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FRANCE: Following Massive Protests, France Withdraws ‘Security’ Bill (International Briefs)

Mandatory Credit: Photo by ISA HARSIN/SIPA/Shutterstock (11029703ae) Demonstration Place du Trocadero in Paris, called in particular by journalists’ unions who denounce an attack on freedom of expression and the rule of law, following the adoption by the National Assembly in first reading November 20, 2020 of article 24 of the global security law proposal, brought by Gerald Darmanin, Minister of Interior in the government of Emmanuel Macron. This article penalizes the malicious diffusion of police images Demonstration against global security law, Paris, France – 21 Nov 2020

More than half a million people across France took to the streets to protest of the so-called Global Security Bill, which was passed in late November. The bill would have forbidden the publication of images where a police officer can be identified and expanded the ability of the “security forces” to film ordinary citizens without their consent using bodycams and drones. Although the bill has been withdrawn as of December, right wing lawmakers say they will return with a new version.

Images of police brutality particularly against Muslims, Black people, and migrants in France have galvanized opposition to President Macron’s repressive, racist, and anti-worker policies. In addition to the ‘security’ bill, Macron has promoted a bill called Supporting Republican Principles. THis bill seeks further restrictions of Muslim life by banning home-schooling, expanding surveillance of Muslims, and subjecting publicly funded organizations to tests of their French nationalism. Protesters must stay in the streets to ensure this racist bill is also withdrawn.

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General Strike Shuts Down France

Millions of workers in France have been on strike to protest the anti-worker policies of the Macron government. Sign reads “Let’s Revolt!”

Workers Tell Capitalist Government, “Don’t Mess With Us!”

By Nath Clarke

Current French President Emmanuel Macron, who puts the interests of bankers and big business above the people, announced plans to gut Social Security, affecting millions of people across the country. The Yellow Vest movement and many unions have been struggling against his policies (cuts to public spending, increased taxes for the poor, and tax cuts for the super-rich) for over a year. Working French people are not done fighting back against cuts to Social Security, public hospitals, and aid for poor families.

After the government announced plans to reform retirements, several of the most powerful unions offered an ultimatum on December 15th: scrap this law or feel the rage of the people. Since December 3rd, the teachers’ union, the train workers’ union, the bus drivers’ union, the hospital workers’ union, the truckers’, the EMTs’, the airport workers’, the refinery workers’, the firefighters’—and even the lawyers’— unions have issued a call to strike.

The rage of the people is a force to be reckoned with: in Paris, public transportation has come to a halt; only every third train is running across the rest of France; entire refineries have been shut down as their workers walk out. Although the government and corporate media are claiming these unions are just lazy or that these reforms will not affect restaurant workers, cashiers, and other workers in the private sector, nobody is fooled.

Nico, a trucker from the Corbières in Southern France, said that although the strikes have made getting around difficult, he understands that these folks are fighting for everyone. Macron’s reforms will mean that Social Security is a fixed rate. In a country where inflation is constantly on the rise, this will affect all workers, particularly women and folks who earn inconsistent salaries throughout their career.

Edouard, a landscaper who has been going to Yellow Vest protests since last year, told the Workers Voice:

“The government is trying to change the entire system so that different careers get access to different monthly sums based on their supposed societal value. Meanwhile, senators and other politicians will keep their own separate social security system—which receives 1.4 billion euros of funding every year. Cops will also maintain a more beneficial retirement, as France has slowly devolved into a police state under a state of emergency; cops are maiming protesters every week in order to maintain order, while nurses, teachers, servers, and countless other workers are left to starve…This reform is just an attempt to make more money off a system that works perfectly fine… except that it doesn’t generate enough profits for the super rich.”

At the protest on Thursday the 17th, hundreds of thousands of working class folks chanted: “This is democracy,” “Less money for the bankers, more money for the people,” and “Macron, we won’t slow down ’til we stop this reform.” The French government is nothing without the working people whose labor produces all the wealth. It’s the people’s money, and when we unite and fight, we always win.

