Guinea Blast Off – 8’

July 2001

00:00 (UPSOT: Countdown and take-off)

00:21 The Ariane rocket takes off successfully yet again in French Guiana. It's flight number 141 for the European Space Agency's base in South America.

00:35 Less than twenty kilometres from the launch site at Kourou, Pierre Richnell smokes a traditional Amerindian cigarette.

00:44 Pierre and his family are Kourou Indians, members of a tribe that once inhabited the ancestral lands now occupied by the space programme.

00:54 Space scientists agreed over thirty years ago that the region was the perfect location for a launch site, and though care was taken to ensure the Kourou were resettled at the time, many Amerindians like Pierre and his family still feel angry at how they say they were pushed aside.

01:15 Their wonder at the flights that pass overhead has long gone. All that remains is a sense of betrayal.

01:27 PIERRE RICHNELL, KOUROU INDIAN, IN KALINYA WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

"When this all started, at the beginning, this rocket was interesting. Now, well, it doesn't really interest me. It doesn't mean anything to me, to any of us. We see it all the time now. Things are not what they used to be here in the village. Things have changed a lot now. It's not as good as it was."

02:14 When the space programme first started here it was met with scepticism. Few believed in the principal of European success in space.

02:23 The first Ariane launch on 24 December 1979 saw a change in fortune, marred only by a crash in June 1996 during what was Ariane V's maiden voyage.

02:32 Today the agency has grown into one of the world leaders in commercial space transportation with one of the most modern launch facilities.

02:39 The Arianne IV and V rockets are at the cutting edge of technology. What some once thought of as a slightly embarrassing joke is now a multi-billion dollar business.

02:49 Many cannot believe their eyes.

02:53 The programme's director, Pierre Moskwa, insists the space agency ploughs the money it generates back into the territory.

03:04 PIERRE MOSKWA, ESA DIRECTOR:

"When France decided to build this launch site we were obliged to, I don't really know the word in English, to expropriate, I should say, some people. This is a very, very old story, and people feel a bit uncomfortable about that. But, let's say, thirty years later we have given, I think, a good return to French Guiana in terms of employment, in terms of economy. So, things are, I think, going better and better."

03:42 The capital, Cayenne. Despite the tropical heat, there is no forgetting that this is an overseas department of France.

03:51 Only in the marketplace does it become clear that this is Latin America, and not Europe.

03:59 The French gained full control of the region in 1817. In the mid-19th century the colony was used as a prison base for undesirables in what were troubled times in France.

04:12 The last penal colony closed in 1953, and today French Guiana, highly subsidized by Mother France, has the highest standard of living on the continent.

04:24 But not everyone is happy.

04:27 The capital is also home to Morris Pedan, leader of the Movement for De-colonization and Social Emancipation.

04:34 UPSOT: (Morris shouting)

04:38 His is a strong voice against the European Space Agency, the ESA, a project he says is just an extension of unwanted French colonial rule.

04:50 MORRIS PEDAN, MDES (Movement for De-colonization and Social Emancipation), IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

"What interests France is the position of their territories in the world... in the Pacific, in the Caribbean, in South America. Their principal interest here is the Space base. For the space base to work for a long time you need peace in society. Social peace therefore is the investment given to the public, even though the country isn't developed. They have broken down any attempts at protest, all notions of resistance, autonomy and responsibility. It's also a problem of racism, in that those at the top are whites and those having to do the real work are the local population."

05:41 His is an opinion some Kourou Indians agree with.

05:46 Today their tribe is a small community lying on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

05:53 Off-shore is Devil's Island, the one-time infamous penal colony immortalized by Henri 'Papillon' Charriere.

06:03 Amerindian campaigners feel powerless against the might of the ESA and the French government.

06:09 The agency insists that space activity accounts for 50 per cent of French Guiana's production, and provides a quarter of the country's employment.

06:17 Kourou Chief Charles disagrees.

06:21 He feels the space programme has driven his people out of their homes, and that the ESA has reneged on its promises.

06:31 CHARLES, KOUROU CHIEF, IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

"For example, there's more and more of a stalemate on territory. There's a stalemate on the practicalities, on the types of taxes and laws being imposed on the local population. Don't forget we're part of Europe here even though we're on the borders with Suriname and Brazil. We have cases of people and families who are cut off from their own countries... in their own land... it's pretty serious'.

07:08 Despite its critics the ESA continues to grow. It estimates between 220 to 250 commercial satellites will be launched into orbit between 2001 and 2008 from Kourou. The European space programme has well and truly taken off.

(UPSOT: Music)

07:58 ENDS