Thread: Unrest Continues to Effect Martinique and Guadeloupe

Tourists say 'Non' to French islands amid unrest


By AP | Feb 19, 2009
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique — Thousands of tourists looking for fun in the sun have canceled vacations to a pair of French Caribbean islands, where violent strikes have left one man dead, piles of smelly uncollected garbage in the streets, and stores looted and burned.

. . .

"Tourism is fragile," she said. "People are not only canceling this week, but also for all the months of February, March and April. We have a huge deficit of tourists ahead of us."

At least 10,000 tourists have canceled vacations in Martinique and Guadeloupe. . .

. . . Guadeloupe's strike, waged by residents struggling with soaring living costs, has persisted for almost a month. Martinique's is in its third week.

. . .

. . . Six of seven cruise ships that were expected to arrive in Fort-de-France between Feb. 7 and Friday are docking elsewhere


Read full storey here: Tourists say 'Non' to French islands amid unrest - Martinique And Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe, Martinique,Reunion,French Guiana-unrest spreads

Feb 22, 2009
Though little reported here the uprising in Guadeloupe has had big coverage in France where the overseas territories are considered - but not treated - as part of metropolitan France in a way British colonies never were to the Uk. Thus the fear of contagion to France from Guadeloupe has been cofirmed as it led to students occupyting the Sorbonne last week and a series of hastily improvised wage rises and concessions by Sarkozy to the Guadeloupe general strikers.

The lessons that mass resistence gets results has now spread to French Guiana and REUNION in the Indian Ocean where strikes are now taking place ( Can the scientists at Port Au Francais on Kerguelen be next!!!). The strikes have also seen the popularity of THE RED POSTMAN -OLIVER BESANCENOT - and his new ANTICAPITALIST PARTY rocket to 23% in the opinion polls. The party is a French vesion of Respect and Oliver Besancenot the new Jean Bove - but the fear/hopes of the return of ‘68 in France is real and will have a knock on effect here in te run up to the G20 summit where we can expect an appearance by Besancenot himself and a week of fervid press speculation and radical possibilities on the streets swolen by a vast influx of French revoltionaries

FRom: Guadeloupe, Martinique,Reunion,French Guiana-unrest spreads « Ian Bone

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pledging $730 million in economic aid to France's Caribbean territories in an effort to head off the escalating protests

From Dominica Online:

Guadeloupe strike continues

Negotiations have been suspended until Monday in the general strike, which has crippled Guadeloupe for the past 31 days.

After meeting with executive presidents and parliamentarians of the Overseas Departments Thursday evening, French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, broke his silence by announcing a 580 million euro-purse to the Overseas Deparments. This, he said, will go a long way in alleviating the poor living conditions in the Departments.

The striking unions, Employers Federation, the Prefect and the two mediators met Friday afternoon to begin negotiations on the proposals made by President Sarkozy, but after about three hours of deliberations, the negotiations were suspended until Monday.

more . . .

According to the spokesman for the striking unions in Guadeloupe, Elie Domota, the presentation made by President Sarkozy is not clear.

“We have been given new laws, new proposals, and new Ministers; every time a new one comes out, we are told that’s the solution to our problems. We are being fooled for the past 50 years; we are not just going to accept the President’s words until it is clearly defined and concrete measures are put in place to give us solutions to the problems facing our people,” he said, adding that there is a willingness to negotiate, but the strike continues.


more . . .

Meanwhile, the body of 48-year-old Jacques Bino, the trade unionist who was killed Tuesday, will be exposed Saturday at the Trade Union building in Pointe-a-Pitre before making its way to his birthplace, the northeastern town of Petit-Canal, where he will be buried on Sunday.

Martinique, which is also on strike, is now into its 15th day. The unions and supermarket owners have agreed to lower the price of about 100 items on their shelves, but agreement has not been reached on a raise in salaries.

FROM: Dominica News - Breaking news and daily local news

Gas stations, supermarkets and ports have all remained closed for weeks in Guadeloupe and almost three weeks in Martinique