Guadeloupe strikers block roads, close airport (economic meltdown)(Martinique too)

[Mika]

Source: Miami Herald

The French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe was on the verge of rebellion, a political leader said Tuesday after stone-throwing protesters set cars and buildings ablaze, forced the international airport to close and clashed with police.

Nearly four weeks of work stoppages and demonstrations for lower prices and higher pay have caused thousands of tourists to flee or cancel holidays on the normally tranquil island, prompting many hotels to close and cruise ships to head elsewhere.

"It is a political crisis, an institutional crisis and we are on the brink of sedition," Guadeloupe's Regional Council President Victorin Lurel told France-Info radio.

-

Lurel warned that the islands were heading toward "radicalization, a rise in extremism."
"We have the impression that we have been abandoned, that there is an organized indifference," he told the radio station.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/908115.html

---

Does that last quote in bold(my bold) sound familiar?

[Mika]

1. (Update just in) 1 killed in unrest on French island Guadeloupe

1 killed in unrest on French island Guadeloupe
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/909117.html

A protester was shot to death on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe as weeks of strikes and labor unrest degenerated into violence, the region's top official said Wednesday.

The death was the first since protests broke out last month, and could mark a turning point in tensions that have spread to the nearby French island of Martinique and deeply worried the central government in Paris. France's Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie called a special meeting Wednesday to discuss security on the Caribbean islands, which are an integral part of France.

The protester, in his 50s, was apparently shot by rioters manning barricades in a housing project in Pointe-a-Pitre, Nicolas Desforges, the top appointed official on the island, said by telephone.

The dead man, Jacques Bino, was a tax agent and union member returning home from protests, Desforges said.

Police and emergency workers were summoned to help a man wounded in his car around midnight (0400 GMT), but could not reach him because they were being shot at by rioters with hunting rifles, Desforges said. By the time police arrived at the scene three hours later, Bino was dead at the wheel.

Three police officers were injured in the overnight violence, one by a gunshot to the eye, Desforges said, adding that the island was facing "serious urban violence."

Paris has refused to budge on strikers' demands for higher pay, despite nearly four weeks of work stoppages and demonstrations for lower prices and better pay have shuttered stores and schools and frozen daily life on Guadeloupe. Business leaders in Martinique agreed Tuesday to a 20 percent price cut on most supermarket products, despite initial refusal.

[sofa king]

2. Oh, that's very, very bad.

It's a convenient story, but my spider-sense suggests to me that the guy was knocked off by the cops and they've cooked up this little story to protect the shooter. I suspect one has to go to great lengths to avoid the advantages of time and space that islands give those who wish to plot revenge--like most of the family and friends of this poor dead man, who will continue to live within twenty miles of the killer until they figure out who he really is.

Many of us, myself included, entertain the fantasy of escaping to an island to avoid the downfall of civilization. But the truth of the matter is that islands are little Malthusian experiments which almost always sooner or later fall into paroxysms of violence.

The trick is to find a deserted (not desert) island and then avoid, kill, or scare off anyone else who shows up later. My current pick is Inaccessible Island, the uninhabited neighbor to one of the most remote human settlements in the world.

[Mika]

4. Cuba?

Very safe and stable there. Well educated and very progressive population. They've been through the worst of the worst several times (most recently on the mid thru the late 90's after their trade relationship w/the USSR ended- the "special period"). All the while they continued to build out their social infrastructure, not shrink it with cut backs.

Cuba has many of the serious social ills resolved, housing, education, health care, and that's under a "dictatorship".

Just think what we could do if we had democratic representation as good as Cuba's "dictatorship"?

[cobalt1999]

6. Cuba is suffering too.

Tourism is way down.

[Mika]

8. They are still opening new schools, clinics and hospitals. Not closing them.

No matter what, the Cuban people are committed to their system. There are no wealthy enclaves of land and business owners/exploiters to protect or riot against.

The wealth of Cuba (what little there is) is directed towards the aforementioned new schools, clinics and hospitals.

Amazing place.