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Despite Repression, French Workers Continue Rebellion Against Government of the Rich

73-year-old activist Geneviève Legay is attacked by riot police. She is in serious condition with a fractured skull. Her case shows the brutality of the French Police in their repression of the Yellow Vests.

The Yellow Vests, a group of French workers from all walks of life, have been taking to the streets every Saturday for months. These actions have taken place in cities, towns, and villages across France. They are protesting all the capitalist austerity measures that profit the rich and have disastrous consequences for the poor.

The police have used flash grenades, water cannons, riot guns, tear gas, and billy clubs to brutally repress protesters. More than 144 protestors and journalists have been severely injured by riot police. The name of Geneviève Legay, a 73 year old activist whose skull was fractured by riot police on March 23, has now become a rallying cry against the brutality of French President Emmanuel Macron who put out a statement bad-mouthing Legay for her “irresponsibility” and for being in a “prohibited area.” Some protestors have responded to this repression by destroying the private property of the super-rich or by torching cop cars.

Macron has declared that he would call upon the French army to prevent further protests. It is no surprise that Macron favors the protection of private property rights over human rights: he has spent most of his career working for ultra-rich bankers. Presidents like Macron ignore the fact that 80% of French people support the yellow vests, that 10,000 people die from unemployment every year. Rich capitalists like him see working-class people as expendable in the face of profit.

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French Masses Take to the Streets, Rebel Against Government of the Super Rich

By Nathalie Clarke

Paris, France—Since May, French workers from all industries and students of all ages have been rising up against continued austerity. Austerity means cuts to wages and social programs making people poorer. Emmanuel Macron, the bankers’ president, as he’s often called because of his work with super rich bankers and his pro-rich, anti-worker policies, has been doing everything to turn back any small victories workers have won through class struggle.

After privatizing the French railway company, which puts workers at risk of mass layoffs, reducing government investment in public hospitals, and attempting to reform schools to side-line working-class students, he’s recently decided to increase the price of diesel fuel.

In response, over 280,000 workers from various parts of France headed to Paris and other big cities, created makeshift barricades from trashcans and old chairs, and reminded the ruling class how powerful a mass movement of workers can really be. Beyond the big cities, thousands of actions happened all over the country, in small towns, on the sides of roads, at tolls, at roundabouts.

This movement, called the “yellow vests” for the high-visibility jackets they wear, began without a political party or union, amongst workers complaining on social media—now driven to the streets by their fury.

The “yellow vests” movement, so-called for the high-visibility jackets the protesters wear, started without the leadership of a political party or union; the movement began among workers whose protests on social media spilled into the streets.

The movement has not only galvanized thousands of workers, it has widespread support: 80% of French citizens declared they support the yellow vests.

The movement erupted in response to a few cents increase on the price of diesel fuel, but it has come to encompass all workers’ frustrations at the elite government’s disconnection with most of France. Most recent demands include a capped monthly salary of 15,000 Euros (around 10 times minimum wage in France), a tax on airplane and boat fuel (which would affect large corporations and not workers), and an end to French interventions in Syria. The class struggle has allowed people who felt divided because of their race, their political party, the industry they work in, their religion, or their sexual orientation to realize that they have far more in common with each other than with the ultra-rich capitalists.

The yellow-vests have fueled a widespread feeling amongst workers: anger at inequalities stemming from the government’s imposing anti-worker and poor rightwing policies. But because elite politicians like Macron and his cabinet are not amongst those who benefit from welfare, unemployment benefits, or housing aid, they see no problem in reducing spending that literally saves lives. Macron’s Trump-like government claims that the increase in the price of diesel is an ecological tax, acting as though they are not aware that taxes on diesel will disproportionately affect rural areas, where people drive to work every day and where most live below the poverty line. Any tax (that does not depend on income), whether the proposed diesel tax or the absurdly high sales tax in Louisiana, is unjust because people who make 7 dollars an hour pay the same as those who earn over 250 dollars an hour.

The big business media, if it speaks of the yellow-vests at all, will probably talk about the rioting that occurred in several big cities. It was not rioting; it was a justified rebellion. They, of course, make no mention of the billionaires who steal MILLIONS of Euros from France every year by cheating on their taxes. No one will mention that these workers are engaging in the greatest act of self-defense there is: fighting for their right to exist. Poverty is deadly: an estimated 10,000 to 14,000 people die per year because of unemployment in France and 6,000 people die because of homelessness.

