France

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French Police Round Up Protesters, Mainstream Media Ignores


The Interior Minister reported 26,417 demonstrators in France, including 5,000 in Paris. December 12, 2020. | Photo: Twitter / @CharlesBaudry

Published 12 December 2020

Parisian police used repressive tactics and arrested 142 demonstrators to impede large groups from forming.


French citizens held another day of large-scale protests in Paris against the global security bill, which limits the dissemination of images in which police officers can be personally identified, among other things.

Parisian police repressed the march, making several arrests, reportedly to prevent the formation of the so-called “black blocks” of protesters.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said that at least 142 people were arrested in the Paris protests as of 8 pm, and reported 26,417 demonstrators in France, including 5,000 in the capital. The official also voiced his support for the police and the actions taken to quell demonstrations.

Indignation throughout France over Article 24 and the Global Security Law increased after three police officers beat up an Black music producer, an incident which was recorded and went viral. The security camera recorded images circulated widely on social media. Police abuses also circulated online following the dismantling of a migrant refugee camp in Place de la République at the end of November.

Although the National Assembly decided that it would make "a complete redraft" of the measure, the protests have continued with civil rights groups saying this will not be enough to guarantee civil liberties.

The protesters, who have been in the streets of Paris and other major cities for three consecutive weekends, claim that the security law undermines basic rights of information and believe that it gives "free rein" to possible abuses of power by the police authority.

Wider issues being brought to recent demonstrations include demands to end repression and police brutality, and authoritarianism by the neoliberal government. Citizens say Macron’s administration is discussing a number of authoritarian laws, while keeping the press on a short leash.

The large-scale protests have been markedly under-reported by the mainstream international media, despite the availability of information from reporters on the ground and the sustained call for and end to police bruality and for fundamental rights to be respected by the French state.

President Emmanuel Macron’s administration has been marred by mass protests, most notably the anti-government Yellow Vest protests which began in 2018 and the many waves of multi-sector protests against austerity and neoliberalism.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/fre ... -0002.html

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The dual explanation of the crisis, the fake social turnaround by governments, the need for radical responses
Posted Jul 16, 2021 by Éric Toussaint

Originally published: CADTM - Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (July 12, 2021 ) |

The spokesperson of CADTM International, Éric Toussaint, responds to the questions of the L’Anticapiltaliste weekly.

Marxists often hesitated at the beginning of the present economic crisis: was it a classic, fundamentally capitalist crisis whose warning signs had already been in evidence or was it a specific crisis resulting from the pandemic?

Éric Toussaint: The answer is plain to see: the two explanations are not contradictory. A combination of the two enables us to understand what has been happening right before our eyes. Before the Covid pandemic, in 2019, a classic capitalist crisis had begun. There was a significant reduction in industrial production in Germany and in several industrial sectors of the USA; there was an economic slowdown in China in 2019, the beginning of a financial crisis in the United States in September 2019, a fall-off of productivity in the major economies, and profit rates were either stagnating or had fallen.

As this classic crisis was worsening, it was followed in China in December 2019 then in Western Europe, North America and the rest of the world in March 2020 by an enormous health crisis bringing chains of production, supply and distribution to a standstill. Those economists who deny the direct and specific effects of the pandemic on the economy are mistaken, as are those who claim that the crisis is due to an external shock factor, meaning the effects of the pandemic on the economy.

Unlike the illusions some people nurture concerning the relaxation of institutional constraints (by the EU, the IMF etc.) and the fall in interest rates, constraints linked to public debt have certainly not disappeared. How do you see the “post-Covid” situation in the North and the South?

ÉT: You are quite right to say that some on the Left have a marked tendency to present the new policies of central banks and governments since March 2020, increasing budget deficits and public debt, as a fundamentally positive turnaround. The danger is that this leads them to lower their guard and be less critical of the economic policies brought to bear and of institutions like the ECB, the European Commission and national governments. Yet increasing public debt serves to set up social cushioning (unemployment benefits, one-off financial aid for households and certain sectors of the economy that have been particularly hard hit) without taxing capitalists and their companies. Nor has there been any real refinancing of the public health sector. The constraints linked to public debt have been considerably eased in the short term, but the backlash of austerity and new structural measures will come in a year or two. When the European instances insist on discipline in applying their treaties, public debt will have increased so much that there will be strong demands for deep budget cuts in public and social spending, combined with a demand for new counter-reforms regarding the rights of workers and social welfare recipients.

What they should have done was to increase the public deficit to finance a vast spending programme while at the same time complementing that policy with 1% taxation of the wealthiest section of society, whether that wealth be in property or income.
In the end, the public spending recovery plan is very limited and entirely funded through loans.

Among the new attacks that must be resisted are the acceleration of automation/ robotization of work; the generalization of working from home where workers are isolated, even less able to manage their time and have to carry a whole series of extra costs connected to their work tools which they wouldn’t have to pay for if they were physically in their workplace. There are new attacks on public education, with the development of distance-learning which increases cultural and social inequality; there is greater surveillance of private life and control of personal information; means of repression have been reinforced.

Lastly, it is obvious that the coronavirus pandemic has further increased the unequal distribution of income and property ownership. Inequality in face of illness and death has also risen dramatically.

Governments and Big Capital will only abandon this offensive against the interests of the overwhelming majority of the global population if very powerful mobilizations force them to make concessions or if a social revolution carries the day.

