..time for it's own thread
Nuit Debout
Tue, 2016-05-10 15:27
#1
Nuit Debout
Tue, 2016-05-10 15:29
#2
French unions in the face of the labour law and a citizens’ labour movement
quote:
Off to a flying start… with a petition launched by the fringe
The petition against the new labour law gathered over a million signatures in a few days. It has lent credibility to those unions which most strongly oppose the new law (CGT, the FSU, FO, Solidaires and others) and which, in turn, have had the sense to view the labour law as an issue that goes beyond the realms of the unions and employees. We have witnessed the creation of a global broad front including unions, internet activists, people on the fringes of the socialist party and community activists. This unusual starting point made it possible to mobilise very significant sectors of young people in particular: university and college students, but also young employees in precarious positions or unemployed young workers, employees of small companies, some of whom first demonstrated 10 years ago during the movement that led to the contrat première embauche [first employment contract], a bill for low-cost contracts for young people, being thrown out. All these young people, generally not affected by unions came to swell the ranks of the demonstrators at the beginning of March. They are also the activists behind the “nuit debout” all-night demonstrations, a combination of the ideas of intermittent artists [French designation of self-employed, financially dependent artists], grassroots activists, non-professional journalists and the film “Merci patron!”, a sort of celebration of class warfare....
Tue, 2016-05-10 15:30
#3
quote:
Outside the Traditional Frameworks
The response to this law was launched outside of the traditional frameworks, while the union leaders were getting ready to retreat once again. First a petition for the law to be totally overturned was launched on social networks. This petition gathered more than one million signatures. Then, with the same objective, youth organizations called to make March 9 a day of general mobilization.
Given the size of the response, the unions couldn’t help but get on board, and called for a national strike on March 31. But the real motor of the movement was the youth, in the secondary schools and universities, with repeated protests and obstructions.
On February 23 a meeting was held in Paris to bring together various struggles. The gathering featured Fakir, an independent newspaper associated with the radical left, along with economists (including Frédéric Lordon) and various speakers. Around the same time, a film called Merci Patron (Thanks, Boss), supported by the same activists, was screened in various locations to capacity crowds, with debates organized after the screenings.
The Paris meeting packed the house at the Labor Exchange (the union building at the center of Paris, near Place de la République), which even had to shut its doors because the crowd was so huge. Following this success, the initiators called for a meeting for those who wanted to engage in direct actions.
While about fifty people were expected, more than two hundred showed up. At this meeting, the idea was proposed that on March 31, after the protest, “We don’t go home!” Gradually the idea spread of occupying a square at the end of the protest. This would become Nuit Debout, and the occupation of Place de la République.
Tue, 2016-05-10 15:31
#4
One of the fastest growing social and political movements in recent history has been sweeping across France, spreading through Europe and now developing in North America and elsewhere. In the space of just over a month, it has transformed countless public and private spaces, in nearly 300 cities, by making them into dynamic centers of non-violent protest and political experimentation. Although the future is unpredictable, it has the potential to significantly transform the horizons of social and political possibility.
This is probably news to anyone watching the mass media in the Anglophone world. In spite of the fact that the movement, aptly named Nuit Debout (‘Night on Your Feet’ or ‘Night Uprising’), aims at reclaiming the night hours by standing up 24/7 against the non-stop global onslaught of neoliberal capitalism, it has been kept in the shadows by the major news outlets. In fact, there has been a virtual blackout on what might well be one of the most significant stories of 2016....
Tue, 2016-05-10 15:32
#5
INTERNATIONAL CALL BY #NUITDEBOUT
WE CALL FOR A #GLOBALDEBOUT DAY OF ACTION ON THE 15 OF MAY, 2016
We call on peoples movements across the world to mobilise for justice and real democracy on the 15 of May, 2016 for a #GLOBALDEBOUT. We invite you to come to Paris for an International Gathering of movements at Place de la Republic on May 7 and 8.
Today #46mars (April 15) is just two weeks after one million people mobilized in Paris and the movement Nuit Debout continues to grow. In numerous French and foreign cities, #Nuitdebout (Night on our Feet) is a light in the dark, it gives testimony to our hopes, dreams and common rebellions. Those who have taken the squares in the past and those who are taking them NOW: we know something is happening.
