France

Academic Black Shirts Brutally Assault Students In France

March 30, 2018 Gabriel Rockhill, Counterpunch.org Resist! Class Struggle, Fascism, France, Repression, Students

In scenes reminiscent of Mussolini’s black shirts, a dozen or so militants dressed in black, some wearing ski masks, brutally beat peaceful protesters who were participating in a general assembly while occupying the School of Law and Political Science in Montpellier, France. Armed with Tasers, cudgels with nails, and reinforced punching gloves, the assailants unleashed a bloody assault on the night of March 22, sending three students to the hospital and injuring many more. The security guards at the university stood idly by and watched the beatings, while the police and riot forces remained outside the university and did not enter to prevent the assailants’ attack.

French Civil Servants And Rail Workers Strike In Test For Macron

March 23, 2018 Staff, France24.com Resist! Class Struggle, France, Labor, Reform, Strikes, Transportation, Workers

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in the streets of France on Thursday and strikes caused travel misery for millions in a showdown between trade unions and President Emmanuel Macron that could be decisive for his reform efforts. Seven unions representing staff in the public sector had called for strikes and protests on Thursday, while a third of railway workers walked out to join the demonstrations against 40-year-old Macron's bid to shake up the French state. The strikes meant that less than half of the country's high-speed TGV trains were running, while flights, schools, daycare centres, libraries and other public services such as garbage collection were disturbed to varying degrees. Police fired teargas and water cannon in central Paris during sporadic clashes between security forces and groups of students which appeared to have been infiltrated by far-left anarchists.

The Eco-Rebels Who Beat the French State: Inside la ZAD.

February 24, 2018 Redfish, Popular Resistance Resist! France, Occupation

Tune in on Sunday as redfish presents The eco-rebels who beat the French state: Inside la ZAD, the story of how farmers and anti-capitalists united to score a rare victory over the government. The ZAD - meaning Zone to Defend - was formed in 2009 when activists occupied 1,650 hectares of land earmarked for a new airport in Notres-Dames-des-Landes. They established a thriving alternative community which united farmers facing eviction and anti-capitalist activists who came together to defend it in the face of state repression. In January French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced the government’s 40 year plan was to be scrapped. oi

Apple Execs Face Jail In France After Lawsuit Over Slowing Down iPhones

December 30, 2017 Rory Mulholland, Thelocal.fr Resist! Apple, Corruption, France, Lawsuit

A French activist group has launched a criminal lawsuit against Apple over its policy of slowing down older iPhones in a case that could see the tech giant 's executives jailed and cost it five percent of its income if convicted of the crime of "planned obsolescence". The move by Halte à l’Obsolescence Programmée (HOP - Stop Planned Obsolescence), an environmental association, comes after lawsuits were launched this week in the US against Apple for similar reasons. The suit was filed on Wednesday in the Paris prosecutor’s office, HOP said in a statement. “Apple has put in place a global strategy of programmed obsolescence in order to boost its sales” of new iPhones, the group said.

Two French Dams To Be Demolished By 2018

November 24, 2017 Sam Morgan, earthfirstjournal.org Educate! Dams, Environment, France, Water

By Sam Morgan for Earth First Newswire - Two large dams on a river in northern France will be demolished after the French government finally signed off on a long-gestating plan to free up the waterway, in a decision welcomed by environmental groups and lauded as “unique in Europe” by Paris. In early 2018, work will begin on removing the 35 metre-high Vezins and the 15 metre-high ‘La Roche qui boit’ dams from the Sélune river in Normandy, after nearly a century of the barriers producing hydropower for the region. France has been toying with the idea of demolishing the dams for nearly eight years but last week Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot announced that the government had given the plan the green light. “Rehabilitating the ecological continuity of the river shows this ministry’s commitment to reclaiming biodiversity,” Hulot said, adding that these kind of projects should be a priority in the government’s efforts to reduce the effects of climate change. The government insisted that there is no risk of flooding but that safety assessments would still be carried out during and after the demolition works.

