MOUVEMENT ANARCHISTE INTERNATIONAL-FRANCE/INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-FRANCE:

GRÈVE GÉNÉRALE EN FRANCE/GENERAL STRIKE IN FRANCE:

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Pour la deuxième fois cette année en France, les syndicats ont appelé à une grève générale pour protester contre les politiques du gouvernement Sarkozy. Le problème est que les grands syndicats souhaitent limiter la grève pour le type d'une journée de protestation que les gouvernements européens ont appris à ignorer. D'autres syndicats ont des idées différentes, d'autant que 75% environ de la population française est d'accord avec l'idée d'une action industrielle pour faire pression sur le gouvernement. Voici l'appel de la CNT-F anarchosyndicaliste pour une plus ouvert "grève renouvelable».

For the second time this year labour unions in france have called a general strike to to protest the policies of the Sarkozy government. the problem is that the larger unions wish to restrict the strike to the sort of one day protest that European governments have leaned to ignore. Other unions have different ideas, particularily as about 75% of the French population agrees with the idea of industrial action to pressure the government. Here is the call from the anarchosyndicalist CNT-F for a more open ended "renewable strike".

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Dès le 19 mars, préparons la grève générale reconductible !:

Communiqué confédéral du 18 mars 2009

Ce que les luttes victorieuses de Guadeloupe et de Martinique, celles en cours à La Réunion et l’absence de résultats des fortes mobilisations de la journée d’action du 29 janvier ont montré, c’est que face à un patronat qui profite de la crise pour piller l’argent de nos impôts, face à un gouvernement qui est plus que jamais au service des puissances d’argent, arc-bouté sur l’idéologie capitaliste, une journée de grève ne suffira pas.

La CNT appelle tous les travailleurs et les travailleuses, avec ou sans emploi, à grossir le plus possible les rangs le 19 mars, afin d’exprimer l’opposition la plus massive à la mafia légale qui sévit du CAC 40 à l’Élysée. Mais parce que les entreprises et leur gouvernement ne voudront rien lâcher sans pression, sans que nous leur imposions un vrai rapport de forces, il faut d’ores et déjà organiser la suite.

Déjà la colère gronde dans l’Hexagone. Après avoir jeté, comme de vulgaires variables d’ajustement, les milliers de précaires en CDD ou intérim et les salariés des sous-traitants, les entreprises profitent de la crise pour licencier à tour de bras, y compris quand elles réalisent des profits records comme TOTAL ! Ces mêmes entreprises bénéficient des milliards d’exonération, de recapitalisations sortis comme par magie du chapeau de Sarkozy, alors que depuis 20 ans, on nous parle du déficit de la Sécu, du « poids »de la dette, de la « nécessité de faire des réformes », de diminuer le nombre de fonctionnaires, de couper dans les budgets des retraites, des hôpitaux, de fermer les agences postales ou les lignes SNCF « non rentables », etc. Quand il s’agit de subventionner le patronat, le gouvernement trouve toujours des sommes astronomiques, mais les travailleurs eux devraient serrer les dents et se serrer la ceinture ?

Pour les travailleurs, chômeurs, précaires, de ce pays, et de bien d’autres, la coupe est pleine, et les mesurettes sociales annoncées par Sarkozy n’étoufferont pas leur colère. Cette colère que les directions syndicales veulent à tout prix contrôler par des « journées d’actions » qui leur permettent d’être reçues à Matignon une fois le travail repris. Comme en Guadeloupe et en Martinique, comme dans les universités ou les usines fermées, nous devons nous organiser à la base en assemblées générales souveraines, dans les entreprises, les départements, pour construire la grève générale reconductible sans laquelle nous ne pourrons pas les faire plier.

COMME AUX ANTILLES, IMPOSONS LA RÉPARTITION DES RICHESSES !

GRÈVE GÉNÉRALE RECONDUCTIBLE !

Confédération nationale du travail (CNT)

http://www.cnt-f.org/

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Here's the English translation of the above.

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From March 19, prepare the renewable general strike !:

Confederal Communiqué of 18 March 2009

What the victorious struggles of Guadeloupe and Martinique, those currently ongoing in Reunion and the lack of results from the strong mobilization of the day of action from January 29 have shown that we face management that takes advantage of the crisis to loot money from our taxes, facing a government that is more often than not in the service of the power of money, insisting on the capitalist ideology, and a one-day strike will not suffice.

The CNT calls on all workers, with or without jobs, to swell as much as possible among the ranks on March 19 to express opposition to the massive legal mafia that has plagued the CAC 40 in the Élysée. But because companies and their government will not surrender anything without pressure, without us imposing a real balance of power, it is necessary from now on to organize the follow up.

