France again

[mossy noonmann]

you can follow minute by minute action of todays strike

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2010/10/12/la-mobilisation-en-direct_1424297_823448.html

Today could be decisive the refinery workers are out and are threatening to stay out, 4 out of the 5 Total refineries are blocked completely meaning nothing moves (no petrol)add to this that because of the strike in Marseille (37 petrol tankers are blocked outside the terminal) petrol supplies are already running low even the bosses are saying we could be seeing shotages in just over a week for the local CGT reps 4 pr 5 days.

for the first time today it looks like the school students are joining in on a much bigger scale than the previous days of action, no news yet on the students , although the biggest student union called for a shutdown of the universities today.

If the demos are big this will give confidence to the groups of workers to stay out. The Unions have called for yet another day of mass demos on saturday, it seems to be whether the movement picks up or loses steam between now and then will make the difference, The govt will probably hold out till saturday but if the strikes on the trains and in the refineries continue it will put them in a very difficult position.

The only people as scared as the govt of the movement going forward are the union leaders who despite massive pressure from their base in certain sectors refuse to call a general strike.

i'll post more when i see stuff
the first numbers of the first demos should be coming through from places like Toulouse soonish

[mossy noonmann]

Unions claiming 140 000 on the demo in toulouse "a record"

and the Eiffel tower has been evacuated of tourists and the entries to the site are blocked by strikers

The general secretary of the FO union is already claiming that today is strongest of the days of action so far and we are going to see over 3 million on the demos

http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/infographie/2010/10/12/la-carte-des-manifestations-du-12-octobre_1424313_3224.html


the link above is the map that shows some of the demostration numbers and you can compare with the last demos

unions are claiming an absolutley whopping 230 000 in marseille compared with 150 000 last time

[mossy noonmann]

the local paper Ouest France is already reporting petrol stations running out and rationing petrol
http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuDet_-Retraites.-Des-stations-d-essence-prises-d-assaut-_39382-1545485_actu.Htm

:D:D

[mossy noonmann]

It's been a very interesting day today and it's not finished yet , as i write 300 people are facing down the police in Saint Nazaire and there were earlier light affrontments in Rennes.

The police used Teargas against a group of young people who were throwing eggs at the local MEDEF office in Caen during the 24000 (6000 police estimates) strong demo. They also used teargas against a demo in Auch against a massive demo of 9000 (6000 police est.). Auch is a town of about 25-30 000 people.

Everywhere has voted for the strike to be continued tomorrow, the SNCF (railway) hasn't even bothered waiting for the workers to vote in some places before announcing that traffic will be the same as today. Even Air France which only put in notice for a one day strike looks set to rejoin the movement thursday.

Another interesting thing that happened was that the Police have been caught lying about the numbers they give out in Marseille, The gap between the unions and the police is always very large, today the police said 24 500 the unions said 230 000. Today one major police union has come and said that they were told by their colleagues that there were 100 000 on the march. They said that the manipulation of the figures was in danger of making the police look ridiculous.

In the Northern port of Le Havre the march of 55 000 (11 000 police est) was lead by 2000 dockers in their work gear the demo included undertakers( sadly i don't know if they were in their work gear)

In one town (didn't note where sorry) students were bombarding the banks with eggs in what they called an 'omlette Kerviel), more seriously in Toulouse where the demostration was 'a record' 140 000 (30 000 police estimate) 6 unions have decided to go for another demo with strikes on Thursday INDEPENDENT of the national confederations.

thats it for now but i will post again if things hot up or maybe a little bit of analysis later on when i've had chance to read the stuff the unions are saying both leadership and on the ground


Forgot to say that the unions are claiming a total turnout of 3.5 million today, Sarkozy is in a much weaker position than 12 hours ago.

[Rakhmetov]

Sodomize them with revolution!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39629061/ns/world_news-europe/

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8059957/French-strikes-3.5-million-take-to-streets-to-protest-pension-reform.html
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01737/strike2_1737453c.jpg


In the fourth such protest in a little over a month, unions estimated that 3.5 million people had taken to the streets against President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension bill – a 20 per cent rise from previous marches and what they called an "exceptional" figure.

Even the interior ministry conceded that turnout had reached a new high, although gave a more conservative figure of 1,230,000, compared to 997,000 on September 23.

