France: Another Day of Strike—for What?

The French Left is attempting to take down the Republic. As usual, they have no concrete plans for what comes next. Typical Leftist behaviour.

From The European Conservative

By Hélène de Lauzun, PhD

The protest crowds are massive—but the movement's political inconsistency is appalling.

For the second time in eight days, the French have voiced their discontent with their leaders with a day of strikes and demonstrations following on from the Bloquons tout! (“Let’s block everything!”) movement launched on Wednesday, September 10th.

No fewer than 250 marches were counted across the country. While the movement on September 10th remained relatively disorganised, the one on September 18th appears to be strongly supported by the trade unions. All of them have come together in a joint appeal for the first time since June 2023, which takes us back to the era of mobilisation against pension reform. The demonstrations are expected to draw 900,000 people—about four times more than on September 10th.

At the beginning of the week, plans were made to deploy a colossal police force—80,000 police officers, drones, and armoured vehicles—to deal with what the interior ministry described as a “hybrid threat,” combining traditional trade unions and members of the far Left determined to cause trouble and clash with the police.

Paris was plunged into chaos with the metro network almost completely shut down. Parisians were asked to limit their travel as much as possible and work from home. At dawn, the police had to intervene to remove blockades organised by strikers at bus depots. Designed to prevent drivers from going to work, these blockades are in fact prohibited by law.

Health care, education, civil service and energy workers are also among the strikers. At the primary school level, a third of teachers are on strike nationwide. In Paris, the rate rises to over 45%. More unexpectedly, pharmacists have joined the hospital sector strike. 18,000 of the country’s 20,000 pharmacies are closed in protest against cost-cutting healthcare measures that directly threaten their profits.

The strikers’ actions have taken different forms. In Martinique, residents faced an attempt to sabotage the water supply, with a valve being cut off, depriving 150,000 people in the south of the island of water. In Paris and elsewhere, secondary schools and university campuses were blocked as teachers and students rallied behind far-left slogans like “Free Palestine” and “Down with money! Down with the State, down with the Republic!” These chants could be heard around the Lycée Maurice Ravel in eastern Paris, causing annoyance among some students. Two high school students expressed their exasperation to Le Figaro: “We don’t understand why the school is blocked. The placards have slogans for Palestine, Ukraine, and Congo. But I don’t understand why the school is being blocked.” At the Lycée Buffon, in the south of Paris, students recycled an old slogan from the 2000s: “Youth p*** off the National Front,” dating back to Jean-Marie Le Pen’s arrival in the second round of the presidential election in 2002.

There is little consistency in all this. The motivations are very diverse, but everyone has found a good reason to suspend activities and show their hostility towards the new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, who is starting his career with the lowest popularity rating ever seen for a head of government at the beginning of his term.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, president of La France Insoumise (LFI), called on his supporters to refrain from violence and prevent any unrest. He hailed the day of action as a “huge event.” The far Left has long been accustomed to considering mobilisation for mobilisation’s sake a victory in itself. His party has called for another day of mobilisation in December. The SUD rail union, one of the most active on the Left, is calling for an indefinite strike to “block the economy.”

On the Right, Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the Les Républicains (LR) deputies, condemned the strikers. “While there are those who block everything and destroy everything, there is France that works, gets up early and pays its taxes. It is the voice of this silent majority that must be defended!” he argued on X.

 For her part, Marine Le Pen explained ahead of the day of action that her party had no intention of getting involved in demonstrations or petitions but would focus on parliamentary work.