[cobalt1999]

12. I've been a couple of times

It is an interesting place. Once the Soviet Union gravy train ended, they did well with tourism dollars. I'm not sure what they'll do during this world-wide economic downturn though.

[Lost in CT]

7. Yeah great two old white guys ruling an island of dark skinned folk.

Honest to god how people could have protested apartheid and yet support this blows my mind.

[Mika]

9. Huh?

I don't get your point. If there was one leader, and one nation, that stood with Mandela against apartheid, it was the Castros and Cuba.







--


I am an unapologetic supporter of the Cuban revolution and Cuba's sovereignty.
Been there. Seen it. Lived it.

[Lost in CT]

11. If any other country that was majority black was ruled by a white dictator

We would be protesting every Saturday. (Weather permitting)

[Mika]

14. Dream on. Americans are being robbed blind and the nation destroyed. No one in the streets here.

Cubans are quite capable of hitting the streets and taking down even the most brutal of US backed henchmen. They have proven this repeatedly in their history. Currently Cubans are happy with the system and infrastructure they have toiled to have. Especially now that they're reading the horror stories of the collapses of other capitalist Caribbean nations around them.

[reggie the dog]

32. not the cops

rich families that control the island pay some poor people to "locate potential troublemakers and neutralize them"

[KamaAina]

34. Actually, "the rock I live on" is a pretty good-sized Malthusian experiment.

But the truth of the matter is that islands are little Malthusian experiments which almost always sooner or later fall into paroxysms of violence.

The island of O'ahu has around 900,000 residents, plus 70 to 90,000 visitors (closer to the former these days), at any given time. Much of its 600 square miles is mountainous and undevelopable. About a third of the rest is in the hands of the military. And what remains is being gobbled up for suburban sprawl that looks as though it was flown out here from SoCal on a fleet of C-130s. :eyes:

[Lost in CT]

10. If the French can't take care of their colonies they really shouldn't

be allowed to have any.

Honestly this is the French government dropping the ball.

[reggie the dog]

33. these are not colonies

they are départements or what you call states in the USA, like Hawaii. The people there are striking because they are at the avant garde of our French social conflict. Prices have gone up a lot recently, but wages have stagnated. That is why they strike.

[Ghost Dog]

49. Well said régie.

Damn right.

[juno jones]

3. K&R! n/t

[cobalt1999]

5. Real smart. Let's drive off all the tourists and cruise ships, that'll increase our pay!

I'm not sure I'd follow the "leadership" of this group.

[bread_and_roses]

15. And being good little serfs has served them so well?

Violence is counter-productive and tends to harm the oppressed more than the oppressors. But taking to the streets? Yes. We sit here in the US and watch the tax dollars we pay that are supposed to support the common good being shoveled into the banks to rescue the rich, while our States starve, our children go hungry, our schools crumble, our bridges collapse. Begging our legislators to do the right thing doesn't seem to get us too far - just look at the difference between how auto workers and banksters are being treated.

I didn't see anything about "leaders" in this piece - sounds more like a pot boiling over - but I did notice this: "Behind much of the unrest in Guadeloupe and Martinique is resentment by Afro-Caribbeans, many of whom are descendants of slaves, that the vast majority of wealth and land are in the hands of offspring of colonists."

[Mika]

16. Like a mini pre Revolution Cuba.

Cubañia is looking better every day, in the global collapse, to the islander underclasses (the native majorities).

[Ghost Dog]

27. .

:thumbsup: :)

[reggie the dog]

36. I hope the revolt spreads to the mainland.

[cobalt1999]

19. And having no jobs, no stores, no income will serve them better?

That's classic "cutting off your nose to spite your face".

Don't forget burning down the library! WTF? If you are poor and want to read, I guess now they have to buy their books.

[Mika]

20. We don't know who burned what.

One of the first things the Batista oligarchy did to the Cubans who rebelled in any way shape or form was to burn down their library, schoolhouse, murder the local teacher, or doctor, or burn down the clinic. Its called terrorizing. Its a historical pattern undertaken by the unrepresentative forces in power all over the Latin Americas and Caribbean.