The struggle for a better world is Global and without boarders, let’s construct together a global spring of resistance! Join to us on May 7th and 8th in Paris at Place de Republique to debate, to share our experiences and to begin to construct together common solutions. There we will strategise and prepare for an International day of Action on MAY 15th (#76mars). On this date we will occupy, mobilise and take direct action together across the world....
Wed, 2016-05-11 06:32
#6
We've already had a Nuit Debout here in Montréal, but I think a large percentage of the participants are young immigrants from France (there are many, many here now, because of the youth employment crisis there - not that things are magnificent here, but worse still in la mère-patrie). There are very few things that can keep me up late at night - but the actions in French cities are actually at all hours.
I haven't seen any notices of Merci Patron being screened here, but I'll check it out.
The struggle for a better world is Global and without boarders
I guess everyone will have their own little place to live?
Thu, 2016-05-12 15:24
#7
Appel #GlobalDebout #15M #NuitDebout
International call for #GlobalDebout for may, 15th
...
At 17.00 we'll occupy twitter all together: from Place de la Republique to all the squares in the world towards the 15 may debout.
Join the action following @globaldebout on twitter.
Mon, 2016-05-16 10:58
#8
Madrid, Plaza del Sol. 2011 and now.
Five years later, we are still standing, we're still fighting! Happy 15M!
#GlobalDebout #WorldDebout #15May #76Mars
Mon, 2016-05-16 11:08
#9
..evolution
Mon, 2016-05-16 14:45
#10
Finding warmth in a dark place: a glimpse of #NuitDebout
Last weekend, Nuit Debout’s international working group organized two days of assemblies and action planning on the Place de la République in Paris. Some hundred people came from all over Europe and beyond to get to know this new movement in one of the heartlands of the European crisis.
No one expected to be quite so moved, I think. The cycle of square occupations that started in 2010 seemed far away, and entering Place de la République at first felt like an awkward déjà vu. People sitting on the concrete of a big urban center debating; the kind of very open democratic process that sometimes makes debates multiply issues and run into strange personal forays; an overwhelming amount of commissions and initiatives; and placards, signs, flyers and slogans everywhere.
Even those of us who came from the South felt like we just arrived from a cold, placid place compared to what was going on at Place de la République. The first effect was to be overwhelmed, having missed the structures we got used to as activists of a generation that grew up with the politics of the Occupy movement, the Arab revolutions and 15-M.
The 2016 we came from was a dark place where many hopes had been shattered and many struggles had taken on a tougher dimension, whether because of mounting racism in the North or because of the tough challenges of entering into institutions in places like Greece and Spain.
To encounter a place so alive was thus a shock at first. As always, it takes time to arrive in a radically different scenario. You have to tune in and listen, not just hypothesize. Bit by bit, as the sun came out more in the Paris sky, we entered into the flow of the square: the conversations, the congregations, the digressions, the logistics, the waiting, the radical openness of it all....
Wed, 2016-05-18 09:35
#11
"The young people took the streets and all of a sudden all the political parties became old"
Wed, 2016-05-18 09:38
#12
#GlobalDebout in Tahiti!!! Nui means Great, big in Tahitian. Tahiti Nui is the symbol of Maohi people on their multiple island.
Wed, 2016-05-18 09:53
#13
Summary of the #GlobalDebout event in Sofia, Bulgaria
1- The following topics were agreed on and covered by our public assembly:
- Direct action or demands to the government for the purpose of achieving the goals of Nuit Debout as declared in the Appeal for 15th May?
- How could self-governance and solidarity economy be accomplished by us?
2- An interview was given to the Bulgarian National Radio.
3- Online streaming at 9:00 p.m. EET of our participation in the global Nuit Debout Rise Up! performance.
4- Direct phone communication with Brussels for the purpose of sharing our local message for the night, in addition to the global slogan "They have millions, we are billions!):
The time is up for "divide and rule",
Now's the time for "unite and do"!
