Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. Hope you’ll join us here every Saturday. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.
Though I have explored Puerto Rico’s history as a colony, as well as Haitian, Jamaican and Bajan independence, I haven’t taken a look at France’s “colonies“ in the Caribbean, with the exception of “Caribbean Matters: French environmental racism on full display in Martinique and Guadeloupe,” which I posted back in 2023. I realize they are not formally dubbed colonies. They are officially “overseas Departments of France,” or “DROM.”
DROM stands for départements et régions d’outre-mer (overseas departments and regions) and are the islands of Mayotte, Reunion, Martinique, Guadalupe and the French Guyana. DROM are departments which share the same status of the regions and departments of the Metropolitan France (the part of France in the continental Europe).
However, though they are coequals on paper with mainland France, are they really?
Philippe Gendrault wrote this for The Conversation in 2024:
The colonial legacy lurking beneath economic unrest in the French Caribbean
For weeks, the French Caribbean island of Martinique has been the site of at-times violent protests over high living costs and worsening economic conditions. And Martinique isn’t alone; in the neighboring French island of Guadeloupe, striking workers stormed the control room of a power station on Oct. 26, 2024, causing a blackout that led to a government-imposed curfew.
Media coverage of the unrest has often focused narrowly on the immediate economic causes. But there is a much longer backstory to the protests, one that takes into account social and political inequality and the lasting legacy of colonialism in the French Caribbean.
[…]From colonialism to claims of neocolonialism
People in Martinique and Guadeloupe are highly aware of their colonial past, and it informs much of their recent resistance to the high cost of living on the islands. Martinicans and Guadeloupeans have faced ongoing social, economic and environmental disparities with their overseas compatriots. This is despite the islands transitioning from colonies to départements in 1946, a move that gave the people of Martinique and Guadeloupe French citizenship and the same rights as those in mainland France.
This absorbing panel discussion at Yale, which took place in 2021, was held in response to these events in 2020:
Protesters destroy colonial statues on French Caribbean isle
Cheering protesters tugging on ropes tore down a statue of Napoleon’s wife on the Caribbean island of Martinique and another from the French territory’s colonial history, adding to a growing list of monuments being ripped down and defaced in spreading global revulsion of racial injustice.
France’s government on Monday condemned the “vandalism.” Prime Minister Jean Castex said “violence, albeit symbolic, and hatred will never push forward any cause.”
Protesters with sledgehammers first hacked at the stone base of the statue of Empress Josephine, which was already missing its head. As drummers beat out a rhythm, they attached cords to it, brought it crashing down and stamped and jumped on it.
Proud to be colonised?’: statue of French politician torn down in Martinique
A statue of the French politician Victor Schoelcher, who decreed the abolition of slavery in the West Indies in 1848, was decapitated and vandalised in Martinique on Friday night. The monument had been erected in 1998 to mark 150 years since the end of slavery on the Caribbean island. According to Le Figaro, the city hall in Martinique does not plan to replace it.
Tagged on the plinth was the question: “Proud to be colonised?”. On another side were tagged red, green and black stripes—the colours of the flag of the National Front for the Liberation of Martinique, a political group advocating for the independence of Martinique from France. Below the stripes were the letters “JM”, referring to a rum brand owned by the French group Bernard Hayot, whose distillery in Martinique was ransacked last month, partly in protest against a colonial-era image on its drink’s label.
Social commentator and journalist Zaka Toto, political scientist Audrey Célestine, and art historian Cécile Fromont, all from Martinique, join in a roundtable discussion of a series of events ranging from the May 22nd 2020 destruction of the statue of abolitionist Victor Schoelcher, to the late July toppling of the statue of Napoléon’s wife Joséphine in Fort-de-France, Martinique. They will discuss the paradoxical dimensions of such destructions that cannot be explained simply as part of the global wave of destruction of colonial and racist symbols in the wake of the #mustfall and #BLM movement.
While searching the web for Caribbean news items and Caribbean history, I found this item that took place on Feb. 21, 2007.