Tens Of Thousands March In France Against Anti-Worker Reforms

September 13, 2017 Jake Johnson, www.commondreams.org Resist! France, Labor, March, Reform, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Jake Johnson for Common Dream - Led by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), France's second largest trade union, demonstrators flooded Paris and other major cities chanting: "Macron you're screwed, the slackers are in the streets." The "slackers" label came from Macron himself, who in a recent speech vowed to not "give any ground [on his labor reforms], not to slackers, nor cynics, nor hardliners." Union leaders and France's left opposition seized upon Macron's comments and used them to rally workers ahead of Tuesday's planned actions, which included around 180 protests and 4,000 strikes—the first nationwide demonstrations of Macron's young presidency. In an interview on Monday, former Socialist Party presidential candidate Benoit Hamon slammed Macron's "slacker" remarks as "insulting" to French workers. "Lazy people are the independently wealthy, who don't need to work for a living," Hamon retorted. "And a lot of independently wealthy picked Emmanuel Macron as their champion."

U.S., UK And France Denounce Nuclear Ban Treaty

July 14, 2017 David Krieger, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Ban, France, Nuclear Weapons, United Kingdom (UK), United States

By David Krieger for Counter Punch - The U.S., UK and France have never shown enthusiasm for banning and eliminating nuclear weapons. It is not surprising, therefore, that they did not participate in the United Nations negotiations leading to the recent adoption of the nuclear ban treaty, or that they joined together in expressing their outright defiance of the newly-adopted treaty. In a joint press statement, issued on July 7, 2017, the day the treaty was adopted, the U.S., UK and France stated, “We do not intend to sign, ratify or ever become party to it.” Seriously? Rather than supporting the countries that came together and hammered out the treaty, the three countries argued: “This initiative clearly disregards the realities of the international security environment.” Rather than taking a leadership role in the negotiations, they protested the talks and the resulting treaty banning nuclear weapons. They chose hubris over wisdom, might over right. They based their opposition on their belief that the treaty is “incompatible with the policy of nuclear deterrence, which has been essential to keeping the peace in Europe and North Asia for over 70 years.”

France Will ‘Ban All Petrol And Diesel Vehicles By 2040’

July 7, 2017 Chloe Farand, www.independent.co.uk Create! France, Transportation

By Chloe Farand for Independent - France plans to ban all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, the country's new environment minister has announced. Nicolas Hulot made the announcement as he unveiled a series of measures as part of newly elected President Emmanuel Macron's plan to make the country carbon neutral by 2050. Mr Hulot said he recognised the target would put pressure on France's car manufacturers, but he said they currently had projects which "can fulfil that promise". As part of the plan, poorer households will receive a premium so they can swap their polluting vehicles for clean alternatives. The announcement comes after Volvo said on Wednesday it planned to built only electric and hybrid vehicles from 2019. Speaking at a press conference, Mr Hulot told reporters France would stop using coal to produce electricity by 2022 and that up to €4bn of investments will help to boost energy efficiency. The announcements are part of a five-year-plan to encourage clean energy and fulfil the country's commitments under the Paris Agreement. Mr Hulot said the government wanted to maintain the country's "leadership" in climate policy. "We want to demonstrate that fighting against climate change can lead to an improvement of French people's daily lives," he said.

‘We’ve Made History’: Ireland Joins France, Germany And Bulgaria In Banning Fracking

July 4, 2017 Lorraine Chow, www.ecowatch.com Create! Bulgaria, Europe, Fracking, France, Germany, Ireland

By Lorraine Chow for Eco Watch - McLoughlin also issued a statement that mentioned the impact of fracking in the U.S.: This law will mean communities in the West and North West of Ireland will be safeguarded from the negative effects of hydraulic fracking. Counties such as Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan and Clare will no longer face negative effects like those seen in cities and towns in the United States, where many areas have now decided to implement similar bans to the one before us. If fracking was allowed to take place in Ireland and Northern Ireland it would pose significant threats to the air, water and the health and safety of individuals and communities here. Fracking must be seen as a serious public health and environmental concern for Ireland. Environmental group Friends of the Earth Ireland celebrated the bill's passage. "A day to celebrate. A day for #ClimatePride. The Irish parliament has passed a law to #BanFracking.