5- Follow-up action proposals:
- Set up an autonomous zone within which the principles of self-governance and solidarity economy could be applied by us;
- Provide for coordination and agreement on our follow-up actions by means of a Facebook group.
6- Around 10:00 p.m. we were prompted by the police to remove our banners from the Security zone by the Bulgarian National Assembly. Our banners read:
#NuitDebout, #БуднаНощ (the Bulgarian version of the social movement’s name)
and
No more illusions! Self-governance! Regular civil action!
7- We put the banners away but remained “debout”.
Wed, 2016-05-25 12:58
#14
Strike hits French oil refineries as police break up Marseille picket
French riot police have used water cannon and teargas to break up a strike picket blocking access to a large oil refinery near Marseille in an attempt by trade unions to paralyse the country’s fuel supply network in protest at changes to employment laws.
The pre-dawn police raids to force down a picket line at the Exxon Mobil Fos-sur-Mer refinery marked an escalation in the standoff between the French president, François Hollande, and protesters led by the CGT union.
quote:
Six of France’s eight refineries have stopped operating or reduced output due to strikes and blockades. The CGT said strike action had been voted at all eight of France’s refineries, and denounced the police raid on the refinery near Marseille as an operation “of unprecedented violence”.
There were long traffic jams at fuel pumps across France as regular motorists, taxi and delivery drivers fearing a fuel shortage tried to stock up on petrol.
The transport minister, Alain Vidalies, said one in five of the country’s 12,500 petrol stations were either completely dry or out of one type of fuel, a week after oil workers began the strike. Motorists in the Paris region resorted to tracking down fuel tankers and following them to petrol stations. In the north-east, motorists were driving over the border to stock up in Belgium
Sat, 2016-05-28 11:26
#15
France set to grind to a halt as strikes spark fuel shortages and air and rail blockages
France was facing transport meltdown on Tuesday as a tense standoff between unions and the government over labour reform saw oil refineries blocked and a fifth of its fuel pumps run dry.
Just three weeks before the Euro 2016 football tournament and days before the British half-term holidays, when thousands of motorists cross into France, at least seven out of eight of the country's refineries were cut off, fuel shortages looked set to worsen and a string of rail and air strikes are looming.
Hostilities commenced before dawn on Tuesday when police launched a raid to “liberate” an oil refinery near the southern port of Marseille held by strike picketers. Officers fired tear gas and water cannon to oust protesters blocking the Exxon Mobil refinery and terminal at the Fos-Sur-Mer site.
They met stiff resistance as picketers hit back by lobbing paving slabs and setting crates and tyres on fire, lightly injuring seven officers.
However, unionists said they had successfully managed to block the country's other refineries, along with several fuel depots.
One in every five of the country's 12,500 petrol stations were either completely dry or out of one type of fuel, a week after oil workers first went on strike, according to Alain Vidalies, the transport minister....
Sat, 2016-05-28 16:36
#16
Growing Labor Protests Paralyzing France
Renaud Lambert of Le Monde Diplomatique says the growing resistance to Hollande's labor policies is similar to anti-austerity movements in Spain and Greece
Sun, 2016-05-29 10:56
#17
Cops and Protesters Clash in Paris as Strike Shuts Down France’s Nuclear Plants
Nuclear power plants in France joined the nationwide industrial action this week, as protests against a controversial labor reform law escalated into more violence.
A spokesperson for French trade union CGT told AFP that 19 refineries had voted to join the strike. At the Gravelines nuclear power station, in the north of France, disgruntled employees burned tires in the road and handed out anti-reform law flyers. Workers also picketed outside the Tricastin nuclear site, in the south of France. Even though production has slowed down, officials were not anticipating any power outages as a result of the industrial action. According to AFP, ten nuclear power stations reported lowered production Thursday....
Sun, 2016-05-29 12:31
#18
French 'Nuit Debout' protest movement shows no sign of losing steam
France's "Nuit Debout" protests have morphed into a leaderless citizens' movement aimed at giving a grassroots voice to at least one slice of the French population, reports Elizabeth Bryant from Paris.
