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Thank God for France
Whatever you think about Unions and resetting the retirement age, Mike Whitney zeros in on the larger, more important issue of who's running the country and whose interests are being served, and asks, indirectly, whether there is the will to do anything about it? - Ilene
Thank God for France
By MIKE WHITNEY, originally published at CounterPunch
Thank God for France. While American liberals tremble at the idea of sending an angry email to congress for fear that their name will appear on the State Department's list of terrorists, French workers are on the front lines choking on tear gas and fending off billyclubs in hand-to-hand combat with Sarkozy's Gendarmerie. That's because the French haven't forgotten their class roots. When the government gets too big for its britches, people pour out onto to the streets and Paris becomes a warzone replete with overturned Mercedes Benzs, smashed storefront windows, and stacks of smoldering tires issuing pillars of black smoke. This is what democracy looks like when it hasn't been emasculated by decades of propaganda and consumerism. Here's a blurp from the trenches:
Headline:
"French Energy Sector Crippled by Nationwide Strike... French energy facilities are close to total disruption in the wake of nationwide strike against the raise of the retirement age.....France has been hit by numerous protests across the country against a controversial pension reform that would rise the retirement age to 62 from 60....On October 22 morning 80 protesters blockaded Grandpuits oil refinery outside Paris, key supplier for Charles de Gaulle and Orly international airport." (The Financial)
Shut 'em down.
Take note, Tea Party crybabies who moan about restoring "our freedoms" while stuffing the backyard bunker with seed corn and ammo. Glenn Beck won't save you from the "mean old" gov'mint. Liberty isn't free anymore. If you want it, get out of the barko-lounger and organize. The amount of freedom that any nation enjoys is directly proportionate to the amount of blood its people spilled fighting the state. No more, no less. The man who is willing to accept the blunt force of a cop's truncheon on his back is infinitely more praiseworthy than the leftist/rightist scribe crooning from the bleachers. The state isn't moved by lyrical editorials or prosaic manifestos. It responds to force alone, which is why it takes people who are willing to "throw themselves on the gears" of the apparatus and stop it from moving forward. Unfortunately, most of those people appear to live in France.
The resistance is steadily building in France. The budding rebellion is cropping up everywhere---"secondary schools, train stations, refineries and highways have been blockaded, there have been occupations of public buildings, workplaces, commercial centers, directed cuts of electricity, and ransacking of electoral institutions and town halls..." And the big unions are calling for more strikes, more agitation, more ferment.
For more than a week, transportation has been blocked across the France due to the protests by students and workers. Sarkozy's popularity has plummeted. 65% of people surveyed don't like the way the French president is handling the strikes. 79% of the people would like to see Sarkozy negotiate with the Union on terms and conditions, but he won't budge. Thus, the cauldron continues to boil while the prospect of violence rises.
"STRIKE, BLOCKADE, SABOTAGE"
This is from an anonymous striker:
"In each city, these actions are intensifying the power struggle and demonstrate that many are no longer satisfied with the order imposed by the union leadership. In the Paris region, amongst the blockades of train stations and secondary schools, the strikes in the primary schools, the workers pickets in front of the factories, people create inter-professional meetings and collectives of struggle are founded to destroy categorical isolation and separation. Their starting point: self-organization to meet the need to take ownership over our struggles without the mediation of those who claim to speak for workers.
We decided Saturday to occupy the Opera Bastille. This was to disturb a presentation that was live on radio, to play the trouble makers in a place where the cultural merchandise circulates and to organize an assembly there. So we met with more than a thousand people at the “place de la nation”, with banners stating “the bosses understand only one language: Strike, blockade, sabotage." (end of communique)
The action was met with predictable police violence and mass arrests.
The pension turmoil is not limited to France either. US pension funds are underfunded by nearly $3 trillion. Will US workers be as willing as their French counterparts to face the beatings (to defend "what's theirs") or will they throw up their hands and appeal to Obama for help?