The struggles that have erupted on several continents since June 2020, especially the massive anti-racist struggles under the Black Lives Matter banner, show that the popular classes and young people of the world are not prepared to accept the status quo.
In 2021, the enormous popular demonstrations in Colombia, the progress seen in elections in Chile and Peru, and more recently at the end of May and on 3 July, the “anti-Bolsonaro” demonstrations in Brazil highlight yet again the massive resistance of the peoples in Latin America.

We have to contribute as much as possible to enabling a powerful new social and political movement to bring together the social struggles around the world; we must take part in drawing up a programme to make a break from capitalism, by putting forward solutions that are anti-capitalist, anti-racist, ecological, feminist and socialist.

Faced with the multifaceted crisis of capitalism and its headlong rush towards environmental disaster, trying to fix or adapt capitalism is not really an option. It would merely be a lesser evil that would not bring the radical solutions that the situation demands.

In a recent article, you cite Lissagaray, a historian and activist in the Paris Commune, who wrote of the Banque de France: “the Commune stopped short in front of the Bourgeoisie’s strong-box”. It is an eternally relevant question: how would you phrase it today?

ÉT: The Banque de France was at the heart of the Paris Commune. Following the events of March 1871, the Communards didn’t take over the Bank, which remained in the hands of the Thiers government and continued to finance it. (It received over 350 million gold francs, 20 times more than the Commune got).

It was Charles Beslay, who was a Proudhonian and the Commune’s delegate to the Banque de France, who convinced the Commune not to “violate” (sic) or take control of the Bank. Beslay thus enabled the Banque de France to continue to finance Thiers who in turn was able to reorganize the Army and put down the Commune. For Beslay, the Bank was France’s wealth and to take it over would have signalled chaos. Significantly, Beslay was the only leader among the Communards not to be executed, imprisoned or deported. He took refuge in Switzerland with Thiers’s permission.

The Banque de France should have been taken over physically. It would have been perfectly possible, without any bloodshed. It should have been placed at the Commune’s disposal to prevent Thiers from using it to prepare the repression of the Commune.

The chaos argument has been used repeatedly over the centuries. We heard the same thing in Greece from Varoufakis when he and Tsipras decided to leave the Governor of the Bank of Greece in place despite him being a faithful ally of the Troika and private Greek bankers. On the contrary, the Cuban revolutionaries took control of the Bank of Cuba as soon as the revolution triumphed in 1959 and Che Guevara became its governor. As for the Soviet government, it expropriated all the Russian banks in December 1917.

When it comes to central banks, private banks and the finance sector in general, we note an extremely serious erosion of the programmes of leftward-leaning organizations. In 2019, the Labour Party Manifesto, under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, although radical on a series of issues like renationalization and the cancellation of student debt, was silent regarding the City of London and the Bank of England. Bernie Sanders’ programme in 2019-2020, radical on issues of taxation and student debt, was also silent about the Federal Reserve and the major private banks. Programmes of other political organizations like Podemos, Diem25 or Die Linke, are either silent or very moderate on the subject and therefore have nothing to offer regarding the Central Bank, the big private banks, currency and public debt.

More generally, in financial matters, the solution is obvious: there must be suspension of debt payments without any penalty for delay. Beyond suspension of payment, in each country there should be debt audits carried out with the active participation of citizens, to determine the illegitimate, odious, illegal or unsustainable parts of public debt, which must then be cancelled. The CADTM, which is a global network mainly active in the South of the planet but also in the North, takes the position that the need to have recourse to suspension of payments and debt cancellation concerns not only the developing countries, emerging or not. It also concerns the countries of the North.

It is also time to brave the issue of cancellation of abusive debts demanded of the popular classes.

Translation: Vicki Briault and Christine Pagnoulle, CADTM

https://mronline.org/2021/07/16/the-dua ... responses/

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Violence erupts in Paris as thousands of May Day protesters raise pressure on Macron

Issued on: 01/05/2022 - 16:39

Police fired tear gas to push back black-clad anarchists who ransacked business premises in Paris on Sunday during May Day protests against the policies of newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron.

Thousands of people joined May Day marches across France, calling for salary increases and for Macron to drop his plan to raise the retirement age.

Most were peaceful but violence broke out in the capital, where police arrested 54 people, including a woman who attacked a fireman trying to put out a fire, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter. Eight police were injured, he added.

Clashes with police broke out at the start of the march near La Republique Square and when it reached La Nation Square in eastern Paris.

"Black Bloc" anarchists ransacked a McDonald's restaurant on the Place Leon Blum and trashed several real estate agencies, breaking their windows and setting garbage bins on fire. Police responded by firing tear gas.

About 250 rallies were organised in Paris and other cities including Lille, Nantes, Toulouse and Marseille. Overall 116,500 people demonstrated across the country, including 24,000 in the capital, the interior ministry said.

In Paris, trade unionists were joined by political figures - mostly from the left - and climate activists.

The cost of living was the main theme in the presidential election campaign and looks set to be equally prominent ahead of June legislative elections that Macron's party and its allies must win if he is to be able to implement his pro-business policies, including increasing retirement age to 65 for 62

"It is important to show Macron and the whole political world that we are prepared to defend our social rights," Joshua Antunes, a 19-year-old student said. He also accused the president of "inactivity" on environment issues.

'Retirement before arthritis'

Marchers carried banners reading "Retirement Before Arthritis", "Retirement at 60, Freeze Prices" and "Macron, Get Out"

"The government has got to deal with the purchasing power problem by raising wages," Philippe Martinez, the head of the hardline CGT union, told Reuters before the rallies.

