France
Self Organization: How French Rank-and-File Workers Have Circumvented Bureaucratic Leaders to Continue the Strikes
After more than 50 days of strikes in France against the Macron government, workers from the state train company SNCF and the Paris public transport company RATP formed their own Coordinating Committee. This is an example of self-organization and workers’ democracy that is relevant for the entire working class.
Daniela Cobet
February 17, 2020The Robin Hoods of France: Electrical Workers Cut Electricity to Sell-Out Union, Reconnect for Country’s Poor
In the past few months the electrical workers of France have taken up the mantle of Robin Hood by cutting power to the rich and reconnecting the poor. Most recently, on January 20, the power was disconnected to the headquarters of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT) union, which has refused to call a strike and is working with French President Emmanuel Macron to legitimize his incredibly unpopular pension reform.
Juan Andrés Gallardo
January 28, 2020Protesters in Mali Demand the Departure of French Troops
In mid-January, as workers in France took to the streets against Macron’s pension reform, French flags burned on the streets of Bamako, Mali to repudiate the presence of French troops. The country is faced with a humanitarian crisis as violence spirals since France first intervened in 2013, supposedly to fight the rise of Islamic terrorist groups.
Salvador Soler
January 28, 2020Eiffel Tower Shut Down as 1.3 Million People Mobilize Across France
Workers across France came out to protest the pension reform in numbers not seen since Dec. 17. As French President Emmanuel Macron officially announced the reform bill to the Council of Ministers, workers coordinated actions across the country, including shutting down the Eiffel Tower and cutting power to wide sections of France’s cities.
La Izquierda Diario Argentina
January 27, 2020Révolution Permanente in France: A Militant Newspaper on the Rise
This article is from the French website Arrêt sur images [Freeze Frame] about the important growth of Révolution Permanente in France, first in the heat of the Yellow Vests struggle and now in the movement against the pension reform. This militant newspaper, part of the international network La Izquierda Diario (of which Left Voice is a member), has already won the respect of activists and the vanguard in struggle.
Révolution Permanente
January 27, 2020France: The Strike Is Here to Stay!
Lawyers are throwing their robes at the feet of the Justice Minister. Workers in the Louvre shut down the world’s largest art museum. Firefighters are hosing down government buildings. The working class is in an uproar against Macron’s attacks on retirement benefits and they will not back down.
Madeleine Freeman
January 22, 2020How Does the Revolutionary Left in France Intervene in the Strike?
With entire sectors of workers on strike in France, there is ample opportunity for the Left to intervene decisively in the struggle. The Revolutionary Communist Current (CCR) has used its influence in workplaces and its national coverage of the struggle to push for a generalization of the strike and to fight against the capitulations of the union bureaucracy.
Left Voice
January 22, 2020Anasse Kazib: The Socialist Worker Captivating the French Media
The strike in France against a planned pension reform has entered its 50th day. One aspect of the movement that has not been highlighted in many media reports is that the weeks of sustained struggle and demonstrations has produced a workers vanguard in which the revolutionary left has a lot of influence.
Left Voice
January 22, 2020Rank-and-File Workers in France Organize to Continue the Strike — Interview with Daniela Cobet
France is experiencing the longest strike since 1968. The union bureaucracies are trying to end the strike — but rank-and-file workers are getting organized, with the support of revolutionaries. Our sister site in Argentina spoke with Daniela Cobet, a leader of the Revolutionary Communist Current (CCR) in France.
Left Voice
January 22, 2020The Yellow Vests: Rumblings of a Coming Storm
The emergence of the Yellow Vests in France shook the regime of an imperialist country to its core. One year after the protests began, what can they teach socialists around the world?
Madeleine Freeman
January 22, 2020