#93: France in Flames: The Movement Against Macron's Pension Reform

The Ex-Worker

In France, a powerful protest movement has erupted against the government in response to an attempt to raise the retirement age. Millions have gone on strike and poured into the streets in the most substantial unrest in France since the Yellow Vest movement. President Emmanuel Macron and his henchmen have attempted to crush this movement by escalating police violence to lethal extremes. In this episode, we share two recently published texts on the movement against Macron’s pension reform in France. In France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising?, published on March 22nd, we present an introduction and a translation of a French text, which explore the roots of the movement, an overview of its first phase, and an analysis of the issues at stake—which, our correspondents argue, goes beyond the democratic process or social benefits to a rejection of work itself. In France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence, published on March 30th, we offer a chronology of the events of the previous week, including a translation of an account by one participant in the brutally repressed demonstration at Sainte-Soline on March 25th and a statement from the parents of another who remains in a coma. As anti-government struggles with very different characters rage across the globe, from Peru to Iran to Israel, we’re doing our best to transmit reports from anarchists on the ground about what’s happening, about the possibilities and risks they present, and about how we can think critically about the currents of liberation inside of them. (April 15, 2023)

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• Table of Contents:
  • Episode Introduction {0:37}
  • France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising? {2:22}
  • Bedtime for the Macron Regime? {12:04}
  • Alone against All {13:14}
  • The Best Retirement Is Attack {16:31}
  • A Critique of Violence {19:34}
  • Learning the Lessons of Repression {22:13}
  • Power Is Logistical—Let’s Block Everything {27:40}
  • Towards Infinity and Beyond {33:05}
  • Ex-Worker PSA {34:40}
  • France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence {35:05}
  • The General Strike of March 23 {36:45}
  • The Strike Continues {39:19}
  • March 25: Bloodbath in Sainte-Soline {40:23}
  • Reportback From Sainte-Soline {44:34}
  • Communiqué from the Parents of Serge on March 29, 2023 {48:29}
  • The Strike Continues {50:16}
  • Conclusion {58:15}

• This episode narrates two articles: France: The Movement Against The Pension Reform—On The Threshold Of An Uprising? (March 22nd) and France in Flames: Macron Attempts to Crush the Movement against the Pension Reform with Lethal Violence (March 30th).

• This episode includes a translation of an anonymous report-back from the March 25 protest at Sainte-Soline, and a statement from the parents of Serge, who was critically injured by police violence at the protest.

• To understand the context for social upheavals in France today, you may want to check out our coverage from recent years, of the Yellow Vest movement of 2018–19—see The Yellow Vest Movement in France: Between Ecological Neoliberalism and Apolitical Movements (November 2018) and The Movement as Battleground: Fighting for the Soul of the Yellow Vest Movement—and of the movements that preceded it, as described in our 2017 article, From the Loi Travail to the French Elections: A Retrospective on Social Upheaval in France, 2015–2017.

• Our French correspondents argue that what’s really at stake in the protests around the retirement age is a mass rejection of work itself. Well, we’ve had some things to say about work, too, if you want to read or listen.

• Our friends at Ill Will Editions offer some of the most insightful English-language coverage of social upheavals in France; this episode quotes from their article The Trap of Sainte-Soline.

• The episode makes reference to the text “Why All Cops Are Bastards”. For more audio resources on similar themes, check out classic Ex-Worker episodes 5, “Still Not Loving Police” and 6, “Making Police Obsolete”.

• For additional context, check out this article of strategic reflections on the spontaneous demonstrations of March 18 in Paris.

• If you want to support rebels in France, check out this comprehensive list of solidarity funds from across the country and this anti-repression solidarity fund.