No escaping… the FORCE OUVRIERE

This post by GUEST BLOGGER  Macondo (Andrew McRae)

Today  (Tuesday 15th June), while walking to the Place de la Bastille, Carolyne and I literally stumbled upon the large demonstration by la Force Ouvrière, the largest French workers’ union, against the French government’s plans to raise the pension age and other austerity measures affecting workers and their rights and conditions of retirement. The government was to make its first recommnedations the following day, June 16th.

The large demonstration marched past the Bastille monument and continued along rue de Lyon towards the Gare de Lyon. I don’t know where it finished or where they assembled, but at the end the crowd was addressed by the FO’s leader, Jean-Claude Mailly, as shown on the organisation’s website. The FO estimated the attendance at more than 70,000 but the Police estimated about 25,000. It brought back many memories for me of large demonstrations in Melbourne, especially against the Vietnam war nearly 40 years ago, and in support of Land Rights for Australia’s indigenous people. I remained in the area of the Bastille for 90 minutes, starting well after the march began, and my guess is that the crowd was far in excess of the Police’s estimate.

Demonstrators had come from all over France, mainly manual workers, but covering many different professions. They included metal-workers, agricultural workers, firemen, ambulance staff and police; all age groups and many ethnic groups were involved.

When we returned home several hours later we tried to find some commentary on the demonstration from news websites, but all we found was Le Monde describing it as a wasted effort which caused little disruption. Apparently the internecine disputes between the various labour organisations mean that the resistance to the government’s plans may well be splintered, but after what promises to be a long period of privation for many in Europe the demonstrations might become more populist and widespread, perhaps less peaceful.