France

Helicopter-borne French commandos storm anti-privatisation protest

The European Union and the French economic, financial and political establishment plunged into crisis as France voted last night against the proposed EU constitution.

"We’re voting no. It is a constitution for the bourgeoisie, for multinationals, for bosses. It is only about the economy, competition, profits, the market and capitalism. We are against all that; we are communists. There […]

Mobilisations against the Raffarin government merge with opposition to the European constitution.

One million people took to the streets demanding better wages and battling against a longer working week

The three main French trade union confederations CFTC (Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens), CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail) and FO (Force Ouvrière) have launched an appeal to all private and public sector workers to strike […]

Thousands take to the streets against right wing Raffarin government

Just two days after the half-term holidays ended for all school students the streets of France filled with school students striking and demonstrating against the education ‘reform’.

The public sector workers turned out in massive numbers last week against the ongoing liberalisation pushed by the Raffarin government and to protest against the meagre wage deal they had been offered.

Prospect of new wave of workers’ struggles

Last Sunday, France went to the ballot box for regional and district elections.

France goes to the polls next Sunday, 21 March, for elections in the regions and districts (‘departements’ that are divided into ‘cantonments’).

Socialists oppose right wing agenda

While the right wing Raffarin government in France increases its attacks against the social gains of the past, there is a continued radicalisation amongst workers and youth.

30 years after the first big demonstration against the military bases in Larzac, southwest France, over 350,000 people met there again this summer, three times more than expected.

The first thing that made the teachers angry was the ’decentralisation’ of education. This is a government project that aims to transfer education financing, management and recruitment from the state to the regions. But there […]

ON JUNE 12 the two central leaders of the French trade union movement came down to Marseille to address a mass rally at the end of a 260,000-strong demonstration. Bernard Thibault, leader of the Confederation […]

Strikes and protest actions are continuing across France on a daily basis, against the Raffarin government’s pension ‘reform’ plans.

Across France in countless villages, towns and cities, French workers from both the private and public sector, students and young people demonstrated in their hundreds of thousands and took strike action on Tuesday 3 June, […]

Mass strikes and demonstrations on Tuesday, 3 June, show a hardening mood of combativity and solidarity in the battle against pension reform.

An attack on workers’ pensions by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has combined with other issues, particularly education decentralisation, to fuel a massive response by workers the length and breadth of France.

Paris pictures home page.Five pictures on each page.   Photographer: Paul Mattsson   one two three four five six seven eight nine

The streets of Paris resounded to the beat of drums and marching feet, this Sunday (25 May). Music blared. Rail workers ignited red flares filling the air with smoke. It was a riot of colour. […]

After the magnificent mobilisation of Tuesday, 13 May, against the government’s proposed pension reform, the biggest trade-union confederation (CFDT), together with the CGC, signed a deal with the right wing government. Will this unholy alliance […]

Chirac’s victory in the second round of the French National Assembly elections has been widely presented as a further part of a European swing to the political right.

The results of the June 2 first round of the national assembly elections are not simply a right wing success and do not give a full picture of French politics.

The first-round success of far-right leader, Jean-Marie le Pen, in the French presidential elections shocked the world. Hardly discussed, however, were the votes for the Trotskyist parties. Socialism Today interviews Alex Rouillard, organiser for Gauche […]

Turnout