In a symbolic act, the Eiffel Tower was closed due to striking staff. The landmark was last closed due to industrial action in April.
"Sarko, you're screwed, the young are on the streets," chanted students in the southwestern town of Toulouse, as they joined protests en masse for the first time. Secondary school pupils also took part with classes disrupted in around 400 schools.
French (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/) leaders have been notoriously wary of student protests ever since they sparked a two-week general strike in May 1968 that crippled the country and the government of President Charles de Gaulle.
In 2006, students managed to force the government to withdraw a plan to introduce more flexible short-term work contracts for the young, after paralysing the country.
Mr Sarkozy has staked his credibility on pushing through the pension reform, which aims to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, and from 65 to 67 for a full state pension.
The Senate has already approved these two key measures and will finish debating the entire bill by the end of the month.
But the Mr Sarkozy is clearly nervous about the student threat. His prime minister, François Fillon, slammed left-wingers for "bringing kids of 15 onto the streets" while his chief social adviser, Raymond Sobie, said: "Secondary school pupils and students should demonstrate to defend the reform as it is above all for them. Without it, they would be condemned to pay twice: for their own pension and that of their parents."
Union resolve to see the law revoked was steeled by a threat of open-ended action. Paris bus and metro unions have already called another 24-hour strike on Wednesday, along with union members from the state rail operator, SNCF and energy utilities.
Another day of mass protests has been set for Saturday and unions will meet on Wednesday to discuss their next move.
Besides students, unions said the protests included far more private sector workers than before.
France faced the prospect of fuel shortages as dockers at Marseille's Fos-Lavera port headed for their third week of strikes, leaving dozens of petrol tankers unable to offload. Eleven of France's 12 mainland refineries were affected.
Air and rail transport was hit around the country but the metro was less affected and buses ran almost as usual.
Despite the record turnout and public support for the protests – some 69 per cent of French back it according to one poll – the government pledged to stand firm.
"We have reached the limit of the (concessions) that are possible," Mr Fillon said.




:tt1:

[Leonid Brozhnev]

More of this shit everywhere please...:thumbup1:


Sodomize them with revolution!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39629061/ns/world_news-europe/

Reading the comments to that article reminds me why I never read comments to articles.

[Kiev Communard]

Great achievements for French workers and students! However, is there any danger of state resorting to more direct methods of oppression, as this article seems to suggest:




On Sunday Jean-Luc Chauvin, an employers’ federation leader, called for the mobilisation of the army and the gendarmerie to clear the blockage by a crane operators’ strike of the oil terminals at the port of Fos-Lavéra near Marseille, in southern France.

In a press conference on Monday reported on France 3 regional TV, Chauvin—who is the president of the regional branch of the Medef (Movement of French Enterprises, the main French employers’ organisation)—declared, “We are requesting the intervention of law enforcement agencies; we are requesting that the state do what is necessary to open up the port”.

As of this writing, Chauvin’s provocative statement has not been widely reported. The CGT (General Confederation of Labour; close to the Communist Party), which controls most of the port workforce has made no public statement.

Chauvin’s statements amount to testing the waters, seeing how various sections of the political establishment—including the unions, the media, and petty-bourgeois parties such as the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste—will react to threats of armed action against the workers. That the ruling class resorts to such strategies is a serious warning to all workers.

This is part of a trend throughout Europe. Already the social-democratic government of Greek Prime Minister Giorgios Papandreou used the army in August to break a lorry drivers’ strike against austerity measures. The unions and petty-bourgeois ex-left parties capitulated to Papandreou. Greek truck drivers’ union President Georgios Tzortzatos told Alter television station, “We are now soldiers of the Greek state and we’ll wait to see our orders”.

The Spanish Socialist government of José Luis Zapatero has threatened to use the army against striking Madrid metro workers and air traffic controllers.

Chauvin’s declarations are a sign that the ruling class will also adopt such tactics in wealthier European countries. Chauvin has initiated a campaign group of Marseille bosses called “Hands off my port”. The group has taken out a full-page advertisement in the business daily Les Echos, mocking the dockers with an ironical headline declaring they had “The best job in the world”.

