https://themilitant.com/2018/12/22/yellow-vest-protests-force-govt-concessions/
‘Yellow vest’ protests force gov’t concessions
Actions show need for unity of workers, rural poor
By Jonathan Silberman
Vol. 83/No. 1
January 7, 2019
Dec. 15 yellow vest protest in Lyons, France, part of nationwide
actions. “I never thought we’d be doing this,” bus driver Sylvie Orquin
told Militant at traffic circle protest in Normandy.
Maxime Jegat
Dec. 15 yellow vest protest in Lyons, France, part of nationwide
actions. “I never thought we’d be doing this,” bus driver Sylvie Orquin
told Militant at traffic circle protest in Normandy.
FORGES-LES-EAUX, Normandy, France — “Yellow vest” demonstrations across
France were smaller on Saturday, Dec. 15 after further government
concessions. President Emmanuel Macron is hoping this, combined with
massive police deployments, will put an end to the nationwide protests
by workers and small traders that erupted in mid-November.
But in this department of Seine-Maritime, typical of the smaller towns
and rural areas in France’s suburbs and countryside, which have been the
heart of the protests, the round-the-clock roadblock actions are continuing.
Protesters ignored government demands that they call off their actions
after a terrorist shooting in a public market in Strasbourg earlier in
the week. “France needs calm, order and a return to normal,” said
Macron, who the protesters call the “president of the rich.”
Government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux told protesters they should be
“reasonable” and stay home, saying the cops and other security forces
were under “strain” trying to deal with the protests as well as the
shooting. The CFDT union federation joined in calling for the protests
to end. While the government considered banning the protests, it
ultimately decided not to.
Working people here have faced years of accumulated carnage imposed on
them by the propertied rulers’ efforts to make them pay for the crisis
of French capitalism. They’ve seen jobs, industries and government
services dry up, small businesses crushed by giant retailers, while
government taxes and fees pile up.
A team of Communist League members from the U.K. went to Normandy Dec.
10-11 to meet with yellow vest militants there, to express solidarity
with their fight and cover the protests for the Militant.
Yellow vest protesters at roadblock in Dieppe in Normandy region of
France Dec. 10. From right is U.K. Communist League member Debra Jacobs
and area worker Arnold Lesort-Pajot, who organized League members’ visit
to join protesters and meet workers and farmers in area.
Militant/Jonathan Silberman
Yellow vest protesters at roadblock in Dieppe in Normandy region of
France Dec. 10. From right is U.K. Communist League member Debra Jacobs
and area worker Arnold Lesort-Pajot, who organized League members’ visit
to join protesters and meet workers and farmers in area.
The yellow vests get their name from the high visibility jackets the
French government forces all motorists to keep in their car.
“We’re not looking for mealy-mouthed words from Macron. We want his
resignation,” Nadia Lemerud told us. Lemerud and fellow school bus
drivers Sylvie Leroueille and Sylvie Orquin were on a yellow vest
roundabout — traffic circle — protest in this town of 4,000, surrounded
by farmland.
They’ve set up a stall here, with a protest shack and highly visible
signs. Cars and trucks passing by hoot their horns in support.
Born and bred in Forges, “we’ve never before been on any political
protest. Even a few months ago, I never imagined we’d be doing this,”
Orquin told the Militant. “But we’ll probably be spending Christmas here.”
The women were speaking the day after a televised address in which
Macron announced a rise in the national minimum wage and other
concessions to the protesters. A week before the government had conceded
that planned fuel tax rises — which triggered the rebellion — would be
cancelled.
The administration has combined these concessions with slanderous
violence-baiting attacks on the yellow vests, charging them with
“smashing our businesses,” “our heritage” and “our republic.”