We don't know what's up, based on the little reporting there seems to be on this - and corporomedia at that.

[bemildred]

21. It has been very popular in other parts of the world too,

Though you are right that new world colonialists and their descendants were foremost exponents of that method of "governing", it hardly changed at all when slavery became unfashionable.

[cobalt1999]

22. Yes, the French burned down the library

Right in the middle of the same riot where the protesters were also burning down stores and cars. :eyes:

You are looking to see only what you want to see and ignoring anything else.

[Mika]

23. Oh. You were there. Give us the low down.

:radio:

You are looking to see only what you want to see and ignoring anything else.

I'm pretty sure my post said that we don't know.

Yep. That's what it said.


Projecting?

[cobalt1999]

24. You were the one who posted the news article.

If you choose not to believe it because it violates your world view, so be it.

As for me, I'm just reading the information in article you yourself posted. I didn't see any disclaimers that you posted bullshit.

[reggie the dog]

38. sometimes burning and looting is a good thing

the stores are controlled by a few rich families which price gouge. Fuck them. The library is senseless but it does show that people are really fucking pissed off and ready to fuck shit up.

[Ghost Dog]

28. And, these comments all without mentioning the recent history of Hispaniola,

the neighboring large island, ie. Santo Domingo (Trujillato, epitome of evil, anyone?) and of course Haiti.

[bread_and_roses]

25. Some people are brave enough or desperate enough to put something on the line

I guess you didn't read my first sentence. YOU are conflating violence with protest...not I. I specifically stated that I do not support violence and that the oppressed are usually harmed more than the oppressors by violence. But the tourists were driven away, evidently, by the strikes and protests.

According to the article, there has been a month of protests and work stoppages, and those had already caused "tourists to flee" the Island. If I read the article correctly, the violence is recent - unless you call work stoppage and protest violence, which I don't. I applaud these people for having the courage to strike and protest - what other means do they have? Even here, we have damn little success at persuading our so-called "Representatives" through polite channells.

Some people are brave enough to put something on the line. Evidently, these workers are willing to disrupt their livlihoods because that is the tool they have - my guess is that other tools have not worked - and they are fed up with the status quo. How do you think we got the eight-hour day, worker's protections, the "weekend?" Workers went into the streets, that's how - and they lost their livlihoods and their families suffered and many were killed for it, a mere moment ago in history.

[cobalt1999]

26. On peaceful protests and strikes we agree.

It's hard to imagine pure peaceful protests causing "tourists to flee" though. Whatever caused the tourists to leave in droves is bad news for them since that's like 70% of their economy.

Maybe it'll work out for them, but with the violence they will be suffering for a long time even if the few still working get the concessions they want.

[Ghost Dog]

29. A month-long General Strike, all by itself,

can do that.

[cobalt1999]

30. Which is why it was a bad strategy all around.

Meaning both the government and the strikers shouldn't have let it go so far because they are both screwed now.

A Tourist based economy isn't like a factory. A factory can settle a strike and everyone can be back to work the next day, not so for tourism.

A well publicized General Strike and now Violence means that those jobs are GONE until the tourists choose to come back and they may not for a long time, at a minimum they will be out of luck for the winter busy season this year.

[reggie the dog]

41. The general strike in Ukraine worked out pretty well.

[cobalt1999]

44. Is the Ukraine a 70% tourist based economy?

Nope & that's my point. It's easy to go back to work at the local factory.

Once this is resolved, people aren't going back to work in the the hotels, bars, restaurants, tourist stores, etc. the very next day. It'll all be still closed until tourists are confident enough to come back, then book their trips, then show up. They might all be out of work until next winter's busy season.

No tourists, no jobs, no revenue, no taxes. Big difference from the Ukraine.

[reggie the dog]

46. except that the islands are subsudized by the mainland

they will be fine, the unemployed will get aid. These places are like Hawaii to the USA except that we redistribute wealth in France.

