“Déboulonnage” of Statues, Continuing Anticolonial Struggle in Martinique

El «déboulonnage» de las estatuas, continuidad de la lucha anticolonialista martiniqueña

Drawing from the knocking down and intervention of some representative statues of colonial and abolitionist personages in the island of Martinique, this essay analyzes these political performances in relation to Afro-descendant population disowning of French (neo)colonial system. An in-depth look at the slave riots that speeded up slavery abolition in the island before the official arrival of the abolition decree from French capital allows us to understand how and what for French colonial history has privileged the abolitionist figure of Victor Shœlcher. The chronologies advanced make the reading of these events easier and enable one of the most important tasks oppressed peoples have, that is, to recognize themselves in a historic struggle fed by collective memory. Several comparative examples are presented that stress how the grip on public space belong to the French colonial system operation. Additionally, the article outlines specific policies enslaved men and women have faced throughout history