[Marxism] Revolt Continues in Guadeloupe

[S. Artesian]

http://libcom.org/news/revolt-continues-french-caribbean-16022009


The leader of the general strike crippling Guadeloupe has accused the French 
government of preparing to kill protestors to bring an end to the stoppage 
on the French Caribbean island.

"Today, given the number of gendarmes who have arrived in Guadeloupe armed 
to the teeth, the French state has chosen its natural path: to kill 
Gaudeloupeans as usual," Elie Domota said on Saturday.
Domota is the leader of the Collective against Exploitation (LKP), which 
groups most of Guadeloupe's unions and political parties and which launched 
the general strike there on January 20th over low wages and the high cost of 
living.

The LKP is a collective of 48 cultural and social associations, left 
nationalist groups and trade unions, dominated by the UGTG (General Union of 
Guadeloupe Workers). The UGTG was set up as part of a nationalist upsurge in 
the aftermath of the brutal suppression in 1967 of a popular movement for 
wage rises, led by a strike of building workers, in which over 80 people 
were killed by the French police. It has become the main trade union in 
Guadeloupe, receiving 52 percent of the vote in the 2008 elections of 
representatives on the industrial tribunals.