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.
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Subject:
Guadeloupe: First Victory!: Agreement Signed, General Strike Ends after 44
Days!
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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