Block everything: the struggle in France
rs21 members •As Macron’s government faces yet another crisis, the Bloquons tout movement has brought students, workers and activists together in blockades and strikes across France. Some rs21 members joined the actions and report back from the ground.
It was a Wednesday afternoon in Paris. We stood among thousands gathered in front of the Monument à la République in the city’s centre. This monument, meant to represent the French republic, had been transformed with people clambering up it, chanting, spraying graffiti. On the monument, alongside many Palestine flags, several larger red ones are flown reading ‘Viva la Commune’. This was one action amongst many on 10 September, as part of a large wave of protests in France. These protests are the result of a widespread political crisis facing the French state.
The roots of the moment
Following the decision to call snap legislative elections in June 2024, Emmanuel Macron’s second presidential term has lumbered from political crisis to political crisis. Within the legislative assembly no clear majority has been able to emerge, within the National Assembly split between forces towards the left around La France Insoumise (LFI), the far-right around Rassemblement National (RN) and a series of ‘centrist’ forces around Ensemble.
An initial minority government was formed around Michel Barnier after two months, relying on the abstentions of the far-right Rassemblement National. After only a few months, in December, the Barnier government fell following attempts to force through a finance bill outside of usual parliamentary procedure, which both parties opposed. Macron appointed François Bayrou to pursue a further minority government, this time relying on the abstentions of the Socialist Party (PS) and RN.
However, the Bayrou government then presented an austerity budget, arguing for the need to reduce the national debt. This brutal budget suggested a target of €43.8 billion saved, mainly through cuts – including a freeze on pensions and social assistance, the end of two public holidays and removal of tax reductions for retirees. The widespread popular opposition to such cuts effectively made the premiership untenable. Bayrou called for a vote of confidence on 8 September, which he lost 194-364 as parties that previously abstained voted against him. This marks the fourth Prime Minister to leave office since 2022, a historic crisis of political stability for the French Fifth Republic.
What is Bloquons tout?
In response to the announcement of the austerity budget, calls began circulating online to ‘Bloquons tout’ (block everything) on 10 September. Originating mainly in online calls to action and often operating through Telegram channels, the political character of this movement was initially ambiguous. Rumours swirled that this project originated and was dominated by the political right, making some hesitant to support. However, the character of the movement was determined by those who got involved. What could have been a highly minoritarian movement of self selecting activists engaged in isolated acts of direct action changed significantly over the following months.
In most areas, initial online calls soon turned into open assemblies, where people could propose and argue for actions. A survey by the Jean Jaures Foundation of the composition of those engaged in the Bloquons tout online spaces found that the main participants were predominantly young, to the left and educated. This risked the assemblies becoming spaces of self-selecting activists and not linked to the wider terrain of class struggle. Sometimes these meetings would be a few dozen, but as the date drew closer, attendance grew, with many of several hundred. Sometimes these assemblies were regional, other times they were for students at particular schools or workers in particular sectors. This was in part because many young activists entered the spaces arguing for collective block actions alongside workplace action or as part of student groupings, bringing in a wider layer of support.
Several of the larger national unions called their own strike date against the Bayou budget for 18 September, which was widely perceived as an attempt to deflect from the focus on 10 September and the growing calls for unions to support the movement. In response, rank and file workplace activists have attempted to outflank their union bureaucracies. This included 300 trade unionists writing for Politis calling for workers to support the movement. At the same time, militants succeeded in convincing assemblies to support striking workers or workers to join the actions. For example in Brétigny-sur-Orge the assembly agreed to support an Amazon picket, or in Angoulême where the assembly agreed to support striking workers at the Girac hospital. In Nantes, there was a planned blockade of an Alcea incinerator, joining a picket of the workers at the site.
What resulted was a significant spread of proposed actions and groupings, with assemblies not just in the larger cities but in many towns and villages. This geographic spread, as well as the number of dispersed actions within cities, posed a significant challenge to how the French government would police the protest. The government mobilised an unprecedented 80,000 police and gendarmeries in advance of the day to repress the movement. However, whilst the wind was in the sails of the movement, it remained uncertain how many of these blockage actions would actually happen, whether people would turnout, and more until the day itself.
What happened on 10 September?
Over the course of the day, several hundred thousand people are estimated to have participated in actions across France. These varied from blockades of roads to marches of several thousand to workers going out on strike.