Already anger is brewing in France. After dropping as vulgar variable adjustments the thousands of precarious, temporary or interim employees and subcontractors, firms benefit from the crisis as a licence to fire more hands, including when they are making record profits like TOTAL! These same companies benefit from billions of tax exemptions, and recapitalizations, pulled as if by magic out of the Sarkozy's hat , while for 20 years they have told us of the social security deficit, the "weight" of debt, the need for reforms, to reduce the number of staff, cut budgets in pensions, hospitals, post offices close or "unprofitable" SNCF lines and so on. When it comes to subsidizing the employers, the government always finds astronomical sums, but the workers themselves should bite the bullet and tighten their belts?

For workers, the unemployed, and the precarious in this country, and many others, the cup is full, and the small social measures announced by Sarkozy don't stifle their anger. That anger that the union bosses want at any cost to control by "days of action" that allow them to be received at Matignon once work is resumed. As in Guadeloupe and Martinique, as in universities and closed factories , we must organize at the base sovereign general assemblies, in companies, departments, to build the renewable general strike without which we can not make them bend . AS IN THE ANTILLES, IMPOSE THE REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH!

RENEWABLE GENERAL STRIKE!

National Labor Confederation (CNT)

http://www.cnt-f.org/

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At least in terms of numbers today's general strike appears to be on a larger scale than that of January, as can be seen from the following article from the British newspaper The Guardian. Whether a single day strike can, however, actually force the government to make substantial changes in its policy is doubtful, as the CNT remarks above.

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Record numbers join anti-Sarkozy protests:
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
The Guardian, Friday 20 March 2009
Record numbers took to the streets of France yesterday in the biggest demonstrations since Nicolas Sarkozy's election, to protest about his handling of the economic crisis.

Unions estimated that more than three million people took part in demonstrations across the country, in the second general strike over the economic crisis in two months. Police put figures at about 1.2 million. With one in three people supporting the protest, it had the highest public backing for a strike in a decade.

Sarkozy maintains he is the only man who can face down street protests and plough on with his project to reform France, but he is facing an array of different demands and growing anger. Teachers and doctors protested against his long-standing reform plan, saying public-sector job cuts would kill schools and hospitals. University staff are continuing their seven-week strike against higher education reform with sit-ins and occupations.

Private-sector employees, including supermarket cashiers, bank clerks and car workers, took to the street over poor pay, factory closures and the return of a traditional French scourge: unemployment, now rising at its fastest rate in 10 years.

On the Paris march, Roland Bonnot, a primary teacher from Dijon, said that in the suburb where he taught, parents were under constant fear of unemployment after the announcement that a mustard factory was closing. "Children are now picking up on the anxiety and not performing well at school," he said.

The general strike disrupted transport, schools, airports, government offices and even state theatres. Unions demanded job protection, an increase in the minimum wage and a U-turn on Sarkozy's early move to cut taxes for the mega-rich. But the government has insisted there will be no concessions.

The government is concerned about the increasingly radical nature of protesters, with Sony factory workers holding a chief executive hostage over redundancies last week. Some French protesters are looking to the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where a six-week general strike and one death eventually forced the government to back down and raise wages.

With its large public sector, generous welfare system and rigid banking system, France has not yet suffered as acutely as Britain or Spain from the financial crisis. But a wave of mass redundancies sparked the protests.

Sarkozy has focused on a €27bn stimulus plan through public and private investment instead of boosting consumers' pockets with major tax-cuts or higher welfare spending. He argues that without investment leading to job creation, France, with an already weak private sector and stuttering economy, will not be able to recover as fast other countries.

After the last general strike in January, Sarkozy moved to defuse tension by introducing certain tax cuts and welfare payments for the poorest families. Unions said it was not enough, but the president's advisers this week said there would be no more immediate measures.

"Sarkozy says there's no money for the public sector, that state coffers are dry, then he miraculously finds money to bail out the car industry," said Olivier Langillier, a nurse at the Paris march.

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How realistic is what the CNT proposes ? On first glance very much so. The one day, largely symbolic, protests favoured by the traditional unions are pretty well certain to evoke only a minimal amount of concessions from the government. The big question is whether the people will become angry enough to bypass the instructions issued by the established union bosses. It has happened before, and it can happen again. If such a scenario comes to pass the idea of a "renewable general strike" is a brilliant way to proceed. Move now M. Sarkozy, or we strike again tomorrow. Return to work and see what the result is and strike again and again if necessary. In such a situation the government would indeed have even greater reason to fear the "increasingly radical nature of protesters", as the momentum for other and greater actions, such as factory occupations and alternative networks of distribution, would build with each renewal of the strike. The big question about the realism of what the CNT proposes revolves around just how angry people in france are today. THAT is certainly a great unknown.

In the meantime to see the news from the perspective of the CNT-F look to the links section of this blog under the heading of the Confederation nationale du travaille.