As an evening sun elbows out a rainy day, the crowd picks up at the Place de la Republique. One corner of the iconic Paris square is devoted to political meetings, including a section where a group is carving out a new French constitution. A few yards away, a woman speaks tearfully about the lack of democracy in the Republic of Congo, as a crowd of several hundred waggles hands, one of the special signals here of agreement.
There are also colorful sideshows, including a fencing match pitting two scantily-clad young women, and a songfest gathering dozens of Algerian Berbers.
"I want peace in the world," said 70-year-old Said Jaaoua, from the northern city of Tizi Ouzou, who discretely cradles a can of beer.
Deep into its third week, France's Nuit Debout - or "Up All Night" - defies easy stereotypes. The social movement that began March 31 to protest government-proposed labor reforms has morphed into a leaderless and hodgepodge citizens' movement aimed to occupy, to recreate and to offer a grassroots voice for at least one slice of the French population.
quote:
'Springtime of re-politization'
Police stand guard on the edges of the square, some with riot shields. Side streets are lined with squad cars, with officers prepared for another night of unrest.
While the movement is largely peaceful, many nights end with clashes pitting them against hardcore groups of rock-toting protesters. Other altercations take place in broad daylight, with students pelting bottles and other objects at police who respond with teargas.
Nuit Debout has quickly spread to other towns around France and crossed into neighboring Belgium, Spain and Germany. Today, thousands of people attend the nightly happenings that in the French capital stretch across most of the day as well.
"It's the springtime of re-politization," said Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, head of the country's ruling Socialist party.
For political science student Joy Gromil, who attended as part of a research project, the movement underscores a deep political crisis in France.
"We don't trust the people leading us anymore," she said. "What we are trying to find is not a new leader, but a new country."
Sun, 2016-05-29 12:51
#19
France's Nuit Debout Movement's White, Middle Class Problem
When the Nuit Debout youth movement erupted in Paris to protest the most significant reform to the country's labor code in decades, it made headlines both nationally and globally as it was immediately compared to other upsrisings such as Spain's Indignados and Occupy Wall Street. However, as the movement occupying Paris' Republic Square approaches its two-month anniversary on Tuesday, it is still struggling to evolve into a more diverse and inclusive movement, as activists say it must do more to involve France's marginalized communities, especially from the suburbs, who have been struggling against unemployment, police violence and state racism for decades.
teleSUR caught up with two prominent French activists who explained their conflicting thoughts about Nuit Debout's invitation to join the struggle and the direction of the movement: Nuit Debout could be an opportunity to voice the demands specific to the banlieues, but only under certain conditions, as the two activists of color refuse to be token Black-Arab representatives for a movement criticized for its "whiteness."....
Mon, 2016-05-30 09:51
#20
Strong headwinds are making France a stormy sea
Léon Crémieux is an activist in the Solidaires trade union federation and in the New Anti-Capitalist Party.
France has entered a new situation since the beginning of March. Previously it was dominated by the political polarization exerted by National Front and the parallel rise of the "national security"climate following the terrorist attacks in January and November 2015.
None of these elements has been cancelled out and you would have to be blind to think that all of that had been swept away by the present movement.
But the key political event of recent weeks is that despite these two elements, which weigh heavily on political and social life, there has developed a multifaceted mobilization which already deserves to be compared with the great mobilizations of workers and youth over the last fifteen years: those of 2003, 2006 and 2010.
In the months preceding March, we could sense the beginnings of a social confrontation. First of all with the broad current of sympathy expressed with the mobilization of Air France workers, with the episode of the shirt last October. [2] In the same period, the number of walk-outs and strikes in workplaces, especially small and medium-sized ones, increased significantly, especially on issues of wages during mandatory annual negotiations. Similarly, there was the strength of the mobilization on climate change at the time of COP21, even though the terrorist attacks in November and the introduction of the state of emergency allowed the state to break the momentum of the street mobilizations. Big demonstrations against the Notre Dame des Landes airport and the establishment of support networks for migrants were also the result of action by tens of thousands of young people and activists that were coordinated by associations and social networks.
