+++ FRANCE: 50 universities occupied/on strike, also schools; unions in solidarity! +++

.

please help to publish this report on other IMC´s in USA

just copy and paste !!!

greetings

hell yeah!

This new law makes it OK to hire under 26 year olds with a contract that sounds just like the normal working conditions of a job here in the US.

Wouldn't it be awesome if all of the americans rose up in protest?

Inside the occupation movement: 'Together we are recreating our university'
 http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id...=8486
French students in new rebellion
 http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id...=8483
Unity between workers and the young has put the Tory government onto the back foot
 http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id...=8484
This is the spirit of the 1960s
 http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id...=8485

France has been hit with a wave of strikes, protests, marches and university occupations in recent days as workers, students and young people fight a new legal state assault on employment rights.


Keep up to date with our English-language updates on the struggle, now online and updated 24 hours a day at  http://libcom.org/blog

The 'first employment contract' (Contrat première embauche, or CPE) which was adopted by the senate on the 28th of February removes job security from workers under 26. The French Government has claimed that the only way to reduce chronic youth unemployment is by giving employers the right to sack workers under the age of 26 without notice, compensation or even a reason during the first two years of their employment. This proposal has been widely criticised by students' unions, trade unions and public opinion. With unemployment amongst under-25s running at 22% many young people feel they have little to lose, even a good degree is no guarantee of finding work.

The vote in the Senate on the CPE was brought forward by a week to pre-empt the national day of protest called by students' unions for the 7th of March. The day of protest went ahead in spite of this, with 400,000 people attending 160 demonstrations according to police([search]) estimates. The demonstrations were mixed with trade unionists, students, the unemployed and education workers. Students from the Lycées (roughly equivalent to secondary schools) were well represented at demonstrations. There have been occupations and strikes country wide, mainly focussed around universities. Roughly half of France's universities have been occupied, Rennes II university has been blockaded by anti-CPE protesters and strikers since early February. In Tours, several hundred students invaded tracks at the railway station, stopping all trains for three hours on Friday according to the SNCF. On Tuesday 7th the Sorbonne in Paris, a key site in May 1968, which has not been the site of an occupation since was occupied by students. The Sorbonne has since been violently evicted as shown below.

"Wouldn't it be awesome if all of the americans rose up in protest?"

I agree with Nick. Seems to be the only way that grabs media and some peoples attention...

The people, united, will never be defeated!

some hours ago (it was evening in europe) in many cities in france spontaneous demonstrations started... there were again heavy clashes between police and protesters...

Keep up to date with our English-language updates on the struggle, now online and updated 24 hours a day at  http://libcom.org/blog

At the weekend police stormed into Sorbonne university, Paris, beating people, using teargas. Police was attacked militantly by the students - ladders, chairs, and so on were thrown on them from the top of the building.

Video: marseille.indymedia.org//uploads/2006/03/06.03.11tf11_13h00evacuationsorbonnest_400_64.avi

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streetfights in paris between right winged students and left winged activists.
more and more people from the banlieu ghettos join the students´struggle

As of today there are now 64 universities on strike:

Aix-Marseilles 1, Aix-Marseilles 2, Aix-Marseilles 3, Amiens, Angers Artois, Avignon, Besancon, Bordeaux 1, Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux 3, Bordeaux 4, Brest, Caen, Clermont 2, Chambéry, Corte, Dijon, Grenoble 1, Grenoble 2, Grenoble 3, La Rochelle, Le Havre, Mans, Lille 1, Lille 2, Lille 3, Limoges, Lorient, Lyon 2, Metz, Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2, Montpellier 3, Nancy 1, Nancy 2, Nantes, Orleans, Pau, Poitiers, Rennes1, Rennes 2, Rouen, Rheims, St Etienne, Toulon, Toulouse1, Toulouse 2, Turns, Paris 1, Paris 3, Paris 4, Paris 5, Paris 6, Paris 7, Paris 8, Paris 10, Paris 11, Paris 12, Paris 13, Evry, The Marne The Valley, Versailles St Quentin.


