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"The State must no longer suffer the crisis in the West Indies, but restore order and take the evil at the root"

2021-11-29T18:17:54.375Z


FIGAROVOX / INTERVIEW - Sunday, November 28, Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of Overseas Territories, arrived in Guadeloupe to try to stem the social conflict. For Patrick Karam, it is time for the government to respond to the fundamental problems at the origin of this crisis.


Patrick Karam has a doctorate in political science, vice-president of the Ile-de-France regional council, and a former interministerial delegate for equal opportunities for French overseas under Nicolas Sarkozy.

FIGAROVOX.

- Do the protests taking place in Guadeloupe and Martinique have deeper roots than the simple obligation to vaccinate?

Patrick KARAM.

-

Of course.

We have to take things chronologically.

I myself managed the 2009 LKP crisis in Guadeloupe which resulted in a strike lasting more than 44 days.

At the time, it was not the state that was being challenged, it was rather its absence.

It was about denouncing the price of gasoline or the cost of living in general (more important than in France).

The demonstrators called on the state to assume its responsibilities and to enter the front line.

More recently, there was the crisis in Guyana in 2017, which paralyzed the territory and forced the state to send its minister to negotiate.

Then the crisis in Mayotte in 2018, marked by social protests, against the Comorians in particular.

A few months later, it was Reunion that rose up.

Now it's the West Indies.

During the Covid crisis, in these territories, the social shock absorbers that were put in place were not operational.

Patrick karam

So in reality, Covid or not Covid, we have crises that are crystallizing and these problems go far beyond one-off discontent.

There are problems of insecurity, high cost of living, unemployment with rates two to three times higher than the national average.

In addition, we note that there are regularly plans put in place in the working-class districts of the metropolis.

We salute him.

But we do not see similar plans for the overseas territories.

All the presidents have carried out one or two plans for the hexagonal “suburbs”.

And during this time, the Overseas, which is in a much more serious situation than Seine-Saint-Denis, with poverty rates two or three times higher, higher unemployment rates, is neglected.

Overseas territories therefore suffer from a feeling of neglect.

How is the Covid a trigger for the crisis?

The Covid has not improved things.

In May 2020, I published a column in the

Journal Du Dimanche

, signed by 186 personalities and associations.

We wrote to the President to denounce the lack of resources overseas and I warned that a major social crisis could explode at any time.

We are there now.

During the Covid crisis, in these territories, the social shock absorbers that were put in place were not operational.

First of all, if companies had a euro in tax or social debt, they did not receive any help.

This is cruel for territories where companies are very fragile, particularly in view of a smaller market, higher export costs and fewer and less trained workers.

Read also Antilles: in the face of violence, the vaccine obligation postponed

Second, the informal economy is of considerable importance in the overseas territories.

However, this means that a lot of workers go under the radars.

They are not compensated and cannot continue their activity due to the confinement.

Finally, this crisis was a disaster for education.

Our technological equipment being mediocre, the distance courses could not be set up.

Educational delays with France have therefore become even more important.

In 2014, there were, depending on the territory, between 14 to 30% of the population in a situation of illiteracy.

It will surely increase because of this interrupted schooling.

And confinement does not have the same effect on metropolitan residents as it does on West Indians who are used to living outside.

All this has increased the precariousness and favored the conflicts that we are currently observing.

How to explain that hostility to vaccination is so strong in these territories?

First, there is the history of Chlordecone, which is no small feat. While this pesticide was banned in France and the United States, it had been exceptionally maintained in the West Indies, in banana fields. When I was a kid, I saw planes coming in and spreading Chlordecone. No one had told us it was toxic. Result: extremely serious pollution of basements and soils. The West Indians are poisoned, 93% of Guadeloupeans have Chlordecone in their blood. I have some myself. This explains why prostate cancers are much more common in these regions. And it is only now that the French government recognizes these cancers as an occupational disease. Since then, the West Indians have become suspicious of the metropolis and part ofbetween them considers that the State is not the best placed to give advice of public health. There is a deep mistrust of the central state.

It is always the poorest and those who cannot afford to leave who pay the consequences of disturbances to public order.

Patrick karam

Then, the health pass was put in place in France when two thirds of metropolitan residents were vaccinated but only one third of West Indians.

It does not have the same effect.

It was necessary to allow the catching up to be done by asking in particular the elected officials to wet the shirt.

Instead of convincing, we constrain, and that does not work overseas.

Should we send detachments of the RAID and GIGN to Guadeloupe to help the police?

These blockages are causing problems and must be stopped. Let me give you an example: in Martinique, there are 2,000 tonnes of bananas that were packed and could not take the boat on Sunday because of the blockages. This has dramatic consequences. First of all, they have to forgo the direct income from these bananas, roughly 2 million euros. Then, they have to give up income from European subsidies since Europe lowers its subsidies when a certain tonnage is not delivered. Finally, they must give up certain partnerships with large-scale distribution which will terminate the contracts.

These blockades are carried out by mafia networks, armed, who do not hesitate to shoot the police and even journalists.

They are the ones responsible for breakages and fires.

They are not small snowshoers, but networks structured around drug trafficking.

Let's not confuse them with peaceful protesters.

This strike handicaps the Martinican economy and I therefore supported the sending of detachments from the RAID and the GIGN.

It was I who alerted the minister to the situation in Pointe-à-Pitre by sending him this impressive video of a fire.

People almost died.

The emergency services did not even respond.

Read also Riots in the West Indies: what is the origin of the claims in Guadeloupe and Martinique?

It is always the poorest and those who cannot afford to leave who pay the consequences of disturbances to public order.

The cars that we steal, that we burn and that serve as roadblocks are not those of the rich.

A lot of people don't have insurance otherwise.

All these looted and broken stores mean that people are losing their jobs: traders, artisans, freelancers who will not be reimbursed.

Restoring order is a prerequisite for everything.

We cannot tolerate such violence in any territory of the French state.

And once that is done, it will be necessary to start negotiations with the population.

The debate on autonomy has settled since Sébastien Lecornu mentioned the possibility.

Can this be a long term horizon?

We must resolve the short-term issue and the current crisis before putting the issue of autonomy on the table.

The minister addressed this theme to divert attention from the social and health crisis.

He wanted to open the debate on the status of the department to talk about another subject.

This is well seen because these collectives against vaccination are made up of unions, some of which are pro-independence and others are not.

The minister thus puts the box in the camp opposite.

It is rather politically clever, but it testifies to one thing: the government needs to resort to these subterfuges in order not to respond to the basic problems.

Elected officials are simply asking for more adaptation.

They demand to be able to manage the health competence, as certain metropolitan regions claim without talking about autonomy.

I invite the government not to endure the social crisis any longer and to ensure that we open a real debate on the conditions for catching up and real equality.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-11-29

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