There's no question that Washington elites have joined with Wall Street to offload the massive debts from the financial meltdown onto workers and retirees. Nor is their any doubt that they will invoke (what Slavoj Zizek calls) a "permanent state of economic emergency" to justify their actions. That will allow them to move ahead with so-called "austerity measures" that are designed to impoverish workers and strip popular government programs of their funding. The trend towards "belt-tightening" merely masks the ongoing class war which is aimed at restoring a feudal system of royalty and serfs.
This is from an article by economist Mark Weisbrot:
"If the French want to keep the retirement age as is, there are plenty of ways to finance future pension costs without necessarily raising the retirement age. One of them, which has support among the French left – and which Sarkozy claims to support at the international level -- would be a tax on financial transactions. Such a “speculation tax” could raise billions of dollars of revenue – as it currently does in the U.K. – while simultaneously discouraging speculative trading in financial assets and derivatives. The French unions and protesters are demanding that the government consider some of these more progressive alternatives."
But the retirement age is not really the issue at all. This is about union busting and "putting people in their place." It's about "who will call-the-shots" and in whose interests will society be run.
The French are fighting back against this "oligarchy of racketeers" and the ripoff system they represent, while, namby-pamby Americans are neutralized by signing their umpteenth petition or venting their spleen at a Palin rally.
Vive la France. Vive la Résistance.
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I'd suggest that the Tea Party folks might be the suburban/middle class equivalent here though clearly the motivations are quite different, the parallels are quite compelling.
fair point.
but Tea Party folks wish to reduce the size of the Federal government, and French protesters wish to empower centralized control for wealth redistribution.
either way, neither has a sustainable lifestyle in the context of our current monetary system.
One of our biggest problems is that whoever you vote for represents the rich and themselves (since they are rich). We have been reduced to voting for the "least worse" for decades.
The list goes on and Buffet said it best, "the rich are winning the war".
As far as pulling the trigger in demonstrations, when was the last time that has happened here? The govt.(Army/ police) is far more likely to pull the trigger in demonstrations than the populace (the Pullman strike & Kent State as two examples).
It seems that the Greeks will be back in the headlines soon. Pretty good Telegraph article on the GPap pronouncements.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8088261/Greece-reignites-Europe-debt-woes.html
I have heard that French youths are protesting the raising of the retirement age because it will further postpone their entry into the workforce by extending the careers of the already-employed. French college graduates often have to wait into their early thirties before they get a "real" job. Not sure whether this will help or hurt the youths' pocketbooks in the long-term, but there are a lot of pissed-off young French people who finally want to start their lives.
+1, yes it's true. Before 30 years it's very difficult to have a real good job (because you need experience etc). And you can loose your job so easily... And you need 41 years working for retirement ... oh yeaaah 71 years old to have retirement (30+41)... What a good future ... With strong unemployment behind ...
"emasculated by decades of propaganda and consumerism", is dead on about the US and it's workers/people. Also I've always said that they will use a financial emergency to make cuts in govt. benefits and to push for austerity measures for the "good" of the country. People may laugh at France, but they do stick up for what is right and what is wrong.
Can't you tell from all the self-anointed rocket surgeons and brain scientists posting here that " if 'merikuh hain't doin' it, it hain't worf doin'"?
On the other hand, you're able to keep the facts straight; that won't wash on this thread.
all about 'the facts' until they don't agree with you. how genuine. what an asshole.
you're 'player hating' of America is a recurring theme. Do you wish you were American? Are you sad that your ancestors have been bailed out and protected by America since WWII? what's the story? If you'd like, maybe we can make you an 'honorary American' if you promise to acknowledge our grandparents part in saving your arses since you could not do it yourself.
you've got your history:
...and we've got ours. there is a difference. and just because we do not abandon ours for yours does not mean we are wrong.
frankly, i respect both the frugality of the Norwegian people and your willingness to stick together. my concern with big government coffers is that eventually they get raided (as they have been in America), and little old ladies and orphans come up short-handed when they have to choose between heating their home this winter or eating bread; all because the government is printing them further into poverty. i'd rather not give a central government this power, as i prefer to take care of the little old ladies and orphans around me independent of government crooks. America is a helluva lot bigger than Norway, so perhaps its "more money, more problems".
i'm glad you feel it will never happen in Norway. I do not share this faith.
peace!
