Mass riots surged in another territory France kept after its past imperial legacy, the Caribbean Martinique island. The people at this tropical heavenly spot are living in poverty because of the specifics of French legislation. What is this about and why is it a symptom of a very dangerous crisis for France?
While Macron and his government are trying to make ends meet and approve the budget for the following year, the leaning French state fabric continues tearing apart. Unrest is gaining pace in France’s overseas departments. Earlier it embraced New Caledonia where a strong independence movement has been on the rise. Now the heavenly Martinique is on fire, with things going as far as a group of protesters trying to capture the airport.
There is a simple reason why it is the overseas territories which are in turmoil: the central authorities are lacking the time to target the issues of far distant outskirts of the former empire. Life in Paris is not the same as life on a Caribbean island. Although Martinique is officially a French territory, not all laws of the metropolitan state are applied to it. Or moreover, additional laws are being applied.
For example, customs requires an individual tax to be paid for the import of goods from mainland France, which, by the way, was devised back at the time of Louis XIV, in 1670. Kings were overthrown, the republic took the reign followed by the empire, then the royal power came again followed by the republic, the empire again and the republic one more time, but no one thought to abolish the tax at all. As a result, it is still imposed not only on Martinique, but also in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mayotte and La Réunion islands.
In 2022, the receipts from this tax amounted to 1.64 billion euro covering as much as a third of local costs, explains Pierre Moscovici, an economist. It seems a welcoming fact, however, there is one problem: prices are growing due to the import tax, and this growth is significant.
This might be especially felt in Martinique where local production can only contribute exotic fruit, bananas, sugar, and rum. The French, known for being so meticulous, took care of imposing different taxes on various commodity categories: for example, the tax on imported biscuits is 15 per cent and 50 per cent for cigarettes.
In average, food prices on Martinique are 40 per cent higher than in mainland France, while there are fewer job opportunities there, of course: only agriculture and tourism. Unsurprisingly, 27 per cent of the local population are living below the poverty line.
It seems the solution is obvious. The metropolitan state being 8 thousand kilometres away, with Mexico and U.S. nearby, it would, certainly, be cheaper to bring food and all other goods from there. French authorities are saying this cannot be done though. Because the EU regulations are different from those in U.S. and Mexico. And their rice is not rice at all and their potatoes are not those, really… And if it was not for French authorities, the people of Martinique would eat some crap and ruin their lives completely.
Even worse than that, French bureaucrats managed to impose the overseas tax on some local produce, with the price of bananas, for example, even exceeding that in mainland France. Therefore, Martinique’s unrest, unlike in New Caledonia where many protesters are demanding independence, are primarily caused by economic reasons. According to Frédéric Farah, an economist: ‘Here, inflation controls are less strict than in the metropolitan state making it much higher. This is an old problem, which does not get the attention it deserves’.
There is another part of the problem: the so-called békés (descendants of early Europeans) are holding all the island’s assets owning plantations, supermarkets and markets. The official share of such privileged citizens is 1 per cent of the population, or about three thousand people, but, according to a local resident, everything is way simpler.
‘There is a monopoly of three families controlling everything, notes Jean-Yves who preferred not to tell his last name. – No matter what kind of business you want to start, you will fail’. The swelling broke in September and it all started with demonstrations, which, of course, were useless. Then truck drivers set out to the island’s capital Fort-de-France protesting against high prices.
This did not end with protests. Night-time clashes in New Caldonia’s style followed on, with barricades, burning cars and store looting. Jean-Christophe Buvier, the prefect, imposed a curfew and set the entire police to their feet, but this gave shot-term effect, if any. Protesters started to shoot at officials, a few people were injured.
At the same time, the political wing of the movement, or it can be called this barely, the Assembly for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), stepped ahead. The Assembly’s leader is Rodrigue Petitot, 42, quite a maverick who used to have issues with law, including because of drug trafficking. The main demand was to have food on Martinique cost as much as in mainland France and authorities promised to commence negotiations on cancelling the disputed tax for thousands of foodstuffs at the beginning of October. The key word here is ‘to commence’, which does not necessarily mean a specific result when it comes to the French.
Finally, Martinique’s authorities announced they would need to study the matter in more detail, with the press acquiring information that even if the tax for critical foodstuffs is reduced, it will increase for others on the contrary. Central authorities want to cancel the disputed tax at all and impose a 20 per cent VAT instead (currently, the VAT on Martinique is accrued at a very low rate of 2.1 or 5.5 per cent). In other words, they will squeeze locals anyway, but on different pretexts.
As a consequence, there was more unrest starting anew, and, with gossiped reinforcements to arrive at the island to enforce order, about 300 to 350 rioters filled the airport. This caused three civil flights with 1,117 passengers on-board to be diverted to Guadeloupe’s airport, with the prefect imposing a curfew once again and issuing an order banning any gatherings and manifestations.
As things do, Minister of the Overseas François-Noël Buffet in ‘an extremely strong’ manner condemned the unrest and urged co-citizens ‘to solve problems through dialogue’. However, a dialogue implies the intention to find agreement, which is not the case whatsoever. They do discuss the problem, but then they just shrug their shoulders and sweep it under the rug.
Meanwhile France’s overseas departments are going through a series of crises caused both by degrading living standards and the specific local conditions. Riots in New Caledonia have been ongoing since may waxing and waning. Unrest sparked in Guadeloupe in September and today they are talking of an intention to organize a similar movement against the high cost of living. Just on October 7, Mayotte announced the end of a cholera epidemic, a disease utterly forgotten in European France.
On La Réunion protests are still limited to demonstrations organized by trade unions, but the reason of the complaints is the same as in Martinique, the food here is 37 per cent more expensive than in France. Besides, there was a row of clashes among rival bands at the island. As the government is officially there but does not take any decisions, some problems will be added on top of other until the citizens wonder if they need such a government at all?
They are demanding lower prices in Martinique right now, but this is just the beginning. The French economic crisis means that the overseas territories, being the weakest parts of the system, will face it in full swing. And then this will not only be New Caledonia to have the temptation to slam the door behind.