Additionally, since today dozens of schools in Paris are mobilisized and on strike for at least today. At noon there will be a rally at the place of the nation and afterwards the pupils will move to the "place of italy" where the big demonstration of all students will begin at 2pm.

unions in solidarity with the students - demonstrations on thursday in:


PARIS 14h place d'Italie
LYON 14H00 BELLECOUR
STRASBOURG 14H30 Place Kleber
TOURS 15h00 à la Place de la liberté
ORLEANS 10h30 sur le parvis de la cathédarle
VALENCE 13h30 place du Champs de Mars
BORDEAUX 11h30 République
TOULOUSE 14h30 à Jeanne d'Arc
ANGERS 14h30 Place Leclerc
CALAIS 9h00 Place de la Mairie
TARBES 9h00 Bourse du Travail
TOULON 14h00 Place de la Liberté
CHAMBERY 14h30 Place de la Sasson
LENS 14h30 Place du Cantin
ST ETIENNE 10h00 Place de la Liberté
LA SEYNE SUR MER 14h00 Lycée Beaussier
NANTES 17h00 Commerce
PERPIGNAN 10h00 Place de Catalogne
SAINTES : 14h00 Palais de Justice
MARSEILLE: 10.00 Place Charles de Gaulle (place du manège en bas de la Canebière) NANCY14H Place Carnot: 17h sitting devant la préfecture Saint-Remy en Bouzemont: 10h00 au lieu-dit "les 3 chèvres"
BEUVRY la forêt: 9h30 devant l'arrêt de bus
SAINT ROGER sur Iton: 11h30 derrière la cabane du père Marcel
LE MANS : 16/03 RDV à 10h place de la préfecture 18/03 Plave des jacobins à 14h Pour LORIENT:14h campus (Paquebot),
LE HAVRE: Franklin 10h30
ST ETIENNE de Jeudi à 14H00 partira de PLACE DE L'HOTEL DE VILLE
GRENOBLE 14 h place de la gare Pontivy
BOULOGNE sur mer: 9h30 place Dalton
MACON 15h00 Place de la Barre
MONTCEAU (71) 10h00 Lycée Henri Parriat
LA ROCHE SUR YON 15h00 Place Napoléon
EVREUX 15h00 Bourse du Travail
CHARTRES 14h30 Place des Halles
MULHOUSE 14h30 Place de la Réunion
EPINAL 14h00 Place de la Préfecture
FORBACH 14h00 au EPINAL 14h00 Place de la Préfecture
CHARLEVILLE MEZIERES 14h30 Place Ducale
ST BRIEUC 11h place de la liberté et 14h place de la préfecture
AUCH 11h Escaliers d'Etigny avec manifestation et blocage de la «patte d'oie».
MONT DE MARSAN 10h00 1, bis rue de la madeleine
CLERMONT FERRAND 14h00 Fac de lettres
AMIENS 17h00 Maison de la Culture
POITIERS 14h00 Place du Maréchal Leclerc
LONS LE SAUNIER 14h00 AG place de la Liberté
LONGWY 8h00 lycée Alfred Mézières
ARRAS 14 h place de la gare

+++ TOULOUSE - At the University of Social Sciences of Toulouse 1 this morning the right extreme, with the support of the Administration and Profs, attacked strikers anti CPE - confrontation took place - the strikers resist this aggression.
The general assembly of the university had brought together 1000 students who voted in favour of the blocking of the establishment this morning, thus joining the many universities blocked across France within the fight against the law on the CPE. This was a historical event given that this university had never before voted to strike, even at the time of the events of 1968.
This was to the taste neither of the university president, the administration, or of the right-wing policy trade unions and extreme right-hand. This morning towards 9am, fascist streetfighters wearing motorbike helmets and armed with teargas grenades and metal bars attcked students who were forming a peaceful block of the university campus with an extreme violence.
Accompanied by the president of the university Henry Roussillon, these commandos broke the windows in order to penetrate in the buildings where the strikers were. +++

+++ Scores of high schools and 70% of universities now blocked +++

+++ Some demonstrations already started in areas, in particular in Marseilles, where several thousands of people (15 000 according to organizers', 7 000 according to the police force), among which a strong high-school girl presence but also of the teachers, gathered at the end of the morning. +++

Other demonstrations already took place, in particular in Limoges (several thousands), Ajaccio, Pau, Dax, Boulogne (1 500), Pamiers (Ariège), Perpignan (1500 to 2 000) or in Le Havre (2 000 to 4 000). In Nice, approximately a thousand of high-school pupils organized gatherings and blocked an expressway, just as approximately 200 in the Vitry-on-Seine (the Valley-of-Marne). The largest school of Aveyron (1 600 pupils), the Monteil school in Rodez, was also blocked by forty high-school pupils with barricades. In Rennes, a hundred students invaded the town hall, hanging on the frontage a banner: "All France joined against the CPE."

