Jacques Cheminade delivered the following remarks to the Oct. 23 meeting of the International Peace Coalition:
What is happening in France today contains elements specific to our country. However, it is the expression of a global dynamic. In this sense, France is an epicenter of the European, and undoubtedly global, earthquake. A generation demanding to live lives worthy of human beings is confronting an oligarchy that wages war and steals our future, while claiming to defend democracy. This generation is supported by a majority of its teachers, by a resurgence of the Yellow Vest movement, by the majority of labor unions, and by all the victims of the dominant military-financial system. This is a potential catalyst for a mass strike ferment, in the sense that Rosa Luxemburg understood it. What you see in the images propagated by the media does not correspond at all to the dynamics of the movement but to the tactics used to discredit it.
These images reflect the consequences of the oligarchy’s policy of repression and infiltration. This allows them to create a climate of fear. President Trump declares “France is burning,” Emmanuel Macron tries to momentarily survive through police repression and the French Minister of Economics, Roland Lescure, gets his orders directly from the City and Wall Street. Insanity and no future prevail.
Let’s start at the beginning of the mobilization. It stemmed from the protests of high school and middle school students from disadvantaged suburbs who peacefully occupied their schools. They were simply demanding normal school conditions. Their demands were very concrete: the buildings should give protection from rain and temperature fluctuations, an end to the prevalence of rats in the bathrooms, and elimination of the university admissions platform, Parcoursup, which dictated the social destiny of students using algorithms. A teacher at a prestigious high school told us that absent nurses, doctors, and teachers are only replaced after several weeks or even months.
The movement gradually spread to prestigious high schools in major cities, such as Paris and Marseille, where students expressed their solidarity with those in the Parisian suburbs. The Yellow Vests joined the movement at the same time. This led to the demonstrations of October 17th, which began in a joyful atmosphere of being together as activists.
A strategy of escalating tensions developed, aimed at discrediting the protest movement. The first step: accusing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) of orchestrating the events. While the movement was actually attempting to take control, albeit non-violently, but tolerating the “All cops are bastards” chants and graffiti. Second step: the entry of far-left activists and black blocs, who perpetrated violence against property “symbolizing power”: banks, town halls, police stations, and so on. Third step: “suburban” vandals and looters devastated shops, spectacularly burning garbage cans and cars. The result: over 3,000 shops looted and burned across France, including several hundred in Paris, the spectacular destruction of Limoges’ town hall by fire, and the occupation of Marseille’s town hall. The right and far-right reacted to this by conflating student protesters with looters, calling for more repression, and proclaiming that there are two Frances: one of order and one of chaos, one of those who “light candles and another one that burns property.” This was a clear implementation of divide and rule, creating the conditions for France to definitively shift into a two-pronged war: civil war at home and war against Russia abroad. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen rose in the polls to 37%, aligning herself with the traditional right-wing line: no money for Ukraine, but only weapons, provided those weapons are French!
How could this chain of events unfold so rapidly?
First, the government deployed only about 10,000 police officers, one sixth as many as during the Yellow Vest protests. These officers were mobilized to surround demonstrators (kettling) not to actually protect public spaces or shops. The Limoges town hall, which was burned down, was not protected, nor was the Marseille town hall! The most shocking scene was at the Place de la République in Paris: on one side, the first looters arriving and preparing without being seriously deterred; on the other, a classical “Orchestra of the New World,” inspired by Dvořák, peacefully preparing to play their instruments, was tear-gassed by the police.
Secondly, the repression against peaceful protesters was often brutally violent, following the confirmed instructions of the Minister of the Interior. This reflects the increased militarization of law enforcement going back to the 2000s, with the use of stun grenades, crowd control grenades, and rubber-ball launchers. The result: numerous injuries and mutilations inflicted on teenagers, including severed hands and the loss of eyes.
Thirdly, the “poor positioning” of the police allowed some enraged protesters to get within a few hundred meters of the Elysée Palace and to thus capture the images and headlines in the press!
What’s next? The National Rally is holding its annual congress in Orléans this weekend: 5,000 supporters are expected. At the same time, a large counter-demonstration organized by the CGT union, joined by some fifty other unions, associations, and political parties, will take place on Saturday morning. This will be an opportunity for two to three thousand “very radical” demonstrators, from France and elsewhere in Europe, to rush to the event [[1]]. Also on Saturday, another Yellow Vest demonstration is planned [[2]]. On the 31st of this month, another student demonstration will take place in Paris and beyond; and on November 5th, a major unified demonstration and strike organized by the inter-union alliance, will bring together all the unions and those joining them.
Solidarity and Progress, our party, has distributed and will continue to distribute leaflets entitled: ” Let’s Be Our Future” and “Our Future is Your Future .” These leaflets support the movement but emphasize that the underlying current is global, a world ground swell, manifesting in different forms but sharing the same demand for justice and mutual development. We contrast Macron, accompanied by his wife, going to watch a Céline Dion show on the day before the major demonstration with our full mobilization for a new international peace structure based on security and mutual development.
Simply repeating demonstrations without understanding that the challenge is global would condemn us to crash against the wall of an oligarchy that operates on a global scale! What gives us hope is the widespread interest shown in our leaflet, the moral authority of Pope Leo, and the attention to all that is happening in the global South. Note also that Yellow Vests and young people from the suburbs were singing the Marseillaise to inspire a France that listens to the world and becomes capable of addressing it on the level of principles for one humanity.
[[1]]: Fortunately, the police acted this time rationally and competently to protect Marine Le Pen and canalize the demonstrators.
[[2]]: About 800,000 people participated in the marches in all France, with a majority of young people happy to be together on behalf of peace, justice and a decent standard of living. Only a few violent incidents occurred, despite the provocations