general strike in the french Antilles

Sorry - should make it clear: this is my attempt at translating the above link:

The massive struggle shows us the way: solidarity with the workers of the Antilles

The strike since 20th January in Guadeloupe, has made its mark in Martinique since the 5th February and threatens to spread to Reunion and Guyana, the other overseas départements. This is not an exotic conflict it is truly an authentic expression of the international resurgence of class struggle which is testimony to a general rise in anger and combativeness amongst workers faced with high living expenses and worsening conditions and wages.
Average prices in the Antilles are between 35 and 50% higher than in Metropolitan France.( carrots 164%, endives 135%, leeks 107%, meat or chicken more than 50% and apples for example are double the price), unemployment is at 24% officially - 56% amongst people under 25 – (This territory also has more than 52 000 RMIstes).  Despite the strength of nationalist feeling amongst unionists (“autonomist” or “indépendantist”), the 146 demands put forward by the strikers are all linked to the question of attacks on the standard of living: lower immediately the price of fuels, lower the price of all the most important products, lower taxes and impositions, freeze rents, raise wages by 200 euros for all workers and also pensions for the retired and income support, lower the price of water and public transport, bring in formal contracts for insecure private sector workers comparable to those in the public sector. The popularity of these demands like the obstinacy of the struggle testifies also to the level of the mobilisation and the combativeness of the workers, the same can be said of the demonstrations in France on 29th January, the recent riots of young proletarians in Greece, the demonstrations in Iceland and the recent strikes in Great Britain.
Despite the media propaganda suggesting the importance of local identity supported by cultural associations (demonstrations and rhythmic chants to the traditional drum), and above all with their hype around demands from “creoles” towards the “békés” and a nationalist or anti-colonial tone, these traditional characteristics of the movement in the Antilles have been constantly relegated to the second level. The collective LKP (Union against over-profits) which includes 49 organisations, unions, political groups, cultural associations and clubs, and its charismatic leader Elie Domota have searched to direct a struggle which clearly puts to the forefront the exploitation of the workers.
We must salute the solidarity of this massive and unified strike which shows the way in which the whole of the working class must today engage in the face of a general deterioration of its living conditions.
Since the start of the strike there are no buses running, schools, universities, hypermarkets, administrative offices and most businesses have been shut. The port, the commercial centre and the industrial zone at Pointe-a-Pitre have been deserted. There again, faced with lack of food or petrol a true class solidarity has been expressed, exercised at all levels between parents, friends or neighbours. The protest movements against the high cost of living started on the 16th and 17th December 2008 with some protests in the streets of Pointe-a-Pitre and of Basse-Terre though the prefect refused to receive a delegation of strikers which was judged to be too large and there access to the prefecture was stopped by the deployment of numerous police officers.
In Guadaloupe the demonstration of the 30th January at Pointe-a-Pitre started with some thousands and quickly reached 65000 demonstrators in the centre of the town. It was the biggest demonstration ever in the islands (relative to the population of the island). Equivalent to having 10 million in the streets of Paris.
One thousand school children and college students joined the workers on strike. Le palais de La Mutualité de Pointe-aPitre became a rallying point, a place for expression, for debate or for numerous workers and in particular some workers have been able to find the words to discuss their anger or helplessness in the face of the conditions of their existence. In one of the first negotiation meetings, on the 26th january, some journalists and striking technicians from Radio-France Outre-mer (RFO) had placed some cameras in the meeting room and loud speakers on the outside of the building in order to allow everyone to follow directkly all of the negotiations.
Just as in Guadaloupe, on the basis of the same demands and with the same slogans there were 20000 demonstrators in the streets of Fort-de-France on the 9th February
The coming of Yves Jégo, the Seretary of State for l'otre-mer on the island has allowed most of 115 fuel stations to be re-opened (the owners were on strike as well) on the promise that the opening of certain new automatic stations by the big petrol companies will be limited. The sub-ministry has made multiple other promises in order to attempt to defuse the conflict (lower taxes on petrol products, on dairy foods, reduction of tax on dwellings and local taxes) and has even undertaken to help the negotiations with the equivalent of 130 euros of exonerations per worker. The negotiation on the 200 euros of monthly wage increase was itself under way between the bosses and the unions, under the aegis of the prefect. Jégo was reminded of this by the Prime Minister, Fillon, and was called back to Paris in short order. On his departure he made contradictory declarations (he later maintained that he had never promised anything on the subject of wage rises: “It is for the employers and the unions to negotiate in this field”, his lightening return to the island, this time practically taken off the case, flanked by two “mediators”, only stirred greater anger in the people, shocked by such contempt and such lies.
Under the pressure of the anger of the strikers and of the population in general, the unions and the LKP have been forced to take up radical positions. The call has been made for A.Gs (?) in all businesses, the “walking delegations” from one business to another have been increasing, reinforcing of pickets has been decided upon. The proposition by the regional council (supported by the local socialist party) to defuse the conflict by offering 100 euros as a monthly bonus for three months has been refused by the strikers.
On the 14th February a demonstration of more than 10000 people took place at Moule to commemorate the events of 1952 when, after a strike which had lasted three and a half months, the CRS fired on demonstrators, killing four sugar cane workers and wounding fourteen others. There is still a sugar cane factory at the place, Gardel, close to a power station, it employs more than 9000 people. In May 1967 a bloodier repression of a construction workers' demonstration saw more than one hundred die at Pointe-a-Pitre.
For some weeks, the numerous manoeuvres and trip wires used to ruin and divide the strike and defuse the movement, to move it on to a terrain purely nationalist have not succeeded. On the 16th February even though the LKP was trying to tame the road blocks in order “to denounce the blockage of negotiations”, the French Government was raising the pitch, declaring “intolerable the continuing situation” and the police had started charging demonstrators (though up to that point there had been no injuries), wounding two and proceeding to arrest fifty even if everyone was released three hours later.
In the Antilles, like in Metropolitan France and elsewhere this social tempest has started to blow which frightens the bourgeoisie. Everywhere, through the hard experience of confrontation aggravated by the crisis and the failure of capitalism, despite all the traps and the obstacles that its implacable enemies place before it. The working class is in the process of rediscovering its class identity and of waking up to slowly take notice of the power of unity and of solidarity in its ranks. It prepares itself to enter an historic period in which nothing will be able any longer to remain as before, “when those from on high can do no more and those from on low want no more” as Lenin already said nearly a century ago.

There you go. I can't vouch for the translation in all places. I am no student of French I just live in France. Still I think it's accurate in most respects. I don't know what an AG is - sorry. The last paragraph is a right giggle..... but the rest of it was well worth the time to read and translate. Hope that helps.

Thanks Ariege and Jef. Don't worry this doesn't make you ICC collaborationists or anything...

jolly droll robot, although I think there should be a legal limit on 'the ICC is very small' jokes. Thanks again for the work Ariege and jef. That makes it much easier as I can do a bit of editing and put it up on our site as well. I was only half joking with my comment to jef but appreciate the help. I would like to have translated the text but am already working on another translation.

Lightly edited version of Ariege's translation on ICC online here:

http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2009/02/strikes-antilles

Only one really politically significant correction to the translation: the term we used for the role of the 'Collective against super-exploitation' is not 'directing' but 'channellling' the strike movement, which implies that this is not a proletarian organism but a radical leftist one.

We'll certainly take you up on that offer!

believe me I've had to edit translations more heavily than yours...