A frustrated nation?
Guyana, the last European colony in the South
Guyana Geography
Guyana (Lagwiyann or Lagwiyàn in Guyanese Creole), sometimes
called French Guiana, is a French region and department located in South
America, which borders Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west. With
an area of 83,846 km and a population of 259,865 inhabitants (2015), Guyana
is the second largest region in France and the second least populated (after
Mayotte). It is also the most forested department, with 98% of the wood-covered
territory being among the richest and least ecologically fragmented in the
world.
On the political crisis in Guyana.
Isabelle Hidair-Krivsky's statements to Franceinfo. Isabelle
Hidair-Krivsky is a doctor of anthropology, a professor at the University of
Guyana in Cayenne.
Franceinfo: Is the movement that recently agitated Guyana
for two weeks a simple social protest or is it also the awakening of an
identity and independence?
Isabelle Hidair-Krivsky: It is an identity movement. It can
be seen that material demands, such as those for infrastructure, are accompanied
by demands related to the sense of belonging and the construction of identity. The
strikers put these issues on an equal footing.
For example, the Education Committee talks about adapting
school curricula to the local context so that students can better understand
the Amazon territory. Teacher recruitment rules are also inappropriate for the
local context. Guyana does not have enough bac +5 graduates. Teachers from
metropolitan France or the West Indies come to practice here, and sometimes it
is a culture shock for them, especially when they are in "isolated" territories,
far from the coast. Linguists estimate that around 30% of Guyana's inhabitants
are not French-speaking. In the end, only 12% of youth ages 15-24 have a
bachelor's degree. The training of local teachers, who speak several Guyanese
languages, would be better adapted to the local context. But for that, a change
of status is needed0.
Can Guyana's geographic location also explain this desire
for autonomy?
Today, Guyanese feel isolated from their Brazilian and
Surinamese neighbors, because they cannot directly trade with them. European
standards make everything extremely expensive, much more so than on the other
side of the border. This is a problem if we want to clean up Guyana's economic
environment, avoid smuggling and hiring illegal immigrants.
Guyanese cannot refuel in Suriname, where it is much cheaper.
For academics like us, inviting Brazilian colleagues is very complicated: they
have to go through a long process to obtain a visa, only to come and hold a
conference. Although only a river separates us.
From the beginning of this movement, we feel that the
population of Guyana wants to belong to its South American region. She says to
herself, "We look like them, we want to talk to them." This Guyana
identity has been shelved for far too long. You cannot continue to turn your
back on the neighbors and continue to look at Europe.
Did separatists occupy an important place in this movement?
No. Separatist parties have never really been established in
Guyana. The MDES (the separatist party) is often found at the bottom of the
electoral package. Furthermore, since the beginning of the movement, all
hierarchies have been broken. The elected representatives have been removed
from all the reflection groups that meet in the centralizing collective Pou
Lagwiyann dékolé. All are called to speak as citizens, and all contribute as
specialists in their field.
But all those who try to obtain a political benefit from the
situation are marginalized. They did not understand this wave, which requires
more consensus and fewer political differences. Every time a political leader, independent
or not, tried to deviate from general unity, he carried a red card on social
media.
Guyana's change in administrative status was not part of the
demands at the start of the mobilization. How to explain what appeared in the
debate?
This question was not imposed overnight. But the different
committees ended up highlighting this blocking point: we can find solutions, but
they go through a new statute. There was a turning point on Saturday. Summarizing
the discussions of the day, the representatives of the various committees
realized that the question of the state was recurrent, that all were at the
same impasse. They then decided to make this claim to the Overseas Minister.
What causes this new state, which the Pou Lagwiyann
collective claims, to devastate?
This would be the status of an overseas collectivity, governed
by Article 74 of the Constitution, while Guyana is today an overseas department
and region, corresponding to Article 73. This would provide a much greater
degree of management autonomy. , as is already the case in French Polynesia, New
Caledonia and Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
Guyanese are frustrated at being stigmatized when they claim
this status, granted to others. They consider that, compared to other foreign
communities, Guyana has the opportunity to become a great regional power in
South America. It is a particular territory for its geographical location, its
neighbors and also its natural wealth, from the point of view of mining and
forestry. The people of Guyana are eager to take charge and trust the examples
of other communities to demonstrate that it can work. Today, in metropolitan
France, we find that Guyana is expensive, accused of asking for money, but
nobody wants him to exploit his own wealth. Then Guyana goes around in circles.
This status of collectivity abroad was rejected by the
Guyanese, more than 70% of the votes, in a referendum in 2010. Has the
situation changed?
Yes, we see that there has been a conscience. From the start
of the movement, even if the application for a new status emerged on Saturday, the
Guyanese discuss the consequences of this 2010 referendum. Seven years later, they
make the assessment and wonder if this election has been worked out. Today, within
this group, there are former opponents of article 74, such as the Medef. The
employers' organization is sitting at the same table as the Guyana Workers
Union, when they are not really friends, and opposed this issue in advance. The
leaders of the "73ist" camp, as these opponents were called to become
more autonomous, have been mea culpa from the start of the movement. Thought
has evolved because we are back to the wall.
Is this demand for autonomy also linked to resentment
towards the metropolis?
There is no greater rejection of the metropolis, but
contempt and mockery of its ignorance of Guyana. Guyana's population has
complained for some years about not being mentioned nationally. In the
newspapers, we only talk about the rocket. And again, in this case, it is said
that the Kourou school, not Guyana. How is it possible that after a week of
blockades, the metropolitan media barely touched the demonstrations? And when
the topic came up, there was a total ignorance of our territory, to the point
that some channels have published maps of Guyana, the former British Guiana, to
talk about Guyana. The fact that the Overseas Minister did not move was also
shocking, especially since she had never set foot in French Guiana.
This movement is unique because it brings together all the
components of Guyanese society, traditionally very divided and communal. The "we"
and this feeling of identity have appeared in French Guiana with this movement,
and in opposition to the metropolis.
Translated and adapted
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