As I see it . Our citizenry has been shielded from the worst of the impending meltdown. If we had a free and objective press or honorable politicians or a conscious citizenry, the people here would be just as pissed! The money creation has postponed our doom, but there will be shock in the streets. On the other hand, pensions have been invested in unrealistic schemes like the private money of all investors. We have all been kicked in the shins, but it seems worse when your money was in a megaplan and promises were made. French pension plans are almost as big of a screw over as U.S. Social security. Wait until most Americans learn the till is empty or they don't get inflation adjustments and their check can only buy one pizza. My polish cleaning lady told me that they all walked into the market and saw the weekly food budget could only buy one day's food. I asked her what they did. She said, "bought a bottle of vodka and got drunk in the park."
I'm sorry, but all of this French resistance worship is nonesense. People were promised pensions, massive severence packages, the socialist enchilada, lollypops and unicorn rides. None of it is sustainable over the long term. None of it makes any rational economic sense, but yet people bought all in.
Granted, kudos for keeping the train on the tracks and the wheels on the trolley for this long, but the ride is over. Wake up. You were all lied to. You were taken advantage of. The banksters have left the building and are in the Caymans counting their (your) money. All you are seeing in the streets are people crying that their candy has been taken away. Tipping over some cars. Burning some tires. Whoopie. A bunch of angry people blowing off steam. And if you dig into, who will you find? The same bunch of elitist backed anarcho-socialist provocatuers who have been waiting around for their moment to "not let a crisis go to waste".
In fact, some where deep down, the elitists are probably very happy with this turn of events. The trouble makers are in the streets, while the majority rank and file sit scared in their hovels. If this keeps up, they will be begging for government intervention to save them. You all know the drill. Manufacture a crisis, scare people into submission, provide a solution that was your intended course of action from the beginning.
As for American apathy? it has not come to push and shove yet. While some are taking the 401K hit, or the lost home trauma, by and large the average American is still safely cacooned against personal suffering....for now. But yet there are those who do see the handwriting on the wall, and are taking measured action. ZH is a sea of discontent, sharing information, creating networks, preparing. Others, though much derided, are going out, making their voices heard, hoping that its not beyond hope, and NOT burning anything.
The tea party is trying to work within the system. No burning cars means no excuse for government intervention. Will they be successful? probably not. But they are trying the peaceful method. When socialists get POed, what do they do? rioting and burning things. What are patriotic Americans doing? Petitioning and voting. For the most part, the colonies did not haul off and stage a war. There were meetings. There were petitions. There were audiences with the government. When all peaceful, and yes some not entirely peaceful means were exhausted, then, with clear conscience that all that could be done, had been done, was the fateful decision made.
The elite know full well that their system is dying. Do you think they are that foolish not to see it? They have been planning on it. where do all of these socialist, anarchists, and assorted trouble makers get their money? Why does Soros have an international network in place? Why has he created a "shadow" government?http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=842
And there are many more groups, circling like hyenas after a wounded wildebeast. As the nation states of the world stagger under the weight of their combined lies, these jackels will leap to the attack. Dust will fly, blood will be spilled. A New World Order will emerge. Promise of new beginnings. Equallity for all. But beyond the retread rhetoric and waving banners, just who do you think will be pulling those strings? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
So when the French took to the streets way back when to get rid of their repressive monarchy, what did they get for their suffering? A repressive military dictatorship. good work guys. Nice hope and change there.
Perhaps if France is successful in their demonstrations against basic math, they can then launch protests against the laws of physics.
+1, i found that to be quite funny.
Nesta Webster on French Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nesta_Helen_Webster
Canada is a country that has lasted since 1867 and has never had a revolution.
Canada is perfect, just ask a Canadian.
Nowhere is perfect, just ask anyone.
See how that works?
first sensible thing you've said. there's hope!
.
WHOOSH!
...Or not.
"That's because the French haven't forgotten their class roots. When the government gets too big for its britches, people pour out onto to the streets and Paris becomes a warzone replete with overturned Mercedes Benzs, smashed storefront windows, and stacks of smoldering tires issuing pillars of black smoke."
HAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAhahahahahaha...