[cobalt1999]

47. If you redistribute wealth and subsidize so well

What the hell are these people protesting about?

Shoot, they should have just quit and all gone on unemployment if that's all it takes to be fine.

[reggie the dog]

48. about 40 percent of the island IS unemployed already

what are they protesting about? They are sick of being price gouged by the small network of families who control the land, the stores, the importation of goods and the sale of said goods. They are sick of being price gouged on gasoline, which costs 2 euro a gallon more than here in the mainland, they are sick of paying more for food than in the mainland due to price gouging. They are sick of being fucked over by the descendents of the slave owners who owned their ancestors. Once they win their strike, and price controls are brought back, they will be fine. I hope the general strike comes to the mainland in May. May 1 is always a good day to start a general strike.

[Ghost Dog]

50. As elsewhere, the main problem is the corrupt crony-capitalist system.

Right?

[reggie the dog]

39. tourists flee because there is nothing in the stores

and because there are roadblocks preventing them from getting to and leaving the hotels. ONE PERSON WAS KILLED. That happens TWICE A DAY in Chicago. ONE PERSON WAS MURDERED IN THE PAST MONTH! oh no.....the horror....

[reggie the dog]

37. burning and a looting tonight

fuck our masters. I often go on strike because our president is a right wing asshole. Fuck him, his goverment trying to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and fuck the rich families that have been rich since slavery and that are price gouging and paying shitty wages to the descendants of their slaves. When is the last time you went on strike? How many concessions have you gained by striking? I have stuck and won multiple times in my six years here in France.

[reggie the dog]

35. Easy, cut off the profits of the rich

to show them that the people have the power. They want raises of 200 euros per month for everyone on the island and price controls over goods because people have a monopoly over distribution and are price gouging.

[Ghost Dog]

13. Note that this is part of both the European Union

and the Euro Zone, albeit on what is known as the 'ultra-periphery' (like, for example, the Canary Islands, where I am).

The EU needs to get its collective ass together, and fast, to assist with much greater social solidarity funding (ie. finance direct to the people most able to do something with it), paid for by the ill-gotten gains of the super-rich and super-corrupt.

Edit to add: This kind of superficial MSM video-reporting does absolutely nothing to help, either: http://www.france24.com/en/20090218-one-killed-violence-escalates-guadeloupe

[bemildred]

17. French isles top EU jobless table

Four French overseas territories had the highest unemployment rates in the 27-nation EU in 2007, the EU's statistics agency Eurostat says.

The Indian Ocean island of Reunion topped the list, with 25.2%, followed by Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, all in the Caribbean region.

The two Spanish enclaves in Morocco - Ceuta and Melilla - came next, with rates of 20.3% and 18.2%, respectively.

Guadeloupe and Martinique are currently in the grip of a general strike.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7892773.stm

[reggie the dog]

42. My wife's family is from Réunion

that is 25.2% looking for work but not finding it. About another quarter have given up. I want to move there so bad. My wife would get one and a half teachers salaries for teaching so far from the mainland and I could stay at home with the kids. Plus top quality pot called Zamal is only 50 euro cents a gram! Yep 20 euros gets you 40 grams, except you can get it for 10 euros if you know the right people.....I am going there in July, southern hemisphere tropical harvest season......

[bemildred]

43. Good luck. Bring pictures back ... nt

[Ghost Dog]

51. Hey, PM me!

:smoke:

Seriously, we all know why these so beautiful so fertile places have for so long been exploited.

And so do the wbankers.

[bemildred]

18. Race, class fuel social conflict on French Caribbean islands

POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (AFP) — A general strike crippling Guadeloupe and Martinique has exposed racial and class divides on the French Caribbean islands where a white elite wields power over a majority descended from African slaves.

Protesters on Monday stepped up their nearly month-long strike action in Guadeloupe by setting up roadblocks across the island. Police moved in to dismantle them and detained dozens of protesters.

The Collective Against Exploitation (LKP), a coalition of unions and leftist groups who launched the strike in January, is demanding that the state and employers to do far more to help islanders cope with the high cost of living.