France Declares All New Rooftops Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels

June 5, 2017 Liam S. Whittaker, www.csglobe.com Create! France, Legislation, New Economy, Solar Energy

By Liam S. Whittaker for CS Globe - A new law recently passed in France mandates that all new buildings that are built in commercial zones in France must be partially covered in either plants or solar panels. Green roofs, as they are called, have an isolating effect which helps to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building during the winter or cool it in the summer. They are capable of retaining rainwater and reducing problems with runoff, and also offer birds a place to call home in the urban jungle. French environmental activists originally wanted to pass a law that would make the green roofs cover the entire surface of all new roofs. However, partially covered roofs make for a great start, and are still a huge step in the right direction. Some say the law that was passed is actually better, as it gives the business owners a chance to install solar panels to help provide the buildings with renewable energy, thereby leaving even less of a footprint. Green roofs are already very popular in Germany and Australia, as well as Canada’s city of Toronto! This by-law was adopted in 2009, by the city of Toronto which mandated green roofs on all new industrial and residential buildings.

Could Proportional Representation Save French And American Democracies?

April 20, 2017 Natasha Hakimi Zapata, www.truthdig.com Create! Democracy, France, United States

By Natasha Hakimi Zapata for Truth Dig - The alternative is called proportional representation (PR). Under a PR system, the electorate casts its votes nationwide for whatever political party they choose, and then seats are distributed by percentage. You don’t have to win the majority of votes in any one geographically-bound district to enter the parliament. This allows for the rapid growth of minority parties, and more political diversity. So, for instance, in PR-using Israel, there are 10 political parties in the Knesset. PR-using Sweden has eight parties represented. ... It’s impossible to know exactly what would result from, for instance, converting the U.S. Congress into a proportional system. But we do know that the current system is far from popular, while also very hard to dislodge. In 2016, members of the U.S. House had a 97 percent re-election rate; and yet the latest Gallup poll puts Congress’s approval rating at 24 percent. A shift like the one Mélenchon is proposing in France would also require Constitutional changes, which are very difficult to implement. But the same could be said for many of the ideas Sanders ran on, like a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

France Bans Pesticides In Public Green Spaces

January 1, 2017 Staff, www.ap.org Create! France, Pesticides

By Staff for Associated Press. Pesticides will be banned in all public green spaces from Sunday while non-professional gardeners will no longer be able to buy pesticides over the counter. The new measure is part of a larger green program adopted by French lawmakers that also includes a ban on plastic bags for vegetables. The pesticide ban covers public forests, parks and gardens, but local authorities are still allowed to use pesticides in cemeteries. The new law also stipulates that pesticides will be prohibited in private gardens from 2019.

Trumpism: Anger Going Viral

December 4, 2016 Padraig Reidy, billmoyers.com Resist! Brexit, Donald Trump, England, France, Italy, Racism, Trumpism

By Padraig Reidy for Bill Moyers Journal. It is difficult to argue against people who are sincere but not necessarily serious, and whose aims seem to lie entirely in the gesture — the great big NO to the world. But that is the task at hand. The first thing to do is to reinforce the idea that actions have consequences. If you refuse to help Syrian civilians in Syria, you will end up with refugees in your own country. If you vote to leave a stable trading community, your economy will suffer. The second thing is to treat people like grown-ups, in a way populist leaders refuse to do: The world has changed, and continues to change radically. Promising to turn back the tide, as the new right does, is idiotic and insulting. Countering populism involves a genuine appraisal of what a future for working-class people looks like — too often this is simply ignored, or dealt with on grounds dictated by the right — as if, for example, tighter controls on immigration are somehow the answer to the huge challenges of automation and globalization.

French News Channel’s Journalists On Strike For Editorial Independence

November 11, 2016 Staff, www.rsf.org Resist! Censorship, France, Journalism, Strike

By Staff of RSF - France’s political leaders and the agency that is supposed to guarantee the freedom of its broadcast media seem unable to respond to the deepening conflict between Vincent Bolloré, the billionaire owner of the French 24-hour TV news channel iTélé, and iTélé’s journalists, who are fighting for editorial independence. The channel’s journalists have been on strike for the past three weeks in what is now the second-longest stoppage in the broadcast sector since May 1968.

Young French Immigrants Begin Solidarity Chain To Feed Refugees

October 12, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Create! Europe, France, Refugees

By Staff for Tele Sur - “We also are children of immigrants, we grew up in poverty, the principle of sharing is part of who we are,” said Souleymane. A video inviting young residents of Paris' immigrant suburbs to give free meals to homeless refugees went viral on Facebook, reaching over 50,000 views by Monday. “We also are children of immigrants, we grew up in poverty, the principle of sharing is part of who we are,” said Souleymane, a resident of the Sarcelles suburb where the project began.

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