As people continue to grow fed up with the high cost of living on the island, three residents tell us about their difficulties in making ends meet, between deprivation and resourcefulness.
Violence broke out again on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, September 19 in Martinique, particularly in Fort-de-France, despite the entry into force of a partial curfew. Twelve people were arrested, according to the prefecture. These tensions arise from a weariness against the high cost of living, in memory of a general strike that paralyzed the island fifteen years ago. As in other overseas departments and regions, the cost of living in Martinique remains much higher than in mainland France. Release interviewed three Martinicans who tell us about their difficulties.
“When you have a large family, you suffer”
Maëva de Aza, 33, pharmacy technician, three children, 1,900 euros per month
“The high cost of living, I remember it every day, when I prepare the children’s breakfast, with cartons of milk for 1.40 euros. I spend at least 100 euros on shopping per week in discount stores. We deprive ourselves of meat, I don’t eat it like I used to. I try to buy fruit and vegetables once a month. When you have a large family, you suffer. It’s a vicious circle, it never ends, I spend my life at the supermarket. I tell the children to eat well in the canteen, where they can have a starter, a main course and a dessert.
“Leisure activities are limited, since the budget is tight. Even going to the cinema, I think about it, because it still costs 33 euros for four tickets. Sometimes, I would like to hire a babysitter to go out, but the rest to live on is so insufficient that I give up the idea. Once I have paid my loans and the rent, I have 900 euros left, 1,000 euros if I manage well, but with the price of petrol, 40 or 50 euros per week, it’s complicated. There is no bus that passes in front of my house, I would have to walk thirty minutes in the sun with the children to then take [un autre bus] and arrive in Fort-de-France.
“As for electricity, I used to pay 190 euros for two months, the last bill I received was 258 euros, even though I’m rarely at home. The water bills have gone from 300 to 450 euros every six months. It’s no way to live, I have to ask for help.”
“If this continues, we will no longer be able to feed our children”
Stéphanie Etienne, 41 years old, RSA beneficiary, three children, 1,200 euros per month
“I spend 300 euros and some per month on food shopping, mostly in discount hypermarkets. I keep an eye on promotions on meat or fish, I’m on the lookout. Sometimes, I resort to the D system, my family can give vegetables, things like that. I have the feeling of depriving myself in terms of leisure activities, cinema, restaurants, it’s really on rare occasions. Unfortunately, it has already happened that my children wanted to do extracurricular activities and I had to refuse.
“Our last family trip was in 2022. In terms of electricity costs, it’s complicated, I had 190 euros for light last year. I’ve already had to resort to a social worker to pay electricity bills that were piling up. Fortunately, I’m entitled to CMU. On a daily basis, the high cost of living is experienced in terms of shopping, two or three years ago I could do 150 euros of shopping and we had a well-filled trolley, today for the same amount I have to do shopping again after two weeks. Compared to 2009 [année des grandes grèves contre la vie chère, ndlr], I feel like everything has increased, in terms of food, electricity and water costs. Morally, it’s difficult. You want to please your children, they ask you for things, and you’re not able to give them. I support the movement against the high cost of living, not in form but in substance, because I tell myself that if it continues like this, we won’t be able to feed our children anymore.”
“Our customers no longer have purchasing power”
Ophély Secret, 36, head of a retail business in Fort-de-France, no children, 2,500 euros per month
“On Tuesday, the founder of the Label Foyal association launched an appeal saying that it would be good to close the shops in the city center as a sign of support for the movement against the high cost of living. I found it nice to be able to introduce myself to the demonstrators in front of the Fort-de-France prefecture, to have the opportunity to discuss, it was very collegial.
“People are there to protest, but they were not angry. Shopkeepers are harassed for talking about the violence, while we are not closing to protest against the violence but against the high cost of living. Because as a shopkeeper, we suffer twice the consequences of the high cost of living since we are also consumers. We do not have the same VAT, and in addition we pay a sea tax. If I pay an invoice to a supplier in France, I am exempt from VAT, but I pay it in Martinique.
“After Covid, the purchase prices of goods and transport have doubled, even tripled. We already live in a super competitive world with online purchases, but with taxes and sea taxes, we are even more impacted by these stories of high cost of living. Our customers no longer have purchasing power. The first item of expenditure is survival, food. Leisure and pleasures inevitably come after. The average basket of a customer has been halved. I see that my customers are juggling with their budget. Since 2009, I have not observed any significant differences in prices. Large-scale distribution has resumed its bad habits.”