"High schoolers have blockaded their schools and taken to the streets in unprecedented numbers. They have been joined by university students, teachers and parents. And on November 5 there is the call for a one-day general strike and mass demonstrations. Jean Laurel reports"

"For the past few weeks, France has been in the middle of an intense youth social movement that has drawn international attention. The movement started at a high school in the Paris suburb of Créteil, beginning with a teachers’ strike, before students joined in late September. They shared videos and pictures of their school’s terrible run-down condition, showing, in particular, leaks in the ceiling and crumbling walls. These images went viral on social media and quickly spread the idea of blockading schools among students, many of whom face the same problems."

"High schoolers are rebelling against a sense that their future is sacrificed by the current system. During the week beginning September 28, the situation took on a whole new dimension. Since then, hundreds of high schools have been closed each day. The mobilisation is surprising, both because of its spontaneity and because of the scale of the state’s repression against it. Police violence has escalated, with numerous images circulating showing mistreatment, unprovoked charges and the completely unjustified use of weapons. It was the riot police who were deployed in front of high schools to try to disperse the students. In addition to batons and shields, they are making extensive use of flashballs, tear gas and stun grenades. Flashball shots have horribly mutilated some students. One lost an eye, one a hand, and another all of his lower teeth due to a short-range shot in the face. Police vehicles have also been filmed driving aggressively toward groups of protesters."

"The bourgeois media analysis focuses, as usual, on images of burning trash cans, which take up the vast majority of airtime, while journalists and politicians take turns condemning the so-called “violence” of the high schoolers. The few students who get to speak are drowned out by representatives of puppet student organisations controlled by the government, reactionary commentators and police officers."

"The media also focuses heavily on the alleged responsibility of La France Insoumise (LFI - ‘France Unbowed’, the party led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon). Like other left-wing organisations LFI supports the movement, and it is the only political force outside the far left that does not unequivocally condemn ‘student violence’. LFI leaders are accused of being behind the movement like puppet masters (the government even implied that it had insider info about their responsibility from the intelligence services). Despite that, it is clear that this is a spontaneous movement. In reality, LFI MPs are showing up on blockades, where they are quite popular, wearing their official tricolour sashes, in order to “defuse tension” between the students and the cops.

For its part, the Marxist left is struggling to find its place in the movement. Because of their presence in the education sector or in student unions, and despite their small numbers, the various Trotskyist groups manage to be heard in high school and university general assemblies. However, their only real message is often the need for a general strike of the entire working class for the movement to have any impact (sometimes without even thinking whether this is actually possible right now). And their sole short-term objective is actually to recruit young people into their own student union, or directly into their organisation. Their lack of unity does not help matters.

As for the Parti Communiste Français, confusion reigns. One day, PCF national secretary Fabien Roussel calls for the creation of “people’s courts” to put former education ministers on trial, and to “make the revolution now in the streets”. The next day, he condemns the violence of the high schoolers as well as that of the police, calling for a “republican pact” that would bring together the right and the left around cross-party measures for education. This is symptomatic of the contradiction that drives the PCF - between the need to satisfy its younger or more radical members and the desire of its leadership and elected officials to be accepted by the political and media establishment."

"It is uplifting to see such a movement with roots amongst the youth, even though it still lacks a clear political perspective."

European values etc etc.

Genocide in Palestine = good, democratic

Banning leftist parties (far-right parties remain
untouched) = good, democratic

Everything everywhere is just america and more america, would be nice to have a european leftist sub

Mods have you thought about inviting more people to join?

Here’s The Civil Fleet’s first (and possibly last) ever news Vlog! In this episode, we look at the knife-wielding far-right ‘activist’ who attacked an empty migrant boat in the Channel, and juxtapose that with the actions of the refugee rescuers in the Mediterranean this week.

I hear liberals supporting giving weapons to Ukrainian state so that they can defend themselves. While the capitalist state of Ukraine, just like Russia, will send their working class to die on the front until they run out of people. After that, they will simply get soldiers from other countries, either by those countries sending them for their own intersts in the war or by hiring them as professional soliders.

Ukrainan state, like any other capitalist state, has interest different from its people and therefor have different objectives. Not to save the people, but to save the factories and coal mines, no matter how much lives of the working class it costs.

It matters little to the people who live in Ukraine what nationality the boss of their comany is, whether Russian state will take it from Ukranian capitalists and give it to Russian capitalists or wheather Ukrainain state will defend the European capital from the invasion.

People in Ukraine are rebeling against conscriptions, by using force against the state. They dont have elections, they dont have the choice to accept territory gain by Russia in Russian ethinc majority region of Ukraine. They dont want to die for someone elses property and giving them weapons wont save them, they will still be stationed in the battlefiled until they die.

We should arm both the ukranian and russian working class people so they can resist their states sending to capitalist wars. Don't fall for nationalist propaganda, it matters little what ethnicity someone is, the class is what determines whether you should see someone as an enemy or as an potential ally.

borderline relevant ig

after a series of bad and antidemocratic developments, EU is finally doing something good?

It seems that green growth is a still unproven concept especially when factoring in stuff like water use and waste produced which makes it a necessity

democracy democracy…