Caribbean island,Guadalupe: For the proletarian revolt in Guadalupe and Martinique against compulsory vaccination and the impoverishment of the working class
We receive and publish with pleasure this translation of an article written by Greek comrades and available on the blog https://againstbiopowerandconfinement.noblogs.org/. A comrade living in Martinique tells us that the situation in the Caribbean island has for now normalized after the French State took a few steps back. Strikes and mass protests against compulsory vaccination and the green pass are happening throughout New Caledonia instead (we’ll talk about it soon).
For the proletarian revolt in Guadalupe and Martinique against compulsory vaccination and the impoverishment of the working class
Compulsory vaccination for health workers and the fire brigade was introduced in the French State territories belonging to the Caribbean Antilles (see Guadalupe and Martinique) on 13th September, as in the rest of France. The policy of the green pass was implemented at the beginning of August and along with mobilizations in the mainland, already on 17th July widespread mobilizations started in Guadalupe following Macron’s first relevant announcements [1]. From early movements of the military that seemed to prefigure it, the outbreak of the revolt was caused by a general strike of 48 hours called by unions in Martinique on 1st-2nd September and a general strike of 24 hours in Guadalupe on 9th September, in anticipation of 13th September.
The general strike was an action which didn’t unite the unions in the then critical situation [2] despite massive and strong reactions that had been raging in the streets and various workplaces for two months. Somehow the French State was compelled to postpone the coercive measure to 14th November, particularly in Guadalupe and Martinique.
Coordinated protests against compulsory vaccination on the islands and in French Guyana broke out at the beginning of October, raising alarm among government officials of possible “chaos” with the new deadline for the austerity measures approaching. Therefore at the end of October deputy Justine Benin declared: «Every day in Guadalupe I see fear, anxiety and tensions over the issue of compulsory vaccination» and she anxiously asked the question: «How will we face this situation calmly in order to avoid chaos?»
It is worth noticing that a relatively recent revolt in 2009 – which lasted a month and a half – in Guadalupe and Martinique is unquestionably ingrained in the memory of state authorities; obviously the same goes for proletarians’ memory. .
As for November this year, diffused strikes took place in Guadalupe at the beginning of this month in the health sector (for example at the NGO “L’EBENE” on 4th November and in canteens of university hospitals on 9th November). On Monday 15th November, as a suspensive measure was threatened, events took on different dimensions. LKP (a Guadalupe alliance of left-wing unions and organizations) went on general strike, while streets and key routes were blocked by demonstrators.
In the following days, as the general strike was continuing without pause, the situation became even more explosive: expropriations in supermarkets, rockets and molotov bottles against the police, blocked streets and barricades in flames, cash machines smashed, fires to radars, pumps and cars, even government buildings and police stations were targeted.
This is the scenario created by the proletarians of Guadalupe in response to the current phase of the politics of pandemic management, which is very similar to the situation here, as it orders obligations, dismissals, wages and bonuses reduction, increased police control and degradation of health structures. What is not similar to the situation in the Antilles is the attitude of internal and left-wing unions.
Unlike Guadalupe and Martinique, here the question for the left-wing local faction of capital, which reproduces the State narrative of the “health” and therefore “neutral” character of the current social crisis, is not the defence of the proletarians’ interests but compliance with prohibiting-disciplinary measures – not to mention the even more rigorous “demands” imposed by the right-wing faction of capital.
Even if they hide behind formal requests such as “more funding for health and education” and requests over the intensification of public transport services, these requests remain mere declarations because they don’t do anything.
The opposite happens with the proposals of a known leftist who, as a professor of medicine, proposes «the application of sanctions inspired by principles of equality and based on the key instrument that has proved successful in countries where vaccination was effective: the vaccination pass. The simple idea is that the non-vaccinated shouldn’t have access to public transport, public services, financial information, etc.».
These “simple ideas” are welcome with great enthusiasm by the current political staff of capital. The left, on the contrary, turned their back on the mass/universal, but voted against a sanction of 100 euros tax pro capita on pensions (and salaries) and shed crocodile tears over the exaggerated right-wing bio-politics.
Back to the geographically distant but close to our hearts Guadalupe, in the face of the proletarian threat, the French State was compelled to send another 200 police as back-up to increase repression and 50 antiterrorism officers. It imposed a curfew from 6pm to 5am (without any health pretext) and carried out dozens of arrests of “delinquents”. Tanks and helicopters could be seen roaming everywhere while repressive forces didn’t hesitate to use firearms.
In the same days Martinique also joined in the game and there a strike started on 22nd November during which widespread disorder broke out. Clashes intensified to such a point that even police and journalists were injured by projectiles launched by demonstrators. As for today, on the two islands the report is of 50 police injured and 150 arrests.
These developments seem to have “frightened” the unions, which so far have had no intention of going that “far”. Therefore on 24th November, in a retreating move – which doesn’t surprise us at all – they decided to dissociate themselves from the practices of organized block of the most important motorways as they had done till then. Finally, on 26th November a postponement of work suspensions [for non-vaccinated workers] was announced, to exactly 31st December.
The question is not over, that’s why the flame of revolt hasn’t yet extinguished, judging from spread roadblocks that the State is still trying to suppress. But we can certainly consider this move of the French government a first setback. Contextually the creation of 1,000 jobs for young people was announced, and promises were made of solving the problems concerning the quality of the water supply network and tackling the increase in fuel prices.
The question of autonomy was also raised, at least for Guadalupe, in the reluctant attempt at managing the rebels’ demands. However, as opposed to the debate in the high sphere of the political élites over this limited administrative question, the controversies raised by the rebels concerned in fact the abolition of compulsory vaccination, the adoption of measures to guarantee that prices wouldn’t increase, and higher wages. Of course the question remains whether a result that could satisfy the anticolonial feelings of some locals is to have an assimilative effect on the movement.
We conclude with a passage from Critique of separation published in October: «The issue of the green pass and the disciplinary management of the population’s health is, after all, a question concerning the world working class, not a question of the private society of a nation-state».
[1] On the struggle against compulsory vaccination in France, you can read an insert of the pamphlet Critique of the separation by the Convention against bio-power and the Klisura entitled What’s going on in France (and in Italy)? (https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1615166/)
[2] As opposed to the tepid attitude of the unions in continental France, on 30th August the UGT union called for a general strike against compulsory vaccination in another French overseas acquisition in Latin America, French Guyana. Even if the bill was activated in September there, coming into effect in October, local officer Lénaïck Adam rightly expressed the preoccupation that «the bill on compulsory vaccination for health workers is not to be applied in Wu». A recent interesting development is that on 30th November a general strike against compulsory vaccination was launched in French Polynesia, an archipelago in the South Pacific.
