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On Saturday 30 May at the BFI Southbank, in conjunction with the African Caribbean community of London, the following film will be screened and followed by a panel discussion around the legacy of Bumidom and the situation in the French Caribbean today. The BASA correspondence (from Arthur) about the current situation in Guadeloupe has been circulated and will hopefully contribute to the debate. David Somerset, BFI Education to book tickets use the following link: http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/events/africancaribbean_matinee_the_future_is_elsewhere African-Caribbean Matinee: The Future Is Elsewhere L'avenir est ailleurs France 2007. Dir Antoine-Léonard Maestrati. 80min At the close of the Algerian War, the French government encouraged thousands of young people from French Caribbean to travel to Paris and support its ailing job market. Capturing life past and present in both the Caribbean and Paris, this documentary is a powerful and pertinent exploration of the social cost of enforced migration, where people become pawns in a world economy. Personal testimony from young and old includes the late writer and poet Aimé Césaire and international footballer Lilian Thuram. ________________________________ From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of arthur torrington Sent: 26 May 2009 07:47 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Guadeloupe/Repression FYI Arthur GUADELOUPE UGTG ISSUE CALL TO THE DEMOCRATIC AND WORKERS' MOVEMENT INTERNATIONALLY Dear comrades, dear friends, Again the French State, with the complicity of key elected officials from Guadeloupe, has used its repressive apparatus against the youth, workers, and people of Guadeloupe. Failing to push back the movement underway for five months against pwofitasyon -- the mass movement led by Guadeloupan organizations, especially the trade unions -- the French State has now decided to use its judicial repressive apparatus toward this same goal. It is important to remember that this movement led to the signing of the Bino Agreement on February 26, 2009 -- an agreement that won a 200-euro increase in the monthly minimum wage -- and of a Memorandum of Understanding on March 4, 2009, which lifted the general strike that began on January 20. Now, as a backlash, we are witnessing a series of criminal investigations and trials against leaders of this movement, particularly against leaders of the UGTG trade union federation: - March 8: opening of a judicial inquiry against Elie Domota, Secretarg General of the UGTG and spokesperson of the LKP coalition; - May 15: Trial against youth from Gourbeyre; - May 19: For having denounced the illegal wiretapping against them, Sarah Masters and Patrice Aristide Tacit were summoned to the court of Pointe à Pitre by a judge of the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris; the Attorney General of the Lower Court requested the removal of the case by the magistrate court of Pointe à Pitre; - May 20: Summons to the judicial authorities issued for Michel Madassamy and Gabriel Bourguinion, leaders of the UGTG; note that Aristide and P. Tacita are their lawyers; - May 26: Trial of Raymond Gautherot, former Secretary General of the UGTG; sentenced to three months in prison. - May 29: Trial of Jocelyn Leborgne, member of the Union Council of UGTG; on 4 June 2009: Trial of Comrade Max Delourneau for his participation in the mobilizations of the LKP. - June 9, 2009: Trial of Brother Christopher, a member of Union Council of the UGTG. Why this pattern of repression against the workers, youth, people of Guadeloupe? Because the workers, with their unions, are refusing to capitulate to the attacks that are coming down from all sides: they have continued to organized strikes and mass demonstrations of striking employees to enforce the Bino agreement -- against threats of all sorts and the blackmail of layoffs. Because on May 1, 2009 there were more than 30,000 demonstrators in Petit Canal. Because the LKP continues to make gains in the negotiations on the platform of 146 points that are ongoing with the support of the population. Because thousands of youth, unemployed, workers, retirees, continue to participate in meetings in the municipalities in response to the call of LKP. Dear colleagues, dear friends, It is thanks to the determination of the workers and people of Guadeloupe, through the general strike of 44 days and the mobilization of the entire population, including a mass protest with 100,000 demonstrators, that we were able to obtain satisfaction of our demands. It is also thanks to your international solidarity. On behalf of the rights of the workers and people of Guadeloupe to fight for their legitimate demands and against repression, we again call for your international solidarity. signed/ Elie Domota Secretary General General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG) Messages of protest should be sent to: Prefect of Guadeloupe Lardenoy Street, 97100 Basse-Terre. Fax: International: 00 335 90 81 58 32. Or: 00 590 590 8158 32 from France: 05 90 81 58 32. Yves Jego, Secretary of State for Overseas Department 27, rue Oudinot, 75007 Paris Fax: International: 00 331 53 69 28 04. France: 01 53 69 28 04. Tribunal de Grande Instance de Pointe à Pitre Guadeloupe Fax - International: 00 33 590 8361 04 or: 00 590 590 8361 O4 of France: 0590 836104 Tribunal de Grande Instance de Basse-Terre Guadeloupe Fax: International: 00 33 590 8063 61 or: 00 590 590 8063 61 from France 05 90 806361 Please send copies to: UGTG, rue Paul-Lacavé, 97110 Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. Fax: International: 00 335 90 89 08 70. Or: 00 590 89 08 70 from France 05 90 806361 website: http www.ugt.org e-mail: [log in to unmask] ----- From: ILC<mailto:[log in to unmask]> To: Recipient List Suppressed:<mailto:Recipient%20List%20Suppressed:> Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 7:20 PM Subject: Guadeloupe: First Victory!: Agreement Signed, General Strike Ends after 44 Days! INTERNATIONAL LIAISON COMMITTEE P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140. Tel. (415) 641-8616; fax: (415) 626-1217. email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Web site: www.owcinfo.org<http://www.owcinfo.org/> Please Excuse Duplicate Postings ------------------------------------------------ PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY IN THIS MESSAGE 1) Update: First Victory!: Agreement Signed, General Strike Ends after 44 Days! -- by ILC U.S. Coordinators Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin (based on Communiqué from ATPC) 2) Final Week of Negotiations: