YOUNG MARTINIQUE REBELS CONDEMNED
FARTS -- Since Algeria became independent, the territories constituting colonies of French imperialism are quite reduced:. New Caledonia, the . condominium with Britain over the New Hebrides, Reunion, the Pacific islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon,. the so-called French Antilles (Martinique and Guadeloupe), Guiana, Djibouti, To those French who are little concerned about Algerian problems, interest in what happens in these territories is, unfortunately, still lower.
‘But to ‘the people of these lands -- no “matter how few they may be --+ the presence of imperialism is just as intolerable as it was in the former big colonies, These territories are generally baptized “overseas departments" in accordance with the legend that they are nothing but the extension of France. But the masses there live precariously and aspirations for independence therefore arise in various forms according to the specific situation in each territory, .
It was almost inevitable that the so=called French Antilles should manifest the strongest movements for independence, This is the Caribbean, | close to Cuba; close, too, to’the British possessions which have been granted at least formal independence, In Martinique, despite the pressure of the French authorities, the parties of the left, particularly the Com= munist party, have been powerful and have elected representatives to parliament.
The French authorities in Martinique could not fail to discover a | Nolot." In January, 1965, they found "Gocuments" in a briefcase stolen from one of the inspirers of the OJAM [Organisation de la Jeunesse Anticolonialiste de la Martinique -~ Organization of the Anticolonialist Youth of Martinique], a group that demands "the right of the Martiniquans to conduot their own affairs" (formally this is not a demand for independence
The police declared that-what was involved was "a handful of agitators in the pay, probably, of a foreign power whose aim is to murder the Europeans twhites]; lists of names had been drawn up; a provisional government set up,"
Highteen Martiniquans, doctors, lawyers, teachers, students from nine-= . teen to thirty-three years old, were arrested. The scandal was so flagrant and the only plot in existence was so clearly the one hatched by the French authorities in Martinique against this youth movement, that the case, out of concern for "public safety," was removed from the jurisdiction of the judges in the area and placed before the Seine court. The charge of ploteting against the authority of the state was even abandoned, leaving only
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the accusation of breaching the integrity of the territory, a charge that requires only a judge without a jury.
During the trial the "proofs" were reduced to nothing and it was the general view at the end that the only remaining accusation was the crime of. expressing an opinion or at the very most holding the intention of undertaking schemes ,bhat could be considered subversive. The French code does not recognize “intention” as a crime. But, instead of acquitting the defendants or pronouncing a light sentence to save face for the prosecution wnich has kept some of the defendants in preventive detention for ten . months, the Sixteenth Correctional Court of the Seine, while ordering thirteen to be acquitted, condemned five to prison terms.
On December lo, denri Armangon, Hervé Florent, and Félix Lamotte were sentenced to three years each; Rodolph Désiré to two years and Théodore Lessort to eighteen months,
These sentences tell the Martiniquans and the hundreds of thousands | ef people still under the French colonial yoke that in those places where they have not built up sufficient strength to win freedom it will not be freely granted to them,
The sentences will find their echo in Martinique in the form of more resolute struggle and more radical solutions. The deputy mayor of ‘Fort-de~France, Aimé Césaire, a fine poet who broke with the Communist party in 1956 and who has been looking for a compromise solution for some years, bore witness in behalf of the defendants at the trial. He expressed his emotion in these words: "It is my personal opinion that this judgment closes the door to a dialogue and I hope that the court. of | appeals will ..understand the need to change it."
We need not wait ‘for the opinion of the court of appeals, We have none of the hope expressed by Aimé Césaire, In Martinique there are big» planters, vested interests, a colonial administration -- none of this world will give way of its own accord,
ACILOR -- ALGERIA