as some of my dear comrades will know, i was unable to go to the stop the war shuffleathon round london at the weekend, due to ill health. to be honest, it was a bit of a relief as i always find the marches have a very high cost:benefit ratio, in terms of organising energy. let's face it, they haven't been achieving anything since feb 03, except as an opportunity to meet up with pals from the left who live in farflung corners of the empire like chelmsford and hastings. to be frank, i dislike the idea of being a statistic used for the further aggrandisement of the politically bankrupt likes of german, murray, et al. so, i didn't go, although peeps from here and here, will give you the lowdown i'm sure.
meanwhile, across la manche, the merde was well and truly hitting the extracteur (ok, i don't know french for fan). the right-wing french government is trying to push through the CPE (contrat premiere embauche, or first employment contract) which, to cut a long story short, would allow employers of people under 26 to fire them at any point within their first 2 years of employment without reason. this has rightly been linked by many to precarity, the increasing casualisation of work, and degradation of workers' rights in favour of bosses' rights. those of you who made exclamations of joy in response to this will doubtless have been making similar noises in response to news of french youths' inimitable response to the current attack on them. we've been keeping tabs on some of it at the lenton anarchist board, but for better detail check out the libcom blog. here's some of the latest info, after about 10 days of unrest:-
- Demonstrator Cyril Ferez remains in a coma, in a state “between life and death”. Various information has been released. Police say that he was drunk, with 2.7grams of alchohol in his sugar. Last night they said he was attacked by demonstrators, this now appears to be a lie - footage now being shown on French news shows three CRS police beating him with truncheons before he falls to the ground.
- French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin declares: there will be “neither withdrawal nor suspension” of the CPE.
- Lionel Jospin, former Socialist Prime Minister, denounces the CPE as an “idea of the ancien régime”
- Grenoble students this morning voted to continue the blocking of the university with a vote of 4000 for and 1700 against. From Indymedia Grenoble.
- 57 universities ‘disturbed’, 15 blocked (according to the Ministry for Higher Education
- 814 schools also affected, 49 in the Aix-Marseilles region, 35 in Paris, 19 in Nice as the “movement grows amongst high-School pupils more and more”, says Le Figaro.
- Two of nine arrested yesterday in an anti-CPE Demonstration that turned into a riot in Corsica have been sentenced to a month in prison.
- The FCPE, the leading French high school parents body, calls for a day of ‘ecole mortes’ to coincide with the strike called by trade unions for Tuesday 28th of March.
- Thousands demonstrate across France (40,000 according to police). In Paris, teargas is fired in the vicinity of the Sorbonne around 5.30pm French time at the end of a march of 15,000.
- Other demonstrations took place in Rennes (3000), Nantes (4000-7000), Limoges (2000-3000), Nancy (2000), Calais (600) and even in Souillac in Lot, where 200 high-school pupils organized a sit-in in the small town of just 3500.
- In Clermont Ferrand a demonstration of between 3000 (police estimate) and 4000 (organisers estimate) took place.
- Spontaneous march of 1500 young people in the streets of Mâcon this morning. The strike and the demonstration had been decided the morning at the entry of the schools. The presence of a score of young people wanting a fight with the police force, a few moments of tension with dustbins and billboards turned over. [from Indymedia Grenoble]
- Between 4500 and 6000 marched in Toulouse.
- In Dunkirk, a spontaneous demonstration of 1000 high school pupils involved several ‘incidents with the police’ says state broadcaster tf1.
- In Besancon, the main train station was blocked by protesters.
- Politicians have been posturing.
- "Moved by egoism, Dominique de Villepin is imprisoning France in his personal destiny. He does not give a tinker’s damn that France is breaking apart”, said one Parti Socialiste deputy, members of Villepins UMP party left the debating chamber in protest.
- Bernard Accoyer, UMP parliamentary president, insisted upon his party’s unity behind Villepin, saying that “The UMP deputies are convinced that we must hold firm - the street cannot prevail over the law.”
- Despite this, members of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozys’ entourage have in fact been criticising their rival for the leadership of the right, Dominique de Villepin.