Oh boy, that was funny. That is the biggest crock-of-s*%# I've read all day. After graduating from college, I worked for the French government in Paris for a year. Let me tell you something, in order to provide for everything you need from the cradle to the grave, you need a MASSIVE state infrastructure. The French are NOT rioting because they think that the state has gotten "too big for its britches," they are rioting because they think the benefits that they are accustomed to are a god-given natural right. The school kids are skipping class and fighting for the right to pay into a bankrupt system because they think it's cool, not because they've thought this through. The teenagers are turning cars over because they are disenfranchised and need an outlet for their anger (young men of color do not fare well in French "society," thus their prospects for advancement are rather slim). The french strike because it's what they do. It's part of their culture.
As a young 20-something, it was impossible for me to find a part-time job in Paris to supplement my income because of the requirements imposed on businesses to hire people. They already have the "35 heures," so there is very little part-time work availability. Even the people who work in the private sector have a "me-first" attitude. Case in point: One day I was waiting in line at the bank when I observed a teller require a customer to call his other bank in order to get approval for a transfer from one of his account to another (the French are absolutely OBSESSIVE with the appearance of authority. You won't get anything done if you don't have the right stamp or paper from the correct agency). As this young man dialed his phone to have the tellers talk to each other, the teller at the bank noticed that the clock struck noon, promptly grabbed his closed sign from behind the counter, and closed his station right in the young man's face, because, well it was noon and it was now time for his god-given 1.5 hour lunch... The level of customer service given in that country would cause most normal Americans to commit seppuku on the spot.
Accountability goes both ways people. The state is what it is because we enable it to be. This is what CogDis always talks about. These kids riot because they want the right to retire at 60? Well, then expect to pay plenty of taxes for those benefits. Oh, you are having demographic changes that, even if compound interest wasn't inserted in the equation, would essentially ruin your retirement scheme? So sorry. Math is not your friend.
Neither of my parents have more than a high school education. They wanted me to do more and always encouraged me along the way, but something my mother told me over and over has always stuck with me:
"that education that we are working so hard for you to get will teach you one of two things - how to screw people or how not to get screwed. How you end up is entirely up to you."
I have to agree with B9K9; none of this lamenting will amount to anything. You can either learn how to screw others, or educate yourself, learn to avoid the traps, and act accordingly. The French thug politicians are the same as the american thug politicians; a state-sanctioned mafia that has a monopoly on power. The French government has to increase the retirement age to 62 in order to extend the ponzi a little longer. Once they pass this law, the French won't do a thing about it. They'll go back to work and forget all about it, until they have to extend it again to 65...
funny how you get junked by the self-loathing Americans. thanks for sharing the anecdotes and viewpoints.
Do I need to say more?
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/1026/French-strikers-begin-to-retrench-after-Senate-finalized-pension-bill
"After a month of protests, which created excitement and temporarily immobilized parts of the country, union leaders appeared largely unified on a deal to call off the walkouts in exchange for further debate on unemployment aspects of pension reform."
The French talk a good game, but their bark is much worse than their bite.
If you have the power to threaten an unpopular president with chaos, all the while not ever glancing at the thing you really want, I would call that good negotiating.
It's not finished, this thursday a major march will be done, the democrats (ps) will do 'saisine constitutionnelle', etc.
And the country is on vacation it's important also.
Anyway, make a deal for future is better than nothing (in the worst case for french people) ^^.
right, revolutions must be planned during business hours and not during leisure time. things are very desperate indeed.
Bump
No, totally false. Normaly is like this, but this time the private sector was in the street, more than public sector, incredible ?
Yes it's true, it's new.
You perhaps prefer great britain with their 500 000 civil servants cuts (in police, in firefighters etc).
I think the only one who are really good in europe are the germans, like always.
Better than you americans, french, english, italian etc.
Strong economy good health system, etc.
And we all thought the French were a bunch of pussies. It is imperative the French succeed since I believe the Fed and the private bankers want to reneg on the common man of the social contract it made with him. France is a test case to see if they can do the same here. Higher taxes and less return for that confiscation definitely leads to a neo-feudalist state.