I make it short this time. Between 247.000 and 600.000 pupils/students went on the street today. Lots of demonstrations, rally across the country. Also there are reports about another attack on students by rightwinger (armed with helmets and sticks) and the police stood by. Anyway..the evening saw riots in paris with burned cars, torched kiosks and lots of scuffles between students and the police. Meanwhile, 212 arrests as of 7.40pm French time. 147 of them in Paris. 35 police and CRS (riot police) injured.

Video of a small riot in paris (sorry, flash-movie):  link to today.reuters.com

Some pics:  link to editorial.gettyimages.com

And on saturday there will be another huge actionday, this time together with unions...

Today up to 300 people were arrested, as peaceful protest turned violent in the evening. Some unions are now speaking about country-wides strikes, if the government will not react to the protests.

Today in France...

Today in France...

Today in France...

Une chose que je vais dire, c'est que les francais savent la manifestation, et leurs manifestations sont normalemant plus efficace que les notres ici. Ils ont raison a lutter against la loi CPE, et j'espere qu'ils gagnent...

Merci mes freres et mes soeurs pour votre information!

cute french editorial cartoon:

 http://www.indymedia.org/images/2006/03/834951.jpg

My heart is there with you, how I wish to be able to be right there marchig and protesting alongside you in solidarity.

An American friend and sympathizer (age 63)

 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/336014.shtml

I hate to play devil's advocate here, but this is something to consider:

In the USA, a person who is voluntarily employed(not subject to a contract of employment) does NOT have to give any notice to quit, and cannot be denied appropriate benefits(if eligible) due to quitting without notice.

If you were to find a better job that pays more or has better benefits, you do not, contrary to popular belief, have to give 2 weeks notice.

Also, it is unlawful for a company to divulge any subjective information about your performance, or the fact that you did terminate your employment without notice. IE: They can't say you were a bad worker because of it. They can't say you were a bad worker PERIOD, because that is a subjective analysis of your performance.)

So, if you think about it that way, you can be fired without notice, but you have the same power to terminate your own employment without consequence.


Some employment contracts that I have seen have clauses which forbid you from working for a competitor for a certain number of years. So if you were to receive a job offer from a competing firm, you would be contractually obligated to decline this offer, no matter how much better it may be.


Are you willing to give up freedom to gain security?

A four-hour work day for all laborers would solve unemployment problems quite neatly.
A four-hour work day with 4 to 6 shifts would provide employment for everyone who wants to work.

--Everyone could work; no one need be made sick and crippled from excessive labor.
--Old and young alike could work 4-hour days without suffering as they do now.
--A four-hour workday is quite enough for any society to be productive, if all the population is engaged in working.

The problem is not lack of productivity.
--Productivity of shoddy goods in mass quantities serves only one purpose--to enrich the few.
--Productivity of quality goods in due proportion to the population enriches the many.

Once basic material needs are met, true productivity becomes measured in terms of services, not materiel.

--Not just food, but good food--for all.
--Not just custodial care but good care--for the sick and aged.
--Not just cures for work-related diseases, but active preventative care.

Picture this:
--Fresh garden produce transported a few feet to the community kitchen.
--Excellent cooks.
--A short shift at dishwashing and laundering the tablecloths.
--Quality care for the young, for the old.
--Efficient team cleaning in households.
--Repairs to the public infrastucture, transit systems, solar power systems.
--Thousands of small-town bicycle mechanics.

These are the riches of the next level: Just Enough.
--Enough work for all.
--Overwork for none.
--Highest pay for teaching.
--Next-highest pay for lowest, dirtiest work.