Macron won a new five-year presidential term after beating far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in last Sunday's runoff vote.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came third in the first round of the presidential vote, attended the Paris march.

He wants to rally a union of the left, including the Greens, to dominate parliament and force Macron into an awkward "cohabitation", but so far this has not materialised.

"We will not make a single concession on pensions," Melenchon said before the march started.

He said he still hoped an agreement to build a new union of the left could be reached by Sunday evening.

Unlike in previous years, Marine Le Pen did not lay a wreath in Paris at the statue of Joan or Arc, whom her party uses as a nationalist symbol. She was replaced by the Rassemblement National Interim President Jordan Bardella, who said Le Pen was preparing for the legislative elections.

Le Pen urged voters in a video message to elect as many deputies from her party as possible in June so that she could "protect your purchasing power," and prevent Macron from carrying a "harmful project for France and the French people" The parliamentary elections will be held on June 12 and 19.

(REUTERS)

https://www.france24.com/en/france/2022 ... ted-macron

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France Aghast by Fuel Shortage: Endless Queues With Police Deployed
OCTOBER 14, 2022


Cars line up in a gas station in Paris. Photo: AP.

Petrol stations are dry, employees are on strike, and the French are furious, leading to turmoil in the government and the deployment of police to monitor car tanks.

Petrol stations in France are running dry after energy employees on strike have disrupted the supply. President Emmanuel Macron has urged for calm in the now anxious government as dissatisfaction grows among motorists, businesses, and others, and the police forces are deployed to impose a cap on French nationals trying to fill up their tanks and to maintain security as mayhem spreads across the country.


Lines hundreds of meters long snake out from gas stations on Paris’ outskirts. In one instance, a motorist, whose car was already running on empty, cried out, “We’ve been waiting for an hour.”

“The queue hasn’t moved at all. I don’t know what we are supposed to do,” he added.

After trying two more stations, one of which was just across the street, another driver entered the line of vehicles. “I arrived at the same time as everyone else, and then the indicators ushered that there was no more petrol left,” she explained.

Latest events

Fuel shortages are prompting outrage and long queues at gas stations across France, as the 13th day of a strike by TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil employees began on Sunday.

Due to worker strikes, three of France’s six refineries are currently closed, reducing output by 60%, or 740,000 barrels of gasoline per day. The majority of TotalEnergies’ network of over 3,500 petrol stations is out of fuel, accounting for approximately one-third of all stations in the country.


In addition to causing frustration for individual drivers, the shortages have caused havoc for businesses, such as delivery services, medical aid, logistics chains, and taxi companies. “What worries me is [what will happen to] disabled people, because we risk not being there for them if this continues,” said one taxi driver, waiting at a petrol pump in Paris. “I’ve only got half of my reserve tank left.”

What is happening?

Over a week ago, the French union CGT called for a strike against TotalEnergies as part of a bigger strike across the French energy sector. Workers are demanding raises in the face of a rising cost of living and surging profits in the energy industry.

TotalEnergies made $5.7 billion in earnings in the second quarter of 2022, up from $2.2 million in the same period in 2021. CGT has advocated for a tax on these gains as well as a 10% pay raise – 7% to account for inflation and 3% for “profit sharing”; demands that have received widespread support from energy workers.

Production at the TotalEnergies refinery in Feyzin, near Lyon, was ongoing, but deliveries had halted.

CGT representative Pedro Afonso told AFP that “100% of dispatch workers were on strike for the 6 am shift”, adding, “Normally there are 250 to 300 trucks every day and 30 to 50 rail carriages. Now nothing can get out.”


According to CGT spokesperson Christophe Aubert, 70% of ExxonMobil employees were also on strike. “It’s the same workforce on shift all weekend, so nothing’s going to move and nothing is getting out.” The strikes that were intended to last just three days were extended because TotalEnergies had at first insisted on wage negotiation in mid-November with an expected average salary increase of 3.5%.

TotalEnergies proposed on Sunday that pay negotiations begin this month if the workers quit their walkout. “TotalEnergies calls on everyone to act responsibly so that the company can supply the French people in the best possible conditions,” TotalEnergies said in a statement. One of the CGT’s main requests is that the yearly pay negotiations be held ahead of schedule.

TotalEnergies has so far downplayed the impact of its worker strike, claiming that supplies are under strain due to the popularity of the company’s low-cost fuel rates in recent months.

Customers have raised demand at TotalEnergies petrol stations by an estimated 30% as a result of the company’s discounts in the face of rising fuel costs.

What to expect
As discontent increases among striking energy employees and motorists, the stakes for the French government rise. “Let’s not panic,” said President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, as he called for calm on all sides. Even as he called for an end to the strikes, the President acknowledged that Total executives should consider the “legitimate compensation requests” of its employees.

Their demands come as the expense of living continues to rise. During the same news conference, President Macron warned of challenging months ahead for petrol prices, as food prices are expected to rise more.


Is it ‘gilets jaunes’ all over again?

Negotiations over pension reforms between the French government and unions, including CGT, are also set to be contentious in the coming months. However, petrol, in particular, has a special place in the French mentality. “Fuel costs have become synonymous with the gilets jaunes (Yellow Vest protesters),” Paul Smith, associate professor of French politics at the University of Nottingham, stated. “The current situation troubles [the government] as a foretaste of problems to come – a potential winter of discontent,” as reported by France24.


