Top Leftist Trade Union Calls for Strike in Support of French Youth Revolt
The head of France’s leading leftist trade union has called for strikes to support the youth riots after the government refused to meet demands for minimum wage hikes and more spending on education.
After a meeting at the Hôtel de Matignon in Paris on Wednesday morning, Sophie Binet, the General Secretary of the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), said it was time to “take the mobilisation to the next level”.
“The CGT, along with the inter-union group, is calling for the broadest possible mobilisation on November 5th. We are calling for… general assemblies everywhere, in all workplaces, to generalise the strike on November 5th and beyond,” she said according to Le Monde.
This came after meeting with Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu, during which Binet demanded that the government raise the minimum wage by 10 per cent, increase civil servants’ salaries, invest more in high schools and universities, and abandon the proposed national budget. In a thinly veiled threat, the union boss said that the government has “an interest in responding to the demands” of young people and the unions.
“I say this, Mr Lecornu is no longer the Minister of the Armed Forces; he is the Prime Minister. He needs to come out of his bunker; he needs to listen to the enormous social mobilisation; he needs to respond to the demands, and that starts with meeting with young people, listening to their demands.”
Binet said that while the general strike is not planned for another two weeks, the CGT union will be on the streets Saturday for further demonstrations, vowing “to protect young people and workers who wish to mobilise.”
Meanwhile, one of the chief organisers of the yellow vest cohort, Guillaume Ball, said that Saturday will see disparate people and movements come together, including “high school students, university students, unions, Yellow Vests, working-class neighbourhoods, farmers, climate activists, nurses, firefighters… Everyone will be in the streets.”
“This day of action is bringing together all sectors. We’re seeing visuals popping up on social media, press releases being issued, newsletters being sent out… Currently, 340 mobilisations are listed on the map (throughout France). It’s going to continue, and it’s accelerating,” Ball added.
In Paris on Saturday, the Student Union and the local CGT branch are set to gather and begin their protests at Place de la Bastille, the former site of the Bastille Prison, which rioters stormed in 1789, marking the violent start of the French Revolution.
The move by the CGT to call for strikes in support of a supposed student movement also has historical overtones, with the same union having played a critical role in the uprisings of May 1968, which, along with the Paris Commune of 1871, remains one of the key moments of inspiration for the modern leftist movement in France.
During the weeks of protests and riots against the conservative social order of post-war France under Charles de Gaulle, capitalism, and class divides, some 10 million workers went on strike in support of the student movement.
The so-called Spirit of 68 is also connected to the modern uprising through radical presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whose political career began as a student activist at the University of Besançon during the protests, before joining the UNEF, the leading Trotskyist student union at the time.
Despite accusations from the government and political opponents that his La France Insoumise (France in Rebellion/LFI) party has fomented violence and destruction over the past month of riots and protests, Mr Mélenchon has doubled down on his support for the revolt.
“We are living through a great moment in History. Student and high school movements are currently taking place in every corner of the world,” the 75-year-old declared on Tuesday, while urging his followers his “rebellious” followers to join the protests again on Saturday.
Telling supporters that they have been “requisitioned”, the far-left presidential candidate urged LFI members to “put on a white armband” and “help the youth”.
The tactic of donning a “brassard blanc” dates back to the 1980s, following the police killing of an Algerian-heritage student in Paris, and calls for those wearing white armbands to throw themselves in between police and rioters to supposedly prevent police violence, as was seen with LFI Mayor of Saint-Denis Bally Bagayoko earlier this month when he put himself up as an effective human shield between officers and the masked demonstrators behind him.
The white armband tactic thus lets the LFI take part in street protests and riots, gaining social media clout along the way, without explicitly engaging in the violence.
It remains to be seen if the French government and police will be able to prevent next Saturday from descending into similar chaos as last week, when over a thousand police officers and firefighters were injured, thousands of businesses were looted, and government buildings were set on fire.
Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez has reportedly told police it is “imperative” to keep demonstrators “away from public buildings and shopping streets.” He also called on police to “prohibit all demonstrations likely to disturb public order”.
President Emmanuel Macron — speaking from Doha, Qatar on Wednesday — vowed that “people who want to cause trouble in city centres next Saturday will be prevented from doing so… In a democracy, nothing justifies violence.”
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