2023-06-06 06:20:22
Interview conducted by the editorial staff of the Communist Alternative Party (PdAC) Italy website
June 6 will be a new day of mobilizations and strikes against the pension “reform” and against Macron. Fabiana Stefanoni, leader of the LIT-Fourth International and director of the website alternativacomunista.org, met in Paris with Michaël Lenoir, a comrade of the LIT in France, who has actively participated in the mobilizations of the last months (particularly in his work sector, that of education, but not only there). In this interview, Michaël tries to take stock of the struggle and, above all, of its current political and union leadership.
Michaël, first of all we wanted to ask you to tell our readers what May Day was like here in Paris and all over France.
It was a May Day of great mass mobilizations, despite the fear of the activists about a possible decrease in the protests. In terms of participation, we have reached approximately the levels already seen on January 19th. As always, there are different assessments of the numbers – the police give lower numbers than the unions – but our impression is that we have again reached the impressive numbers of January.
At the end of the day there were clashes with the police, particularly in the Nation Square of Paris, with strong repression. Two comrades, with whom we have been shoulder to shoulder in the mobilizations of recent months, were arrested and taken prisoner by the police without having done anything. There is a repressive police technique that works like this: they surround the protesters, beat them violently and then take them to the police station for 24 or 48 hours, trying to get information from them. In theory, they should justify this course of action, but they never do.
Was the mobilization limited only to Paris or were there also large demonstrations in other cities? Was the worker participation significant? And the student?
There were large demonstrations in all the major cities of France, including clashes with the police, for example, in the north of the country, in Rennes and other cities. But also in the south, like in Marseille. There was significant worker participation, and also students. The youth is now much more present than at the beginning of the movement.
Let’s talk a bit about the current directions of movement. For example, how is the Intersindical acting?
The Inter-union [la coordinación de todos los sindicatos franceses, confederales y de base, ndr.] You are acting in the worst way imaginable. They have not given any perspective to the mobilization, beyond the call for a new day of protest on June 6 (one month later!), effectively focusing all their action on a parliamentary perspective, that is, on a text with the that some centrist parliamentarians reject Macron’s law. In addition, the only action carried out by the national leaderships of the unions, including that of the CGT, is to try to get the text approved in parliament. The government is trying to prevent the debate on this text, claiming that the discussion would be unconstitutional, which is a lie. The truth is that the government wants to prevent any discussion about the “reform” to ensure that the law is applied from September. But the government is isolated in this, with almost no support among the population.
From our point of view, it is serious that the unions have decided that it is no longer worth fighting for, pushing their support only for the parliamentary initiative, for the “role of politicians” and blah, blah, blah… Thus, they leave the workers with no prospect of fighting. There are very determined sectors of workers and there would be many good reasons to call for a fight, for example, the issue of the cost of living or, as far as my union is concerned, the issue of professional associations.
Tell us what the government intends to do in relation to vocational training and what protests are taking place.
The issue of professional training is linked to the issue of pensions, because Macron wants to take the approval of the pension law for granted and, therefore, goes on to attack on other fronts, for example, public services, including education, which It is one of the most affected sectors. They are trying to dismantle the public system of professional education, which is of interest to the workers and future workers of the country: they are closing many training sectors and, consequently, laying off many teachers. The Minister of Education provocatively declared that if these teachers lose their jobs, they will be able to do other things in kindergartens or other educational settings that have nothing to do with their training! They are also trying to accompany this process with a kind of “amnesty” for the students enrolled in these schools, allowing them to go for internships in companies… so that the employers have a very cheap workforce at their disposal: for these internships in companies we are talking about compensations that oscillate between 1.50 and 2.50 euros per hour. Unfortunately, the young proletarians are so poor that many tend to see this as an opportunity to earn something.
Government policy is leading to a return to the 19th century: while paying young workers starvation wages, it is forcing the elderly to stay on the job longer with pension “reform.”
Is there some ongoing fight to counter all this?
There is a professional association that is at the forefront of the resistance in this process, the hope is that it can become a benchmark for others as well. The teachers at this secondary school are not on strike, but they are blocking all exams. The good thing is that there are many parents of students who support these blockades and in turn invite their children to boycott the exams.
Does the workers’ resistance also continue?
Yes, of course, for example in the energy sector, which has always been one of the most radical in the fight against Macron, the workers try to boycott the government’s actions. I’ll give you some funny examples: in April, Macron paid a visit to a company in Alsace – Macron’s first official visit since the approval of the pension law – and workers in the energy sector issued a statement in which they proclaimed that Macron and his cabal (the “macronia”, we call it here) needed “energy sobriety”… and they blocked the flow of energy, so Macron and his entourage remained in the dark.
Another example: Macron went to visit a school, where he gave a very aggressive speech on the subject of education: there was a teachers’ strike and workers in the energy sector supported them by turning off all the lights, always with the call for “energy sobriety”. It often happens that deputies from Macron’s party and his collaborators find themselves without electricity…
It must be added that it is not only the workers in the electricity sector who carry out effective actions of rebellion. We have often seen militant groups form in the heat of the struggles. In many areas of the country, very radical groups of activists have emerged, often on the basis of unity of action between different labor sectors and even between different generations. It is a phenomenon destined to leave its mark. Bold actions are being taken. One of the most successful and, from a class point of view, most pleasing, was the recent nighttime action that led to the closure of the Medef headquarters. [la asociación de industriales francesa, ndt.] in Lyon: they walled up the door with bricks and concrete, making it impossible to enter.
Yes, without a doubt, very tasty! One last question about June 6: how is this day being organized?
It will be a day of strike and national demonstrations, called by the Intersindical, which, however, at the same time, is starting a dialogue with the government, unlike what it had previously said. We cannot predict what will happen in the plazas, but one thing is certain: the Intersindical is trying to pass off this day as a day of support, in the plazas, for the parliamentarians who signed the motion against the pension law.
The parliamentary perspectives of the reformists and the union leaderships certainly have the possibility of colliding with the increasingly authoritarian (sometimes dictatorial) logic of the Macron government. But what card will these directions play after all this? It is urgent and necessary to prepare a class exit that allows our social field to recover ground, in the face of the cowardice and incoherence of the bureaucratic apparatus.
On June 6, regardless of the intentions of the bureaucrats, I think we will have a lot of people in the streets again, because the union base is combative. Now the central theme is to build an alternative direction to that of the Intersindical. There are two fundamental tasks: to strengthen the leadership and self-organization of the bases and, at the same time, to put pressure on their leaders within the unions, demanding that they change their actions, starting from the organization of a truly great general and mass strike.
Translation: Natalia Estrada.
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