A similar strike, with similar demands, started more than a week ago on the the neighbouring French island of Martinique, which like Guadeloupe is hugely popular with mainland French tourists seeking tropical winter sun.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gk4fdgdkSoLI7uwcWr8DPvufQdAg

[reggie the dog]

31. yes yes oui oui

some assholes killed a unionist at a roadblock yeterday. Riots are starting too. Right on, the same families that were rich under slavery still control the economy of these islands. I cant wait for the general strike to arrive here in mainland France too.

[bemildred]

40. Guadaloupe riots turn paradise into war zone as one protester shot dead

---

Jacques Bino, a union activist in his 50s, was shot dead shortly after midnight near a roadblock in the city of Pointe à Pitre, where armed youths had opened fire on police. His was the first death in a conflict that has escalated this week from peaceful protest to violent confrontation.

The movement, led by the umbrella group Collective against Extreme Exploitation, began on 20 January as a general strike and protest against the island's high living costs. But since negotiations with the French government over state aid broke down, frustration has increased and the island, an idyllic holiday destination known for its beaches and luxury hotels, has come to resemble a war zone. "They wanted Beirut; they've got Beirut," one protester told the Libération newspaper.

---

Sarkozy, fearful that the unrest in France's overseas territories could spread to the mainland, unveiled a package of state aid at a meeting with union leaders worth between €1.65bn and €2.65 bn, including tax cuts and one-off payments for the unemployed.

The president, whose approval ratings are at their lowest since his 2007 election, is terrified of a repeat of the discontent that brought France to a standstill in 1995. Just weeks after 2.5 million people took to the streets in protest at his handling of the economy, another day of strikes is scheduled for next month. One newspaper reported Sarkozy telling his aides he was "betting my term" on the meeting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/18/nicolassarkozy-guadeloupe

[reggie the dog]

45. I know it is a UK headline

But come on, one murder and they say a war zone. And what about the happy stabbing murders in the UK? is the UK a war zone too????

[Ghost Dog]

52. In the UK, protest is no longer allowed.

And, they're watching you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPouip93yBE

[bemildred]

53. I just posted it, for the new facts, I'm not going to defend the "spin". nt

[Ghost Dog]

54. Spin?

"Riots all over Europe"

:rofl:

No problem here. :)

[bemildred]

55. Well, he seemed concerned about the usage of "war zone".

I think it's a sound point, calling it a "war zone" is "spin", but I don't really care, I don't expect much.

[Ghost Dog]

56. Me neither.

:(

Tranquilo. (Workin' on it tho'. With your permission.) Stay cool.

[bemildred]

57. France proposes to raise salaries to end Guadeloupe violence

BASSE-TERRE, Guadeloupe: Rioters fired at the police, stormed a city hall and burned several stores in a third night of violence on Guadeloupe, officials said Thursday, as France proposed raises for low-paid workers to end a monthlong strike.

More than 500 police officers were deployed overnight across the French Caribbean island, with dozens arriving by helicopter in the southern coastal town of Sainte-Anne, where youths forced their way into the city hall. The building was not vandalized, but several businesses were looted and set on fire, Mayor Richard Yacou said.

---

Government officials met overnight in Paris to find solutions. Prime Minister François Fillon announced a plan on RTL radio Thursday morning that includes extra government benefits totaling nearly €200 a month for low-income workers.

Fillon said the employers, not the state, would foot the bill for the pay increases. The issue of who would pay for a raise - one of the strikers' main demands - has stymied negotiations in the past.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/19/america/france.php

[Mika]

58. Thanks for posting the story/link.

Fillon said the employers, not the state, would foot the bill for the pay increases.

I wonder how that is going to be worked out? Taxes? Increasing min wage? Forcing them to increase overall wages?

[bemildred]

59. I don't know, but I thought it was an interesting point.

It sounds like the strikers "won". I would assume that some sort of wage controls or mandates would be necessary. Administratively there are lots of ways one could try to go about that. It will be interesting to see how the "employers" go about trying to weasel out of it.