The Martinican Independence Movement or MIM (Mouvement Indépendantiste Martiniquais in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Mouvman endépandantis matinitjé in Martinican creole

Antillean Creole

Antillean Creole is a creole language with a vocabulary based on French. It is spoken primarily in the Lesser Antilles. Its grammar and vocabulary also include elements of Carib and African languages. Antillean Creole is related to Haitian Creole, but has a number of distinctive features; they are...

) is a left-wing political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in the overseas department

Département d'outre-mer

An overseas department is a department of France that is outside metropolitan France. They have the same political status as metropolitan departments. As integral parts of France and the European Union, overseas departments are represented in the National Assembly, Senate, and Economic and Social...

 of Martinique

Martinique

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

, founded July 1, 1978 by Alfred Marie-Jeanne

Alfred Marie-Jeanne

Alfred Marie-Jeanne is a French politician in Martinique, a leader in the Martinican Independence Movement since 1978. He served as mayor of the commune of Rivière-Pilote from 1971 to 2000 and served as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from March 20, 1998 to March 2010...

 with the aim of securing "the decolonization

Decolonization

Decolonization refers to the undoing of colonialism, the unequal relation of polities whereby one people or nation establishes and maintains dependent Territory over another...

 and independence

Independence

Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....

 of Martinique". Its secretary is the deputy and president of the Regional Council of Martinique. It has one seat in the French National Assembly

French National Assembly

The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....

.

In 1973, Alfred Marie-Jeanne, along with Garcin Malsa, Lucien Veilleur, and Marc Pulvar (father of Audrey Pulvar

Audrey Pulvar

Audrey Pulvar is a French journalist.-Personal life:She is the daughter of Marc Pulvar, a syndicalist and political Caribbean independantist. She has a daughter born in 1997. She lived with the chef Alain Passard from 2008 to 2009...

), founded an organization called "La Parole au Peuple" (Word of the People), which in 1978 became the Martinican Independence Movement.

Party history

Up until the 1990s, MIM had only limited success at the polls. Marie-Jeanne was elected to the General Council but was not re-elected. In 1983, when the first direct election for the newly-established Regional Counsil was held, the party received only 3 percent of the votes, and in 1989 lost one of their two mayors.

The MIM is, following the French regional elections of 2004

French regional elections, 2004

Regional elections in were held in France on 21 and 28 March 2004. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 regions which, although they do not have legislative powers, manage sizeable budgets...

, the majority party in the regional council. Its elected representatives are Alfred Marie-Jeanne, Daniel Marie-Sainte, Lucien Veilleur, Vincent Duville, Lucien Adenet, Jean-Philippe Nilor, Sylvain Bolinois, Francine Carius, Jean-Claude Soumbo, Raymonde Téreau, Georges Buisson, Marianne Malsa, Marcel Thelcide, Michel Michalon, Lise N'Guéla, Mady Ericher, Marie-Claude Cléry, Gisèle Aribo, Alain Rapon, Laurence Gracienne, Sandrine Saint-Aimé, Yolande Philémont-Montout, Marie-Line Lesdéma, and Aurélie Dalmat.

The party also counts among its members two general councillors, Lucien Adenet and Jean-Philippe Nilor, and the mayor of Rivière-Pilote, Lucien Veilleur.

In the municipal and cantonal elections in March of 2008, the MIM presented 17 at-large candidates. For the first time in its history its candidates received significant support and four were elected mayors:

• In Rivière-Salée, Vincent Duville received 2829 votes, 46.05%
• In Sainte-Luce, Jean-Philippe Nilor received 2374 votes, 46.63%
• In Saint Esprit, Georges Buisson received 1619 votes, 34.87%
• In Trois-Ilets, Lise N'Guéla received 1295 votes, 42.73%

The MIM publishes a journal, La Parole au Peuple, and operates a radio station, R.D.L.M. (Radio Lévé Doubout Matinik).

External links

Official site of the Martinican Independence Movement