An Account of the Last Week of the Struggle -- by Alan Benjamin (based on reports from Robert Fabert, editor of Travayé è Peyzan 3) Background Articles on the General Strike from Issue No. 325 (February 25, 2009) of the ILC International Newsletter ******************** 1) Update: First Victory!: Agreement Signed, General Strike Ends after 44 Days! Dear Sisters and Brothers: We received this morning a communiqué from the Guadeloupe-based Caribbean Workers and Peoples Alliance (ATPC) informing us that an agreement was signed Wednesday, March 4 at 8 p.m. between the LKP Strike Collective of 49 trade unions and organizations, the local governments, the employers' groups, and the French State. The agreement grants the strikers their top 20 immediate demands and allows for continued negotiations, with a tentative agreement reached on many points, on the remaining 126 mid-term and long-term demands. The general strike was formally ended by vote of the LKP Strike Collective, with the unions and community organizations declaring this a "First Victory." The communiqué of the ATPC ends with the following words: "This was a FIRST VICTORY -- a victory obtained the workers and an entire mobilized people, and by the international solidarity with this courageous struggle." The Jacques Bino Agreement -- named after the trade union leader who was killed on the barricades the night of February 16 -- that was signed on March 4 covers the following categories: wages/purchasing power, housing, transportation, education, employment, public services, trade union rights, environmental protections and culture. Twenty of the articles, the List of Immediate Demands of the LKP Strike Collective, were fully met by the French authorities and employers' associations and were signed and codified into the agreement. Here are some of the provisions of the March 4 agreement: On Wages: The agreement grants a 200 euro monthly increase to workers making the minimum wage, or SMIC, and up to 1.4 times the minimum wage (that is, between 1321 euros and 1849 euros). All workers making between 1.5 and 1.6 times the minimum wage (between 1849 euros and 2113 euros) get a 6% pay increase. Workers making 1.7 times the minimum wage or more (more than 2113 euros) get a 3% wage increase. On Price Cuts: Lowering by 5% to 10% of costs for 100 basic staples and commodities, and for utilities (water, oil, gas, electricity, etc.) The cost of meals in the student cafeterias is cut by 20%, with a commitment to increase by 50% the produce of local farmers in all the meals provided by the student cafeterias. Family canteens will receive subsidies for their meal plans. Lowering of public transportation costs by 20%. Agreement by the State to fund 40,000 round-trip Paris-Point-a-Pitre airline tickets at 340 euros for low-income families, for the purpose of family reunification. Cuts in banking fees. Compensation of 40,000 euros for all small transportation owners in the aftermath of the reorganization of the urban and inter-city transportation plan. On Housing: Moratorium on all foreclosures, evictions of renters and utility cutoffs. A Special Fund of 3 million euros is created to provide subsidized housing for 17,000 senior citizens and 7,000 handicapped persons. Freeze on all rents, accompanied by a tax cut of 9% for all renters. End of speculation in land for hotels and resorts, particularly non Guadeloupan chains and banking interests, with financial assistance to local businesses involved in tourist industry. On Employment: Emergency Recovery Plan to provide jobs for 8,000 youth between the ages of 16 and 26, with the creation of a "Bill of Rights for Employment for all Working People in Guadeloupe." Creation of an agency to provide employment for job seekers, with the creation of jobs to meet the employment needs. All students on waiting lists for education at all levels will be admitted into a school. On Agriculture and Fishing: Protections and subsidies for the agricultural producers, and protection of 64,000 hectares of agricultural lands. Stabilization of prices for fishing industry. State aid for fishing hatcheries and for modernization of fishing fleet and processing. On Trade Union Rights: Improvement in State recognition of union prerogatives and rights, with fuller respect for, and enforcement of, collective-bargaining agreements and labor legislation. Designation of mediators to resolve specific conflicts that have arisen at RFO, Air France, International Airport, etc. On the Environment: Creation of 50,000 hectare nature preserve. On Culture: Commitment by the State to establish Creolle as a language for all public buildings and services, on the par with French. The workers and people of Guadeloupe were ecstatic over this victory. People took to the streets spontaneously to celebrate. Reactions in the mainstream French press, understandably, were less than sympathetic to the strikers. Writing in Les Echos on March 5, journalist Jean-Francis Pécresse laments that the French government gave in to the "mob pressure of the LKP Strike Collective, signing an agreement whose preamble proposes nothing less than the creation of a 'New Order in opposition to the Model of the Plantation Economy.' What value should we place on agreement signed under pressure from the LKP militia, an agreement imposed by intimidation?" The scorn and racism of the colonialist power and of the white ruling class elite on the island, the Beké, comes through loud and clear in this article. How dare Pécresse use the term "mob" to describe a valiant, organized, peaceful (despite all the provocations by a 5,000 contingent of French Riot Police, the CRS) and disciplined people -- the overwhelming majority of whom are Black -- who were able to withstand the hardships of 44 days of a general strike, with the creation of soup kitchens, agricultural procurement committees, self-defense committees, picket lines, cultural committees, and barricades. The impact of this victory will be felt around the world. There can be no doubt about this. We will continue to inform our readers and supporters of the repercussions of this powerful movement. As the declaration of the ATPC notes, one of the keys to victory was the international solidarity expressed day after day with the general strike in Guadeloupe. All who signed our Open Letters, organized delegations to the French Embassy and Consulates, organized forums, broadcast news on their shows, publicized this movement in their press and postings, and/or sent statements to the strikers in Guadeloupe contributed to this victory. Thanks to all for your support. In solidarity, Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin For the ILC