Early in the morning attempts were made to block major roads and depots, which were met with severe police repression. Le Monde reported 100 arrests by 9am alone, as police attempted to prevent blockades of roads or ports, such as an attempt early at 6am at the Porte de Paris. Similarly, student groups who attempted to blockade their high schools and universities early in the morning were tear gassed by police, including at three Paris high schools: Hélène Boucher, Victor Hugo and Henri IV.
Whilst such repression would usually allow the state to reclaim the blocked spaces, most protestors would simply move to another location. Similarly, in many locations, where marches drew several thousand, police could do little more than attempt crowd control. This was despite 80,000 police being deployed nationwide, almost double the previous record of 45,000. In the end, 473 arrests were reported across France, out of several hundred thousand participants.
In Paris, where members of rs21 joined the actions, the day began with a visit to Tenon Hospital, where health workers were striking. From there we visited Gare du Nord, where rail workers had called for an assembly and action, with drivers striking at both this station and the Gare du Lyon. People blocked the bus terminal attached to the railway station before being tear gassed and attacked by police. The rail workers also attempted to hold an assembly inside the station building, with the police using pepper spray and violence to force the assembly outside. A large outdoor assembly was held, with speeches from the rail workers, militants and high school students who had come to join the workers following the attempted blockade of their schools.
From here, the assembly decided to attempt to march to Châtelet, where a cross-union protest was to be held. Facing heavy police resistance, they joined the few thousand already engaged in protest at the nearby Place de la République. A pro-Palestine demonstration had also been called for this location, which the workers and students joined. Later, several thousands moved to Place des Fêtes, where they gathered to listen to music and then held an assembly of student groupings. Even as police tried to kettle and disperse the square, many continued protesting late into the night.
Often those taking a leading role on the day, whether taking action, speaking to a crowd or charging the police, were young French people. People spoke to the crowd not just about the Bayou government’s austerity politics but also the racism of the French state, sexism and transphobia in French society, and the state’s complicity in the genocide in Palestine. Outside Tenon Hospital, older striking health workers in laboratory coats stood alongside young high school students who has just been tear gassed. At Place de la République, striking rail workers mingled with pro-Palestine activists. Whilst the movement continues to grow, there was a coming together amongst one part of the French working class, across lines of age, gender, race and nationality.
Marching through the streets, an almost carnival-like atmosphere reigned, with various groups running around pursuing actions. These varied from kids throwing Lime bikes into the streets to the use of scaffolding materials to form bigger blockades. Police attacked, tear-gassed and harassed people, but struggled to contain the many different actions. More significant than these isolated acts of street resistance was the growing alignment between various forms of collective action and the demonstrations. In many conversations, people would pull up Telegram or other digital channels, showing another demonstration and action happening across France, inspiring those on the ground. Workers succeeded in joining blockades with pickets and others focused on building these links.
Where next?
In the eve of the ‘block everything’ demonstrations, Macron appointed Sébastien Lecornu as Bayrou’s successor. Lecornu, a Macron loyalist and one of the more conservative figures in Macron’s ‘centrist’ Renaissance, had been the Minister of the Armed Forces since 2022, pushing forward major rearmament and militarist policies. LFI plans to bring a no confidence vote, which will not pass so long as RN continues to abstain. Lecornu’s promise of a ‘profound break’ with previous ways of working, and the centre parties’ growing rapprochement with RN, indicates a further turn to the right.
While many 10 September actions did not result in long-running blockades, they produced assemblies that may continue to meet. Over the coming week, leading up to the planned demonstrations on Thursday 18 September, many are planning to argue in the spaces which have already connected striking workers to go beyond the more restrained politics of the union bureaucracy. With less anti-strike legislation than in Britain, small groupings of French workers can come together and change the character of the movement far more. Whether this happens depends on the continued success of those arguing for greater links between those calling for blockade and the wider workers movement. If these movements succeed in massifying the struggle, they could become a long term vehicle for class anger against the French state.
In any case, the long-term stability of the French Fifth Republic is increasingly called into question. The sweeping powers of the Presidency are repeatedly mobilised to attempt to avoid the growing political crisis, which in turn strengthens the anti-democratic tendencies of the French state. In a country facing a growing far-right, alongside vacillating and increasingly repressive ‘centrist parties’, the task of the revolutionary left and the workers’ movement to organise mass resistance has never been more urgent.
Below is a video report of the demonstration.
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