Charles de Gaulle was the first French President to set foot on Martinique. He landed on the island on May 1, 1960 for the first official visit by a President of the Republic. But we won't be focusing on his first visit, but on his second, on March 23 and 24 1964.
At the time, Martinique was a French department, a status obtained in 1946, but the expected reforms were slow in coming, and the promised equality between the citizens of mainland France and those of Martinique did not materialize. In 1959, the island was hit by a major social and economic crisis. The sugar crisis made life difficult for farm workers at a time when agriculture was the island's leading economic sector.
On December 20, 1959, a minor collision between a white metropolitan motorist and a black Martinican motorcyclist triggered three days of rioting in Fort-de-France. The riots claimed the lives of Christian Marajo, Julien Betzi and Edmond-Eloi Véronique, known as "Rosile", aged 15, 20 and 21 respectively. Autonomist and anti-colonialist movements were born and became very popular with young people who did not believe in a better future.
Faced with the turmoil of events in Algeria, De Gaulle passed a law authorizing the French authorities to forcibly exile overseas civil servants suspected of encouraging social unrest and anti-colonial positions to metropolitan France.
In 1962, 18 members of the O.J.A.M. (Organisation de la Jeunesse Anticolonialiste Martiniquaise) meaning (Martinique Anticolonial Youth Organization) placarded the streets to commemorate the 1959 riots. They were arrested and deported to France, where they were imprisoned in Fresnes (Paris area).
At the same time, in 1963, the BUMIDOM was created to encourage young people from the overseas departments to emigrate to mainland France, where there was a cruel shortage of labor.
On the political front, Aimé Césaire, a supporter of autonomy, Mayor of Fort-de-France and Member of Parliament for Martinique, was the island's main political leader. He was one of the most outspoken advocates of departmentalization in the French overseas territories, before being disappointed by its local implementation. The question of Martinique's identity is constantly on everyone's lips, and is at the heart of the debates, given that the island's new status did not break with its colonial past.
The island is torn between demands for autonomy and for the department to be anchored in the French Republic.
A few days before his visit, a newspaper called "France-Antilles" was launched on March 24, 1964, to report on the President's visit to the island.
It was against this backdrop of social, economic and political turmoil that President Charles de Gaulle arrived in Martinique in 1964.
General De Gaulle's presidential visit
De Gaulle arrived in Martinique on March 23, 1964 for a two-day official visit, with the main intention of reaffirming Martinique's status as a French department.
The presidential plane landed at Le Lamentin airport at 11:03 a.m. on March 23, 1963. De Gaulle was greeted by the Mayor of Lamentin, Georges Gratient, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, as well as by Raphael Petit, Prefect of Martinique, and the Lieutenant de vaisseau. He is then introduced to the department's parliamentarians, and a quarter of an hour later, the official motorcade heads for the Place de la Savane, where military honors are paid to General de Gaulle.
He reviews the troops and then lays a wreath on the war memorial. He then climbed the steps to a podium facing the sea to address the people of Martinique.
The population, warned well in advance of General de Gaulle's arrival, awaited him with great excitement. The streets of Fort-de-France were packed with people hoping to catch a glimpse of the President of the Republic. Even the youngest climbed trees to catch a glimpse of this historic event.
Even today, this event is the largest public gathering in the history of Martinique.
It was here that De Gaulle gave a speech that was warmly applauded by the local population, who fully embraced the General's ideas. De Gaulle's "Mon Dieu que vous êtes français" ("My God, you're French") is undoubtedly the phrase that marked this visit where he was struck by the enthusiasm of his visit and the policy of French assimilation in place on the island. This phrase was later joked about as "Mon Dieu, que vous êtes foncés" ("My God, how dark you are"). This comes from his accent, which meant that the French words for "French" and "dark" could be confused.
He reiterated his wish to see Martinique play a central role in the influence of Greater France:
Where this department is located, right in the middle of the ocean, between an immense America, North America and Latin America, and a great Europe, Martinique is a witness, a link, a point, a link from which France must radiate precisely over the whole of this ocean I'm talking about. It's an example to be set here, and based on this example, it's an influence to be exerted from here, and this will be one of your tasks.
followed by cheers from the crowd.
After lunch at 4.20pm, the General is received at the Hôtel de Ville by Aimé Césaire, the Deputy Mayor of Fort-de-France, members of the town council and the town's notables.
Césaire delivered a speech to de Gaulle, calling for greater autonomy and local management, while remaining part of France. He listed the difficulties associated with insularity:
And now, Mr. President of the Republic, allow me to add that in the Martinique of 1964, we also welcome you with immense hope, because you see, we too have our problems.
- The problem of a narrow, poor and terribly overpopulated island.
- The underdevelopment of an economically backward country.
- The problem of our proletariat, doomed to unemployment and who see emigration as nothing more than an inhuman palliative.
- The problem of our youth, too often driven to revolt by the lack of opportunities and prospects. It so happens that we are confronted, assailed and jostled by all these problems at the same time.
To which De Gaulle replied:
Between Europe and America, there's nothing but dust, and you can't build states on dust.
He then went to the prefecture, where he was introduced to members of parliament, general councillors, mayors and the department's governing bodies.
An evening reception was hosted by the President of the Republic at the Prefect Residence.
The following day, March 24 1964, Charles de Gaulle was received at 10:10 a.m. aboard the "Jeanne d'Arc" in the Baie des Flamands harbor at Fort-de-France. At 11:15 a.m., he was received by the host of officers.
At 4.20pm, he was shown the town planning works in Fort-de-France and at 5.00pm, he went to the Lycée des Jeunes Filles, where delegations from the teaching staff and the youth and sports movements were introduced to him. He addressed a few words to the lycée's students and to delegations from other schools in the department's other communes.
An hour later, the presidential plane takes off for Metropolitan France.
Presidential visit in brief
In terms of popularity and history, it was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Martinique's post-departmental period. The presidential visit was historic because the island was going through a period of doubt in the face of the economic and social crisis it was experiencing. De Gaulle's visit to an island more than 7,000 km from Paris, but still attached to France, was obviously essential, given the context of independence experienced by several French colonies, as well as neighboring Caribbean islands that were breaking free from the British Crown.
What's more, in contrast to recent (banal) presidential visits, De Gaulle delivered a speech that appealed. Far from making a lot of promises (most of which were forgotten on the plane home from Lamentin airport), he spoke firmly, reminding the people of Martinique of their place in the Republic, and of the role he intended the island to play thanks to its strategic geographical position between North and South America.
Although Martinique's economic development has improved significantly, De Gaulle's speech would have had a more positive effect than the millions of euros promised on each recent presidential visit, and the promises quickly forgotten (territorial continuity, promoting overseas employment for ultramarines, tax incentives for local businesses, etc.).
Video of De Gaulle's visit (in French): YouTube Link
