• A general strike movement against the vaccine obligation and the health pass, against a backdrop of social crisis, has been disrupting Guadeloupe and Martinique for several weeks.

  • Clashes between strikers and the police, rallies, speeches, roadblocks… Images are pouring in from social networks and the media.

  • We asked our Caribbean readers, who live on the other side of the Atlantic, how they experience the events.

    Many understand the reasons for the anger, but some deplore the “taking hostage” of those close to them.

"The situation in the Antilles is quite simply a time bomb which ended up exploding", estimates Nicolas, one of the many readers to have answered our call for testimonies on the mobilizations in Guadeloupe and Martinique, seen since. the hexagon. For several weeks, a general strike movement has been declared in the two departments against the vaccination obligation of caregivers and the health pass.

A protest, punctuated by urban violence, which has awakened older social tensions, defended by the majority of our readers, like Sandra who believes that the West Indians are treated as “second-class citizens”.

"The revolt is positive and necessary because after four months of mobilization and unanswered exchange requests from the authorities, the shift into high gear was inevitable in the face of so much injustice and a policy of a deaf ear", explains his Curtis side, Guadeloupe.

If the majority of our readers condemn the fires and attacks on the police and on private and public property, they were disappointed with the dispatch of the police as the first response to the protest.

"Invisible to the eyes of the State"

High unemployment rate, lack of training, problem of transport and mobility, "senior management positions assigned to metropolitan from France", "a lawsuit against the State for years on chlordecone whose file is lost ”… The reasons for the anger of Guadeloupe and Martinique, cited in particular by Simone towards the public authorities, are numerous. "An unbranded pizza paid 2.80 euros in hexagonal France costs more than 5 euros in Martinique," she exasperated, also denouncing the high cost of living, a problem that has been tearing these territories apart for years. "We only exist during the presidential elections otherwise we are completely invisible in the eyes of the State", regrets Sébastien, who left Martinique twenty years ago.

Many of our Guadeloupe readers are outraged by the water problems that plague the department, a climax in the midst of a health crisis. A feeling also shared on the Mayotte side by Myriam and Hugues, just as struggling and in solidarity with their West Indian compatriot. "Who can say that he went 30 days without running water," Killian testifies. This Guadeloupe student in Toulouse is working to illustrate the discontent on his island to his comrades in France, not always up to date.

And what about relatives there?

“They can go to the beach, or see their friends, family.

There are indeed roadblocks but in strategic areas, and they are controlled so they know who can pass or not, ”describes Sunny, from Guadeloupe.

Same story with Lyma, a Guadeloupe executive, who left for the Paris region for lack of professional development, which explains that his family are used to the “survival” mode.

She also deplores the lack of vision for the future of local politicians, just like Alex who accuses them of "reckless spending" and "inconsistent projects".

Do not take the population hostage

If they understand the demands expressed, other of our readers fear for their families and protest against the “taking hostage” of some of the citizens and the undermining of the local economy. “All of our tourism suffered during the pandemic and there, while we need to bring as many people as possible for Christmas, we present our island as a place of civil war,” Jordan wrote to us. Madoline is worried about her family in Le Gosier in Guadeloupe. “We can go on strike, but not that way. I want people to be free to move around, ”she explains.

“I have the feeling that these protests will not be heard since we have the wrong enemies when we smash the property of our colleagues who are in exactly the same galley.

And guess what they will think… that the West Indians are wild illiterates!

“, Celine annoys.

More radical, Jocelyn points the finger at "UGTG unionists and the LKP, with the complicity of certain politicians who only want the independence of Guadeloupe".

A low vaccination rate

If the comments expressed by our witnesses mainly concern the social crisis, some distinguish it from the health crisis. Faced with the low vaccination rates in Guadeloupe (36.39% on November 17) and Martinique (40.3% on November 28) of the population, "how do my compatriots show themselves to be responsible when the deaths are already counted by tens? What are the other solutions proposed, ”asks Christophe. Mickael, a Martinican living in Paris for eight years, agrees with this point by recalling that "the medical and health infrastructures are constantly under tension and even more than in France". “I hope the situation will improve in the long term, but I don't know at what cost…” he adds.

Yves is more pessimistic and fears that this movement does not know real progress like that of 2009. "There will perhaps be deaths, surely people left behind, a lot of resentment ... and nothing will be settled", cowardly. he, while negotiations to get out of the social crisis came to an end between unions and Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu, Monday.

Society

Coronavirus: Why overseas territories remain reluctant to compulsory vaccination and the health pass

Society

Crisis in the West Indies: The government postpones the vaccination obligation for caregivers to December 31

20 Minutes

 is a partner of the first edition of the Assises économique des Outre-mer, organized by the 

Ouest-France group

 on the theme of "Overseas: territories of innovation, lands of adaptation", which will take place on December 7, 2021. A day dedicated to overseas territories which have more than two million French people.

Territories full of attractiveness, opportunities and future prospects.

A 100% digital and free event upon registration.

  • Covid 19

  • Urban violence

  • Coronavirus

  • Overseas

  • Guadeloupe

  • Martinique

  • West Indies

  • Society

  • 0 comment

  • 0 share

    • Share on Messenger

    • Share on Facebook

    • Share on twitter

    • Share on Flipboard

    • Share on Pinterest

    • Share on Linkedin

    • Send by Mail

  • To safeguard

  • A fault ?

  • To print