The Yellow Vest protest movement, spurred by rising gasoline prices in the winter of 2018, saw thousands take to the streets for weeks on end in a show of defiance against the government and President Macron.

According to Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the minister for energy transition, 90 days’ worth of fuel stockpiles remain. Meanwhile, efforts are being made to initiate conversations between CGT and TotalEnergies, but so far without result.

Priorities speak in light of fuel shortage

According to government estimates, just 19% of petrol stations are affected, with severe shortages in the north. However, Dominique Schelcher, head of the Système U retail chain, told FranceInfo radio that the government number underestimated the impact.

“Only the west [of France] will have fuel stocks,” he said, adding that “it was impossible to order” fuel in the north, east, and south of France for this weekend.

Not everyone waiting in line is allowed to fill up their cars as French police appear to check fuel tanks before allowing vehicles to move forward to fill up their cars, according to one local news outlet.

Reuters reported that France has been forced to draw on its strategic petroleum stockpiles to supply petrol stations. According to Reuters, government spokesperson Olivier Veran advised people not to panic. “We are obviously monitoring very, very closely this situation together with the operators and, here and there when it was necessary, we have used our strategic stocks to enable the stations to be supplied,” Veran reportedly said.

Other local governments are taking steps to limit who can buy fuel, with officials in Hauts-de-France, according to Reuters, barring the sale of gasoline and diesel in portable containers.


Chaos making government anxious

Gas station supply problems in France are causing increasingly chaotic occurrences.

A group of teenagers raided a gas station on Monday in Paris’s Val-d’Oise department and sold fuel under their own terms. Several outraged motorists alerted police after the youngsters grabbed possession of the TotalEnergies petrol station.

According to local media sources, the teens charged inhabitants of the region the standard price for fuel while charging individuals from other locations a higher price. At the scene, police apprehended a man in his twenties and are looking for another person who robbed the petrol station and fled.

Despite the government’s demand to terminate the ongoing refinery strikes, employees voted to keep them running on Tuesday.

Further strike action is expected in the coming days, creating further unrest in the now anxious country.



(Al Mayadeen – English)

https://orinocotribune.com/france-aghas ... -deployed/

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The French working class organizes to defeat Macron’s pension reforms

The Macron-led government is making a new bid to push controversial pension reforms, calling to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64

January 12, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch


French trade union leaders addressing media outside the Paris Labor Exchange (Image via Workers’ Force)

On January 10, all the major trade unions in France gave a joint call for protests against the proposals for pension reforms announced by the Emmanuel Macron-led government. The unions, including the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), Workers’ Force (FO), the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC), the French Confederation of Management—General Confederation of Executives (CFE-CGC), the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (UNSA), Fédération syndicale unitaire (FSU), and Solidaires, have called for a general strike and nationwide protest mobilization on January 19. The left-wing coalition Nouvelle Union Populaire Écologique et Sociale (NUPES) composed of the La France Insoumise (LFI), French Communist Party (PCF), and others also oppose the reforms and have extended support to the protests. Youth groups, including the Young Communist Movement of France (MJCF), have also called for protests against the reforms.

On January 10, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne unveiled government plans towards pension reforms, which would increase the retirement age in the country from 62 to 64. In addition, it was proposed that workers will need to have worked for at least 43 years to get a full pension, starting from 2027. Earlier, the reforms announced by the first government under Emmanuel Macron, which contained similar proposals such as an increase in retirement age, replacing 42 pension systems with one scheme, introduction of a grade point system for ascertaining pension amounts, among other proposals, were vehemently opposed by trade unions and had not been implemented due to the COVID-19 crisis.

On Wednesday, the New Ecological and Social Peoples’ Union (NUPES) slammed the reforms proposed by the government as an attack on the pension system and an attempt to impose a project that 85% of the people reject. NUPES has reiterated their demand for the right to retire at age of 60. NUPES leader Jean-Luc Melenchon has declared that “the reform is a serious social regression.”

On January 10, in their joint statement, the major trade unions wrote that, “this reform will hit all workers, especially those who have a lower life expectancy, and those and those whose professions are not recognized. It will aggravate the precariousness of those who are no longer employed before retirement, and strengthen gender inequality.”

French Communist Party (PCF) leader, Fabien Roussel MP, said that “the government is announcing that our pension funds are bankrupt. It is a lie! We need pension reform to increase pensions! Let’s finance it through employment, wage increases and taxing the €80 billion [USD$86.10 billion] dividends distributed to CAC 40 shareholders in 2022.”

Youth groups also called for a national march protesting the reforms in Paris on January 21. The youth groups called for a retirement at age 60, an increase of the SMIC and wages as well as pension, rent freezes and price freezes for basic necessities, massive investments in ecological bifurcation and public services, including transport, health and education, taxation of superprofits, and a guarantee of autonomy for young people.

As the Young Communist Movement of France (MJCF) has written, “Emmanuel Macron’s project is clear: the young unemployed, the old at work until exhaustion. The president presents himself as a modern man, but his project takes us straight back to the nineteenth century!”

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/01/12/ ... n-reforms/

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French strikes fight pension reform
By JULIAN SHEA in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2023-01-20 09:18


Thousands of people take part in a demonstration in Paris, France on Thursday as workers went on strike for the day over their president's plan to raise the legal retirement age, from 62 to 64. ALAIN JOCARD/AFP

More than 200 demonstrations were expected to be held across France on Thursday as the country witnessed mass walkouts in protest against President Emmanuel Macron's highly contentious plans to reform the pension system, which could result in many employees having to work for longer than they had expected before retirement.

