In the spring of 1963, nearly two dozen young Martinican men were arrested and charged with threatening the integrity of the French state. As many were members of the Organisation de la Jeunesse Anticolonialiste de la Martinique (OJAM), the government affirmed that they were plotting to terminate Martinique’s political attachment to France. However, OJAM’s ideas were more layered than the finite independence granted by France. They believed that France was responsible for the fragile state of their island and should invest in their move towards independence—beginning with political autonomy.

This presentation explores Assistant Professor Sanyu Mulira's attempt to historically contextualize the Affaire l’OJAM and this event’s irreparable damage to the autonomist movement in Martinique. Although the accused were all acquitted during a highly publicized trial, Martinicans were never able to recapture the spirit of black radical possibility. Thus, Mulira is attempting to analyze this event and its significance as an example of the black radical imagination. Nevertheless, the unrealized dreams of these activists still hold symbolic power for current generations