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Nuit Debout: Citizens Are Back In The Squares In Paris

April 9, 2016 Geoffrey Pleyers, www.opendemocracy.net , ,
By Geoffrey Pleyers for Open Democracy - Since Thursday, 31 March, thousands of people have gathered every evening at the ‘Place de la République’ in Paris to share their disillusionments with institutional politics and to put into practice forms of direct democracy in popular assemblies and hundreds of small group discussions. Up to 80.000 people followed Sunday general assembly online on Sunday, and over 5000 on the square on various days. The “Nuit Debout” (“Standing Night”) has now become a national movement, with gatherings in 15 French cities, and even as far afield as Brussels, Barcelona and Berlin.

#NuitDebout: A Movement Is Growing In France’s Squares

April 7, 2016 Sam Cossar-Gilbert, www.roarmag.org , ,
By Sam Cossar-Gilbert for ROAR Magazine - Over the last month France has been rocked by mass protests, occupations and strikes, as a new generation takes to the streets to expresses its rage at labor reforms and growing inequality. Over a million people have mobilized across the country to say on vaut mieux que ça — “we are worth more than this.” The Loi de Travail or Labor Law is one of a number of neoliberal and security reforms introduced by the Socialist government that continues to dismay the general population. It will make it easier for companies to fire staff and reduce payouts to laid-off employees, and it threatens the 35-hour workweek.

French Police Assault Student Protests Against Labour Reform

April 6, 2016 Alex Lantier and Senthooran Ravee, www.wsws.org , ,
By Alex Lantier and Senthooran Ravee for WSWS - After more than a million workers and youth marched Thursday in defiance of the state of emergency to protest Socialist Party (PS) labour minister Myriam El Khomri’s law, security forces yesterday violently attacked continuing demonstrations against the reactionary labour law reform. Explosive anger is developing among broad sections of workers and youth to the El Khomri Law. It would increase the working day by up to two hours, undermine job security for young workers, and allow the trade unions and businesses to negotiate deals violating France’s Labour Code.

Thousands Take To Streets In France To Protest Labor Reform

April 4, 2016 Sylvie Corbet, www.newson6.com , , ,
By Sylvie Corbet for Associated Press PARIS (AP) - Tens of thousands of workers and youths took to the streets of France to protest, sometimes violently, a government reform meant to make it easier to hire and fire employees and to relax the country's strict 35-hour workweek. As train drivers, teachers and others went on strike, student organizations and seven employee unions combined to condemn the Socialist government's bill, which they argue will badly erode hard-won worker protections.

#NuitDebout Movement: France’s Indignados?

April 3, 2016 Avi Davis, www.france24.com , , ,
By Avi Davis for France 24. Paris, France - NuitDebout started like many other French demonstrations. Student and workers groups who oppose François Hollande’s planned labour reform law, which they say will make it easier for struggling companies to fire workers, organised a protest march on March 31. But after the march many participants wanted to continue the protest and expand their message. They proposed three nights of occupation in République, which they called March 31st, 32nd and 33rd, and came up with the name NuitDebout to express their defiance. Between 1000 and 2000 people attended each night, according to organisers, although by 8pm on Saturday there were probably a few hundred.

Tens Of Thousands Protest French Plan To Lengthen Work Week

March 11, 2016 Samuel Petrequin, www.usnews.com , ,
By Samuel Petrequin for Associated Press - PARIS (AP) — Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Wednesday against President Francois Hollande's determination to achieve what his conservative predecessor didn't even dare to try — tamper with the 35-hour workweek. Workers, unemployed and youths joined forces on Wednesday, answering calls from student organizations and unions in more than 200 cities across France to try to kill the bill, which has even divided Hollande's ruling Socialist party.

Newsletter: Using Courts To Build The Movement

March 6, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. The worst crimes of US history have been protected by law – slavery, taking of Indigenous lands, attacks on unions, denying women the vote and money as speech in elections. As a result, when politicians say we are a nation of laws, it often means the courts will be used to protect corporate interests in making a profit even if doing so destroys communities, people and the environment. But, courts do not always side with the corporations and government. There are times when an enlightenment comes to the judiciary and some begin to rule for the people or their communities. This happens because even courts reflect the political moment – or zeitgeist – when the culture takes a turn thanks to people organizing to express their interests wherever they can. We may be at the beginning of such a moment, perhaps too soon to say and perhaps we are being optimistic. It shows the importance of the movement building national consensus because such consensus impacts everything.

