Is the Barnier government living out its final hours? If Le Pen doesn't change her mind and if her parliamentary group passes a vote of no-confidence along with the left wing, the government will indeed fall within the week and Macron will once again be in the hot seat to cobble up another government.
The right wing, the Macronists and their media watchdogs are trying to make us believe that if that happens it would be a very serious matter. No, the very serious matter at hand is the hundreds of thousands of employees losing their jobs and the fact that in this rich country there are ten million poor people and more than 300,000 homeless.
The real problem is the condition our hospitals are in and the cuts in education. It's the fact that nothing serious is done to tackle the climate crisis and that wars continue to shed blood around the world. And those who cling to power near Barnier and Macron are among those responsible. So, they deserve to be kicked out!
What's the point of this bunch of puppets, if not to attack workers by forcing them to make sacrifice after sacrifice?
With the brutal deterioration of the economy, we can see that they are incapable of organizing and curbing crises. Inflation, even if it has gone down a little, continues to push up prices for products as basic as vegetable oil and coffee. They have all promised to reindustrialize the country but announcements of company closures and layoffs are pouring in.
What are they doing against Michelin, which, with two billion euros in profits, plans to close two factories and fire 1,200 employees? Nothing! What do they have to say to the Mulliez family, which is laying off 2,400 employees in Auchan and 150 in Leroy Merlin, and, in the meantime, is pocketing a billion euros in dividends from the Decathlon company? Nothing! All the fine talk about social justice has been pushed under the carpet!
Arcelor Mittal, the giant steel company with over 15,000 employees in France, is threatening to close two sites. And it quietly asserts that it won't decarbonize its Dunkirk plant, which is responsible for 5% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. Its CEO says that the European steel market is too uncertain. The market may be uncertain, but global warming isn't! But once again, the government just whines and bows down to the bosses' demands.
The big bourgeoisie walks all over government officials. And LFI (Unsubmissive France ) and RN (National Rally) leaders who are longing to replace them are no better. With no intention of confronting big business, let alone expropriating it if they come to power, they too will be its devoted servants.
With or without the fall of the government, with or without a snap presidential election, if we don't get involved by targeting the real masters of society, nothing fundamental will change for workers.
Those masters are not in Parliament, in Matignon or the Elysée. They are at the head of multinational corporations such as Michelin, Stellantis, Lactalis, Societé Générale... and they have the power of life and death over a myriad of small and medium-sized suppliers and subcontractors. The Mulliez dynasty alone owns 130 chains, including Auchan, Leroy Merlin, Midas, Boulanger, Decathlon, Norauto, Kiabi and Flunch. It is sitting on a fortune of 28 billion euros, the equivalent of the justice and the ecological transition budgets!
These capitalists decide who has the right to work. They decide on wages and our purchasing power because they also set prices. They help themselves to the state coffers by obtaining exemptions and subsidies of all kinds via their loyal ministerial servants. In doing so, they deprive the hospital, education and transport sectors of necessary resources and order attacks on public sector workers, such as the one that will impose a three-day unpaid period in the event of sick leave.
What we need is another revolution like in 1789 and the expropriation of these modern-day kings. It will happen eventually because a handful of parasites cannot indefinitely block the evolution of all humanity.
Today, tens if not hundreds of thousands of workers are facing company closures and mass redundancies. Millions more, in both the private and public sectors, are under attack for their wages and rights. Some have taken up the fight. Some others are getting organized to start fighting back. They are right to do so and they are showing the way for all workers.
Nathalie Arthaud