Then there is the next level above that: the level of leisure and pleasure.
And with all their leisure what will people do?
Well, just what people always do.
--Civic meetings. Storefront greetings.
--Volunteering. Sports fan cheering.
--Weeding. Reading. Beading. Leading.
--Daily massages if you like.
--Concerts. Artshows. The love of mike.

WARNING:
Before the powers that be will agree to a four-hour work-day they will destroy the whole planet. They are determined to have it all for themselves and leave nothing for their grandchildren. They will taser people into forced labor camps as soon as look at them. They are Nazi-minded and have all the fascist power of the police at their command. If they are not stopped, you will have to work 18 hours a day under miserable conditions for a few ounces of maggoty bread and filthy toxic water until you die. They will swear and bleed you into the ground. They will use you like toilet paper to clean up their shit and fight their wars while they luxuriate in wine and steak. They will play one group against the other until they alone have a free field of action. Then they will enslave each separate group.

Against this you have five powers:
The power to initiate.
The power to syndicate.
The power to abdicate.
The power to immobilize
The power to mobilize.

See, the big white boys and their colorized brethren want all the leisure for themselves. They do not think you deserve to have leisure because you are not one of their club.

The problem is not productivity
The problem is profit.
And the patron of profit is war.

War is the anti-matter that destroys productivity.

When you pour 80% of your resources into DDD (Death, Destruction, Domination) naturally there is nothing left for PEOPLE (Peace, Environment, Old folks, Prosperity, Life Energy).

What the world spends in one week on war would feed the whole planet for a year.
That is male-hormone madness.

The problem is the profiteers want to milk laborers like cows and feed them on hay too.

If the patriarchal economy did not rest its smelly feet on the backs of bent over housewives, men would live amid the filth they deserve.

If men had to pay for household services instead of getting them for free they would not be able to discard their hussifs like used kleenex at age 40. They would not have enough cash to purchase a newer model. Yes, housewives know all about redundancy and first employment contracts that allow you to be fired without notice or just cause.

Now, in France people know very well that they are fighting robber barons and capitalist slavers for their right to work. Unfortunately, people in upper Amerikkka have already given up their right to work out of sheer cowardice.

People in Mexico are willing to risk death to come to the US to work as underpaid, oppressed, toxics-exposed semi-slaves because--bad as that is--it's a lesser chance of death than standing up to the RRR (Repressive Rich Regime) at home and demanding work in their own country.

Everyone has a right to work. They have the right to work as hard as they like or as little as they like. But four hours a day of work will supply basic needs. The 8-hour and 12-hour days that the war-mongering profiteers want us to work are for their benefit--not ours and not the general society.

Capitalists are anti-social. They profit from inhumane practices.
They have all the weight of weaponry and male brutality of the patriarchy in their power.

But we have the power of the shifting sands.
If they continue to try to use force to imprison the masses of society, then these options remain open:

Young people can refuse to work. Or simply become unreliable at work. Work as much as you need to get one month's food and lodging and then quit. Live in groups of squatters who pay no rent but only have to bribe the police now on then to leave them alone. This is one way that slaves retain energy for themselves: by slacking.

Old people, form collectives with similarly cheap lodging and hire nurses/cooks/housekeepers. If you have to keep working till you are 75, then work part-time at jobs that the young people abandon because the work is too boring. Learn to like lentils if you don't already.

Women, do not expect men to take care of you. They will not. If you are determined to have a child, form collective households in posh neighborhoods with other mothers. Let your boyfriend live with the squatters and visit now and then. Your hormones may tell you you need a male protector, but honey, times have changed. Men are out to protect themselves and their sperm, not you. If you must sacrifice yourself to some living being, let it be your child not your impregnator. Enlist older women as housekeepers and babysitters. Work in steady jobs and pool resources. Learn the skills of conflict resolution in families. Happiness can be yours.

Men who are willing to give up patriarchal privilege--cultivate many skills. Carpentry, gardening, plumbing, weaving, sheep-shearing, anything that supports a horticultural-based economy. Learn to love the children of other men as your own.

Everyone: Entertain novel notions. Be prepared to move and move and move. Possess little. Share tools wisely. Learn how to fast. Cultivate a light heart and a brave insouciance. Do what you damn well please.