While France is at it, they should dump the Euro as well!
maybe france will survive? wish america had guts like that.
http://covert2.wordpress.com
The French protestors are pubic sector workers and pensioners protecting their considerably privileges funded by a tapped out private sector. I see nothing godly in this.
ahh, where to start with this subject. . .
perhaps with a map or two. . . get yourself a map of amrka, and put the whole country of france. . . into the single state of texas (france 261k sq.mi., texas 269k sq.mi.). . . ponder.
if texas hit the streets in equivalent amounts to the french, would idaho notice? I'm not being facetious here, just trying to point out the obvious - amrka is huge in comparison to single european nationstates, and being so "spread out" does NOT lend to effective street protests, ie ones that will affect the gov't. even slightly.
also, amrkns are sold on the idea of "ME"- individuals - so the notion of arming SELF and that takes care of everything is very strong. . . it's nonsense of course, but it's real, and it's deep. . .
as to the notion that people are "afraid of their gov't" and don't see protest as a way forward, I think there is good reason for this - there are "executive orders" set in place that can disappear a citizen legally, all they need do is apply the arbitrary label "terrorist" and POOF, "problem" solved.
what to do? at this point there's precious little that can be done save exiting the nation, which is not an option for most, so hunkering down within trusted community (be they family or otherwise) preparing with necessary items such as food staples, water & filters, precious metals as store of value, and yes, guns'n'ammo - all viable. . . the most important item going forward is awareness, which is precious and, apparently, rare.
Ilene, that fellow is wrong.
ANYONE who gets something for doing nothing (and that includes most Union workers, Investment banksters, lawyers charging 5% or more for taking an estate thru probate, partners in law firms, accounting firms, architectural firms, construction company executives and so many people it is hard to stop) who don't do diddly for their lavish salaries and retirement gravy train is taking money DIRECTLY out of the pocket of productive workers OR government prints it and gives it to them via PBGC, destroying the value of a dollar.
I am not fooled by the fact unions have donated the most money ever to this coming election for one reason only. Just like any corporation they are giving money to democrats to use their power to take money from my pocket. And for that they can starve, cold and in the dark.
No sympathy here only contempt.
C'mon all! Give it up for the jingoist! Isn't he a treat?! Let's all give him a hand!
<golf clap>
Obama would like nothing more than to see a popular uprising, insurrection, or rebellion by his political opponents. This is one reason why they try to falsely portray the Tea Parties as volient, racist, and radical, despite that they are none of the above. Obama is eager to invoke the Constitution which he so hates in order to destroy those who believe in and support it!
Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution gives broad powers to a President to call forth forces to quell such "domestic violence", as it is called in that section. There would be blood in the streets, alright -- OURS! Obama is no doubt chomping at the bit to say, "See, look at these crazy and violent libertarians/conservatives. We just HAVE TO crush them! for the survival of our 'democracy'!"
France's revolution was a bloody one! Most of that blood was the blood of its own citizens! The guillotines worked overtime! The Gaulification of America would be a catastrophic blunder! We are far, far away from the need for a revolution. I suggest we all read Democracy in America by Alexiss de Tocqueville one more time. Tocqueville was a French judge sent to America to assess why America's revolution was to relatively peaceful and why America had need for so few prisons, while France's revolution was bathed in blood and France couldn't build enough prisons, and not just of the royals.
It was partly because of the bloodiness of French history that they saw the contrast between their culture and ours and gave the gift of the Statue of Liberty.
No, the last country on this planet whose behavior we should want to emulate is that of France!
Where do I begin? Your view of a "government gets too big for its britches" is ridiculous. You sound, from your writing, like a hippie who understands neither goverment nor economics. Yes, the Government is gigantic in France, the French have allowed it to get that way so they can have a nanny state and live in a primordial "Matrix" of dependency. This is Democratic Socialism for you, it obviously breeds extreme ignorance. So, the gigantic government actualy does the right thing for once and reduces an entitlement that it can no longer afford. What do the people do? They expose themselves as dogs with no understanding of the system of tyranny that they live under. Worse they lack the moral virtue and restraint to keep them from the same brutality that started up the guillotines in the French Revolution. There is a reason that we have had the 1 Constitution we have and they have had 15 during that same time period.
