In solidarity with the mass protests in France

 Once again the people in France have been forced to take to the streets in protest against hardship and inequality. Scenes of people defending themselves against the tear gases and anti-riot tactics have been broadcast worldwide. The country-side mass participation in the protests have already put an end to the official media propaganda to portray the on-going events as merely the “rampage” of a “few saboteurs”. These protests have shown the depth of anger against the policies that trample over the needs of the great majority of the society, deepens their hardship further, in order to balance the governments’ books for the benefit of a tiny minority.

 The government and the President of one of the richest countries in the world are intent on safeguarding the interests and profit margins of the capitalists by dipping further in the pockets of the working people. It is common knowledge that health, education, welfare, etc have all been facing budget squeezes, while corporate tax, and in fact all the taxes on the tiny minority of capitalists have in real terms remained the same or have decreased.

 The policies being pursued in France have once again shown the fallacy of the Macron’s claims to be “representative of the people”. These are the same policies, the continuation of the same as was pursued by the previous governments. After a decade of enforcing “austerity measures” in order to save their banks and their financial system, people in France are being told that they still need to bear the burdens of the crisis of this system. The current policies are the answers of Macron and the government to the anti-establishment movement, the movement of enough is enough, the movement of disenchantment with the whole saga of parliament, and in a word, the movement against the inequality and ruling hypocrisy across the society. Moreover, they show that Macron and the current government, the far-right nationalists, the old social democracy, and all the bourgeois representatives, all and all have and follow the same agenda of ensuring the continuation of the same capitalist system.

 This is the same story throughout the world. Everywhere, from Iran to Paris, from Australia to USA, the working people, the great majority of the society is facing harsher conditions, while the capitalists are getting more and more of all the wealth that is being produced.  Everywhere the forms are protests are different, but they share the common nature, of protests against further hardship, protests for improved standard of living, protests for an end to the current status-quo.

 The lesson for all of us, globally, is just as much the same. It is clear that unless the working class forms its own class opposition, all protests and heroism can be easily hijacked by one or other strata of the bourgeois. It is in pursuit of this aim, that we solute you and your struggles against the policies of austerity that are being continued in France.

 Long live international solidarity

 
Hekmatist Party (official line) Organisation Abroad

2 December 2018