Since Thursday, students and youth
in Paris, Rennes, Nantes, Toulouse and other cities across France
have held rallies and marched through the city streets. The protests
were against the right wing nationalist Marine Le Pen and the liberal
Emmanuel Macron who are facing off in the in the second round of the
presidential election.
In total, more than 3,000 high
school students took to the streets carrying signs exclaiming:
“Neither the banker, nor the racist!” and “The real
anti-establishment, that is us!” Political slogans could be heard
through the streets as students chanted “It is not the immigrants
who should be expelled, it is Marine Le Pen!”, "Macron, Le
Pen, we do not want them!”, “Their elections, our future!"
During many of the protests, the
youth were met by armoured police blocking the marches and dispersing
tear gas canisters into the crowds, while surveillance helicopters
could be seen in the sky above. One police officer in Rennes even
resorted to drawing his pistol and for a brief moment aiming it at
the protesters.
In Paris, gathering at Place de la
Republique the protest moved towards Boulevard Beaumarchais, where
the tension rose between police and students. Anouk, a 16 year-old
Parisian student from Lycée Buffon explains how the protests were
organised as a peaceful sit-in by high school students from all over
Paris. She said: "We disagree with the values put forward by
the National Front, and since we do not have the right to vote, we
have to express ourselves differently”.
In Lyons the protests escalated as
well. Students hung banners on the gates of the town hall, where one
read: "By my acts I vote 365 days a year. You who come out only
2 Sundays every 5 years, just vote as you see fit.” At the end of
the rally, demonstrators left the Place des Terreaux shouting “down
with capitalism”. A group of youths then wanted to cross one of the
city-bridges to join the protest on the other side of the river, but
were arrested by the police who fired tear gas at them.
The protests across France come
after years of political frustration among youths and workers.
Current president François Hollande and the French Socialist Party
have, despite their promises, implemented countless austerity
policies and allowed companies to cut workers' salaries. Meanwhile,
youth unemployment still stands at 24.6%. For this, Hollande and the
Socialist Party have paid the price, with the party in a deep crisis
and their candidate, Benoît Hamon, securing only 6.4% of the votes
in Sunday’s first round election. As the last part of the
presidential race now pits a racist right-winger against an
ex-banker, the frustration among those who face tough conditions
continues to increase.
With left-wing candidate Jean-Luc
Mélenchon out of the presidential race, the workers and youth of
France only have more capitalist policies of austerity and attacks on
living conditions to look forward to. The crisis of French capitalism
has, like in many other European countries, expressed itself through
a massive political polarisation to the left and to the right. The
traditional parties of the establishment, which the ruling class have
relied upon for decades, are all in deep crises of legitimacy. The
rise of Le Pen to the right and Melenchon to the left is an
indication of this process. But the recent protests indicate that a
layer amongst the youth are drawing even more radical conclusions.
Many of these young people see the crises facing society not only as
a result of poor political decision-making, but as a result of the
capitalist system. They see no future within the confines of this
system and correctly distrust all representatives of the ruling
class.
Protests like the ones across
France this week show just how fed up many students and workers are
with austerity, lies upon lies from politicians and the capitalist
system in general. Mélenchon’s massive success, where 30% of
voters aged 18 to 24 voted in favor of his movement, is a sign of the
potential for radical movements in the next period. The youth who
took to the streets this week are reflecting the brewing mood under
the surface, and anticipating future developments within the wider
youth and the working class. There are undoubtedly more protests on
the way and for the workers and youth of France it will only become
clearer that the problems facing France, Europe and the entire world
cannot be solved within the limits of capitalism. The only solution,
as many young people are realising, is “Neither the banker, nor the
racist!” but to break with the capitalist system and expropriate
the means of production to create a truly fair society.
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