The first lesson of these reactions and these mobilizations was that the management of capitalist interests by social democracy, weak political opposition to the left of the PS and the lethargy of the union leaderships were not synonymous with an equivalent lethargy and drift of the whole of society, starting with a large section of workers and young people, hit hard by policies of austerity and unemployment. On the contrary; the situation already gave an illustration of the profound alienation from and discredit of the institutional parties, who have alternated in government over the last twenty years. It is this discredit, in the absence of social struggles, that has favoured the steady rise of abstention and the vote for the National Front among popular layers in recent years....
Tue, 2016-05-31 19:44
#21
“A democratic rebellion in Barcelona would not just be a local phenomenon. It would connect with many related grassroots initiatives which aim to break away from the current political and financial system, starting from below. In Catalonia, in Spain as a whole, and in Europe.” Guanyem Barcelona Manifesto, June 2014
Barcelona as a launchpad
As stated in our founding manifesto, Barcelona en Comú is a citizen platform born with the aim of making our city the launchpad for a process of political, economic and cultural democratization at every level. Since June 2014, the municipal movement has grown rapidly at throughout Spain. The “cities of change”, from Barcelona to Coruña, are already starting to work together as a network, standing up to the unfair policies of the central government and building alternatives from below.
But the sands are also beginning to shift on the European scene. In the summer of 2015, the International Committee of Barcelona en Comú was set up to respond to the wave of messages that we had begun to receive from around the world after winning the elections. Over the past year, we’ve received hundreds of messages from activists in cities across the continent, inviting us to share our experience and to reflect together on our common challenges.
quote:
Nuit Debout and the French uprisings, a political rift in the heart of Europe
The protests and strikes in France and the outburst of the Nuit Debout movement across the country, with 60% of public support and a close connection with the indignados in Spain, have opened up the chance to reshape the political situation in the heart of Europe. France is a key country, a link between the north and the south of the continent. The movement and demands for radical democracy that are emerging across France, together with the links with municipal movements in the south of Europe, could contribute to the construction of bottom-up European movements to combat the zombie-like drift of the EU and the turn to the extreme right in the north.
It was with this in mind that around twenty activists from different areas of BComú participated in Global Debout, the international gathering organized by Nuit Debout from 7–8 May in Paris. (Note: this group is available to attend any district assembly interested in holding debates on this question to share reflections from the trip.)
A network of rebel cities
In this context, we still believe that our response should be based on our local communities, on proximity, on the feminization of politics, on municipalism. The city is the agora in which democracy was born, and it will be where we can win it back. But we mustn’t think about the city in isolation; we have to link up with other cities that are in a process of democratic transformation, and remain close to movements that emerge with strength in the European public sphere. That’s why we have to be ready to connect different situations, know-how and processes to construct a network of rebel cities that can break with the European status quo from below, street by street, neighbourhood by neighbourhood....
Tue, 2016-05-31 22:38
#22
Fri, 2016-06-03 10:46
#23
VIDEO of the last #FlashmobStopTTIP ! It looks like Cecilia doesn't enjoy this beautiful song anymore...
Mon, 2016-06-06 19:30
#24
Labour Law Bill. Strikes and Blockades… The Movement Has Found New Strength
French with English Subs 8 min | 2016
After a week of strikes and blockades, the movement has found new strength. After two demonstrations on a national level, but above all after the strike by railway, transport and refinery workers as well as the blockades of fuel depots by strikers, supporters and the movement “Nuit Debout”, the government’s answer didn’t take a long time to be delivered: The government sent police forces in order to attack the strikers in an extremely violent way. Now is the very moment to internationally support the movement and to “attack French capital everywhere”.
“Let’s stay mobilised against the labour law bill and its world!” (quote from the video)
Tue, 2016-06-07 04:40
#25
Great video, thanks. Is the copain from Alternative libertaire still in jail? We've had some support actions here (Montréal, Québec) but it would be important to link them to struggles here.
We recall that Manuel Valls is supposedly a socialist... Obviously a Blairite.
Fri, 2016-06-10 10:58
#26
..sorry can't answer your question lagatta.
