“Talking about crime” in Mayotte “allows you to avoid all the other problems”, estimated Friday on franceinfo Françoise Vergès, political scientist and specialist in Overseas France.
“There are really deep problems, and encouraging the stigmatization of migrants who would be the scourge of the island is still a denial of rights”, denounces Friday, April 21 on franceinfo Françoise Vergès, political scientist and specialist in Overseas. The specialist reacts to the words of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin on franceinfo this Friday morning which confirms the operation “Wuambushu” in Mayotte, the objective of which is to expel illegal migrants settled in slums.
franceinfo: 1,800 police officers and gendarmes deployed, is this a solution to the difficulties encountered in this department?
Francoise Verges: No not at all. I’Etat français responds to structural problems that it has itself created. I hear Gérald Darmanin talk about crime because this focus avoids all the other problems. When he talks about rehousing, you have to look at figures like those of La Cimade which show that he has no rehousing. In the slums (bangas), even Mahorais live there, there are still 80% of the population who live below the poverty rate, and 40% of people who earn about 160 euros per month. Sociologists and anthropologists have shown that there are young people of French nationality who are part of these bands of delinquents. We do not answer the questions of a youth by repression.
Is there still a real problem of insecurity?
Yes, but we are not responding to it with this massive expulsion! There are really deep problems, and encouraging the stigmatization of migrants who would be the scourge of the island is still a denial of rights. Let us not forget that even the Council ofEtat in 2021 said that theEstate committed serious and unlawful violations of the right to asylum.
Why does the government only seem to retain the security aspect to deal with the problems of water and education?
I think it’s a sign from the current government, because we also see threats to rights in France, the Human Rights League warns about this. We see a response to all structural problems through systematic repression. I am not saying that there are no problems, but that the answer is constantly dissolution, repression. Rights are not respected: there is a systematic violation of the right to asylum in Mayotte. Why’EFrench tat allows itself to violate a right that it signed itself?
Gérald Darmanin talks about a long-term operation, can we expect to deal with problems other than security?
Yes, one could assume, but those are promises. According to local associations, the question of rehousing is not respected at all, people have been evicted and are still not rehoused. There is a problem in this department: it is the most deforested island in the world. We have very deep structural problems that must be addressed by involving the island’s population and its migrants by working with them and not by stigmatizing them and treating them as criminals. I’Etat contributes to this stigmatization.
Should we expect clashes in the coming weeks, in reaction to the repression?
Yes, and I think that when you provoke such a huge military deployment on a very small island, you announce a militarized response to a profound social and economic question.