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Amazon Workers In France Wage Unprecedented Strike For Wage Increases

April 10, 2022 Gaëtan Gracia, Left Voice. , , ,
A strike by Amazon workers in France resumed in earnest on Tuesday, April 5, and extended to all Amazon sites across the country. “Management offered us a 3 percent increase, but we want at least 5 percent,” Antoine Delorme of the CGT Amazon trade union at Châlons-sur-Saône told Révolution Permanente. This is happening in the context of compulsory annual negotiations (NAO) under France’s Labor Code. Management’s proposal of a wage increase that is less than inflation has provoked an unprecedented strike movement at every Amazon France facility.

The ‘Forgotten Fight’ For Prison Abolition In France

November 14, 2021 Jacques Lesage de La Haye and Scott Branson, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
When I saw that Jaccques Lesage de La Haye had a new book called The Abolition of Prison, published by the French radical press, Éditions Libertalia, I reached out through my anarchist radio networks to find contact information for him. Jacques is a longtime anarchist and abolitionist in France, who for many years hosted the anti-prison radio show Ras les murs. His book promised to be a culmination of all of his experience writing and struggling against prisons and working to support people both inside and outside. As a translator and an anarchist, I am always keeping an eye out for new texts to try to bring into English in order to connect movements around the world and especially to help connect the abolitionist struggles across national divides.

France Has A Nuclear Habit It Just Cannot Kick

November 5, 2021 Vijay Prashad, People's Dispatch. , , ,
On July 28, French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Tahiti and said that France owed a “debt” to French Polynesia. The debt was related to approximately 200 nuclear tests France conducted in the 118 islands and atolls that comprise this part of the central South Pacific, which France has controlled since 1842. These tests were conducted between 1966 and 1996. Macron did not apologize for the environmental and human damage caused by these tests. He remained stoic, acknowledging that the tests were not “clean.” “I think it’s true that we wouldn’t have done these same tests in the Creuse or in Brittany,” he said, referring to parts of territorial France. “We did it here because it was farther away, because it was lost in the middle of the Pacific.”

French Finance Minister Issues Declaration Of Independence

October 14, 2021 John V. Walsh, Popular Resistance. , , ,
“Clear Differences Remain Between France and the U.S, French Minister Says,” is the headline to a remarkable  piece appearing in the New York Times.  The Minister, Bruno Le Maire, is brutally frank on the nature of the differences as the quotations below Illustrate.  (Emphases in the quotations are jvw’s.) In fact, they amount to a Declaration of Independence of France and EU from the U.S. It is not surprising that the differences relate to China after the brouhaha over the sale of U.S. nuclear submarines to Australia and the surprising (to the French) cancellation of contracts with France for submarines.  Mr. LeMaire, sounding very much like a reproving parent, characterized this as “misbehavior from the U.S. administration.”

The ZAD: Between Utopian Radicalism And Negotiated Pragmatism

September 13, 2021 Fareen Parvez And Stellan Vinthagen, ROAR Magazine. , ,
The global coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp relief the many failures of contemporary capitalist states around the globe. These include the failure to ensure social and economic justice and to provide basic protections for the most vulnerable individuals and communities, from refugees to the houseless. Consequently, it has also made clear the need for social movements to not only resist the violence of the state and its facilitation of global capitalism, but to simultaneously and actively build a prefigurative politics toward an alternative society. Carving out autonomous spaces for mutual aid and radical politics is more important than ever. Among the multitude of ways movements engage in prefigurative politics, land occupation struggles have long been central...

A French McDonald’s Is Now A Food Bank After Staff Resisted Shutdown

July 28, 2021 Sarah Jackson, Business Insider. , , ,
At one McDonald's in Marseille, France, everyone eats for free. Locals don't pay a dime — or euro — for food there because the location is now a food bank. The restaurant originally opened with government backing in 1992 in a majority-Muslim neighborhood grappling with poverty and eventually employed 77 people, according to Vice. One of them was manager Kamel Guemari, who had been working there for more than 20 years since starting as a 16-year-old, according to NPR. The location was one of six franchises that frequently changed hands. In 2018, its franchiser said he would sell his five other locations to a fellow McDonald's franchiser. This particular store, however, would be sold on its own and turned into a halal restaurant, NPR reports.

Lenin Danced in the Snow to Celebrate the Paris Commune and the Soviet Republic

May 28, 2021 Vijay Prashad, The Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , ,
On 28 May 1871, one hundred and fifty years ago, the Paris Commune collapsed after seventy-two days. The workers of Paris created the Commune on 18 March, building on the wave of revolutionary optimism that first lapped on the shores of France in 1789 and then again in 1830 and 1848. The immediate spur for the Commune was Prussia’s victory over France in a futile war.