Fri, 2016-06-10 11:00
#27
The unrest in Belgium continues after the Michel government proposed a new “labour reform”, which robs workers’ rights by legitimizing longer working hours and higher retirement age. The planned changes in labour law include flexibility in regulations of work hour calculations. These changes give local employers the power to impose up to a 45-hour work week instead of the current 38-hour work week, budget cuts in public services, as well as suppression of recuperation days, which results in lower payment for overtime working hours. Most importantly, the reforms rob workers’ power to negotiate with employers by giving the initiative to the companies to impose changes without a sectoral agreement....
Tue, 2016-06-14 10:39
#28
“We've had enough” is the phrase on everyone's lips as – against all expectations – the wave of strikes, blockades, disruptions and mass demonstrations begun on May 17th continues to develop throughout France. Indeed, in the past couple of days, two new strategic groups of workers have joined the protest. Technicians at France's nuclear power plants are now cutting back on production of electricity, and the railroad workers have massively joined the street protests while cutting back on trains. Meanwhile, there are long lines at the gas pumps as petroleum workers continue to blockade France's major oil refineries.
Surprisingly, most French people take these inconveniences in good humor, and the polls show broad public support for the movement's goals and even its disruptive tactics. This popular sympathy is all the more surprising given weeks of blanket negative media coverage, hysterical official statements and police tactics designed to discredit the movement. First the issue was the violence of the “casseurs” (wreckers) on the fringes of the big, peaceful, well-organized mass demonstrations, and the image of one flaming police-car in Paris kept popping up on every channel for days.[1] Then came the threat of the unions (government-subsidized and generally cooperative) taking over the country and destroying the economy. Next, the talking heads topic of the day the police, what a great job they do and how we should support them!
Despite this propaganda campaign, the popular movement continued to grow and public sympathy with it, to the point that the governing Socialist Party split – making it impossible for the François Hollande administration to push its unpopular Labour Reform Bill through the parliament. The government, which had earlier made a few compromises, became afraid to give in to the majority and loose face, so it evoked paragraph 49-3 of de Gaulle's tailor-made Constitution giving the President the power in emergencies to impose laws by edict, without a parliamentary majority. This high-handedness was the last straw for the democratic French, who had come to detest the anti-labour “reform” bill and the already-unpopular neoliberal “Socialist” government that was shoving it down their throats. That's when all Hell broke loose....
Sun, 2016-06-19 17:50
#29
Where Do Police and Protesters Stand After the Magnanville Stabbings?
http://gearoidocolmain.org/en/where-police-protesters-stand-after-maganv...
Not sure I agree with his conclusion but worth a read in any case.
Mon, 2016-06-20 08:10
#30
Hollande Capitulates to EU Pressure on Labor Laws Risking His Own Presidency
Renaud Lambert of Le Monde Diplomatique says Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission came to France to endorse Hollande and his decree on restrictive labor reforms
Tue, 2016-06-21 07:07
#31
The French Government is Running Scared
A statement published in Libération on 17 June: Five dozen intellectuals, activists, and trade unionists call for resistance against the government and for continuing strikes, blockades and occupations.
So here we see it. Their great fear, and their great efforts to try and hide it by playing the tough guy who won’t give in. We’ve been expecting it for months, and here it is: they’re waving around the threat of banning demonstrations. The height of the unacceptable? With this government, something worse might always be around the corner. This is the same government that cynically commemorates the 1936 strikes of the Popular Front era. It may well defend its own interests, the interests of the powerful, the interests of profits and money. That makes sense — that’s the fight it’s waging. But if only it’d rein in its celebrations and recuperation of a past it never stops trampling underfoot....
Wed, 2016-06-22 15:16
#32
General strike: Defying France's state of emergency
As the worlds media attention is focused on football violence in France: yesterday (14/06/16) Paris witnessed some of it's worst political violence in decades as protesters defied the countries state of emergency and fought battles with heavily millitarized police units. Unions called for a general strike over the governments plans to change labour laws, making it easier for bosses to fire workers. The government refuses to back
Sat, 2016-06-25 13:31
#33
France’s failure to criminalize recent protests is revealing fault lines in the government’s highest offices.
At first it was banned. Then it was authorized.
