protesters occupy French cities in revolutionary call for change

[dixiegrrrrl]

For more than a week, these vast nocturnal protest gatherings – from parents with babies to students, workers, artists and pensioners – have spread across France, rising in number, and are beginning to panic the government.

Called Nuit debout, which loosely means “rise up at night”, the protest movement is increasingly being likened to the Occupy initiative that mobilised hundreds of thousands of people in 2011 or Spain’s Indignados.

Snip.....
There’s something here that I’ve never seen before in France – all these people converge here each night of their own accord to talk and debate ideas – from housing to the universal wages, refugees, any topic they like. No one has told them to, no unions are pushing them on – they’re coming of their own accord.”

The idea emerged among activists linked to a leftwing revue and the team behind the hit documentary film Merci Patron!, which depicts a couple taking on France’s richest man, billionaire Bernard Arnault. But the movement gained its own momentum – not just because of the labour protests or in solidarity with the French Goodyear tyre plant workers who kidnapped their bosses in 2014. It has expanded to address a host of different grievances, including the state of emergency and security crackdown in response to last year’s terrorist attacks.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/08/nuit-debout-protesters-occupy-french-cities-in-a-revolutionary-call-for-change?CMP=fb_gu


Spring is coming......................

[malaise]

1. The 1% and their scumbag political bidders will soon need the trillions they stole

as they run to their underground bunkers

[socialist_n_TN]

2. I started seeing a pattern back in 2010 with these occupations.......

beginning with the Wisconsin uprising, then Occupy, and now into the Sanders campaign. Every one starts unnoticed and small, then grows into a massive social phenomena. But other than finally getting some MSM notice nothing gets done. Wisconsin was turned into the recall election which Walker won, Occupy was broken up by police repression mostly by Democratic mayors, and Sanders is likely to lose the nomination. And I expect this movement to fail too. Or if not fail completely, then bring down the Socialist government and open the door to the far right party.

The reason these movements don't get any further along is the failure of the far left to give specific and concrete steps for the next moves. AND the lack of vision of the people involved in these movements to see beyond the reform of capitalism. We'll see what happens here, and yes, I'm proud that the people of France are doing SOMETHING, but this needs much more focus and a plan for taking state power away from the bourgeoisie and putting it in the hands of the workers if it is to succeed in wresting democratic control of society from the bosses. It will do no good to repeat the failures of the Occupy movement. The bar needs to be raised to something bigger than getting attention to the problem. We all need to start solving the problem.

[Hydra]

4. Baby steps

Each time the movement returns, it gets stronger and more focused. Each time more is seen as possible.

We may not have time for it, but this is how it seems to be coming.

[Odin2005]

5. Far Left organizations are too interested is fighting each other over tiny ideological differences..

...to work together. I've become disillusioned with them.

[romanic]

7. Agreed.

The "intersectionality" rears it's ugly head in organizations like these. We've seen it with Occupy and we've seen it with BLM; this I fear will not be different.

[Surya Gayatri]

6. "failure of the far left to give specific and concrete steps..."

Most idealistic movements have this weakness, whether here in France or in the States. Intellectualizing and idealizing vs implementing and carrying out.

"The reason these movements don't get any further along is the failure of the far left to give specific and concrete steps for the next moves. AND the lack of vision of the people involved in these movements to see beyond the reform of capitalism."

Even the earthy, plain-spoken Sanders has "how-to" gaps in his proposals, the same lacunae far-leftists are found to have here in France.

[wilsonbooks]

3. Not intirely unprecedented.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90330162

[Nye Bevan]

8. When you elect the Socialist candidate as president, and even he realizes that a 35-hour work week

doesn't work, protesting is about the only thing you can do.