News and Politics | February 22, 2009 | 0 comments

Unrest in Caribbean has roots in slavery past

Image
TravG73
Protests that have nearly shut down the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique are not just about demands for lower prices and higher wages: For demonstrators they are no less than a battle against the vestiges of slavery.

Afro-Caribbean islanders — most of whose forbears toiled in the sugarcane fields under the yoke of slavery more than 160 years ago — not only resent France's handling of the global economic crisis, they have long resented that slaveholders' descendants control the economy on both islands.
  1. groups:
    News and Politics
  2. tags:
    News and Politics France Slavery Caribbean 2 more
  3.     
    |

0 comments // Unrest in Caribbean has roots in slavery past

more from News and Politics:

top videos