A few cents may seem like nothing to elites who have never lived on minimum wage, but we workers know how much a few cents can mean when the paycheck won’t come for another week, rent is due tomorrow, electricity and gas bills were due yesterday, there is no food in the fridge, and the kids need coats for the cold weather. Whether in New Orleans, Louisiana or Orléans, France, workers generate all the wealth of society. Our children don’t deserve to go hungry. We deserve better than to struggle every month to make ends meet. We deserve more than the crumbs the capitalist offers us. We deserve better because it is from the sweat of our labor that the capitalists make their profits, because we are the unsung heroes—carpenters, electricians, culture-bearers, hospitality workers, nurses, teachers, builders, truckers, train drivers—upon whose labor society is built. The capitalists, whether in France or the United States, will not give us what we deserve, but, united as a class, we can take it.

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Students of All Ages Rise Up In France

By Remy Herrera, Paris, France

In France, in these troubled times, extraordinary scenes have become an everyday occurrence. On December 5th, over 200 high schools across the entire country were completely blocked off, and there were many smaller high school walkouts and protests. The “yellow vests” struggle has inspired students to join in the struggle for their rights. Sometimes answering the high school students’ unions call, sometimes spontaneously, students across France are standing up against Macron’s neoliberal reforms. When we say neo-liberal, we mean benefitting the ultra-rich capitalists.

Currently, university in France is basically free—only 300 Euros a semester when the minimum wage is 1,200 Euros per month—and admission standards are designed to avoid marginalizing working-class, first-generation college students. Higher education in France is by no means perfect—first of all, just like in any capitalist country, it’s underfunded—but Macron’s policies will increase the cost of higher education and make it more difficult for working-class students, especially black and brown students.

In response to students’ frustrations, the government has simply elected to tear gas the lot of them. On December 5th, over 150 minors were arrested. But the students’ fury won’t get tear gassed away. The student unions at universities have also decided to join in the mobilizations. In Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest city in France, several middle school students (11 to 14 years-old) set up barricades outside their middle schools—and faced the police violence.

On Thursday, December 6th, hundreds of high school students in a peaceful, working-class neighborhood near Paris trickled out of the gates to head to lunch, chitchatting, joking, relieved that the school day was half over. As they stepped outside, it became painfully clear that this was no ordinary Thursday: across from their school, a group of police officers had blocked the road those students take to go home. These students, used to police brutality and harassment, did what they’d always done in such a situation and took another street, when about twenty police officers in riot gear—helmets, batons (sticks the French cops carry to hit protesters- NC), shields, tear gas in arm—raced towards them. The police officers stopped and lined up in front of the terrified kids. When three of the police officers started charging their tear gas cannons, one student shouted:

“Let’s get out of here!! They’re gonna fire!”

They fired. The high school students that weren’t too shocked to move ran off as fast as they could. The cops tear gassed, insulted, and beat up anyone too shell-shocked to get away. One student heard the cops who were brutalizing him yell: “You dirty bastard “; another girl, bleeding, covered in bruises, is told:  “You’re a little bitch! “

Running from the violent attacks, the students barely made it back to their school safe and sound. What had these kids done? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They were leaving class, heading home, and the riot police brutalized them. With no reason!

Unacceptable. But unfortunately, things like this have been happening all over France these past few weeks. President Macron’s right-wing policies are carried out through blood and brutality. The day before, on December 5th, several students from high schools across the country were severely injured by flash balls. One, a sixteen-year old, was hit in the forehead; the other was hit in the cheek. Both students got support from their schools; the following day, the teachers’ assemblies (a part of the union that defends teachers’ hard-earned rights in France) released messages of solidarity with the students protesting and calling on students and educators across France to bloc high schools as a sign of protest to Macron’s policies.

One thing is clear: the old regime, the one that exploits its youth and offers most of us nothing but unemployment, low-wage jobs and poverty, is condemned.