Fureurs et silences : un conflit social en Martinique

On 26th May 1999, the ‘Toyota conflict’ broke out at Fort-de-France. It was a conflict that unsettled life in Martinique for six long months and profoundly marked the inhabitants. All began with a strike at the CCIE Toyota factory. The absence of dialogue between management and unionists very quickly led to an explosive situation. Fury was unleashed. The confrontation spread in waves from the confines of the factory to the rest of the island. On both sides, the uncontrollable situation was fired by three ingredients: insults, physical violence and racial hatred. The film examines these events with a clinical eye. Like an endoscope, the camera explores the bare facts, stopping to highlight the failings and excesses that the present, all too hastily, covers up or sets aside. It also explores what the protagonists have to say about these past events, and brings out what the urgency of the situation had swept aside: reflection and introspection.