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Over One Million Join Student Fight Against CPE

features | 18.03.2006 17:39 | French CPE uprising 2006 | Education | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | World

Update Tuesday 21st March:
French unions and student bodies have called for a general strike and massive protests throughout France on 28th March.

On Saturday 18th March: Over one Million people demonstrated against the CPE in France following weeks of student unrest. Clashes with police broke out after the CPE demos. For breaking news see French IMCs: Paris | Lille | Toulouse | Marseille | Nantes | Liege | Auvergne | Grenoble and Libcom Blog

Since the start of March, protests, occupations and direct action against the new CPE employment law in France have been increasing, with university and school students leading the dissent. Railways have been blockaded, airports disrupted, and up to two thirds of France's universities have been occupied or disrupted, as well as many schools. Clashes with police have occured throughout the country.

On Thursday 16th March well over 300,000 people took part in growing protests throughout France [report and pics] as more universities were occupied, roads blockaded and the town hall in Rennes was occupied. In Paris up to 120,000 protested [report and pics | gallery] followed by clashes with police using tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon [report and pics | gallery]. Around 150 arrests were made in Paris bringing the total to around 300, with over 40 police injured. (See also Censier University occupation report and pics).

Much international publicity came from the occupation and violent eviction by riot police of the Sorbonne university in Paris on Saturday 10th March [Video | Report + Pics | Gallery 1 2]. On Tuesday 14th the protests escalated as a student day of action saw thousands of school students taking part in occupations and blockades [report and pics | gallery] as well as more street fighting around the Sorbonne area [gallery].

The CPE is a new employment contract due to take effect in April. The CPE would allow firms to hire people aged under 26 for a two-year trial period, during which they could be easily dismissed without a reason. Students and others complain this will only increase the precarity of everyday life in France where unemployment currently runs at 10% and 50% in some areas.

See other reports [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ] Plus recent features at IMC Germany | Poland | March 22nd London CPE report back | STOPCPE | UNEF

Picture from http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/03/336054.html
Picture from http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/03/336054.html


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features

Additions

Fresh French inspiration

20.03.2006 06:43

Great short video of french riots and occupation of the Sorbonne with very witty sound track.Highly refreshing in these days of dense media dictatorship and mass censorship. allez.The imperialist capitalist order is crumbling by the day through out the world.The French students and workers are a huge inspiration as are the Ecuadorian,Thai,Mexican,Cuban,Venezuelan,Bolivian,US and Native American,Aboriginal,Tibetan,Nepalese,Phillipino,Argentinian,Uruguayan,people currently in more visible struggle .The struggle continues.Vive Viva

Patrick Black


Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

24/7

19.03.2006 02:14

There's a blog covering this round the clock www.libcom.org/blog, with up to the minute info from France.
Also articles at www.libcom.org/news

Jef Costello
- Homepage: http://www.libcom.org


solidarity in this country?

20.03.2006 17:17

are there any plans for solidarity actions in this country? surely there is something we can do. anyone know of anything happening?

squirrello


help me, i cant watch the video

20.03.2006 17:55

downloaded the video but windows media player wont play it. am i using the wrong program to watch it? could someone who knows bout these things post a comment here to help me out?

cheers

squirrello


RE: help me, i cant watch the video

21.03.2006 14:54

Tried winamp?

Euan


"Work is a climate controlled gulag"

21.03.2006 17:15

grafitti outside the Sorbonne

lurpak


report on virtual sit-in

21.03.2006 23:31

The virtual sit-in organized by the borderlands Hacklab and Electronic Disturbance Theater [  http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/114384.shtml ] was joined by over 32,000 participants. The French government responded by removing or renaming some of the files being pulled by the sit-in page from their site. The files removed were from the government CPE page. So briefly, the CPE could be considered to have been virtually revoked. Ironically, the graphic file in question contained the phrase "La Bataille pour L'emploi", which I think means the Battle for Employment.

Also today, BrigadaElektronica is doing a virtual sit-in against the police in Manila for being a rampant human rights violator. Join now!  http://manila.indymedia.org/index.php?action=default&featureview=170

sd@narchist
- Homepage: http://sdhacklab.org


MARCH 23 PARIS DEMONSTRATION

24.03.2006 18:03



The protestation in France changes face

09.04.2006 22:15

Since the start of april month, as most of the reformist worker unions decided to come back to the negociation table with the government, most of students are getting more and more radicalized. So after the two big organized protests which gathered between 1 and 3 millions (depending on the the police or worker association sources), students are experiencing new resisting forms, while more and more university and school are getting blocked. Here is a non-exhaustive list of resistance actions that took place in this last few days.

On the 31 march, in Paris, after the president Chirac anounce the CPE law validation, many student gather on the evening to the Bastille place and start a spontaneous protest march all around the town claming: "Paris, wake up !". Video link:  http://www.dailymotion.com/thibautcho/video/102169
In many town if France, student assemblees agree on a economic paralysis strategy.

On the 3rd april, 200 protesters free a highway paying point in Mantes la jolie.

On the 4th april, in Caen, 3000 student invade the roundway.

On the 5th, in Toulouse, students block a postal sorting center. On the same day, in Nantes, 600 protesters block the MIN (International Interest Market). In Reims, the 500 demonstrators ends with the march and blocking the main train station. In Lyon, 150 precarious workers and students symbolically invade an ASSEDIC (social assistance agency).

On the 6th, in Montpellier, students invade the UMP (the main french right party) agency and empty it into the street. A same action tooks place on the same day with a MEDEF (the main french employer association) agency in Avignon. In Nancy, 400 students block highways on the morning and the postal sorting center helped by employees on the afternoon. In Brest, students block the Iroise bridge. In Toulouse, the Matabiau train station is blocked, the police reacts violently, two studend are seriouly wounded and bring to the hospital. In Paris, four of the main train stations have are blocked by more than 2000 protesters. In the same day, other groups block the Paris roundway in some point.

And so on...

bo


CPE is announced to be canceled

10.04.2006 17:27

Today, on the morning, the french government announce they will "replace" the specific point which is the CPE contract in the ironically called the "equality" law, by limitted a system based on State "helps", specific to "precarious" youngs.

Considering that those State helps are not aim to "help" those youngs but make them even more flexible and precarious,
Considering that the movement cannot give up a party of the french population to the capitalist greed,
Considering, also, that this movement cannot end up on so limitted aspect as others are now legalizing the 14 years old young work (and 15 years old for work by night),
Considering that another CPE-like law, called CNE, has been voted and is already applied to small buisnesses since a few month,
Considering again, the recent law, proposed by the Éric RAOULT deputee, to criminalize next protests in France is unacceptable,
Considering that, at final, this movement should not be a specific protest against this or that law, but a global and deep questioning on the capistalism system, and its corollary aspect such as wage-earning work,

More and more french universtities are now declaring that they will not give up the protest and blocades on such a thin result.

Let's hope we will see effects, in the few comming days, of all those declarations.

bo


Need updated articles...

17.07.2007 12:25

Hello there. Although not directly related to this particular article, but it seems that you need to REALLY update the articles put in your publication. The latest article (this one) in the Education category, is from 2006... If it weren't for the commenters, we as readers wouldn't know how this story unfolded. Cheers to them!

Luis Alberto Barandiaran
mail e-mail: info@universidadperu.com
- Homepage: http://www.universidadperu.com/blog-peru.php


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