Post 100

A big topic of discussion among those I talk to the most is the potential independence of French Guiana, and this post is a synthesis of the views of locals I’ve spoken to as well as my own views. As you might know if you’ve talked to me or read a bit about this place, French Guiana is a department of France, the largest one in fact. This means that it is as much a part of France as any of the departments of the mainland, or for those of you reading from the U.S., it is as much a part of France as Hawaii is a part of the U.S. At least in theory that’s true. In many important ways, French Guiana is not part of France. Take this small example from my life: When I studied abroad in Paris in 2005, I was told that my bank had an agreement with one of France’s largest banks, which is present here. If I used my American card at any of this bank's ATMs, I would not be charged any special fees. Fast-forward to last year’s trip to French Guiana: I used the French bank's ATMs exclusively, and when I got home, I found numerous charges on my statement for using the card overseas. When I went to my bank to find out why (after all, it had been 5 years; perhaps the agreement had been dissolved in the interim), I was told that it was because it didn’t honor that agreement in French Guiana; it was “only in France” that it was valid. When I explained to the manager that it WAS indeed part of France, she expressed sympathy but said that she couldn’t do anything because it was corporate policy not to recognize French Guiana as ‘France’. A friend of mine from the mainland said he called his cell-phone company, Orange-France, to complain about service here. He was told that here it’s Orange-Caraïbes, and that the France division was unconcerned. And of course, that’s just some of many ways French Guiana is marginalized. It is so marginalized that friends here tell me that their friends in the mainland don’t realize that French Guiana isn’t an island. One woman, whose home I visited when looking for a place to live, told me that even her friends in Martinique and Guadeloupe (other French Caribbean departments) don’t even want to visit her in Cayenne because they didn’t want to get attacked by pumas (which are not found here in the city, I promise). The specificity of the French Guianese situation is hardly recognized by France, which treats it in many ways just as it does all its other departments. So you have thousands of little black, Amerindian, and Asian schoolchildren reading the textbook Nos ancêtres les Gaulois (Our ancestors from Gaul). Of course, these children are not descended from the inhabitants of Gaul, nor are they even anywhere close to where Gaul was. It also sends all sorts of goods from the mainland to French Guiana. Yet in other ways, the French government recognizes that here, it is different. As with the other overseas departments and territories, France gives a pay increase (40% here) to those government employees willing to accept positions here. They also institute an ‘Overseas Tax’, meaning that not only are things more expensive due to the cost of shipping, but also there is an additional layer of price-inflation. So you might pay as much as 8 euros for brand-name cereal, or 84 euros to fill your tank with the highest gas prices of Europe. And of course, France has no intention of letting French Guiana start importing directly into the region, so coffee from the neighboring country of Brazil goes to mainland France first, only to return here, and the prices get doubled. Meanwhile, the government has gone on TV saying that French Guiana’s economy is great, due to the investments in the European Space Center, located in Kourou. As if to rub salt in the wounds of the residents, President Sarkozy has had his Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories propose a new, modern instantiation of the Jardin d’Acclimation. The Jardin d’Acclimatation was an expo from the 19th century where people from France’s (largely tropical) territories were brought to Paris and put on display, as though the visitors were going to a zoo (which was actually the original purpose of the site). They were forced to brave the cold weather of winter wearing nothing or next to nothing as visitors marveled at the ‘savages’ found in France’s vast empire. So of course, who wouldn’t want to recreate that? And believe it or not, some people from the Amerindian tribes here actually agreed to it. And this weekend, some of those tribes that agreed to participate ousted their leadership in revolt over this. All this leads me to address the question of independence. Why, if life is so bad and the French so oblivious or unresponsive to the needs and desires of French Guiana— the only part of South America to not have its independence— do the residents not vote for their independence? Part of the resistance is the French infrastructure that exists here. Residents of French Guiana benefit from having a very comprehensive health care system. Although France’s health care system is the best in the world according to the World Health Organization, French Guiana’s doesn’t quite measure up, but it’s still quite good and citizens here can go to the mainland for treatment if necessary with no special papers. The largest employer in French Guiana is the French educational system, which is responsible for all the schools, including the university. Most of the teachers are not French Guianese, but rather are people taking advantage of the salary boost that comes with working here, in order to save a bit of extra money for the future. France also has a generous social safety net, and immigrants flock to French Guiana to take advantage of it, making this department the most immigrant-heavy of the whole nation (29.7% immigrants in 1999, compared to the number two Paris, which was 15.7% immigrants). Without the infrastructure of the French government, what will happen? One likely negative consequence is the exodus of French mainlanders (called ‘Métros’) as well as immigrants, leaving white- and blue-collar jobs unfilled, and possibly unfillable. The quality and quantity of social services will surely go down, as a small nation will find it more difficult to maintain the services that a nation of over 60 million people can provide. In short, an economic collapse that leaves its citizens stranded is a very real, very scary possibility. Moreover, cronyism and nepotism are rampant here, which can make it difficult to get a good job if you’re not already well-placed. If there’s a vote for independence, citizens will have to find some way to make sure that those in power do not stay there, adding to the political instability of the newly independent nation. There also needs to be a plan for development. There is really very little that is produced here, and much of it is destined for elsewhere. For example, thanks to the ‘Green Plan’ of the 1960’s, there is now an active pineapple industry, destined to send pineapples all over the world. There was once a lot of gold to be found here (and indeed, many people are still mining gold illegally in the Amazon), but whether there is enough to sustain the economy is something I don’t know. But as it stands now, if the country were to get its independence tomorrow, it would be catastrophic. There’s simply not enough to get by. One way French Guiana could quickly get money is by using the European Space Center to their advantage. The station is here because, despite the frequent rain and other bad spells of wether, there’s really not much danger from Mother Nature; there are no tornadoes, hurricanes, tidal waves, or earthquakes. Moving the space station to one of France’s other Overseas Departments is not really feasible, and the governments still want to go into space. So French Guiana might be able to lease it out. Conversely the space center is the reason why France is mostly likely to fight French Guianese independence. Of course, in many ways, the economy will bring costs down itself: going off the euro, importing things directly, avoiding a surtax on all goods, the right to have sales at any time of the year instead of just January and July. These will bring the cost of living way down. They might also cause a housing slump, though, as prices for homes here are ridiculously inflated for their condition and location. In sum, independence is scary. But is it really worse than being colonized? Both situations have their obvious drawbacks and advantages. A compromise position, having more autonomy, was rejected not long ago after a fear campaign by those wishing to maintain the status quo. It will be interesting to see whether the price of independence is something that people here are willing to pay.