A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #347 - Mayotte, Fire to French colonialism (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Gérald Darmanin announced on Sunday February 11 the end of land rights 
in Mayotte to "fight against immigration". Yet another reminder of the 
lawless zone that this island represents for the French state, after 
Operation Wuambushu in April 2023. A look back at the history of this 
situation, anchored in colonialism and French imperialism. ---- Mayotte 
has been experiencing an unprecedented water crisis for several 
months[1]. The situation of education[2]and the health system[3]is 
critical. But colonial management obliges: the problem will be 
immigration. On February 11, Gérald Darmanin announced that the 
government wanted to "take a radical decision: the end of land rights in 
Mayotte". Undocumented immigrants and the "mass immigration" that 
Darmanin speaks of come almost exclusively from the other islands of the 
Comoros archipelago, all located between 70 and 190 kilometers between 
Mozambique and Madagascar. Mayotte shares a historically strong unity 
with the rest of the archipelago: the same religion - Sunni Islam, the 
same language - ShiKomori.

The story of a colonial scheme
Mayotte was only separated very recently in its history from the other 
islands of the Comoros. The archipelago went from a French protectorate 
in 1886 to an "overseas territory" in 1946. During the 
self-determination referendum in 1974, the archipelago voted 
overwhelmingly for independence. The French state then organized the 
separation of the destiny of the islands by choosing to only take the 
result into account island by island. Mayotte having voted against 
independence at 63.22%, this referendum shenanigan makes it possible to 
justify their separation and to maintain French Mayotte despite the rest 
of the Comoros and the UN, which recognizes in twenty resolutions since 
1975 the sovereignty of the Comoros over the island of Mayotte; 
beginning with its resolution 3385 dictating "the need to respect the 
unity and territorial integrity of the Comoros archipelago, made up of 
the islands of Anjouan, Grand Comore, Mayotte and Mohél".

Mayotte has now been a French department since 2011. Strong opposition 
from the local population to Comorian immigration to the island can be 
explained by the desire to obtain a better living environment and as a 
consequence of the policy of dividing the communities of the French 
colonialism which attempts to impose its national novel there. This is 
not without drama, since 1995 and the establishment of the "Balladur 
visa" restricting freedom of movement in the archipelago, we are talking 
about between 7,000 and 20,000 deaths at sea[4]on kwassa, boats 
traditional fishing. Deaths which could have been avoided, but which 
this colonial border in the middle of the Indian Ocean normalized by 
creating "irregular situations", even though these return trips were 
very frequent, in particular to see family scattered across the he is.

An exceptional French department
However, the rights of the Mahorais are very limited[5]. Land rights 
were already reduced there and generally all the rights of foreigners 
are drastically restricted: residence permits specific to the island, no 
allowance for asylum seekers, no suspension of expulsion in the event of 
contestation of the Obligation to Leave the French Territory (OQTF), 
shorter time limit for submitting an asylum application, no State 
Medical Aid, a time limit for referral to the judge in a detention 
center more than twice as long than in mainland France, and finally 
police harassment enabled by almost systematic identity checks 
throughout the island. But this is also the case for other sectors of 
society: 39 hours of work per week was the norm until the general strike 
of 2016, a minimum wage lower than the metropolitan level, a discounted 
RSA. Labor law has only been applied since 2018 but collective 
agreements are still very rare.

Mahorese citizens are considered, in law and in practice, as 
second-class citizens. It is this colonial legislation that allowed 
Operation Wuambushu, in particular with the exception concerning Mayotte 
and Guyana in the 2018 housing law which allows the destruction of 
"informal habitats" without any other form of trial.

French imperialism in agony
French imperialism does not want to die and see itself downgraded. He 
even struggles in agony. Driven out of the Sahel in particular by Mali, 
Burkina Faso and Niger, which announce that they want to leave the CFA 
Franc and French control, particularly after Macron's interference in 
Niger's military coup of 2023 (second largest country supplier of 
Uranium to EDF), the colonial French state seeks to maintain its 
strategic presence in the Indian Ocean.

Stand up against colonialism
The period of decolonization having officially made the categories of 
sub-citizens or sub-French disappear, the colonial empire redoubled its 
efforts to control the colonized peoples on its soil and used the law on 
immigration and access to nationality to create and maintain a 
stigmatized and exploited population. The Darmanin-Le Pen Law is the 
result, whether on French soil or in the French overseas colonial 
heritage. The colonial policies of the French state have disfigured and 
continue to disfigure the Comoros archipelago, creating through its 
legislation thousands of deaths and creating a division between Mahorais 
and Comorians, pushed to its climax in recent months.

As has been noted on numerous occasions, policies of repression and 
legal exceptions are just waiting to be extended to different spheres of 
French society. The passage of the Immigration Law and its attempt to 
once again attack land rights in mainland France, as well as Darmanin's 
attack wanting to exclude it from Mayotte, are not an accident of the 
calendar and take up historical demands of the extreme right. The 
colonial practices of the French state, which is losing influence on the 
international scene, condemn us and open the way to a fascistization of 
our society. The Mahorese and Comorian populations are the first victims 
of these colonial practices, which murder and condition to a life of 
misery those whom Fanon called in 1961 "the Wretched of the Earth".

Due to the historical colonial damage suffered by the four islands of 
the Comoros as well as the multiple coups orchestrated by France which 
have contributed to its political and economic instability since its 
independence, we believe that no solution will be possible for the 
population. Comorian, Mayotte included, without just reparations from 
France! Including the Comoros in the international fight for 
reparations, which is also a measure of international wealth sharing, 
must be an offensive path for progressives and unions, in mainland 
France as well as there. Let us stand together against French 
colonialism and imperialism, and join our voices to those of the 
Comorians as well as to all those who demand the unity of the Comoros 
and an end to the racist policies of the French state.

UCL Anti-Racism Commission

To validate

[1]"Water crisis in Mayotte: the heavy responsibilities of the State", 
Le Monde, October 20, 2023

[2]"In Mayotte, there are always more minors out of school", Libération, 
September 6, 2023.

[3]"V, midwife in Mayotte: "Wuambushu continues here in a very concrete 
way"", Alternative libertaire, September 2023

[4]"Some elements of analysis on the Balladur visa", La Cimade, October 
17, 2017

[5]"Mayotte, the French department of legal exceptions", Le Monde, 
February 13, 2023

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Feu-au-colonialisme-francais
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