Poor Macron! Not only his great bla-bla was a flop, but the streets are still filling with determined yellow jackets every Saturday. This time again, act 24 was an inspired response to his smokescreen press conference.
Macron has no option left but to rely on the cops who gas, hit and maim the demonstrators. And on the judges who are heavy handed towards those gassed people who had the nerve to rebel.
Everything he tries to regain the upper hand politically backfires. If he tried to use his so-called announcements to isolate the yellow jackets from the majority of the population… it didn’t work yet again: he simply failed to convince 64% of the people! He is left with all the reactionaries he tries to bring behind him, scaring them with “the great fear” against the poor who dare keep their heads up. He is flirting with far-right ideas when he talks about toughening policy on migrants.
So Macron and his people are all tangled up with fear that the anger will overflow in hospitals, where staff are fed up, in Education, where teachers are saying no to elitist reforms, in corporations that lay people off even though they make healthy profits – such as Ford Blanquefort, Bosch Rodez, PSA Saint-Ouen and Herimoncourt, Carrefour, General Electric Belfort and others…
The movement is getting structured
Furthermore, the yellow jacket movement is not just about Saturday demonstrations in city centres, far from it.
Everywhere, yellow jacket groups are trying to coordinate with each other, often at the level of their departments, but not necessarily along the administrative divisions of the country. They had some successes, such as the Great Eastern coordination and the assembly of assemblies that has already met twice, in Commercy and Saint-Nazaire, and will meet again next month in Monceau-les-Mines.
There is a clear will to organise. This would allow the movement to make a big step up in the next few weeks. All the more so if other employees, in corporations, hospitals, public services join them and are joined by them.
The yellow jackets are not the only ones protesting
The whole working class is exasperated, particularly the lowest layers. Discontent is deep. The strike in emergency services spread like wildfires. Nursing home staff were fighting, too. Add to this the possible layoffs, the first fights – and attempts at coordinating – in education.
After five months of yellow jackets mobilisation, more and more union militants, particularly the rank and file, know that their demands are the same as theirs. A number of local CGT unions have started to talk with the yellow jackets, often on the yellow jackets’ initiative, and have started to support their actions.
Many workers and union militants are in favour of a common fight with the yellow jackets. This was evident during Act 24 on April 27th, in many events such as the Paris demonstration. Many are now criticising union leaders for their cold feet towards a common fight.
The demonstrations on May 1st, May 4th, May 9th… will be an opportunity to demonstrate all together. The simple fact that there is still a fire smouldering under the embers of the movement is enough to give nightmares to the government and the bourgeois.
The yellow jacket movement may become the spark and the cement for the workers fights.
Long live the social fire that we will start all together!
