France. The movement of yellow vests wins without labor unions.

Submitted by meerov21 on December 6, 2018

The movement achieved a partial victory because it was not trade-union.

Self-organization of the movement was reached through social networks. Decentralization and readiness for violence played a role. They broke the government of France which agreed to concessions and froze petrol prices. Unlike the protests headed by the centralized labor unions there was here neither management, nor obvious leaders who could be bought or intimidated (now it becomes clear what is the criticism of labor unions from supporters of the decentralized movement of independent Workers and Local Councils).

Decentralized tactics led to fast exhaustion of forces of special police which never dealt with anything like this. Protesters did not gather on one large demonstration therefore it was not clear for police where they have to concentrate main forces. Government unexpectedly began to lose street war. Government had nobody for negotiations and it receded.

The сonsiderable part of participants represented working class 40+ are. Unexpectedly the railroad workers was breaking rails. It was the real guerrilla against things, and as a result police officers did not know where to move so they sprayed the forces. But everything occurred because these impudent morons from working class did the dirty deed without any coordination with leaders of labor unions!

It seems that rather early some people started talking about death of labor movement and disappearance of working class...

Events that happened in France remind partial realization of the ideas from the book «L’insurrection qui vient» prepared by the supporters of autonomous revolutionary resistance.

P.S. Here it is possible to read an interview with the direct participant of events in Paris Ksenia Yermoshina. It contains a lot of information and certain statistics. https://politkrytyka.org/2018/12/05/pod-zheltym-zhyletom/?fbclid=IwAR1Zvj7Bw-V0Ac4zDWGOj6DS_HgVMCKhifgZxtRXeZQ54w6pTLrTcjggleM

meerov21

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by meerov21 on December 6, 2018

It would be interesting to listen to someone from France...

ajjohnstone

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by ajjohnstone on December 6, 2018

We should not confuse tactics with goals and i'm rather confused about the aims of the Yellow Vests. After all part of the reason for the diesel tax rise is to save the planet.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-france-protests/frances-macron-learns-the-hard-way-green-taxes-carry-political-risks-idUSKBN1O10AQ

The New York Times had this surprisingly sympathetic article on the movement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/world/europe/yellow-vests-france.html

it is more Occupy than Orban — more akin to the protests against Wall Street driven by the working poor in the United States than the race-based, flag-waving of Hungary’s increasingly authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban.

I'm in a wait and see and learn more attitude. But it is definitely something to keep an eye on

R Totale

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on December 6, 2018

Meerov: lots of contributions, including a fair few from France, linked in the comments here: http://libcom.org/news/yellow-vest-movement-france-between-ecological-neoliberalism-apolitical-movements-28112018
AJJ: I'd broadly agree with the article I just linked that the situation shows the danger of the false choices posed by capitalist politics and the need to reject their options and make our own sides - if the drive to "save the planet" becomes identified with Macron-style neoliberalism, then we all lose:

"What should anarchists do in a situation like this? We can’t side with the state against demonstrators who are already struggling to survive. Likewise, we can’t side with demonstrators against the natural environment. We have to establish an anti-nationalist position within anti-government protests and an anti-state position within ecological movements. The “yellow vest” movement provides an instructive opportunity for us to think about how to strategize in an era of three-sided conflicts that pit us against both nationalists and centrists."

meerov21

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by meerov21 on December 6, 2018

From December 1, French anarchists actively participate in the movement of yellow vests. This is written by my friends, and there is also information about this on my link.

meerov21

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by meerov21 on December 7, 2018

As far as I know French government decided to increase environmental spending by taking money from the poor. In response Yellow vests said that money should be taken not from them, but from corporations. I don't know all the facts, but if that's the case, the position of the Yellow vests is impeccable.

meerov21

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by meerov21 on December 8, 2018

"But what makes France’s revolt different is that it has not followed the usual populist playbook. It is not tethered to a political party, let alone to a right-wing one. It is not focusing on race or migration, and those issues do not appear on the Yellow Vests’ list of complaints. It is not led by a single fire-breathing leader. Nationalism is not on the agenda."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/world/europe/yellow-vests-france.html

Coooool!