10.11.2005

What the French left says

Parti Communiste Français

There is a very grave situation in the popular quarters of several French towns "¦: cars and public buildings set on fire, acts of violence against firefighters, confrontations with the police, shots and tear gas grenades - even a mosque has been hit. The immense majority of men, women and youth in these quarters, particularly those in the most difficulty, are the first victims of this intolerable violence. This explosion was sparked by the irresponsible policy of provocation of the minister of the interior "¦ Stigmatised, humiliated, discriminated, certain youths - a small number - have become hostages to this logic of confrontation through which they are wrongly expressing their anger, their revolt, their despair. The government has shown itself incapable of guaranteeing public order "¦ Nicolas Sarkozy must be relieved of his duties "¦. Re-establishing order is extremely urgent "¦ The Communist Party proposes implementing a number of measures "¦ l Engage in "¦ a genuine dialogue "¦ which, developed in a spirit of détente and not in the logic of repression, requires the immediate deployment of units of local police and a partnership between all the concerned actors: police, gendarmerie, the courts, councils, local associations "¦. l Repeal all laws that compromise liberties, are discriminatory and feed the cycle of violence-repression-violence. l Establish a citizenship of residence, giving the vote to every man and woman living in France. l Put the police at the service of the whole nation "¦ l Really attack the parallel economy and trafficking of all types "¦ l Restore direction to the law, which means "¦ respecting rights so that the notion of duties can regain its meaning and legitimacy "¦ l Give to the justice system the means to ensure that the law respects everyone equally - which implies for magistrates as well as the penal system the new means necessary to give the punishment for every infraction the ability to reinforce, while respecting every person, fundamental rules which allow all to live together. Executive committee statement, November 4 Lutte Ouvrière Of course, the main victims of the violence are the inhabitants of the suburbs. The burning cars are not those of the billionaires or ministers, but those of workers who live in those quarters. That is why, when the youth take on firefighters as representatives of authority, that does not show very great consciousness "¦. If life is becoming more and more hard in these quarters, left governments of the past have just as much responsibility as the right "¦. The degradation of life in the poor quarters is part of the degradation of the condition of workers under the blows that big business and successive governments have rained on the popular classes. One hopes that the working class, in rediscovering its ability to counter the offensive of the bosses and government, will win the ear of the youth in the popular quarters and that the latter, for its part, will be able, alongside the whole working class movement, to express what is legitimate in its revolt and leave by the wayside the yobs and petty dealers. Arlette Laguiller, editorial Lutte Ouvrière November 4 Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire For the LCR the government is totally responsible for the situation of disarray in the popular quarters "¦ the youth and the populations of the quarters must not line up against each other, but find once more the road to solidarity. The mobilisation of the people against the government is indispensable "¦ The LCR calls on the population, on the youth, on left and democratic forces to build this front of resistance. Statement, November 7 Parti des Travailleurs (Daniel Gluckstein's Workers Party - Internationalist Communist Current) No published statement. The only article available on the PT website from the latest edition of its weekly, Informations Ouvrières, is an editorial on withdrawal from the European Union (November 3-9) La Riposte, Grantite PCF entrists This is an uprising of the youth "¦ the most oppressed, crushed and desperate youth "¦ The methods employed by the youth in revolt "¦ are not those of the workers' movement. We cannot approve of the destruction of schools, crèches, businesses or even vehicles. But such acts are the nature of this type of mobilisation "¦. This rebellion is beckoning the trade union, socialist and communist movement, which must not stand apart from such an important movement "¦ The sacking of Sarkozy alone is not enough. We must demand the immediate calling of elections to get rid of this government as quickly as possible. Statement from Greg Oxley, editor of La Riposte, November 8