“The minimum wage is index-linked, so there would have been a rise in
January anyway,” protester Arnold Lesort-Pajot told the Militant in a
Dec. 16 phone interview. “And what Macron announced is not in fact a
rise in the minimum wage. He’s announced that workers on the minimum
wage can apply for state benefits that amount to €100 a month ($113) —
but only if there’s only one wage earner in the household and only if
they’re working a full 35-hour week. Moreover, the application process
for such state benefits, including a working tax credit, is so intrusive
that many simply don’t apply.”
After it became public that these measures would apply to just 30
percent of low-paid workers, Macron announced further concessions which
the media says will boost this figure to 55 percent.
Popular support for yellow vests
Lesort-Pajot, 27, was among the hundreds of thousands who joined the
rebellion from its outset. He arranged for our visit to Normandy,
introducing us to fellow yellow vest protesters, to small farmers, and
joined us knocking on workers’ doors in the area. From these experiences
it’s clear there is widespread support for the protests. And broad
opposition both to the massive police use of tear gas, water cannons and
other assaults against protesters, as well as to “black bloc” antifa and
similar outfits that have burned cars and carried out other acts of
vandalism during recent demonstrations in Paris. These actions play into
the hands of the government’s violence-baiting.
In the coastal town of Dieppe yellow vests maintain round-the-clock
protests at three roundabouts at the entry to retail and industrial
parks. They allow cars and buses to pass, but block the key exit roads
to commercial trucks and “divert” them on what for many becomes a wild
goose chase. Many truck drivers support the yellow vests and are quite
content to return to base having found it “impossible” to deliver their
cargo.
The broad anger at Macron and his disdain for working people was
palpable. Like Hillary Clinton, who dismissed workers in the U.S. who
didn’t back her as “deplorables,” Macron spoke in June about so-called
populists being a case of “leprosy.”
“Macron thinks those who labor are dumb,” said protester Nathalie
Girard. “But the opposite is the case. The work we do — that’s
intelligence, that’s creativity.”
On arrival at one Dieppe roundabout, we were greeted by van driver
Claude Hermay, cook Delphine Frebourg and bricklayer Davide Leidle,
along with Caroline Mason, who is unemployed. When we apologized for our
poor French, they replied, “The language of solidarity is
international!” These roadblock gatherings are a hive of discussion. A
prominent topic is what appears to be a universal hatred of the European
Union, of which Macron is a fervent supporter.
Philippe Martínez, head of the CGT, the main trade union federation, has
been at pains to distance the unions from the yellow vests. While it’s
good that they’ve taken up some of the unions’ demands, he says, the
yellow vests include forces of the extreme right and small
businesspeople who are enemies of the unions. Many yellow vests welcome
participation from trade unionists, and many unionists have been won to
the protests.
Like in the U.S., the percentage of workers in France who are in unions
has shrunk, both because of boss attacks and the class-collaborationism
of the union officialdom.
We explained that the road forward is for the working class and the
unions to join the protests and reach to unite with the rural poor in a
common struggle against the impositions of capitalist rule. If we don’t
succeed in this, then the road is open, as conditions worsen, for
pro-capitalist ultrarightist elements to try and move in.
Yellow vests we talked to were glad to discuss with us and for support
from the Communist League.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •‘Yellow vest’ protests force gov’t concessions
•New Year’s greetings to our readers behind bars!
•Join SWP in taking books, ‘Militant’ to workers doors
•‘We are human beings, not robots!’ Amazon workers protest conditions
•Turkish rulers threaten to attack Kurds seeking autonomy in Syria
•Rail bosses push crew cuts, longer trains, risk lives in drive for profit
Feature Articles •‘What does Cuba teach? That revolution is possible’
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•Workers donate ‘blood money’ bribes to build SWP
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•UK out of EU is best terrain for workers’ struggles there
•Join fight against prison censorship of ‘Militant’!
On the Picket Line •Mental health clinicians strike across California
•United flight attendants protest crew size cuts, grueling schedules
•Oakland teachers rally for smaller class sizes, higher wages
•Walmart worker hits bosses’ abuses over intercom
Books of the Month •Workers take political power or face ‘Iron Heel’ of
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