Under the proposals, starting in September this year, the current retirement age of 62 — one of the lowest in the European Union — would be raised by three months a year, with the aim of reaching the new target of 64 in 2030.

Ferries across the English Channel were suspended, as were Eurostar train services, deliveries from oil refineries were blockaded and public service broadcasters played music and showed re-run programs rather than live content, as the strike took effect.

The country's main teaching union estimated that 70 percent of primary school teachers would walk out, and state-owned energy company EDF lowered electricity output.

The proposals had previously prompted mass demonstrations in Dec 2019, with the interior ministry saying that more than 800,000 people took part in rallies in more than 100 cities, adding to existing political tensions fueled by the gilet jaunes yellow jacket protest movement, before the issue was put to one side in the early days of the pandemic.

When Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the details of the planned changes earlier this month, she said they were necessary to prevent a major deficit building up as a problem for the future, and admitted that they would "spark fears and questions among the French people", as a recent opinion poll showed 80 percent of the population opposed the higher retirement age.

Failure to act, Borne said," would lead inevitably to a massive increase in taxes, a reduction in pensions and would pose a threat to our pensions system".

Macron has argued that change is needed to make France's labor force more efficient and competitive, but unions say it is a removal of workers' rights.

Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt acknowledged that the plans had raised "concerns" and admitted that they would require workers to make "an additional, collective effort", but pleaded with them to be reasonable in their strike actions.

"The right to strike is a freedom, but we do not want any blockades," he told LCI television.

Philippe Martinez, leader of the left-wing CGT union, says the way the proposals had "bundled together everyone's dissatisfaction" with the government and managed to unite so many often competing groups showed the seriousness of the situation, caused by what he called "dogmatic and ideological… unjust reform".

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... aacd6.html

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French Protest Against Macron's Pension Reform


Two million workers take to the streets to protest against the government's pension and retirement reform plan. Jan. 19, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/@PCUSA2016

Published 19 January 2023 (18 hours 0 minutes ago)

The unions have announced a new day of mobilizations for January 31.

More than two million French people took to the streets across the country on Thursday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plan.

The largest protest occurred in Paris, with an impressive number of demonstrators setting off shortly after 14:00 local time from the Place de la République.

Some 30 people were arrested in the capital, where 3 000 police officers were mobilized during the demonstration. It is estimated that more than 10 000 were mobilized throughout the country.

Official figures show that demonstrations exceeded those of 2019 when the President first tried to pass the reform: more than 13 000 demonstrators in Pau, 8 000 in Châteauroux, or even 6 500 in Mulhouse.


Almost three out of ten civil servants (28 percent) were on strike part-time in the state civil service, according to the Ministry of the Civil Service.

In the territorial civil service, the rate of strikers stood at 11.3 percent and in the hospital civil service, it reached 9.9 percent during the first day of the strike against the pension reform plan.

This plan was announced on January 10 by French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. It would delay the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, and introduce a guaranteed minimum pension.


In this context, the main unions agreed today to continue the protests until the government backs down. In a joint communiqué, the unions told the press: "We are united and determined that this pension reform project be withdrawn. For this reason, the inter-union calls for a new day of demonstrations and an interprofessional strike on January 31."

On January 30, the text of the reform is scheduled to reach the National Assembly for review by a parliamentary commission.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Fre ... -0014.html

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Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform is a health hazard
Workers from all sectors in France held a day of mobilizations against President Macron’s proposal of a pension reform on January 19. Health collectives are joining the initiative

January 20, 2023 by Peoples Health Dispatch


Workers from different trade union confederations join mobilization against President Macron’s pension reform proposal (Photo: European Trade Unions via Twitter)

Demonstrations and strikes began in France on Thursday, January 19, as President Macron pursues his bill to raise the legal retirement age to 64 years. Trade unionists estimate that by noon local time, approximately one million people across the country had taken to the street to oppose the bill. By the end of the day, almost two million people participated in protests in different cities, with 400,000 marching in Paris alone, according to approximations from the General Confederation of Labour (CGT).

Macron’s proposal is part of an attempt to adapt the Social Security Finance Bill, a discussion that the French Parliament will tackle from January 29 until March 26. In case the government does not back down from its plan, mobilizations are certain to expand and continue throughout the duration of the parliamentary debate. The next strike has already been announced for January 31.

According to the trade unions’ estimate, the support for the mobilization reached the one experienced during the strikes of 1995, which brought most parts of the country to a half in an attempt to stop then-Prime Minister Juppe’s plan to introduce extensive austerity measures.

The collective “Our Health is in Danger” against the pension reform
The Social Security Finance Bill adopted at the end of 2022 already implies the throttling of the health and social systems, which is burdened by persistent underfunding, conservative economic plans, and austerity policies.

The health system faced an unprecedented crisis in emergency and pediatric services this winter, including numerous closures of services, due to a lack of personnel. A massive number of workers left their jobs in the health and social sectors because of the arduousness of the working conditions which accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, including the discrimination against employees who have not been vaccinated and who have not been reinstated to their posts. The personnel crisis has also a lot to do with the lack of sufficient training of medical, paramedical, and social workers.

The collective “Our Health is in Danger”, together with other associations, trade unions and political parties, is calling for mobilizations against the pension reform, and linking this issue to the issues of health, as well as the defense of public health, social action and solidarity-based social security at the service of the population.

