The collective behind the social movement promised during a rally this weekend that the island will be blocked again in the coming days. Its leaders consider the agreement signed by elected officials, the State and large retailers last week insufficient.
Barely a few days of calm and here is the announced return of blockages. The Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), an association at the origin of the movement against the high cost of living which has forced Martinique to slow down for almost two months, promised that the blockades would go on Monday 21 October resume everywhere on the island. The collective denounces the agreement signed last week between elected officials, large retailers and the State and calls for the movement to be toughened.
What does the agreement contain?
After seven round tables (in which the RPPRAC participated), the prefecture, parliamentarians, distributors and wholesalers, the Grand Maritime Port and the carrier CMA-CGM announced on Wednesday the signing of a “protocol of objectives and means to combat the high cost of living”. The RPPRAC refused to sign the document. This agreement aims to reduce “20% on average” food prices in Martinique, on “54 product families”including pasta, milk, butter, red beans or cheese. In total, around 6,000 products should be affected by this reduction which must be effective on January 1, 2025. It must take place thanks to several measures such as a zero rate of VAT and the “dock dues” tax, a work to reduce delivery costs from France and a freeze in the margins of distributors and wholesalers. A technical committee to monitor the protocol must also be created in the coming days. It will then meet every week to monitor its application.
Why did the RPPRAC refuse to sign?
Since the beginning of the movement, Rodrigue Petitot, Aude Goussard and Gladys Roger, the three figures at the head of the collective, have always said that they would not stop until an agreement including a reduction in the prices of all food products will not be signed. On Wednesday, the trio left the negotiating table prematurely when it was determined that only 6,000 products would be affected, and not 40,000 as they demanded. The RPPRAC’s request is considered financially untenable by large retailers and would require larger investments than those already made by the local authority of Martinique and the State.
What to expect in the coming days?
On Saturday, the RPPRAC organized a rally around a stadium in the suburbs of Fort-de-France. The demonstration aimed to show that the agreement signed on Wednesday October 16 did not satisfy the population and to reflect on the future of the movement. In front of the approximately 2,000 people who took part in the rally, Rodrigue Petitot, the very popular president of the RPPRAC, assured that the «combat» continued until his movement obtained «gain de cause». To force the authorities and large retailers to bend, he announced a return to blockages: “As of Monday, the country is in lockdown. From Monday, there is nothing happening. If we say that no one can move around, no one will be able to move around. We are at home here.” The threat seems credible: the association has proven since September 1 that it is followed and listened to on the island. The collective calls for the Minister Delegate for Overseas to come to Martinique to unblock the situation. François-Noël Buffet has already said that he would go there soon, probably around the end of October, without giving a specific date.
Towards an oil stain effect in Guadeloupe?
Less than a hundred kilometers from Martinique, the social movement is not taking hold. Guadeloupe, however, experiences the same problems: the price of food and life in general is much higher there than in France while the population is much poorer. Social crises often tend to mirror each other between Martinique and Guadeloupe. The RPPRAC understands this: Rodrigue Petitot, Aude Goussard and Gladys Roger went there on Friday to support the local branch of the association and meet certain elected officials. “Our problems are similar, our enemies are the same: they are those with whom we are confronting, that is to say mass distribution. We will try to pool our strengths”declared Rodrigue Petitot to the television channel Guadeloupe la 1ère. For the moment, his appeal has not been followed.
