Pétain, Franco and chemical warfare in the Rif
While Macron has been trying to rehabilitate Pétain as a WWI hero, the latter’s role in a war against Africa’s first anti-colonial state is less well known.
AUDIO: The Fire Last Time – 1968
Marxist historian Neil Davidson talks on 1968 and the broader period of uprisings and reprisals of which it became the most visible example
After 9 June: on labelling fascists
Defeating racism will take more than an anti-fascist strategy, but we should clearly identify the fascist core of the new right wing street movement, argues Caliban’s Revenge. On 9 June 2018, central London saw the largest demonstration organised by the far right for many years. Perhaps more than 15,000 assembled to protest “against extremism” and “to […]
50 years from May ‘68, students in France are mobilising again
France is again in the midst of a wave of intense social action, with universities disrupted for months and mass arrests in Mayday protests.
‘It was like a rocket: a fantastic display’: Reflections on May ’68
In a speech to Manchester rs21, Colin Barker reflects on the “madness of May ‘68”, when, for a brief moment, everything seemed possible.
“They can never stop the spring”: France in 2018
Fifty years after the 1968 uprisings, social struggles are flaring up in France once again following attacks on workers and universities
Refugees – remember them?
Mitch Mitchell writes on Refugee Lifeboat, a new organisation that aims to marry humanitarian aid for refugees with an uncompromising political stand against state racism
Gracchus Babeuf revisited
Historian Doug Enaa Greene reviews The Spectre of Babeuf by Ian Birchall. Often unfairly dismissed by socialists, Gracchus Babeuf represents a break from utopianism towards direct, practical action and all the challenges that implies, and he has much to teach revolutionaries today. Spectre of Babeuf is published by Haymarket Books and is available now.
Convergence on the right
Sometimes distinctions between conservatives, right-wing populists and fascists are easy to make. But increasingly often, argues Dave Renton, there is some overlap – and we have to understand today’s right wing on its own terms, not by assuming it fits the categories of the past. One theme of the last twelve months has been the […]
A ‘total’ movement: what next for Morocco’s Hirak after 20 July?
Morocco, and in particular the serially repressed and neglected Rif region, has been rocked since late last year by a series of enormous, and almost entirely non-violent, protests. rs21 offers its unqualified support to the adherents of the Hirak (Popular Movement), and has done since the protests broke out. We also endorse the efforts of […]
revolutionary reflections | A take on the political situation in France
In 2017 the sense of political crisis has deepened across much of the developed world. From the Trump presidency to Corbyn’s stunning march on the Tories, the centre ground is crumbling under forces to the left and right. In this piece Roderick C assesses the French presidential election in the light of this trend and […]
From Parti Communiste to France Insoumise: the rebirth of the French left
In the run-up to the French legislative elections Olivier Tonneau discusses the rise of France Insoumise. Jean-Luc Mélenchon may have fallen 600,000 votes short of making it to the second round of the French presidential election but he has certainly asserted his dominance over the French left. Many feathers were ruffled in the process: Mélenchon […]
The dilemma facing France: neoliberalism or neofascism?
With just over a week until the second round of the French presidential election, antiracist activist Selim Nadi reflects on how France reached this crossroads, and what the French left needs to do next to resist the rise of neofascism. Graffiti reads: ‘neither nation nor bosses, neither Le Pen nor Macron’. Photo credit: cpolitic. François […]
Paris, 19 March 2017: A March for Justice and Dignity
We publish this statement in solidarity with those demonstrating on 19 March, on the eve of the French presidential election, against police brutality, murder and state racism in France. Translated by David Broder. https://blogs.mediapart.fr/marche19mars/blog/191216/le-19-mars-une-marche-pour-la-justice-et-la-dignite One a month. That is the average number of fathers, brothers and sons we lose because of the brutality of the forces […]
15 October could be a dark day for refugees in Calais
It has been strongly rumoured that the threatened closure and demolition of the refugee camp in Calais, often referred to as “The Jungle” will commence on 15 October at 5am.