Our ‘Dear Friend’ Deby Is Dead

April 28, 2021 Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.), AntiWar.com. , , ,
The tributes to the late President Idriss Deby just poured in last week – especially from Western leaders. And boy were the condolences nauseating – at least to anyone vaguely familiar with Chad and its longtime strongman, or those even faintly fond of decency. The worst of it came – unsurprisingly and unapologetically – from the country’s former (officially) and persistent (de facto) colonial masters in Paris. Coming right on the heels of Deby’s – still hazy on its exact details – death on the battlefield against a rebel rebellion, President Emmanuel Macron’s office released a statement announcing that "France lost a brave friend." The White House pulled its pity-punches a bit more than Paris – despite Washington’s extensive support for the dictatorial Deby – and offered only its "sincere condolences" to the people of Chad.

How Oil Workers And Environmentalists United In Struggle

April 6, 2021 Paul Morao, Left Voice. , , ,
Total’s objective in recent years has been to close its refineries in France. It has found ways to refine elsewhere: in Dubai, India, China, and with plans for Africa. The objective is twofold: to refine as close as possible to the crude oil deposits, but also to do so in countries where working conditions are worse and environmental standards are lower. Disastrous consequences have resulted, such as the forced displacement of entire populations in Uganda. Even though oil refining fulfills important needs in the region around Paris, and it is very profitable, Total’s refinery in Grandpuits was put on the list to be closed. In 2018 a lack of structural maintenance led the pipeline to burst, which accelerated Total’s plan. The company refused to invest the several hundred million needed for repairs and decided to shut down the refinery.

Parisians March Against Systemic Racism And Police Brutality

March 21, 2021 Sputnik News. , , ,
Watch a live broadcast from central Paris where people are gathering on Saturday 20 March to march against "systemic racism and police brutality." Organised by several activist groups to mark the International Day Against Police Brutality (15 March) and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21 March), people are demanding the creation of an independent entity to monitor the use of force by police officers and reparation for victims of police brutality. One of the organisers is Assa Traore, whose brother Adama, 24, died in police custody in 2016 after he was stopped for an ID check. According to a 2018 medical assessment, Traore died of asphyxiation after officers pinned him to the ground.

France Vows ‘Symbolic Actions,’ No Apologies For Colonisation Of Algeria

January 28, 2021 By Adlène Meddi, Middle East Eye. , , ,
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron received a much anticipated report on France’s 132-year colonial rule of Algeria and the war that led to Algeria’s independence in 1962, as part of an effort towards reconciliation of historical memory between the two countries. A specialist of contemporary Algerian history, French historian Benjamin Stora, was tasked by Macron in July with “making a precise and just inventory of the progress done in France of colonisation and the Algerian war”, which remain painful subjects for millions of Algerian and French citizens nearly 60 years later. Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune had also tasked his advisor and director of national archives, Abdelmajid Chikhi, to coordinate with Stora on the issue of memorialisation.

France’s New Security Law May Have Sparked A ‘George Floyd’ Moment

December 1, 2020 Alan Macleod, Mintpress News. , , ,
Award-winning Syrian photographer Ameer Alhalbi lies dazed on the ground. His head is heavily bruised and bandaged, blood covers his face, arms, and much of his body. Lengths of cotton wool have been stuffed up his broken nose, giving him an almost comical appearance. Alhalbi has been badly beaten by police. But this is not Syria, it is Paris, where he was covering — ironically — huge, nationwide protests against police brutality this weekend.

France: Chaos Over Police Violence And Macron’s Security Bill

November 29, 2020 Telesur English. , , ,
France has protested against the bill on security promoted by the government of Emmanuel Macron into the night on Saturday. The organizers of the protests warn that the security bill approved last week by the National Assembly is an attack on freedom of expression and fundamental public freedoms. "This bill aims to restrict the freedom of the press, the freedom to inform and be informed, the freedom of expression, in short, the fundamental public freedoms of our Republic," stated the coordinators who called the protests.

Demonstrators Rally Against French Security Bill In Paris

November 28, 2020 Sputnik News. , , ,
French parliament late on Tuesday passed a bill on global security, criminalising the publication of images of police officers online, despite the recent riots against the legislation being criticised for possibly infringing on the freedom of the press. Live from Paris as protesters rally against the 'Global Security' bill in France. Article 24 of the bill, which has come under especial criticism as it makes it illegal to distribute videos and photos identifying law enforcement officers and thereby violate their "physical or mental integrity," was approved by the parliament, against the backdrop of demonstrations over the past week.

Police Launch Violent Crackdown On Paris Refugee Camp

November 26, 2020 Will Morrow, WSWS. , , ,
French riot police went on a fascistic rampage Monday evening, brutally assaulting a peaceful tent camp of some 500 refugees at the Place de la République in central Paris. Police used teargas, kicked and beat migrants with batons, tipped refugees out of their tents and assaulted them on the ground. Journalists filming the crackdown were also assaulted. The riot officers threw dozens of confiscated tents into trucks and drove them away. After the square was cleared, a group of several hundred homeless refugees were forced to march north until they reached the outer suburbs around the city, pursued by police throwing teargas canisters as they went.
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