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Statement of the CGA (anarchist group coordination) on French governement policy

category france / belgium / luxemburg | workplace struggles | opinion / analysis author Thursday September 06, 2007 21:22author by Berckman - Coordination des groupes anarchistesauthor email liaison93 at c-g-a dot org Report this post to the editors

Here is a statement we made recently about the policy of the French governement. Feel free to ask if something doesn't make sense, as the translation may not be perfect.


Analysis of French government policies

The "breaking off" promised by Sarkozy already reached it limits. The government used the traditional tricks to pass on an "emergency procedure" basis a series of anti-social measures during summer time, a time not really favourable to social resistance .
No "breaking off" in deed, neither in the method nor in the policies, as the state continue to show that he is the perfect defender of the interests of the bourgeoisie.
This is what gives sense to the many measure taken this summer. Unlike what he claims, the government doesn't answer to a series of problems giving for each one "pragmatic" "concrete" answers, which are free of any ideology. On the contrary, he build a coherent system to ensure that the rich gets richer and richer, that the poor stay poor and this ensuring a social order which allow the "business to go on" without any problem.

Extorting more (to the poor) to earn more

The tax policy fits perfectly to this line. The gift galore are granted to the rich and the bosses : less death duties, "tax shield"(tax exemption over a certain amount) which will be to the very rich's advantage (13000 tax payers will get each one 45 000 euros back), new exemption of employer's contributions in favor of the boss on overtime hours, which is added to the actual 19 billion euros, etc...
The state's budget and social security deficits that are the consequences of theses present is used as an alibi to tax the poorest.
The forthcoming "social tax" is an example of it, so are the medical deductibles. These last measure transfer the money effort on the sickest and the poorest one, hiding behind "realism", making workers feel guilty or winning them over by appealing to their softer side : "filling the so-called « social security hole » and raising money for the anti-alzheimer plan".
This destroy the last remaining "mutual aid" tendencies of the social security system. The fall of social security's health care will automatically open a more important space for private insurances. By organizing the deficits, the state kills to birds with one stone : he makes financial gifts to the bosses one the poorest one's back, and offer new markets to the capitalists.
This is the same logic that will be used in the future continuation of the retirement pension reform announced for 2008.
The actual preparation of the attack against « special pension status » (for transport worker, energy workers, etc...) is only the prologue to the social declines scheduled for every workers. The lengthening of the number of years you have to contribute to get a proper retirement pension, will lead those who have the money to start saving money on an individual basis by using private pension funds. For the old ones that weren't able to save money, the only option left will be work until death or misery.
The 22700 public services job cuts in the 2008 budget are also a part of this perspective. The organisation of public sectors shortage open the door to the direct introduction of private investment in their capitals. When ever this is not possible, the lack of financial means implies a decreasing quality of the services given to the users, which favour the private sector's as a « competitive alternative ». This is certainly that way that we should understand the big cuts in the national education staff which aim to lead people to choose more and more private schools.
In the same way, the law introducing so-called« universities autonomy » is a privatization that the government don't even bother to really hide.

A government that wage an ideological war

Socializing the expense, privatizing profit, this is what could sum up most of the government's action. Nothing new, shall we say, as the different government, left wing as much as right wing that follow each other since tenth of years are dedicated to that goal, as they are good manager of the system. But beside the speeding up of the phenomenon, we can analyse a change of position of the government which wage an ideological struggle to obtain the people to subscribe to the measure he's taking. The law on overtimes work hours which was voted in the summer is a good example of this change : Here is a measure that will surely harden working conditions, imply more flexibility, raise the working time and lower the hourly wage. This lowering the unemployed workers' chance to get a job as the boss will prefer using overtime hours. All of this for an illusive and short time increase of wage : a few immediate euros quickly taken back by the incoming wage freezing as employers will be encouraged to do, and by the growth of heath expenses ( suppressing refunds for medical acts and medications, introducing medical deductible) and tax expense ( « social » tax on goods being sold).
This government has communicated over and over on this measure « sold » with the now famous motto : « work more to earn more ». This behavior, going on the offensive toward « public opinion » show the clear aim to discredit any attempt to oppose the reforms. And maybe to put an end to a certain « French exception » where a social safety net and an opposition on the social grounds is persisting a little.
We must take this angle into account in regard of the necessary struggle we have to carry. No doubt that the government will use the same ideological undermining in his next attacks, being supported by mass media, to lead more and more people to subscribe to a liberal conception of society. The ongoing communication on the « unique working contract », which will tear down the remaining « social » laws about work (work code), don't seem to bring anything different or surprising.
The state is also redoubling his effort on the education ground, to shape the consciousness of the youngest with his unegalitarian world view. The speech of Xavier Darcos (minister of education) on his conception about education (i believe in the hierarchical school, transmission school) announce a coming back to authoritarian conception of child as an receptacle for the adult demands and desire, trained to submission and passivity. The lax about university autonomy also transform the campuses into places where competition and profitability are the criteria that has priority, definitely giving up any critical teaching, of quality, in favour of a standard training in direct relation with the need of local bosses.

