The French Stand Up

Written on June 14th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 1267, by Richard Greeman, June 13, 2016.

“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 … //

… Brussels-Imposed Legislation: … //
… Interviews – in Montpellier: … //
… Nuit debout, Paris: … //
… New Amendments to Plateforme 2016[4]: … //

… UPDATE: June 11, 2016:

Not much change in situation here in France. A long drawn out ‘arm-wrestling’ struggle. Typical of the bureaucratic unions, especially the most ‘militant’, the historically communist Confédération générale du travail (CGT), who’s goal is not to win a victory for the working people but to re-affirm their power as the ‘legitimate’ intermediary between the workers and the government. So instead of uniting the different branches in a single, open-ended general strike, they space out partial confrontations to demonstrate their control and force the government to include them. The students are into finals right now, so there is not that much activity on the youth front, but Nuit debout continues. And the pressure from below continues. The demonstrations are less controlled by the unions and at the end some people may hold a General Assembly or march off in a spontaneous demonstration. Meanwhile, thanks to videos and cellphones, the the evidence of blatant police brutality and especially of police provocation (undercover cops trashing shops, etc) is really public knowledge. And everyone knows they are acting under orders from the Socialist government.

Alas, this is a repeat of the way the unions sabotaged the previous movements against ‘reforms’ (including the 2011 demonstrations agains cutting retirement and raising the age of eligibility, against giving young workers a lower status, etc). Instead of striking and demonstrating all together keeping up the pressure, the leaders claimed that ‘time is on our side’, space out the demonstrations over months and then suddenly it’s June and everyone in France goes on vacation and the ‘reforms’ are passed in an empty Paris.

(full text).

(Richard Greeman has been active since 1957 in civil rights, anti-war, anti-nuke, environmental and labour struggles in the U.S., Latin America, France, where he has been a longtime resident, and Russia, where he helped found the Praxis Research and Education Center in 1997).

Links:

Bahrain re-arrests top human rights activist Nabeel Rajab – family, on RT, June 13, 2016: … the authorities also seized all the activist’s electronic devices, without explanation, his family said, as cited by the Middle East Eye …;

Why a Leave Vote May Not Result in a Brexit, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, June 13, 2016;

The Economist explains: Why Sino-American relations are likely to become stormier, on The Economist, June 12, 2016: as the world’s two largest economies, and possessors of the two largest armies, China and America make the weather in Asia and much of the world … the two sides have a routine exchange, called the (U.S.-China) Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) …; /See also; /External Links;

A côté de la plaque, dans Le Courrier.ch, le 10 juin 2016;

L’Alchimic, le théâtre qui convertit le petit en grand, dans Tribune de Genève, par Katia Berger, le 9 juin 2016:
à la tête du théâtre le plus désargenté du canton, Pierre-Alexandre Jauffret en révélait mardi l’aurifère programme;

Bilderberg 2016: What’s On The Agenda? 16.19 min, uploaded by corbettreport, June 8, 2016; Notes, related links;

recent uploads on YouTube by UChi Pol – Website: the Institute of Politics (of Univ. Chicago):

Der fehlenden Part – auf RT Deutsch:

Germany and economics: Of rules and order, on The Economist, May 9, 2016: German ordoliberalism has had a big influence on policy during the euro crisis;
Ordoliberalism is the German variant of social liberalism that emphasizes the need for the state to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential …;
Ordolibéralisme;
Ordoliberalismus;

Lässt man die Freiheit heran, stirbt der ganze kirchliche Überbau – Eugen Drewermann 1993, 59.13 min, von MindfulnessTV, Nov 21, 2013 … Frauen in der Kirche, Dostojewskij, Krieg, Fremdenhass und das Leiden an der Amtskirche (”Via-à-vis” mit Frank A. Meyer, DRS 1993);
Eugen Drewermann Playlist bei MindfulnessTV on YouTube.

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