Thank God for the French? Yes. But only becuase they can show America what will happen if we continue to tax and spend on entitlements for the lazy, with complete disregard for our deficit and debt. (Yes, I know we need entitlements for the old and infirm). Socialism is a Utopian dream that will always spiral downward into ignorance and a petty greed-ridden system of repeated failures and violence. It always has, it always will. Celebrating this rioting shows everyone your stripes, Ilene. I'm not buying it, thanks...
"They expose themselves as dogs with no understanding of the system of tyranny that they live under".
Heh, project much? After that fount of rote I would avoid mirrors for awhile if I were you. Oops, I forgot, the members of 'Twilight' nation don't have reflections, or at least they have been well trained not to perceive them, so you would be unable to see anything anyway; which I suppose is just as well...
Pissy because you never got your invite to the Brecht Forum meeting last month? Aww, sorry about that. Oh well, enjoy your violent revolution(s), just stay at least 100yds away from my house.
ha, ha. what a power tool you are, GoinFawr. very entertaining, indeed. what a little bitch of a boy.
Oh Snap!
You are oversimplifying, my friends, the French are fighting for unadulterated wine, easily found truffles, cheap butter, government cream and of course, the availabilty of ze little girls........
Ilene - please stop posting this garbage.
Americans dont have to worry. Inflation will save us.
If LIBERTY or JUSTICE die in your battle,
Your victory is wasted effort, hollow, a bloody abortion.
False, people is not violent in the street, the violent people are from suburbs, young rebels, on the frange of society.
Yeah, what a joke that the French are fighting for more freedom. They're fighting for more freebies, that's all. Next they'll be striking against raising the workweek from eight hours to ten.
And as for this -- "The amount of freedom that any nation enjoys is directly proportionate to the amount of blood its people spilled fighting the state" -- the fact is that all a nation has to do is just say no to its government. That's what the people of the former Soviet Union did, which promptly collapsed. Barely a shot fired.
And by just say no, I mean just say no to voting in national elections and stop paying federal income taxes. It's just a numbers game, and once enough people take such action, poof, no more federal fucking government.
__________
The state can kiss my ass.
I'm thinking that the larger point here is that the French--whether communists or whatever other condemnation you might label them with--are willing to take their grievances to the street. Forcibly, without guns.
What are Americans willing to fight for?
Even the good 'ole boys do nothing that I can see other than boast of their weaponry and how fearsome they will be if . . . if what?
Do things have to get worse? How much worse?
At that point, their plan is to go into hiding. With their guns. Each for himself and a special group of friends.
No wonder things are so fucked up here. But let's mock the French pansies who are willing to get their heads bashed in if that's what it takes to make their government accountable to them.
Americans will work to restore the country through legitimate means, and we still have alot of them despite what you think, until there is no legitimate means of enacting change. We have an election coming up. It's not perfect, but we have Rand Paul, and other voices of reasonable tone that may improve the climate in Washington. It's not perfect, but it's far better than violence, or violent protests.
If this does not get us far enough, we have nullification, (refer to the book by the same title). In effect, we are still a voluntary union of states that have the 10th amendment and can "nullify" federal legislation that is enacted, and not ruled unconstitutional by the puppet SCOTUS. It is at that point that if the Feds come banging on a state's door because they're not complying with federal regulations that it could start to get tense. Then we have to count on the elements in the federal powers being aligned with the constitution and not carrying out evil ( the banner of the oathkeepers)
There is no need to use any force of any kind, and there should be no violence of any kind. Lobby your state senator, lobby your state attorney general, and governor for nullification of unconstitutional laws. That is the way forward.
The good old boys you speak of have the sense and experience to not get overzealous or stupid. You have no idea how the weight of responsibility weighs on the true patriots. The bullets that are fired cannot be called back. I recommend you have a nice cup of tea, and relax.
I love the idea of the oathkeepers. I have grave doubts about states effectively asserting their rights, however.
At this point I see a nation absolutely controlled--at the levels that matter, both governmental and financial--by criminals, but expect to see in the very near future just what TPTB are going to do about it in the name of the people.
We'll see how this goes.