We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

France: savage labour law vs strikes and blockades

Click here to access article by John Mullen from CounterFire (Britain).
Through April and May, millions of workers and students have taken to the streets in over a hundred towns across the country for seven separate days of action against the hated new Labour Law proposed by the Socialist Party government. An opinion poll in early May showed that 74% of the population were opposed to it (70% saw it as “in favour of business”). Only three per cent of those asked declared themselves “completely in favour” of the law and 22% “moderately in favour”!

But the first reading of the bill was rushed through parliament by means of a special “49.3” order allowing the government to refuse any debate. The bill now has to go through the Senate and other stages, which will take weeks, and the movement against it is not about to give up.
US corporate media has almost completely censored news of this movement across France that is in protest to a new oppressive labor law that is being pushed through the French parliament. This nationwide movement started back on March 31st. From a perusal of corporate news, I found only one article in an online report in Yahoo news.

You might be also interested in another alternative report on the French protests entitled "France: Workers battling labor law occupy refineries" from Workers World