Workers and Activists Around the World Protest the Firing of French Railway Worker Éric Bezou

Solidarity for fired railway union activist Éric Bezou is coming in from many political and social personalities in France and internationally. In the midst of the pandemic, France’s Ministry of Labor is enabling his unfair dismissal.

Gaëtan Gracia: We’re Going to Have to Fight for Our Own World after the Pandemic

In a speech given at the international rally of the Trotskyist Fraction this May Day, Gaëtan Gracia, a militant worker and member of the Revolutionary Communist Current (CCR), denounces the French state’s efforts to repress workers’ actions to combat the public health and economic crises and the role French imperialism has played in withholding crucial medical supplies from the African countries they exploit and oppress.

Working-Class and Immigrant Communities in Paris Rise Up and Riot

Since Sunday, April 20, several working-class suburbs around Paris have been in flames after a man was seriously injured by police in Villeneuve-La-Garenne --- a village just about 9 miles north of Paris’s center --- on Saturday. This spark reveals that the government, with its state of health emergency and repressive confinement measures, is making the inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods pay dearly for the crisis.

The French State Fears Massive Social Explosion as a Result of COVID-19

The many repressive and secretive measures taken by France’s government to combat the pandemic have only exacerbated the social and political crisis that saw the rise of the Yellow Vests in 2018 and the general strike against pension reforms in 2019. The ruling class’s inability to respond to the present crisis opens a door for workers and oppressed people in France to seize upon their rage and put forward their own solutions.

Workers in France Take Over McDonald’s to Distribute Food

Workers at a McDonald’s in Saint-Barthélemy, France took the restaurant under their own control so they could distribute boxes of food to people in the neighborhoods of north Marseille who have been living in increasing misery since the beginning of the Covid-19 confinement. The management of McDonald’s in France opposes the action, while at the same time they want to reopen restaurants everywhere with no regard for employee health.

COVID-19 Quarantines: “This Is What a Police State Is Like”

Confronting Covid-19 across the globe, capitalist leaders have issued quarantine orders, imposed huge fines and jail time for violations, and deployed police and soldiers to enforce the decrees. Criminalization of leaving your home, gathering with others, and shopping for things the state decides you don’t need is a laboratory for capitalist repression that will surely endure beyond the pandemic’s end.

“Sooner or Later, We Bite Back”: French Aeronautics Workers Protest to Shut Down Nonessential Production

Though France will soon hit the peak of the coronavirus crisis, companies such as Airbus are still requiring their subcontracted workers to show up to work. In this interview, Gaëtan Gracia, a militant worker with one of Airbus' subcontractors, talks about the state of the aeronautics industry in France and prospects for the working class.

Workers’ Control: From the Experience of the French Miners’ Delegates to the COVID-19 Crisis

Miners in 19th century France formed committees in order to monitor working conditions and fight for safety regulations. As many workers across the world today continue to work in the midst of the pandemic, many of them risking exposure in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, the example of these "miners' delegates" is an invaluable illustration of the power of workers' control to fight for better conditions.

French Imperialism Leads Africa to Coronavirus Disaster

The domination of Africa by the imperialist powers, including France, has made the continent more vulnerable to epidemics and economic crises.