Thousands Threatened As Bulldozers Poised To Raze Calais Camp

February 26, 2016 Nika Knight, www.commondreams.org , ,
By Nika Knight for Common Dreams - In a decision that promises to displace thousands of refugees, including hundreds of unaccompanied children, a French judge on Thursday upheld a regional official's approval for a plan to bulldoze the southern portion of the sprawling refugee camp in Calais, France. The judge's decision rejected an emergency appeal filed by a group of charities which sought to have the plan overturned. The Guardian reported that the groups "filed an urgent appeal to a tribunal asking it to suspend the planned evacuation and demolition...

French Judge Summons Former Guantanamo Chief In Torture Probe

February 20, 2016 Staff, www.france24.com , , ,
By Staff of FRANCE 24 - A French judge has summoned retired US General Geoffrey Miller, the former Guantanamo Bay prison chief, to appear in court on March 1 over allegations of torture, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs told FRANCE 24 on Thursday. William Bourdon, a lawyer for former Gitmo detainee Mourad Benchellali, said General Miller was due in court at 10am on March 1 to answer accusations that he oversaw Benchellali’s “illegal detention and torture”.

Why Do French Protest So Much?

February 11, 2016 Jessica Reed, www.theguardian.com , ,
By Jessica Reed for The Guardian - Have you ever lived with a partner you loved very much and with whom life would be perfect – if only they could … change? That’s how the French feel about their government. Like all couples, we go through phases of intense resentment. Sure, there are good years, not to mention a lifetime of memories built together. But there are also month-long fights filled with poisonous accusations hurled at the enemy until both parties collapse on the floor, exhausted.

Thousands In France Protest State Of Emergency

February 1, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net , , , ,
By Staff of Tele Sur - Activists say the French government's crackdown on protests has done nothing to make the country safer. Thousands of people marched across France Saturday to protest the country's nearly three month old state of emergency. Rallies took place in around 70 cities, including the capital Paris, where organizers said more than 20,000 people took to the streets. Police put turnout at closer to 5000. Many protesters said the state of emergency had curbed civil rights while doing little to improve security.

Tempers Flare, Tires Burn In French Taxi, Aviation Strikes

January 27, 2016 Staff, www.america.aljazeera.com , ,
By Staff of Aljazeera - Striking taxi drivers in France blocked key roads and set fire to tires on a "black Tuesday" that saw simultaneous strikes by air traffic controllers, civil servants, hospital workers and teachers. Some 300 taxi drivers furious over competition from non-licensed private hire cabs blocked the capital's ring road at a key intersection in the west of the city, lighting fires and throwing smoke bombs. "Today our survival is at stake, we are fed up of meetings and negotiations," said Ibrahima Sylla, spokesman of the Taxis de France collective.

French Constitutional Amendment On State Of Emergency

December 25, 2015 Alex Lantier, www.wsws.org , , ,
By Alex Lantier for WSWS. French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls presented to the council of ministers yesterday an amendment inscribing the state of emergency in the French constitution. Even the fragmentary initial reports that emerged from the meeting show that it opened the way to the lasting imposition of police-state rule in France. The amendment that Hollande proposed would allow the president to call a state of emergency the duration of which would be set by legislation. The amendment places no restrictions on how long a state of emergency parliamentarians could decide to allow. It also permits a stepped-up use by police of their already enormous powers of repression and electronic surveillance of the population. Moreover, by proposing to extend the deprivation of nationality to dual nationals condemned for “terrorist crimes,” including dual nationals born French, the ruling Socialist Party (PS) is openly affirming its sympathies for the ideas of the neo-fascist National Front (FN).

Massive French Crowd Forces Anti-Refugee Racists To Retreat (VIDEO)

November 16, 2015 Amanda Girard, www.usuncut.com , ,
By Amanda Girard for US Uncut - Even after a senseless massacre that left over 150 civilians dead, Parisians are choosing compassion over blind hatred, and are willing to go toe-to-toe with racists spouting anti-Islamic rhetoric. At a silent vigil today for victims of the attacks in downtown Paris, a group of racists holding a banner calling for the expulsion of Muslims was forced to retreat by a much larger crowd of several hundred, chanting “Fascists go home!” Eventually, the Islamophobic protesters were forced across the street.

Paris You Don’t Want To Read This

November 16, 2015 Staff, www.wemeantwell.com
By Staff of We Meant Well - You don’t want to read this, and I take no pleasure in writing it, and no one really wants to hear it right now. But I believe it needs to be said. I join the world in grieving for the dead in Paris. I have grieved for the dead from 9/11 forward — the Australians who died in terror attacks on Bali in 2002, Londoners who died in terror attacks in 2005, the French citizens who died in the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January of this year, the Russians whose plane went down over the Sinai a week or so ago. So many more non-Western deaths barely noticed in the U.S. media. I grieve also for those killed in smaller attacks already smuggled deep into the obscurity of our memory.
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