ABSTRACT

In early February 2009, the Caribbean screening of an hour-long special news report exposing the ongoing industrial monopoly of ‘The Last Masters of Martinique’ catalysed the spread of a general strike from Guadeloupe to Martinique (‘Les Derniers Maîtres’).1 The programme highlighted the neocolonial economic control of Martinique’s white Creole minority over the island’s key industries, adding racial tensions to workers’ existing calls for pay increases and reduced water and electricity bills. For over a month, gas stations, supermarkets and basic services were shut down on both islands. Martinique’s capital, Fort-de-France, became the theatre on which the strikers’ demands were played out with thousands marching through the city to voice their protests. The gradual accumulation of garbage in the streets caused particular offence to the hoteliers, travel agents and business owners who lost income due to cancelled tourist visits. These piles of stinking trash materialised the workers’ refusal to be cast aside by an economic and social system that devalues their skills and productivity. A number of the strikers’ demands were met with the signing of a resolution in March 2009, which granted salary increases to the lowest-paid workers.2 However, rates of poverty and unemployment on the island remain high.