Françoise Nay, one of the spokespersons of the collective, points out that the reform would only deepen the profound health and life expectancy inequalities that already exist between workers in different sectors, often linked to the arduousness of work.

According to the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), male executives live on average 6.3 years longer than blue-collar workers. The latest studies also show that workers also spend more years with disabilities. In France, 4.3 million people work at night—night shifts have been associated with a loss of 5 years of life for every 15 years.


For Maryline Ricci, a social worker and member of the People’s Health Movement and SUD Santé Sociaux, the battle over the pension reform is part of the wider struggle to improve physical, mental and social well-being, and as such is an essential determinant of health.

Véronique Bâcle, Deputy Secretary General of the National Union of Occupational Health Professionals (SNPST), which also supports the mobilization against the pension reform, says, “Imposing longer contribution periods and raising the retirement age will only worsen the state of workers’ health and social inequalities.”

Women have 40% lower pensions than men
If passed, the reform would also worsen existing inequalities between working men and women. Women already receive on an average 40% lower pensions than men. For Nora Tenenbaum, member of the National Coordination of Associations for the Right to Abortion and Contraception (CADAC) and of the National Collective for Women’s Rights, the situation is likely to get worse with the planned reform.

This is why feminist organizations are resolutely calling for mobilization against Macron’s reform, as well as for the recognition and a significant pay raise in professions with a majority of women workers—such as health and social care. At the same time, they are preparing a feminist strike on March 8, which will correspond with the parliamentary debate.

Strengthening the pensions strike and building a unitary process
As the mobilization against the pension reform grows, the struggle is becoming more and more linked to those fighting for a strengthened health and social security system, and who are keen to build a unitary process for social justice in France.

This includes the feminist strike on March 8, together with possible actions during the week of April 7, the international day of action against the commercialization of health, and an initiative for the strengthening of public services, called “Springtime for Public Services”, to be held in Lure from May 12 to 14.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/01/20/ ... th-hazard/

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France: Over 2 million march, strike against pension cuts
January 21, 2023 Gary Wilson


Workers gather on Place de la République in Paris, Jan. 19.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s retirement and pension cuts sparked more than 200 mass demonstrations and strikes across France on Jan. 19. Labor unions said more than 2 million people took part nationwide, including 400,000 in Paris.

Polls show that 80% of the population opposes the cuts, which would increase the minimum retirement age to 64 with a minimum pay-in period of 43 years.

As Macron pushed the pension cuts, he also announced a major $448 billion hike in military spending.

Eight major unions had designated Jan. 19 the “first day of strikes and protests” against the cuts. The unions have announced new strikes and protests for Jan. 31.

France’s education ministry said that over 40% of primary school teachers and one-third of high school teachers participated in the strikes, forcing many schools to close their doors for the day.

Public transport was brought to a standstill in Paris, Toulouse, Marseille, Nantes, and Nice due to the strikes, and the Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors as the protests spread.

French rail authority SNCF reported a “severe disruption” across the country. “On some rail lines, as few as one in 10 services were operating, while the Paris metro was running a skeleton service,” BBC reported.

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2023/ ... sion-cuts/

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French strikes fight pension reform
By JULIAN SHEA in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2023-01-20 09:18


Thousands of people take part in a demonstration in Paris, France on Thursday as workers went on strike for the day over their president's plan to raise the legal retirement age, from 62 to 64. ALAIN JOCARD/AFP

More than 200 demonstrations were expected to be held across France on Thursday as the country witnessed mass walkouts in protest against President Emmanuel Macron's highly contentious plans to reform the pension system, which could result in many employees having to work for longer than they had expected before retirement.

Under the proposals, starting in September this year, the current retirement age of 62 — one of the lowest in the European Union — would be raised by three months a year, with the aim of reaching the new target of 64 in 2030.

Ferries across the English Channel were suspended, as were Eurostar train services, deliveries from oil refineries were blockaded and public service broadcasters played music and showed re-run programs rather than live content, as the strike took effect.

The country's main teaching union estimated that 70 percent of primary school teachers would walk out, and state-owned energy company EDF lowered electricity output.

The proposals had previously prompted mass demonstrations in Dec 2019, with the interior ministry saying that more than 800,000 people took part in rallies in more than 100 cities, adding to existing political tensions fueled by the gilet jaunes yellow jacket protest movement, before the issue was put to one side in the early days of the pandemic.

When Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the details of the planned changes earlier this month, she said they were necessary to prevent a major deficit building up as a problem for the future, and admitted that they would "spark fears and questions among the French people", as a recent opinion poll showed 80 percent of the population opposed the higher retirement age.

Failure to act, Borne said," would lead inevitably to a massive increase in taxes, a reduction in pensions and would pose a threat to our pensions system".

Macron has argued that change is needed to make France's labor force more efficient and competitive, but unions say it is a removal of workers' rights.

Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt acknowledged that the plans had raised "concerns" and admitted that they would require workers to make "an additional, collective effort", but pleaded with them to be reasonable in their strike actions.

"The right to strike is a freedom, but we do not want any blockades," he told LCI television.

Philippe Martinez, leader of the left-wing CGT union, says the way the proposals had "bundled together everyone's dissatisfaction" with the government and managed to unite so many often competing groups showed the seriousness of the situation, caused by what he called "dogmatic and ideological… unjust reform".

