tragicoptimist

Can the movement against the pension reform last? Now that the All Saints vacation has began amidst blocked refineries and fuel deposits, unions are calling for mobilizations on October 28th and November 6th. The disruptions could very well continue over the vacation period.
A “strike by proxy” like in 1995? Organized by groups of activists who put union workers from different sectors together, the blocks continue even if the actual rate of strikers remains low. Their persistence since the beginning of September recalls the 1995 winter movement, says the sociologist Philippe Corcuff: “A minority sector of the population is on strike, there is a massive mobilization in the demonstrations and an extremely wide support in the general population.” Which calls back to what the political analyst Stéphane Rozès qualified as a “strike by proxy” back in 1995. Those who are mobilized today are doing it “for” the workers who can’t strike, either for financial reasons or because their sector isn’t mobilized.
President of the consulting firm CAP and teacher at the university “Science Po”, Stéphane Rozès explains today that the same phenomenon is at work, but that it isn’t nature is different. “In 1995, through social movements, the French sent a message to [Jacques] Chirac. Today, they are saying they support a pension reform but the government’s reform is unjust and inefficient. They are using the polls to express their support for the social movement.” Friday, October 22nd, a BVA poll reported that 69% of the French supported the movement and 46% supported the refinery blocks.
The parallel with 1995, however, ends very quickly, stays Guy Groux, research director of the National Center of Scientific Research at Science Po and specialist in labor studies. “In 1995, all national and Parisian railway traffic was on strike and there was the feeling that the economy at a standstill – plus the number of strikers was a lot higher,” he says, underlining that “the political situation was also different: the winter of 1995 was six months after Chirac’s election, whereas in 2010, we are already preparing for the 2012 presidential elections with Nicolas Sarkozy.”
A multiform movement. Comparing the movement with the one in May 1968 doesn’t help either, according to Lilian Mathieu, sociologist and author of Comment lutter ? [How to struggle]. “In 1968, there was a long-term general strike, which is not the case in 2010: certain sectors are partially on strike while others have seen low intensity strikes, only for demonstration days. Other workers take turns striking to limit losses in salary.”
This is certainly one of the specificities of the movement, comments Philippe Corcuff. “We are seeing a polyphonic, composite movement; sometimes people go to the demonstrations, sometimes no, they can participate in one action and not another. You can enter and exit the movement at will. It’s a sort of lasting, pacific social guerrilla conflict in most cases,” he explains.
The actions are not new drawing from the anti-globalization movements, like the dismantling of McDonald’s at Millau in 1999 or the uprooting of G.M.O.s. Thursday, a groups of union workers tried to wall up the headquarters of the UMP in Paris [Nicolas Sarkozy’s political party].
In the demonstrations, certain activists cry for a total economic stop. Could this be an indirect reference to The Coming Insurrection, the book that police have attributed to Julien Coupat, who was jailed for the Tarnac incidents? The idea makes Eric Hazan, the book’s publisher, laugh, although he sees a “sure echo”.
For Guy Groux, the reason for these actions is rather found in the weakness of the union movement. “Unions control their base less and less, they miss a lot of things,” he says. “Unions are caught in a contradiction: on one hand, they call for repeated demonstrations and, on the other, they can’t seem to trigger continuous strikes after them.” “We’d be wrong to think that everything is controlled by the Unions,” agrees Lilian Mathieu.
How to continue? In these conditions, can the movement survive now that the law has been voted and after the school vacations? “Yes, in the form of a semi-permanent mobilization,” assures Philippe Corcuff, who sees similarities with the Italian “rampant May” between 1968-1969, which spread over many months, well beyond it’s initial demands.
Ever since the first days of mobilization, the slogans and the posters have evolved: next to the key words against pension reforms, categorical claims and, generally, the rejection of Nicolas Sarkozy are more and more common. “For a lot of people, it’s no longer only about pensions, but also about a desire to end the cynicism, arrogance, and injustice,” enthuses editor Eric Hazan.
On the contrary, researcher Guy Groux sees a danger for the unions: “After the vacation, things will change course. When the law is passed and promulgated, another type of game will start, protesting parliamentary democracy through social democracy.” He also indicates the risk of disillusionment for union activists if the parliamentary powers don’t yield an inch.
“For now, public opinion has crystallized behind the movement,” says Stéphane Rozès. But a overturn in public opinion could be fatal for the movement. “People are supportive but they are also consumers, vacation goers and automobilists,” warns Guy Groux, who thinks that the economic blocks will provoke a split in the population. “The feeling of being supported by public opinion is very important for the unions. In the general assemblies, ways to keep that sympathy are discussed,” says Philippe Corcuff.
For the moment, that split hasn’t happened. Stéphane Rozès, like others, stresses that “eventual exaggerations would provoke such a rupture in opinion.” “That could re-legitimate Sarkozy’s stance on security,” comments Philippe Corcuff, who thinks that the important thing to continue the movement is assuring coordination between unions and youth movements, focusing on “fun” actions and the “inventiveness” of the activists.
Nabil Wakim, in “Le Monde”, 23/10/2010

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