St. Barts and St. Martin break away from Guadeloupe
The French Caribbean islands of St. Barts and St. Martin officially broke away from Guadeloupe on July 15, becoming Overseas Collectivities, which separated them administratively from Guadeloupe.
St. Barts and St. Martin had been dependencies of Guadeloupe, an overseas Department of France, since1945.
Both islands still are considered French territories, while Guadeloupe remains an overseas Department of France. Residents of St. Barts and St. Martin approved their new political status in a 2003 referendum, which was officially signed into law on Feb. 21, 2007 by Jacques Chirac, then the president of France.
The two islands now have a freer hand in managing their own affairs, which include creating or changing laws related to local taxes, tourism, public transportation and other issues, according to statements released by the French government.
From G. Dunkel at Workers World:
Martinique and Guadeloupe: French colonies in the Caribbean demand lower prices
Two French colonies in the Caribbean, that operate under the legal fiction that they are French departments with seats in its parliament, have been the scene of massive protests against high prices for food and other necessities. Protests in Martinique and Guadeloupe have grown in intensity since early September.
ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data) reported:
On 24 April 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron secured re-election, defeating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. Despite his re-election to the presidency, dissatisfaction with Macron has been reflected by his relatively poor performance in both the presidential and parliamentary elections, with notable swings to both the political far-right and hard left (France24, 20 June 2022). During the presidential election, Macron lost electoral support in several regions of France and the overseas territories, with Le Pen comfortably outperforming Macron in Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, and Réunion (Guardian, 25 April 2022). Moreover, Macron’s Ensemble coalition lost its absolute majority in parliament during legislative elections on 12 and 19 June.
Philippe Gendrault reported this for Black Agenda Report:
2021: Uprising in the Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique
Guadeloupe and Martinique are officially French territories, but they are colonized in the truest sense of the word. Recent protests are a result of years of inequities meted out to their majority Black populations.
“The [French] state clearly has the intention to leave Guadeloupe in a morass.” Elie Domota, LKP leadership, 12/3/21
Over the month of November, 2021, a wind of revolt swept across the “overseas territories” of Guadeloupe and Martinique. If one was to follow the mainstream media, French or otherwise, the discontent was triggered by mandatory vaccination requirements for health workers, restaurant workers and firefighters implemented by the French government on all French territories, including colonies. As a consequence, about 566 workers found themselves suspended from their jobs for refusing to comply. These workers found themselves deprived of their means of subsistence and unable to access benefits to which even unemployed workers are entitled. Moreover, alongside these suspensions, hospital and health services were closed across the territory.
The LKP or Liyannaj Kont Pwotiasyon (the Collective Against Overexploitation) is an organization of about 50 groups fighting: “against the exploitation of the island and against all the injustices that may take place there. It also generally denounces all the residues of colonialism that can take place everywhere in the world, especially on the African continent or in other French islands and overseas territories.” On the 12th of November, the LKP called for a general unlimited strike throughout Guadeloupe to begin on November 15.
Maddy Crowell wrote this for The Atlantic:
Guadeloupe’s colonial history began when Christopher Columbus first set foot on the island in 1493. It was passed from native Arawaks to Carib Indians to the Spanish until the French expelled them and slaughtered the local population, officially claiming Guadeloupe as a colony in 1635. In 1946, it became a French département, an ambiguous status giving the island a locally elected government that reports to the national government in Paris.
Also from Black Agenda Report, Abayomi Azikiwe wrote:
Martinique Masses Continue Rebellion Against French Colonial System
The Caribbean Island of Martinique is classified as an overseas department of France but it is treated like a colony, lacking any voice in its own affairs. Social unrest has flared up again prompted by hyperinflation and the heavy-handed tactics utilized by security forces under the control of Paris.
Due to its colonial dependency, the rate of rising prices in Martinique far exceeds that of the colonial power in France.
During September, thousands of people took to the streets in response to the escalating prices for food and other consumer goods. Riot police from France were deployed to put down the unrest which involved industrial actions among the workers.
Please join me in the comments section below for more and for the weekly Caribbean news roundup.
What do you think? Colonies or coequal parts of mainland France?
