Tag: France
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France at a Crossroads
The nationwide general strike in France, now entering its record seventh week, seems to be approaching its crisis point. Despite savage police repression, about a million people are in the streets protesting President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed neoliberal “reform” of France’s retirement system, established at the end of World War II and considered one of the … Keep reading »
One Year of the Yellow Vests in France
Converge With Planned Labour Strikes This past weekend the Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) celebrated their first birthday, with convivial barbeques on traffic circles (roundabouts) all over France followed by direct actions like liberating tollbooths. Although number of protestors has declined to about 10 per cent of the estimated 400,000 who rose up a year ago on … Keep reading »
Paris Police Teargas Peaceful Climate Demonstrators
It was 42° C (108° F) in Montpellier, France, last week, and the French police were still teargassing peaceful demonstrators – whether Yellow Vests in Montpellier or ecologists in Paris protesting capitalist-generated Global Warming on the hottest day in French history! As the contradictions between neoliberal economics and human life become more visible, police repression … Keep reading »
The Yellow Vests of France: Six Months of Struggle
The Yellow Vest (Gilets jaunes) movement is still going strong after six months, despite a dearth of information in the international media. Keep reading »
Yellow Vests Struggle to Reinvent Democracy
Macron Cranks Up Propaganda and Repression. After five months of constant presence and hazardous Saturday marches, the massive, self-organized social movement known as the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) has just held its second nationwide Assembly of Assemblies. Keep reading »
Yellow Vests and Red Unions Strike Together
On Tuesday, February 5, as the government of Emmanuel Macron pushed harsh repressive laws against demonstrators through the National Assembly, the Yellow Vests joined with France’s unions for the first time in a day-long, nation-wide “General Strike.” Keep reading »
What Colour is Your Vest?
The Gilets Jaunes Revolt Shaking France In 1934, the political situation in France was tense and uncertain. The year began with a mobilization of royalist and fascist militias (on February 6) that were followed immediately (on February 9 and 12) by a response from the Communist and Socialist wings of the workers movement. As Norbert Guterman … Keep reading »
Seasons Greetings from France’s Yellow Vests: “We Are Not Tired”
Is the Yellow Vest (Gilets Jaunes) rebellion, now in its seventh week, “petering out?” Such was the near-unanimous pronouncement of the mainstream media, when I returned home to Montpellier, France, eager to participate and to observe first-hand this popular insurrection which I had been afraid of missing. I needn’t have worried. By nine o’clock last … Keep reading »
Yellow Vest Protest Movement: Inequality and the Hollowness of the French Regime
Ignored by French President Emmanuel Macron, distorted by the media, courted by the Right, snubbed by the Left, the self-organized mass movement known as the Yellow Vests (Mouvement des gilets jaunes) is seriously challenging the political and economic order in France. In Paris, on the morning of Saturday December 1st, as thousands of self-organized Yellow … Keep reading »
French Railworkers on Strike
The philosopher Étienne Balibar is one of the figures behind the solidarity fund in support of striking railworkers in France – a fund that now stands close to €1-million. Responding to questions from workers who are taking part in the rolling strike action, Balibar emphasized the need for what he calls “collective resistance against social … Keep reading »
Where Are the Riots of Yesteryear? Remembering May 1968
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the wave of radical revolts and revolutionary uprisings that startled the world in 1968 and which – although ultimately crushed by the forces of reaction that dominate the world to this day – left in its wake rights so fundamental that we tend to take them for granted … Keep reading »
France: Student Strikers Attacked; ‘Fascist’ Dean Jailed
Student strikers attacked at Montpellier University in France; Dean of the University held over in jail for arraignment by the Chief Prosecutor. Analysis of the strikes in France by Richard Greeman. Keep reading »