"In my opinion, it is to drown the fish. Why talk about autonomy, which does not appear in the main demands" of the protest movement, launches Rosemonde Thrasibule, a 58-year-old resident of Lamentin.

"This is not what interests us there, at first. We will certainly have to talk about it, but when the time comes," she adds, interviewed by AFP on Saturday.

The day before, in a televised address to Guadeloupe, the Minister of Overseas Sébastien Lecornu had declared that the government was "ready" to speak of the "autonomy" of the island, approached in "hollow" by the local elected officials in in recent meetings.

Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu leaving the Council of Ministers on November 24, 2021 Thomas COEX AFP

"It's cinema, bluffing, to save time. Before speaking (autonomy), there are priorities, a lot of things to settle" abounds "G", who resides him in Abymes.

Among the priorities, this 30-year-old lists the withdrawal of the vaccination obligation for caregivers and firefighters, as well as the health pass, triggers of the crisis.

Encrusted with violence, degradation, looting, fires and road blockages, the movement embraced social, economic and identity demands, revealing the expectations of a population where many live below the poverty line and where youth unemployment is exploding.

Detonator "of much deeper problems", the debate on the vaccination obligation and the health pass raises the question of autonomy, however, insofar as it "comes up against our deep realities and our identity", according to Jean- Marie Gotin, 59 years old.

This senior education adviser in a college in Abymes develops: "If a French department refuses a law passed by the French parliament, then that poses the problem of our relationship with France. We cannot be both inside and outside . From the moment we accept common law, the constraints weigh on our reality. "

Demonstration against health measures in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, November 27, 2021 Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

"There is a contradiction that does not allow us to move forward. We must ask ourselves how to reorganize our relationship with France because the current framework does not seem compatible with our development needs and our collective fulfillment", adds- he, judging that "the period is interesting because it places us in front of our mirror and our future".

"Misunderstanding to be resolved"

Like Jean-Marie Gotin, Tatiana, a 43-year-old resident of Abymes, thinks that "the (local) specificities that the metropolis does not have" must be taken into account.

According to them, the debate arose with less acuteness in 2009, the date of the last major protest movement in Guadeloupe, but "each crisis always puts on the table the degree of power of our policies" underlines Tatiana.

Therefore, "there is a misunderstanding to settle", otherwise the question of the relationship with France "will arise again tomorrow (when) another law will come to impose something that clashes with our realities" believes Jean-Marie Gotin.

A protester in Abymes, November 24, 2021 Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

Local elected officials already have their own skills, for example concerning the distribution of water, a chronic problem on the island.

Rosemonde Thrasibule points to their promises to unfulfilled young people, whose unemployment rate is well above that of the national average (35% against 20% in 2020).

"Yes, they are being left behind. But our politicians promise them, door to door before the elections, to find them a job if they vote for them. Then once elected, they leave them at the dock. "

Also, she believes, more autonomy, whatever its possible form, "will not change anything" if they do not take their responsibilities.

© 2021 AFP