The 224 workers at the Fos-Lavéra terminals have been on strike since September 27 against plans to create a separate enterprise for the terminal, at present part of the largely publicly owned Marseille port complex. This is a first step to privatisation.

The rest of the Marseille port workers are also in struggle against pension cuts and the ongoing reform of the ports (See: “Marseille strike hits Mediterranean shipping, oil supplies”)

This is part of the mass movement of strikes and demonstrations of millions of workers and youth against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension cuts and austerity programme. The cuts will raise the age of retirement from 60 to 62, and the age at which pension rights can be claimed without financial penalties from 65 to 67.

The port strike has had a powerful impact, disrupting oil supplies to Corsica and large parts of southern France, and halting much of the shipping in the western Mediterranean. Reuters has reported that Mediterranean gasoline traders are “struggling to meet long-term supply contracts to Africa and the Middle East.”

Exasperated at the powerful impact of the strike and fearful of rising social opposition, Chauvin launched a scurrilous attack on the crane operators, claiming that they hardly did any work for inflated salaries. He arrogantly denounced them for insisting on continuing to be able to retire at 55. In fact, polls indicate that 68 percent of the French population support industrial action in defence of pensions.

Chauvin asserted his indignation that workers should dare to challenge the state and the employers: “Pascal Galéoté [the general secretary of the CGT port workers union] is taking hostage a whole part of a whole population of people from Marseille, Provence, Lyon and soon Alsace making this into an oil dispute. He’s trying to force the hand of the state”.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/mars-o12.shtml

[mossy noonmann]

Chauvin’s statements amount to testing the waters, seeing how various sections of the political establishment—including the unions, the media, and petty-bourgeois parties such as the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste—will react to threats of armed action against the workers. That the ruling class resorts to such strategies is a serious warning to all workers.

i don't agree that the left reformist or revolutionary would be happy about troops strikebusting. do you?



The protests, however, called by the trade unions, were designed to contain and dissipate this mass opposition. In this, the unions are supported by the bourgeois left Socialist Party (PS), the Communist Party (PCF), the Left Party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (PG) and the ex-radical New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) of Olivier Besancenot.

Well then there are all knobheads because the day has put the right on the backfoot.

[La Comédie Noire]

I swear there's something in France's drinking water, I think it's all that royal blood that was spilled.

[maskerade]

i hope we have another 68. with students being fucked over in most of europe, perhaps the actions of the french students will serve as inspiration for more direct action!

[Enragé]

^i certainly hope so, and not just as inspiration for the students. Lets remember that in 68 i think it was about 4 million workers occupied their workplaces!

Actually, for my country, i can see no other way to avoid fascism (or at least fascistoid-ism) getting an increasing hold than by movements in other countries erupting.

[Enragé]

to illustrate my point above; The french unions said 3 million people took to the streets, the french police 1,23 million.

Dutch TV? 'thousands' -_-'

in any case, they did say strikes are continuing today! :D And just like yesterday, even tho they probably tried their best to find someone to condemn the strike on camera, they couldnt!

[Delenda Carthago]

i hope we have another 68. with students being fucked over in most of europe, perhaps the actions of the french students will serve as inspiration for more direct action!
yeah,thats what we need.Another 68!


...

[RedScare]

yeah,thats what we need.Another 68!


...
Without all the depressing failure this time.

[maskerade]

Without all the depressing failure this time.

I thought that was implied.

[Rakhmetov]

France has always taught workers how to wage revolution.

"It is time for all Frenchmen to enjoy sacred equality. It is time to impose this equality through signal acts of justice against traitors and conspirators. Make terror the order of the day."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EvakM9Waus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zF9cmRKbBQ&feature=related

[zimmerwald1915]

Map of departments (smallest unit that's easy to work with) that witnessed strikes/demonstrations on September 7, September 23, October 2, and October 12. White indicates that the department witnessed no reported strikes/demonstration. The lightest pink indicates reported strikes/demonstrations on only one of those days. The next lightest pink indicates two days, etc.

http://i55.tinypic.com/1zdrzux.png

EDIT: not really sure this contributes anything to the discussion, other than illustrating the areas of greatest consistency (the coasts, the borders, Paris), and that holding strikes weeks apart and by branch can lead to some real inconsistencies in terms of folks coming out. I just like making maps.