On Wednesday morning, following almost a week of uncertainty, Paris police commissioner Michel Cadot announced a ban on Thursday’s anti–El Khomri Law demonstration, which had been called by several French unions, including the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT).
A couple of hours later, facing a firestorm of criticism from both the Left and the Right, the government backtracked, met with union leaders from CGT and Force Ouvrière, and called off the ban.
But there would be conditions. Protesters would gather at the Place de la Bastille and follow a mile-long itinerary around the Bassin de l’Arsenal, ending back where they started.
Two thousand officers would police the demonstration: blocking off side streets, searching bags, and readying to throw tear gas, sting-ball grenades, and other niceties at crowds who have become accustomed to this level of police violence.
The massive police presence and controlled route were designed to incite autonomist segments within the protest, allowing authorities to further discredit and suppress the movement.
Media pundits and politicians across the political spectrum called this situation a “mess” (un cafouillage). Even Synergie, one of the largest French police unions, publicly criticized the government’s decision.
But this “mess” isn’t a one-time political miscalculation: it is yet another move in the Hollande government’s authoritarian turn. This time, however, it seems have backfired: Thursday’s protest was mostly peaceful.
Rather than escalating the long-standing tensions between protesters, it revealed that the French government has also split into opposing factions....
Mon, 2016-06-27 13:01
#34
Call from ‘Nuit Debout Paris’ to a permanent occupation of the Republic Square
In reaction to police and legal activist repression, forbidden demonstrations, entrapping itineraries, government bullying the parliament and other democracy stampedes, we Nuit Debout Paris together with Global Debout, call to join us for a permanent occupation of the Place de la République starting as soon as possible and latest tuesday june 28th after next big national demonstration. Together, united, converging towards a permanent village in wich we will resist, think the world ahead, stay massive and strong to reject the inability to listen, respect or hear voice of citizens standing against the Loi de Travail (labour law reform) and its world, and that until July 10h at least.
Wed, 2016-07-06 21:26
#35
France forces through labour bill amid new protests
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday invoked a constitutional measure to force through contested labour laws,
bypassing parliament.
"This country is too used to mass unemployment," Valls told parliament, saying he was acting in the "general interest" of the French people. "It is not posturing, it's not intransigence," he said
MPs have 24 hours to decide whether to call a vote of no confidence in Valls' government, which the right-wing opposition has already ruled out.
The highly expected move, needed because the government cannot count on enough support for the bill in parliament, came amid renewed protests across the country....
Fri, 2016-07-22 11:39
#36
Acitivists from all over Europe are comming together for the NoBorderCamp in Thessaloniki:
"Europe, frontext and police - Stop killing Refugees !" Spontaneous demonstration in front of the German and French consulate. Fight the fortress Europe and the EU-Turkey-Deal
Interventionistische LinkeJuly 19 at 12:16pm ·
"Europe, frontex and police - Stop killing Refugees !" Spontaneous demonstration in front of the German consulate. Fight the fortress and the EU-Turkey-Deal #nobordercamp #thessaloniki
Thu, 2016-09-15 17:07
#37
French unions and students protest regressive labour laws
Some of the largest demonstrations and labour strikes France has ever seen spread across the country from March to July. The action is set to continue in September as hundreds of thousands of workers and students protest a neoliberal labour law forced through the national assembly by the ruling Socialist Party (PS) led by President François Hollande.
quote:
The phenomenon, which was inspired by the 2011 Indignados movement in Spain, has spread to other countries in Europe. “It is a modern form of proletarian internationalism in terms of class consciousness and democratic forms of organization,” Wagman says.
“People are tired of voting for progressive policies and being deceived. They can see that the political system does not work,” says Florian, who attended Nuit Debout in Place de la République, Paris, where the movement began. “When people do not agree with neoliberal measures and make this clear, the government passes these anyway and this is done by a so-called socialist government which keeps lying and working against the public interest.
“Nuit Debout shows that the French people crave politics, but a genuine socialist politics and the creation of a true participatory democracy that benefits everyone and not just the corporate elite. They want to be involved in fashioning such a democracy and refuse to be marginalized and manipulated by the economic elite.”