting." "Thankfully, we have the opportunity to live in a democracy with a justice system that works," said Yves Jego, referring to the investigation. Napoleon reinstated slavery here in 1803, mostly to please the beke plantation owners among whom he found his wife, Josephine. After slavery was abolished, the bekes still owned most of the island's land and controlled its workforce. The nine-day strike in Martinique has shuttered schools, stores and gas stations as residents continue to demand lower prices and higher salaries. Guadeloupe, another French Caribbean island, has been paralyzed by a three-week strike in which negotiations have broken down. | | Union members carry banners during protest march in Fort de France on the Caribbean island of Martinique. French overseas territories have been hit by a general strike and social action in protest of low wages and high prices for goods. French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday asked government ministers to come up with long-term measures for stimulating and modernizing the economy of the islands, including by opening it up to more competition. Business leaders in Martinique already have agreed to lower prices on 100 products, including food items, by 20 percent. Jego said the government will send $280 a month to 25,000 needy families under a new program to fight poverty. He also said gasoline prices would drop immediately, and that the government will release $17 million to boost agriculture and will finance construction of 1,000 public housing units. Michel Monrose, spokesman for the group organizing the protest, said he would review the proposals and present counterpoints. "The general strike continues," he said. "The protest must not end." |
