Marigot:--- Historical writer, former English teacher and politician Daniella Jeffry will be launching her new book this coming Thursday at the Philipsburg Jubilee Library at 7pm. A repeat of the event will take place on Saturday at the Silk Cotton Cove Yard in Friars Bay.The new book entitled the Destabilization of the French Caribbean will be available in two languages the English and French. Jeffry is the author of "1963 A Landmark Year in Saint Martin", and " The Status Scandal of the Island of Saint Martin."
Jeffry's latest book covers the period 1975-2009 and is required reading to understand the French overseas policies and subsequent development the island went through over the past 30 years.
"There are many layers of issues which I have tried to portray in the book," explains Jeffry. "The book illustrates how the St. Martin population was impacted by the defiscilisation law of 1986 which led to an influx of French European settlers together with an illegal element of Caribbean workers."
"A blind eye was turned towards illegal immigration in order to perpetuate the construction boom and real estate development facilitated by defiscilisation. Investors discriminated against St. Martin workers because it was cheaper for them to hire illegal workers."
She continued: "But at the time of the Gulf War in 1990, tourism dropped off and with it the development and those construction workers remained on the island illegally and bore many children. Statistics show that those illegal persons accounted for 60 per cent of the population. That resulted in the hospital and clinics becoming over stretched and saturated. France then had to introduce social services to deal with the illegal immigration problem and legalise at least 3,000 of them. That programme lasted about eight months."
Jeffry indicates France was more interested in solving the illegal immigration problem than dealing with the problems of the indigenous St. Martin population.
"It was a painful situation for St. Martiners as they were just pushed aside," she said.
She noted the population of the French side tripled between 1983 and 1990, from 8,000 to 28,000, largely made up of French metropolitans or Europeans. St. Martiners became a minority in their own country. And, Jeffry states, French policies were responsible for disrupting families and creating the juvenile delinquency we have today.
Today, in her opinion it was not good timing to change the constitutional status of the French side when the Commune already had its financial problems. With more autonomy under a Collectivité there was supposed to be more financial support but that didn't follow, she said.
"They (elected officials) were in too much of a hurry to get a new status. And I think the socio-professionals thought it would help them, but it hasn't. Today we are seeing that the "status scandal" was not an exaggeration."