“Squeezing a quart into a pint pot”: the current situation in Calais
After the destruction of people’s homes there was temporary reduction in the numbers of refugees living in Calais, but many are now returning. The only people who are profiting from this stalemate are the people traffickers.
France in crisis and struggle
Leon Crémieux provides background to the growing and multi-faceted protest movement in France. Leon is an activist of the Solidaires trade-union federation and of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA, France). He is a member of the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International. Translated and first published in English by International Viewpoint.
Interview: Sex work in France
What attitude should we take to sex work? One approach is that of the “Nordic model” which criminalises those who buy sex, very largely men, rather than those who sell it, most of whom are women. Sex workers, however, object that the rhetoric behind such laws about improving the social position of women doesn’t match […]
Join the French resistance! Resist the right and take on the Tories
Today thousands of people will be marching in London for Health, Homes, Jobs and Education in a demonstration called by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity. If you’re on the demo look out for the rs21 stall and pick up a copy of our leaflet, which can also be downloaded here. The Panama papers show us […]
French movement escalates to resist new labour law: report from Paris protests
Ian Crosson reports from last weekend’s protests in Paris Imagine thousands of people occupying Trafalgar Square, every night, for days on end, to discuss how to resist austerity and raising radical issues. Imagine this occupation spreads to every town and city in Britain in just a few days. Well , this is what has happened […]
France rises up in the night
A wave of nightly demonstrations have spread rapidly across France under the slogan “Nuit Debout” (Up All Night). The protests are targeting horrific new employment laws that will destroy social gains won over decades of struggle. We reprint below an article by Olivier Besançenot and François Sabado, members of France’s New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). The translation is by Todd Chretien […]
COP21 – climate and capitalism
Joe Sabatini dissects the neoliberal mindset behind the Paris talks in December and what the COP21 Agreement means for saving the planet.
Power play in the global climate movement
What Paris made clear is that now is the time to draw lines as the wider climate movement cannot fulfil its own agenda.
‘No more Jungle, no more borders’ – a report from Calais refugee protest
On Saturday 23 January, residents of the Calais refugee camp protested the destruction of the their shelters and the French government’s attempts to forcibly move them into new accommodation, described by many as a ‘prison’ or ‘concentration camp’. Duncan Thomas reports.
St Pancras die-in protests clearing of Calais refugee camp
Kate Bradley reports On Saturday, around 200 people gathered at St Pancras International train station in London to protest against the clearance of the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais. The demonstration was called by London2Calais, a group that has been providing humanitarian and political support to refugees and migrants stranded in Calais since August 2015. […]
Campaigning for Climate Justice at COP21
For the last fortnight the COP21 climate summit has taken place in Paris. Alongside the official event, campaigners for climate justice took to the streets in a Paris still under a ‘State of Emergency’ following the murders last month. Three rs21 members – Sam O’Brien, John Walker and Colin Barker who were in Paris report on the events. Sam O’Brien […]
France: How close is fascism?
Already stressed by economic stagnation since the onset of the banking crisis in 2008, and by the interminably threatened, but repeatedly averted, collapse of the Euro, Peter Fysh asks can the French political system survive racist exploitation of the refugee crisis and the shock of deadly terrorist attacks at each end of 2015? In the […]
Video: Naomi Klein and Jeremy Corbyn call for climate jobs
Last night in Paris Jeremy Corbyn and Naomi Klein spoke to 800 people about trade unions and climate change, writes Jonathan Neale. For me, the best moment was when Jeremy started his speech by saying “I want to hold this document up. It’s called One Million Climate Jobs.” The meeting was sponsored by Trade Unions […]
Fascist success in the French elections: what will it mean for the refugees?
There has been a growing hostility to the refugees in the Calais camps, particularly since the Paris killings. Mitch Mitchell reflects on what the electoral success of the Front National in the French regional elections will mean for the refugees.