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... aacd6.html

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France and the Dilemma of Electoral Politics in the Twenty-first Century
French workers currently live nearly two years longer than their counterparts in member states in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), composed of roughly the world’s most advanced capitalist countries. Further, they retire with full benefits, on average, nearly three years earlier than their counterparts in the OECD. Thanks to a rich history of militant struggle for a shorter workweek, a greater share of national wealth, and social benefits for retirees, workers in France enjoy a higher standard of living and a much longer secure retirement than most workers in other countries.



Of course, a better, longer, more secure life comes at a cost; France devotes much more of its GDP to support retirees than other OECD countries. It should be an obvious truth that it costs more to live longer.



And the people of France want to keep this system and improve it. They believe that spending more national wealth on the people is sensible and just.



With the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and his corporate backers threatening to raise the retirement age by two years, the opinion polls consistently show that the vast majority of those polled oppose the change.



To bring this opinion to the attention of France’s elites, two million people rallied and marched throughout France on Thursday, January 19; in Paris alone, the march extended for two and a half miles.



Rather than bow down to the demands for austerity and competitiveness made by capital, working people in France are fighting to retain what earlier generations have won. They do not see the fate of the elderly as negotiable.



Instead, the people defend senior benefits as an act of solidarity and not charity.



By delaying retirement benefits for two years and shortening the retirements of French workers, politicians believe that they could save as much as 150 billion dollars per year. Of course, this “savings” will never benefit working people.



However, it is thievery with the stolen national wealth redirected toward shoring up the fortunes of the ruling class.



The day after the massive demonstrations, President Macron announced that his administration planned to increase French spending on the military by 115-120 billion dollars per year over the next six years! So the proposed savings will go into the pockets of the armament industry and further increase the tensions in Europe unleashed by the war in Ukraine.



Since the consolidation of nation-states, rulers have used war and the threat of war to rally support. Not only is the war in Ukraine a reckless step toward regional, if not global, war, but the governing cliques are using it to justify their hold on power. Military spending is exploding across the region. Fear of a mythical Russian march to the sea serves the interest of all of the capitalist powers in the Euro-Atlantic area.



As it was in the twentieth century, war is the answer to the collapse of the traditional parties; war is the distraction from the inability of the center forces to rule effectively; war is the answer given to the masses searching for political alternatives to the misrule of the few.



But if the majority of French voters oppose Macron’s initiative, how did he get reelected? He never hid his agenda from the people. If sixty to eighty percent of the voters oppose his policies, what is the secret of his electoral victory?



Macron’s election was the result of the dilemma presented to voters in nearly all of the so-called “advanced democracies” -- those countries organized around mature capitalist economic relations, but governed by a parliamentary system with nominally universal suffrage.



Where these countries exist-- especially the US and Europe, but others as well-- voters must choose between two ugly options. They can support political parties that have abdicated social welfare for the individualistic, winner-take-all “justice” of the market. Or, on other hand, they can opt for the bogus anti-elitist populism of the refashioned right.



Understandably, many voters have turned against traditional parties that have been won over to “serving” social justice through the mechanism of private firms, NGOs, foundations, and charitable institutions. The US Democratic Party, UK Labour, the German SPD, Italy’s Democrats, etc. have abandoned their traditional posture of partisanship for the working class and surrendered to the philosophy of “a rising tide lifts all boats” -- the politics that is dismantling the welfare state safety net.



With the traditional center-left disregarding the working class and with working people slammed by a global shift in wealth distribution, a privatization and dismantling of public infrastructure, and a radical restructuring of employment away from high-paying jobs, voters are looking for alternatives.



Sections of the traditional right-- refashioned to attack indifferent elites, construct handy scapegoats, and offer easy, but misdirected solutions-- have rushed to fill the political void. Politicians like Trump, Boris Johnson, Orbán, Le Pen, Meloni have opportunistically capitalized upon the vacuum left by the mutation of the center-left parties. Their faux-populism captured much of the forgotten working class, desperate for an alternative, any alternative.



As the traditional center-left lost ground, it raised the alarm of extremism, even fascism. Like the bourgeois parties of the past, the mainstream parties resort to fear-mongering, rather than a critical examination of their trajectory, their departure from their purported advocacy for the masses. Whether it was touting the danger of the ultra-right or trumpeting the emergence of fascism, the center-left sought to rally voters around a united front against Trump, Le Pen, Meloni, et al., a solely defensive strategy that, at best, only forestalled the continuing influence of right-wing populism.



It is in this context, following this cautious, defensive strategy, that Macron won re-election. Against the rise of the right-populist National Rally party and its presidential candidate, Marine le Pen, the traditional French parties-- including the center-left and the new left-- unconditionally threw their support behind the “safe” alternative. The left neither sought nor received any major concessions from Macron for their votes. While they drew some satisfaction from stopping Le Pen, the left now faces a Macron determined to strip the working class of hard-won gains, ironically, a move that Le Pen does not support.



Those on the left who embrace the tactic of unconditional unity against the right as an electoral strategy should take a hard, sober look at how it played out in France. Happily, millions of French citizens are rising to the challenge now posed by rallying behind a “lesser of two evils,” a “lesser” that may prove far more destructive of living standards than the “other evil.”



As history all too often proves, giving voters something to vote against can, at best, temporarily retard the advance of the false friends of the people. Decades of fealty to the “lesser evil” myth has only spawned an ever more skeptical, cynical, frustrated electorate, desperate for an alternative. Absent a left that stands for something, voters will continue to consider faux-populism as a legitimate alternative.



