I can remember the time when as young militants Med Hondo and I debated intensely our literary achievements. We were barely twenty years old. I had made a tentative incursion into theatre whereas Med Hondo was an actor, which for me was magical.
The film WEST INDIES – LES NÈGRES MARRONS DE LA LIBERTÉ is a cry protesting against everything which shackles our freedom, and is inspired by the play by the Martinican Daniel Boukman. In October 2021 the MUCEM (Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditérranée) in Marseille paid homage to the cinema of Med Hondo and described the film as a political musical-comedy. The lyrics are accompanied by a frantic music which underscores all the pitfalls encountered by the French Antilleans. There is much talk of the BUMIDOM, an organization which tried to turn them into a population of domestic helps. There is also talk of Guadeloupe and Martinique as the sugar islands made to sweeten the masters’ coffee. The film also ridicules the abolition of slavery which paradoxically, in spite of its apparent generosity, benefited the planter class and turned the slaves into second-class citizens. The violence and the humour depicted in the film is liberating and demonstrates the youthful ideals of Med Hondo.
It was a time when we believed that words and language could finally triumph over colonialism and that literature was a miraculous weapon capable of defeating all our enemies.
I also remember how Med Hondo, like myself, was opposed to Negritude and saw it as a myth, created by the Afro-Caribbeans themselves, destined to reinforce our submission to the colonial diktats which had caused such havoc. We also discussed the issues of language. Med Hondo thought we should use the language of the people of the Caribbean i.e. Creole, which was hounded by the establishment in the French Antilles. It was a time when we believed that words and language could finally triumph over colonialism and that literature was a miraculous weapon capable of defeating all our enemies.
At that time, we regarded the colonial world as an ensemble, and refused to see the differences between an African and a French Caribbean. Both had lost their land, their language, and their gods. They had to be reconquered. In fact, this became the aim of all literature whose goal was to make the world more harmonious and quench the thirst for a better life for everyone.
Although Med Hondo is no longer with us, I’m pretty sure he would agree with me. The issues which we addressed at the time are still not resolved.
What can be said about this film after so many years? Although Med Hondo is no longer with us, I’m pretty sure he would agree with me. The issues which we addressed at the time are still not resolved. Today nobody objects to the political status of the French Antilles which became overseas departments of France in 1946 and remain so today. Guadeloupe and Martinique are promoted as a tourist’s paradise. Nobody pays attention to their population except when there is a natural catastrophe such as a hurricane, earthquake, or volcanic eruption. During the recent political crisis the Minister for Overseas Departments made an offer of ‘Autonomy’ but this word seems to have scared everyone, labour unions and local politicians included. Today’s major preoccupation in the French-speaking world is the status of women. Another is the place of religion. Some people go as far as to think that France will become a Muslim country. A third issue is the fate of migrants who leave their home country to search for a better life abroad, often dying as they try to reach Europe.
Other times, other customs.
Maryse Condé is a Caribbean novelist and Professor Emerita of French and Francophone Literature at Columbia University in the City of New York