A governement fight for preventing... social conflicts.

An authoritarianism and an assumed repression are added to this ideological offensive.
Anticipating the moment where brainwash won't be enough anymore, the government is developing new tools to prevent and repressed social movement, fitting its traditional role.
The intensification of visa-less immigrants' hunting during summer time is a sad example of that tendency. The Drama in Amiens where a 12 year old Chechen boy without visa, fell from the 4the floor while trying to run away with his father from the police, has been bringing more media focus than the Romas (« gypsy ») hunting in several cities or the deportation and hardship brought to visa-less hungerstrikers in Lille, in spite that they were supported by an active comity.
As an ongoing law project aiming at hardening again the conditions of family regrouping will be discussed in the national assembly this fall, the state's intention seems clear : to break the dynamic of struggles around visa-less immigrants workers, so that they remain or get back to clandestineness and as such continue to be used as a workforce liable to ruthless exploitation.
The law on « minimum service » in the transport sector, a clear attack on the right to strike, also fits to this strategy aiming at « preventing conflicts »
The already existing « security laws » have also been strengthen this summer. The aim of these measures are always the same : demagogic gesticulations, the management of the violences created by the damage of capitalism and attempt to make people subscribe to the rôle the state is giving himself.
The law on « repeat offense », passed in July, will mechanically lead to increasing the number of inmate to 10 000 more than today, already up to 62 000 prisoners. The jail sentence are the punishment that generate the more « repeat offense », especially for teen agers, precisely the one that are targeted by the law suppressing « minority excuse », judging them the same way than adults. Knowing that 80 % of the prisoners belong to the most underprivileged class of society, we can only see in those measures the will to lock the social violence up, the social violence resulting from unegalitarian economic policies of the government.
A law programming and directing internal security (LOPSI) is to be discussed this fall, and we already know that she will contain the tripling of videotape monitoring. To prepare us to this measure, they use the « fight against terrorism » argument. Yet, the example of 2005 firebombing of London only showed that these devices fail to prevent this kind of thing to happen, as the city is the most fitted out with video cameras. On the other hand, this is a networking of information on the everyday life and action of everybody, which will add itself to the already substantial amount of files existing.

They are a handful, we are millions : to organize, to revolt for an other society

Social safety, education, work condition, immigration, individual and collective freedom, the government is attacking everything with a certain dexterity. The situation seems complicated and the necessary global counterstrike seems hard to build, facing so many attacks at the same time. But this is the only reasonable way to hope change the tendency. There is nothing to wait from an hypothetical recombining of the left as she stick to the electoral ground. This recombining would only repeat the dead ends of the past, its renouncement after grabbing power, and the system's management, from Mitterand to Lula, the results have always been the same. It is necessary that all of those that want to put an end to social decline and to the advance of fascist ideas in people's mind, focus their energy on building a autonomous and organized social movement, breaking off with the form of representation and political delegations. We must regain confidence in the strength that we ca, represent because the state only act in the profit of a privileged minority. The strength of millions of individuals deciding to become active in a social movement cannot be contained for a long time by repression and politicking.
For this, we must popularize another society project, opposed to the value of competition, « individualist success » way of mind, and hierarchy. We want to live equality, justice and freedom by the mean of a social organisation pooling riches and in which the power to decide belong to each one of us.

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