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strike record in France

On the other side of the ocean, each new day of strike up the bar a little higher and is approaching records set in May 68.

Entering already in its fifth week of activity, the protest movement against the reform of the pension plans currently taking place in France already stands as one of the biggest strikes the country has long been known.  The 2 January, railwaymen of the National Society of French railways (SNCF), outperformed strikes 1995 and 2010 and smashed their previous record 28 consecutive days, established 1986.

While nothing suggests a quick exit, many media, such Nouvel Observateur (Note l') and The Independant, announced that the current strike could appear as the third longest in the history of France, just behind the events of May 1968 and the Common Front of 1936. It must be said that the walkout began with great pomp, when the 8 December:

More than a million workers had demonstrated in the streets of more than 300 cities, public transport was stopped in Paris and in many cities many planes remained grounded, more than 70% of teachers were on strike with many schools closed, the staff of public and private hospitals has also been at the heart of the battle. It's the same in private companies, where salairé.es have largely mobilisé.es.  (CNT-F)

While some observers have noted some slowing actions that place side by side the employé.es rail and air, Health, education, oil production and some areas of justice, resume negotiations, the 7 January, could very well put oil on the fire.

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Photo credit : Paule Bodilis
https://flickr.com/photos/jmenj/49287405973/

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Radicalization of the May 1st 2015 Strike

To read this article in French, click here.

A phantom haunts the province of Quebec. It is the phantom of the General Strike. Since 2012, our elites have known that the working class, the students, and all those who continue to decry injustice and repression have the power to take to the streets and impose their legitimacy in the face of the State. Despite this dread, the high-priests of capitalism, and especially those preaching its liberal vision, can not hold back from waging an open war against everything that isn’t merchandise, against everything that isn’t financially valuable. From budget cuts to over-arming police forces, and from underpaid jobs to public insults against the poor and the exploited, everything leads one to believe that Quebec is now the foreground of unbridled capitalism. This neo-liberal paradise, protected by the State and its minions, ruins our lives and those of our families and friends, quashes what little is left of our liberty, spits in the faces of those most hard on their luck and on the misery of its own creation.

We have long ceased to believe in the regulatory capacity of this system. By destroying itself, it will destroy us too. Each new day we are reminded of this programmed failure: environmental disasters, increased inequality, the deterioration of working conditions, institutional racism, systemic corruption of our political system, and harassment of women in their workplaces or at school. Generally speaking, it is all forms of domination that are dangerously increasing, pushing the most exploited and dominated to the breaking point, all in order to install our elites on a too-comfortable pedestal.

This is why we call the rebellious among us to insurrection. We hope that the spring will bring out the most angry, those who are disgusted at the system, in the streets and in actions. Because apathy just isn’t enough, we firmly believe in our common capacity to create a better world. More than a simple timely struggle against austerity, we see on the horizon the premises of a social war, of which the 2012 strike was only a beginning. Each government, left or right, has tried time and again to impose their rotten economic and societal concepts upon us. A single day of strikes is not enough to push back a government which dearly protects the financial assets of the most dominant in society. We believe that a global revolt of all society must emerge during the spring. This revolt must be planned on the long term: in Quebec as in Europe, there are too many recent examples that demonstrate the futility of punctual and singular actions against governments that are now used to and prepared for social discontent.

Against capitalism and liberalism, we reaffirm our right to manage our own lives, whether the people who rule us like it or not. Our daily lives belong to us, our cities too. We firmly believe that capitalism must be erased from Quebec. In this goal, we will always be in solidarity with those who struggle, and always at odds with those who remain resigned and prostrate. We will be alongside workers and students in their struggles, and we will oppose all police brutality with working class solidarity. In the streets, in our workplaces and schools, in our neighborhoods, we are here to struggle and help.

Let us not fear our utopias!

Let us dare to overthrow the established order!

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The repression continues after the Spanish general strike

On the morning of April 26th, the Catalonian police arrested the Organization Secretary of the CGT-Barcelona, Laura Gómez, while she was on her way to work. They do not like the fact that every time there are more and more of us protesting against the negotiation of labour reform, against the “social pact” and not in favor of it.
taken from anarkismo.net

CGT statement on the arrest of Barcelona Organization Secretary, Laura Gómez

The repression continues after the general strike. This morning [Wednesday April 26th], while she was on her way to work, the Mossos d'Esquadra [Catalonian police] arrested the Organization Secretary of the CGT-Barcelona, Laura Gómez and took her to the police station in Les Corts. The charge by the police is arson and fire damage to the Barcelona Stock Exchange. This and other charges against her have no foundation and are an attempt to create an image of a violent person. Laura does not have a criminal record, and all that the police can cite are peaceful actions during the struggle for labour rights in Barcelona.

The truth – without exaggerating – is that already after the general strike we said, literally, “it is true that members of the CGT burned a couple of papers in a box in front of the Barcelona Stock Exchange, and threw a few eggs, actions that were fully symbolic and carried out openly. That is what the plainclothes police in the crowd must have thought too, given that they did not bother to identify anyone. It is by no means true that it was the first fire, in Mercabarna, in the Zona Franca, etc., there were several fires throughout the night, most of which were started by other unions’ pickets”.

What a coincidence that this arrest occurs on the same day that the famous site for posting photos of “violent” protestors was presented. What a coincidence that the various state establishments, both the Generalitat and the Barcelona Municipality have not stopped pointing at the CGT and have not stopped exaggerating with regard to the CGT. We know that we are not to your liking, nor do we want to be, but we will not apologize for our continued growth. We know you want to make an example of individuals and organizations that refuse to humour the system, but to go from that to persecuting and harassing our members is a big step. The abuse of power that those in authority often fall into against those who think differently is something that we are used to, though great care is taken to hide it.

The CGT believes that there is an attempt to hide the growing number of people attending events by organizations that are not to your liking. They do not like the fact that every time there are more and more of us, protesting against the negotiation of labour reform and against the “social pact”, not for it. The decline in work and social conditions, the increase in injustice, the enormous differences between the rich and poor, all this has without doubt led to greater conflict and now the politicians are looking for excuses to toughen crime laws. It is sickening to see how public money is given to banks, how de facto “tax amnesties” are announced to the benefit of major tax evaders, how permissive the system is in order to allow tax evasion by means of sly practices and economic bureaucracy, how SICAVs [1] which pay nothing are encouraged, while all the while they are seeking to criminalize anyone who disagrees.
Press Office
CGT Barcelona

Translation by FdCA-International Relations Office.

1. Open-ended investment schemes or mutual funds. In Spain they pay 1% corporate tax.

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