This is the first major mobilization of this type in mainland France since the start of the mobilization in Martinique against the cost of living.
“A yen pou yo!” (we won't give up for them, in Creole): several thousand people from the overseas diaspora, dressed in red, demonstrated smoothly on Sunday, November 3 in Paris against the high cost of living overseas.
This is the first major mobilization of this type in France, since the start of the mobilization in Martinique against the high cost of living.
They are asking for price alignment
In a festive atmosphere despite the palpable anger, the demonstrators gathered at Place Denfert-Rochereau, at the call of West Indian and Kanak associations, to rally the Ministry of Overseas Territories which they were unable to reach, a few hundred arrested meters before by a police cordon.
“Criminal monopoly”, “Insatiable Békés”, “Rèspektém nou” (respect us), we could read on the signs. “No to the high cost of living!” chanted the crowd, Martinican, Guadeloupean and Kanak flags flying in the wind.
“We have the impression that the situation in the Overseas Territories does not concern the French people of France. This demonstration is there to make noise and make the situation known to other French people,” Louis-Louis explained to AFP. Philippe Mars, vice-president of the Ultramarins Doubout association (standing, in Creole), one of the organizers of the event.
“We are asking for territorial continuity and the alignment of prices with those of the metropolis,” he continued, saying he hoped “that there will be a turning point with this gathering”.
In the procession, Corry Diomar, 31, father of four children and who has family in the West Indies, does not take offense: “Most people in mainland France are not aware that back home, we pay double to eat The children there don’t have the privilege of eating it!” “A shopping cart at Carrefour, we pay double, even triple here!”
“They are getting rich off our backs”
Same situation in New Caledonia, notes Céleste, a 32-year-old social worker and member of a Kanak collective who has family on the “Caillou”. “Everything is more expensive” there, she testifies. “People are struggling to feed themselves, take care of themselves and educate themselves properly.”
“They are getting rich off our backs,” complains Sandrine Rosette, 42, a business manager whose family lives in Martinique, referring in particular to mass distribution.
A figure in the movement against the high cost of living in Martinique, who arrived the day before in Paris, Rodrigue Petitot, head of the Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (Rpprac), also participated in the demonstration. For him, it was “important to show the diaspora that we see the fight they are waging here to support our fight there”.
Aude Goussard, another figure of Rpprac, for her part castigated a “scoundrel big distribution”, listing the names of the big groups present in Martinique (Hayot, Fabre, etc.), booed echoed by the crowd, asking them to ” change (their) colonial mentality”.
Since September, Martinique has been regularly plagued by urban riots and violence, mainly at night, in this context of movement against the high cost of living.
The negotiations resulting from the mobilization led to an agreement to lower the prices of around 6,000 food products, but the Rpprac refused to sign it, judging the number of products concerned to be insufficient.
“We remain open to the ministry, we wish to return home with clear answers. The colonial pact no longer has its place in the Overseas Territories,” insisted Aude Goussard.
