For decades there has been a string of legal and economic initiatives by France aimed at improving the lot of its overseas territories. Yet as the current crisis in French Guiana shows, these measures have failed to have a noticeable impact on the 2.7 million French people who live in those regions. Julien Sartre reports on how an outdated model of development applied to these territories still shows no signs of being updated.
“Our brothers are dying, we've lost lots of friends, all of our young people know how to tie a knot to hang themselves and you....you speak to us of steering groups that don't exist!” This was the robust approach to France's junior minister with responsibility for overseas territories, Ericka Bareigts, from a young resident of French Guiana who was full of despair at the policies handed down from Paris.