Greg Godels

zzsblogml@gmail.com

http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/2023/01/fra ... toral.html

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French Streets Flooded With Over 800,000 Protesters


French workers protesting against pension reform, Jan. 31, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @Noiretvnetwork

Published 31 January 2023 (21 hours 59 minutes ago)

"After having worked all our lives, not only do we want to survive on our pensions, but to live on them for quite some time," union leader Martinez stated.


On Tuesday, over 800,000 French workers took to the streets to reject President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64.

"We, workers, say now, loud and clear, in the biggest protest we have organized in 25 years: no to raising the minimum retirement age", French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) leader Laurent Berger stated, stressing that the goal of the unions is that social pressure prevents the approval of Macron's bill.

About 25.92 percent of French teachers and a third of the National Society of French Railways (SNFC) employees participated in the demonstrations. Four national refineries also had at least 75 percent of their staff on strike.

"We ask French people for an effort. We cannot maintain the current pension system due to the population’s aging,” Work Minister Olivier Dussopt alleged.


The tweet reads, "Urgent: Great confusion in Paris. Police attack union march. People throw projectiles back at police."

"In 1970, there were three French contributors for one retiree. Currently, there are 1,7 contributors for each pensioner," Dussopt said, adding that France is one of the EU countries with the lowest retirement age (62).

Berger, who is also the president of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), called on Dussopt to stop using this argument to extend working life, as the actual retirement age in France and the rest of the EU is very similar.

"After having worked all our lives, we want to not only survive our retirement but live for some time after it. This is the message we convey in the streets," General Confederation of Labour (CGT) Secretary Philippe Martinez pointed out.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Fre ... -0010.html

French Unions Call for New Strikes Over Pension Reforms


According to the main French trade unions, more than 2.5 million people joined the demonstrations on Tuesday. Jan. 31, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/@slackeress

Published 31 January 2023 (13 hours 10 minutes ago)

The controversial reform would gradually raise the legal retirement age by three months yearly, from 62 to 64 by 2030.

This Tuesday, after a new day of protests, French unions called two more days of strike action on February 7 and 11 against the pension reform pushed by the government of President Emmanuel Macron.

According to the main French trade unions, more than 2.5 million people joined the demonstrations today. For its part, the French Ministry of the Interior said that more than 1.27 million people took to the streets throughout the country.

On Tuesday evening, France's largest union, the CGT, announced its intention to continue strikes at refineries on February 6, 7 and 8, which could lead to production stoppages at some sites, said Eric Sellini, coordinator of TotalEnergies.

On the second day of general, clashes broke out between some protesters and police in Paris, and tear gas and smoke bombs were fired mobilization, according to reports. Police confirmed the arrest of 23 people in the French capital.


The pension reform raises questions and doubts. We hear them. The parliamentary debate is beginning. It will allow us to enrich our project transparently, with one goal: to ensure the future of our pay-as-you-go system. This is our responsibility!

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said today via Twitter that the government has heard "the questions and doubts" raised by the pension reform. "The parliamentary debate begins. It will allow us to enrich our project transparently," said the Minister.

Last Sunday, Borne said that the progressive delay until 2030 of the increase in the retirement age as a solution to the deficit is "no longer negotiable." The government has said that minor modifications are possible.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Fre ... -0024.html

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Demonstrators against French government pension reforms take part to a protest march, in Bayonne, southwestern France, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023.

France brought to a standstill over attack on pensions

Originally published: Morning Star Online on January 31, 2023 by Roger Mckenzie (more by Morning Star Online) | (Posted Feb 02, 2023)

MILLIONS of French workers took to the streets in protest as the country was brought to a standstill in a “citizens’ insurrection” over the government’s attack on pension schemes.

Workers walked out on the second day of industrial action against President Emmanuel Macron’s scheme to raise the French retirement age by two years to 64.

The eight main trade union centres said that more than two million people took part in 250 protests against the changes, including a massive rally of hundreds of thousands in Paris.

France’s oil industry was paralysed, with the CGT union centre saying that nearly all workers at TotalEnergies went on strike.

High school and university students also joined the protests, with a few dozen students occupying the main building at the Sciences-Po university overnight.

“Obviously this is young people’s business,” said Colin Champion, a student leader at the Lycee Voltaire in Paris, one of several schools blockaded by pupils in the capital.

Even a prison in the south-western city of Nimes was blocked by staff protesting, a union source said.

Polling shows that most French people oppose the reform, but President Macron’s government says that it is determined to ram it through.

e took to the streets, veteran left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon called the uprising against the government proposals “a form of citizens’ insurrection.”

CGT general secretary Philippe Martinez told reporters that there were “10,000 demonstrators in Reunion, 16,000 in Tarbes, 25,000 in Nice and 20,000 in Avignon.”

Saying he believed the support on Tuesday was greater than on the previous day of action on January 19, Mr Martinez told MPs “to listen to those who elected them. Despite attempts at division, union unity is strong.”

Transport, schools and the energy sectors were all heavily hit by the strike. There were virtually no regional or high-speed trains operating in the country.

Air France said that one in 10 short and medium-haul services had been cancelled. About half of all nursery and primary school teachers took industrial action.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who French communist leader Fabien Roussel yesterday compared to Margaret Thatcher, is under increasing pressure to modify the proposals.

Unions say that women in particular will be discriminated against by the plans as they take time out from work to have children.

The proposals are set to be considered by the National Assembly where Mr Macron’s party no longer has a majority.

https://mronline.org/2023/02/02/france- ... -pensions/